Chapter 15
The Unbreakable Vow
KIARA
Dear Daddy and Mum,
I'm glad Christmas is just around the corner. I can't wait to be with you and my grandmothers on Christmas Day, but more than that I really want to get out of the castle, for things are getting awkward where the Dawsons are concerned.
You see, it all began when we won the first Quidditch match of the season; Sian thought I had put something in Chrissie's drink, but I didn't; the only reason I wanted Sian and Chrissie to think I'd done it was not just because of the match, it was also to help Sian and Chrissie be on friendly terms again, which did not work. Now they're more angry than ever at each other, and they won't apologise to each other, either.
Anyway, at the common room, myself, Sian and everyone else there saw Chrissie kissing Larry Brown, but then I saw Sian leave just behind Ben, and when I found them they looked upset about Chrissie's choice in a guy. I think Ben's starting to like Chrissie, and I feel really sorry for him, but I just don't know what to say to him. Unfortunately, a few minutes after I had found them, Chrissie came barging in with Larry, and Sian sent a flock of canaries that she had created at her. So now things are more awkward than ever between Sian and Chrissie, and the rest of the Dawsons disapprove about Chrissie and Larry being together - at least I think so, seeing the way they look at them whenever they're together.
Anyway, I took your advice about Malty and I am not obsessing over her any more. That I promise you.
Looking forward to seeing you.
Lots of love,
Kiara
Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas was approaching fast. Mina had already single-handedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees for the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armour and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Boys tended to be waiting underneath the mistletoe bunches every time I went past, which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately, however, my frequent night-time wanderings had given me an unusually good knowledge of the castle's secret passageways, so that I was able, without too much difficulty, to navigate mistletoe-free routes between classes.
Chrissie, who might have once found the necessity of these detours a cause for jealousy rather than hilarity, simply roared with laughter about it all. Although I much preferred this new laughing, joking Chrissie to the moody, aggressive model I had been enduring for the last few weeks, the improved Chrissie came at a heavy price. Firstly, I had to put up with the frequent presence of Larry Brown, who seemed to regard any moment that he was not kissing Chrissie as a moment wasted, and secondly, I found myself, once more, as the best friend of three people who seemed unlikely ever to speak to each other ever again.
Chrissie, whose hands and forearms still bore scratches and cuts from Sian's bird attack, was taking a defensive and resentful tone.
"She can't complain," she told me. "She's got Kop, now I'm with Larry. It's a free country, I can date whoever I like. I haven't done anything wrong."
I did not answer, but pretended to be absorbed in the book we were supposed to have read before Charms the following morning (Quintessence: A Quest). Determined as I was to remain friends with Chris, Sian and Chrissie, I was spending a lot of time with my mouth shut tight.
"I never promised Sian anything," Chrissie mumbled. "I mean, all right, I was going to go to Beadu's Christmas party with her, but she never said ... would've been nice ... she has Kopa ..."
I turned a page of Quintessence, aware that Chrissie was watching me. Chrissie's voice tailed away in mutters, barely audible over the loud, crackling of the fire, though I thought I caught the words "boyfriend" and "can't complain" again.
I caught Chris in one of his Dena-free moments in the common room, ignoring how close we were, to ask him why he wasn't sitting with Chrissie any more.
"Look, I love my sister," he began. "Of course I do, she's my sister. And the reason I'm avoiding her has nothing to do with all the time I'm spending with Dena. It has to do with Larry."
"Larry?" I asked, confused. "What's Larry done?"
"It's not about what he's done, Kiara," Chris explained. "It's how he acts around Chrissie that I don't like. I mean, half the time he's laughing at everything she says, and the other half he's trying to eat her face off - " I grimaced at that rather graphic comment " - and I'm not the only one who thinks that."
His eyes flickered to where the rest of the Dawsons were sat, and I looked over at where they were sat together around a table, doing their homework, but every now and again, one of them would glace over at the place where Chrissie and Larry were sat canoodling in front of the fire and would roll their eyes at the couple, or else would shake their heads in disgust.
Meanwhile, Sian's timetable was so full that I could only talk to her properly in the evening, when Chrissie was in any case so tightly wrapped around Larry that she did not notice what I was doing. Sian refused to sit in the common room while Chrissie was there, so I generally joined her in the library, which meant that our conversations were held in whispers.
"She's at perfect liberty to kiss whoever she likes," said Sian, while the librarian, Sir Pincer, prowled the shelves behind us. "I really couldn't care less."
She raised her quill and dotted an "i" so ferociously that she punctured a hole in her parchment. I said nothing. I thought my voice might soon vanish from lack of use. I bent a little lower over Advanced Potion-Making and continued to make notes on Everlasting Elixirs, occasionally pausing to decipher the Princess' useful additions to Libatius Borage's text. When I paused once, I asked her, "But you believe Chrissie's made a mistake, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" she hissed quickly. "Of course she's made a mistake; I can see that, clear as daylight. Larry is not the right choice for her. I never thought I'd say this, but Chrissie can do better - so much better than Larry."
"But if you feel this strongly about Chrissie with Larry, then why don't you break them up?" I said.
"Because, Kiara, I am not the type of sister who goes around breaking her siblings hearts. Besides, if I strode up to Chrissie and told her to break up with Larry, not only would she keep seeing him, but she would hate me for ever and never speak to me again, and I don't want that to happen." For a moment, a pained look shone in Sian's eyes, which she quickly recovered from, and continued, "No, I am going to let nature take its course with this one. Chrissie will soon realise that she made a mistake going out with him, but she'll be too much of a coward to end it, and in the end, I'll have to step in and be the one to break up with him for her!" Sian finished, smiling.
"You seem very confident about that," I told Sian.
"That's because I know Chrissie better than you do, Kiara," she said. When she next spoke, her tone was more serious. "Anyway, enough about Chrissie. You, Kiara, need to be careful."
"For the last time," I said, "I am not giving back this book, I've learned more from the Half-Blood Princess than Triphorm or Beadu have taught me in - "
"I'm not talking about your stupid so-called Princess," said Sian, giving my book a nasty look as though it had been rude to her, "I'm talking about earlier. You see, Kiara, Chris told me earlier on today that he went into a boys' bathroom before Arithmancy, where he found at least a dozen boys in there, including Ronnie Vaughn, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion. They're all hoping they're going to get you take them to Beadu's party and they all seem to have bought Tanya and Geri's love potions, which I'm afraid to say probably work - "
"Did Chris confiscate them, then?" I demanded.
"No. It wasn't that he didn't want to," Sian added quickly, seeing that I was about to interrupt her, "it was that the boys didn't have the potions with them in the bathroom. They were just discussing tactics, from what Chris told me. As I doubt whether the Half-Blood Princess," she gave the book another nasty look, "could dream up an antidote for a dozen different love potions at once, I'd just invite someone to go with you - that'll stop all the others thinking they've still got a chance. It's tomorrow night, they're getting desperate."
"There isn't anyone I want to invite," I mumbled, still trying not to think about Chris any more than I could help, despite the fact that he kept cropping up in my dreams in ways that made me devoutly thankful that Chrissie could not perform Legilimency.
"Well, just be careful what you drink, because from what Chris told me, Ronnie Vaughn looked like he meant business," said Sian grimly.
She hitched up the long roll of parchment on which she was writing her Ancient Runes essay and continued to scratch away with her quill. I watched her with my mind a long way away.
"Hang on a moment," I said slowly. "I thought Match had banned anything bought at Fangs' Friendly Funnies?"
"And when has anyone ever paid attention to what Match has banned?" asked Sian, still concentrating on her essay.
"But I thought all the owls were being searched? So how come these boys are able to bring love potions into school?"
"Tanya and Geri send them disguised as perfumes and cough potions," said Sian. "It's part of their Owl Order Service."
"You know a lot about it."
Sian gave me the kind of nasty look she had just given my copy of Advanced Potion-Making.
"It was all on the back of the bottles they showed my siblings in the summer, they told me," she said coldly. "I don't go around putting potions in people's drinks ... or pretending to, either, which is just as bad ..."
"Yeah, well, never mind that," I said quickly. "The point is, Match is being fooled, isn't he? These boys are getting stuff into the school disguised as something else! So why couldn't Malty have brought the necklace into the school - ?"
"Oh, Kiara ... not that again ..."
"Come on, why not?" I demanded.
"Look," sighed Sian, "Secrecy Sensors detect jinxes, curses and concealment charms, don't they? They're used to find Dark magic and Dark objects. They'd have picked up a powerful curse, like the one on that necklace, within seconds. But something that's just been put in the wrong bottle wouldn't register - and anyway, love potions aren't Dark or dangerous - "
"Easy for you to say," I muttered, thinking of Ronnie Vaughn.
" - so it would be down to Match to realise it wasn't a cough potion, and he's not a very good wizard, I doubt he can tell one potion from - "
Sian stopped dead; I heard it too. Somebody had moved close behind us among the dark bookshelves. We waited and a moment later the vulture-like countenance of Sir Pincer appeared round the corner, his sunken cheeks, his skin like parchment and his long hooked nose illuminated unflatteringly by the lamp he was carrying.
"The library is now closed," he said. "Mind you return anything you have borrowed to the correct - what have you been doing to that book, you depraved girl?"
"It isn't the library's, it's mine!" I said hastily, snatching my copy of Advanced Potion-Making off the table as he lunged for it with a clawlike hand.
"Despoiled!" he hissed. "Desecrated! Befouled!"
"It's just a book that's been written in!" I said, tugging it out of his grip.
He looked as though he might have had a seizure; Sian, who had hastily packed her things, grabbed me by the arm and frogmarched me away.
"He'll ban you from the library if you're not careful. Why did you have to bring that stupid book?"
"It's not my fault he's barking mad, Sian. Or d'you think he overheard me being rude about Match? I've always thought there might be something going on between them ..."
"Oh, ha, ha ..."
Enjoying the fact that we could speak normally again, Sian and I made our way along the deserted, lamp-lit corridors back to the common room, arguing about whether or not Match and Sir Pincer were secretly in love with each other.
"Baubles," I said to the Fat Lord, this being the new, festive password.
"Same to you," said the Fat Lord with a roguish grin, and he swung forwards to admit us.
"Hi, Kiara!" said Ronnie Vaughn, the moment I had climbed through the portrait hole. "Fancy a Gillywater?"
Sian gave me a "What-did-I-tell-you?" look over her shoulder.
"No thanks," I said quickly. "I don't like it much."
"Well, take these anyway," said Ronnie, thrusting a box into my hands. "Chocolate Cauldrons, they've got Firewhisky in them. My granddad sent them to me, but I don't like them."
"Oh - right - thanks a lot," I said, not knowing of what else to say. "Er - I'm just going over here with ..."
I hurried off behind Sian, my voice tailing away feebly.
"Told you," said Sian succinctly. "Sooner you ask someone, sooner they'll leave you alone and you can - "
But her face suddenly darkened; she had just spotted Chrissie and Larry who were entwined in the same armchair.
"Well, goodnight, Kiara," said Sian, though it was only seven o'clock in the evening, and she went up the stairs to the dormitories without another word.
I went to bed comforting myself that there was only one more day of lessons to struggle through, plus Beadu's party, after which Chris, Sian, Chrissie, the rest of the Dawsons and I would depart for Dawson Manor. It now seemed impossible that Chris and Sian would make up with Chrissie before the holidays began, but perhaps, somehow, the break would give them time to calm down, think better of their behaviour ...
But my hopes were not high, and they sank still lower after enduring Transfiguration with Sian and Chrissie the next day (Chris was standing with Dena). We had just embarked upon the immensely difficult topic of human Transfiguration; working in front of mirrors, we were supposed to be changing the colour of our own eyebrows. Sian laughed unkindly at Chrissie's disastrous first attempt, during which she somehow managed to give herself a spectacular mon-brow; Chrissie retaliated by doing a cruel but accurate impression of Sian jumping up and down in her seat every time Professor Darbus asked a question, which Larry and Perry both found deeply amusing and which reduced Sian to the verge of tears again. She raced out of the classroom on the bell, leaving half her things behind; deciding that her need was greater than Chrissie's just then, I scooped up her remaining possessions and followed her.
I finally tracked her down as she emerged from a girls' bathroom on the floor below. She was accompanied by Kestrel, who was patting her vaguely on the back, and close behind them stood Lincoln Lovedream, who was looking on with interest.
"Oh, hello, Kiara," said Lincoln. "Did you know one of your eyebrows is bright yellow?"
"Hi, Lincoln. Hi, Kestrel. Sian, you left your stuff ..."
I held out her books.
"Oh, yes," said Sian in a choked voice, taking her things and turning away quickly to hide the fact that she was wiping her eyes on her pencil case. "Thank you, Kiara. Well, I'd better get going ..."
And she hurried off, without giving me any time to offer her words of comfort or a hug.
"She's a bit upset," said Kestrel. "I thought at first it was Old Moany, which I know seems odd as he haunts a boys' bathroom, but it turned out to be Sian. She said something about Chrissie ..."
"Yeah, they've had a squabble," I said.
Kestrel sighed deeply and said, "She doesn't know when to give up sometimes, Chrissie does. She tries to be funny, but sometimes she takes things a little too far."
"I agree with you, Kestrel," said Lincoln, as the three of us set off down the corridor together. "She can be a bit unkind at times. I noticed that last year."
"I s'pose," I said. Lincoln was demonstrating his usual knack of speaking uncomfortable truths; I have never met anyone quite like him. "So have you had a good term?"
"Oh, it's been all right," said Lincoln. "A bit lonely without the C.A. Kestrel's been nice, though. She stopped two girls in our Transfiguration class calling me "Loony" the other day - "
"How would you like to come to Beadu's party with me tonight?"
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them; I heard myself say them as though it were a stranger speaking.
Lincoln turned his protuberant eyes upon me in surprise.
"Beadu's party? With you?"
"Yeah," I said. "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like ... I mean ..." I was keen to make my intentions perfectly clear. "I mean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to ..."
I was already half-hoping that he didn't want to.
"Oh, no, I'd love to go with you as friends!" said Lincoln, beaming as I had never seen him beam before. "Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as a friend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrows, for the party? Should I do mine, too?"
"No," I said firmly, "that was a mistake, I'll get Sian to put it right for me. So, I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at eight o'clock tonight, then."
"AHA!" screamed a voice from overhead and the three of us jumped; unnoticed by any of us, we had just passed right underneath Weeves, who was hanging upside-down from a chandelier, grinning maliciously at us.
"Pridey asked Loony to go to the party! Pridey loves Loony! Pridey Luuuuurves LooooooonY!"
And she zoomed away, cackling and shrieking, "Pridey loves Loony!"
"Nice to keep things private," I said. And sure enough, in no time at all the whole school seemed to know that I was taking Lincoln Lovedream to Beadu's party.
"You could've taken anyone!" said Chrissie in disbelief over dinner. "Anyone! And you chose Loony Lovedream?"
"Don't you call him that, Chrissie," snapped Kestrel, pausing behind me on her way to join her friends. "I'm really glad you're taking him, Kiara, he's so excited."
And she moved on down the table, passing Chris who was sat with Dena. I tried to feel pleased that I was taking Lincoln to the party, but I could not quite manage it. A long way along the table, Sian was sitting alone, playing with her stew. I then noticed Chrissie looking at her furtively.
"You could say sorry," I suggested bluntly.
"What, and get attacked by another flock of canaries?" muttered Chrissie.
"What did you have to imitate her for?"
"She laughed at my mono-brow!"
"So did I, it was the stupidest thing I've ever seen."
But Chrissie did not seem to have heard; Larry had just arrived with Perry. Squeezing himself in between Chrissie and I, Larry grabbed Chrissie's face and started kissing her enthusiastically.
"Hi, Kiara," said Perry, who, like me, looked faintly embarrassed and bored by the behaviour of our two friends.
"Hi," I said. "How're you? You're staying at Dragon Mort, then? I heard your parents wanted you to leave."
"I managed to talk them out of it for the time being," said Perry. "That Keith thing really freaked them out, but as there hasn't been anything since ... oh, hi, Sian!"
Perry grinned nervously. I could tell that he was feeling guilty for having laughed at Sian in Transfiguration. I looked around and saw that Sian was beaming at him. I think she was trying to hide her pain in front of Chrissie, but what do I know?
"Hi, Perry!" said Sian, ignoring Chrissie and Larry completely. "Are you going to Beadu's party tonight?"
"No invite," said Perry gloomily. "I'd love to go, though, it sounds like it's going to be really good ... you're going, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm meeting Kopa at eight and we're - "
There was a noise like a plunger being withdrawn from a blocked sink and Chrissie surfaced. Sian acted as though she had not seen or heard anything, though I saw a flicker of disgust pass over her.
" - we're going up to the party together."
"Kopa ... as in, Kovu Outsider's brother? You two are still together?" said Perry.
"Oh - yes - didn't you know?" said Sian, with a most un-Sian-ish giggle. "I wrote to him a few weeks ago, asking him if he would like to be my date, and he agreed. I'm so happy he's coming tonight, for not only is he a good man, he's also a good brother, who treats his siblings with the respect they deserve." She glared at Chrissie, before turning back to Perry. "Well, see you ... got to go and get ready for the party ..."
She shot another glare at Chrissie and left. Larry and Perry sat there, looking stunned at each other. Chrissie looked strangely blank and said nothing. I was left to ponder in silence at the depths to which sisters would sink to get revenge.
Sian had designed our dresses for the night. Mine was medium gold, which reached just below my knee and had a sweetheart neckline. The sleeves reached to my elbows and I wore flat black pumps. I decided to put my hair in a ponytail for the night and the only makeup I wore was lipstick, blusher and mascara (you'll find out what Sian was wearing shortly).
When I arrived in the Entrance Hall at eight o'clock that night, I found an unusually large number of boys lurking there, all of whom seemed to be staring at me resentfully as I approached Lincoln. He was wearing a set of spangled silver robes that was attracting a certain amount of giggling and strange looks from onlookers, but otherwise he looked quite nice. I was glad, in any case, that he had left off his radish earrings, his Butterbeer-cork necklace and his Spectrespecs.
"Hi," I said. "Shall we get going, then?"
"Oh, yes," he said happily. "Where is the party?"
"Beadu's office," I said, leading him up the marble staircase away from all the staring and muttering. "Did you hear, there's supposed to be a vampire coming?"
"Rowena Scrimwazz?" asked Lincoln.
"I - what?" I said, disconcerted. "You mean the Minister for Magic?"
"Yes, she's a vampire," said Lincoln matter-of-factly. "Mammy wrote a very long article about it when Scrimwazz first took over from Cornelia Sweets, but she was forced not to publish it by somebody from the Ministry. Obviously, they didn't want the truth to get out!"
I thought it most unlikely that Rowena Scrimwazz was a vampire, but I was used to Lincoln repeating his mother's bizarre views as though they were fact by this point, so I chose not to reply; we were already approaching Beadu's office and the sounds of laughter, music and loud conversation grew louder with every step we took.
Whether it had been built that way, or because she had used magical trickery to make it so, Beadu's office was much larger than the usual teacher's study. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson and gold hangings, so that it looked like we were all inside a vast tent. The room was crowded and stuffy and bathed in red light cast by an ornate golden lamp dangling from the centre of the ceiling in which real fairies were fluttering, each a brilliant speck of light. Loud singing accompanied by what sounded like mandolins issued from a distant corner; a haze of pipe smoke hung over several elderly warlocks deep in conversation, and a number of house-elves were negotiating their way squeakily through the forest of knees, obscured by the heavy platters of food they were bearing, so that they looked like little roving tables.
"Kiara, m'girl!" beamed Beadu, almost as soon as Lincoln and I had squeezed through the door. "Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!"
Beadu was wearing robes of deep purple that were embroidered with gold around the hem with a high black collar, which made her neck look longer, and thereby making her look more spiderlike than ever. Gripping my arm so tightly she might have been hoping to Disapparate with me, Beadu led me purposefully into the party; I seized Lincoln's hand and dragged him along with me.
"Kiara, I'd like you to meet Edith Ward, and old student of mine, author of Blood Sisters: My Life Amongst the Vampiric Sisterhood - and, of course, her friend Sabeen."
Ward, who was a small, bespectacled woman, grabbed my hand and shook it enthusiastically; the vampire Sabeen, who was tall and emaciated with dark shadows under her eyes, merely nodded. She looked rather bored. As boys passed us, some caught Sabeen's eye and she eyed them with interest.
"Kiara Pride-Lander, I am simply delighted!" said Ward, peering short-sightedly up into my face. "I was saying to Professor Beadu only the other day, Where is the biography of Kiara Pride-Lander for which we have all been waiting?"
"Er," I said, "were you?"
"Just as modest as Arachne described!" said Ward. "But seriously - " her manner changed; it became suddenly businesslike, "I would be delighted to write it myself - people are craving to know more about you, dear girl, craving! If you were prepared to grant me a few interviews, say in four- or five-hour sessions, why, we could have the book finished within months. And all with very little effort on your part, I assure you - ask Sabeen here if she isn't quite - Sabeen, stay here!" added Ward, suddenly stern, for the vampire had been edging towards a handsome boy, who stood there, transfixed, as Sabeen's had a hungry look in them. "Here, have a pasty," said Ward, seizing one from a passing elf and stuffing it into Sabeen's hand before turning her attention back on me.
"My dear girl, the gold you could make, you have no idea - "
"I'm definitely not interested," I said firmly, "and I've just seen a friend of mine, sorry."
I pulled Lincoln after me into the crowd; I had indeed seen a girl with long brown hair on the arm of a tall man whose face was covered in cloths disappear between what looked like two members of The Jinxters.
"Sian! Kopa!"
They turned around when they heard me. Sian wore an ice blue dress with short straps and a square neckline, and the skirt came to just above her knees. She wore flat silver shoes, put on very little makeup and her hair was down. She and Kopa smiled at me as Lincoln and I approached; I could tell that Kopa was smiling because his familiar eyes sparkled like liquid amber.
"Kiara, there you are! I'm glad to see you here! Kopa and I were just talking about finding you!"
"Indeed we were!" said Kopa jovially, holding out a hand for me to shake. "It is good to see you again, Kiara."
"Yeah, you too," I said, taking his hand and shaking it. "So, how're things with you? How's Kovu?"
"I am well, thank you, as is my brother, who is enjoying being out of Uagadou because his mind is fully focused on Quidditch training for the South African Quidditch team. He is currently doing advertisements for certain things and he met someone - a girl who was at one of his photo shoots - who he is currently dating."
"Wow, good for him," I said. I then turned to Sian. "So Sian, have you told Kopa the reason why you invited him - the real reason?"
Kopa looked at Sian, his gaze confused. "What does she mean by that, Sian? The real reason?"
Sian sighed and said, "Look, I was going to invite Chrissie, but then she got all in my face about it, and then she started insulting me for no good reason, before she got herself a boyfriend, who is not good for her, and now it's uncomfortable for me to be around them, not just because whenever they're together they can't keep their hands off each other, but also because every time I see Chrissie now ... it hurts."
Sian looked straight at Kopa, her eyes begging him to forgive her, and all Kopa did was put his arms around her for a few minutes, before Lincoln said, "You make a great couple; your auras blend together well. The love that you have for each other is a very beautiful thing to see."
Sian lifted her head from Kopa's chest, looked at Lincoln, beamed and said, "Thank you, Lincoln." Then she said to all of us, "Shall we get drinks, then?"
Kopa, Lincoln and I nodded and the four of us made our way over to the other side of the room, scooping up goblets of mead on the way, realising too late that Professor Crystals was standing there alone.
"Hello," said Lincoln politely to Professor Crystals.
"Good evening, my dear," said Professor Crystals, focusing upon Lincoln with some difficulty. I could smell cooking sherry again. "I haven't seen you in my classes lately."
"No, I've got Fauna this year," said Lincoln.
"Oh, of course," said Professor Crystals with an angry, drunken chortle. "Or Froufrou as I prefer to think of her. You would have thought, would you not, that now I am returned to the school Professor Crighton might have got rid of the horse? But no ... we share classes ... it's an insult, frankly, an insult. Do you know ..."
Professor Crystals seemed too tipsy to have recognise me. Under cover of his furious criticism of Fauna, I drew closer to Sian and said, so low that Kopa couldn't hear her, "Let's get something straight. Are you planning to tell Chrissie that you interfered at Keeper tryouts?"
Sian raised her eyebrows.
"Do you really think I'd stoop that low?"
I looked at her shrewdly.
"Sian, if you can ask out Kopa - "
"There's a difference," said Sian with dignity. "I've got no plans to tell Chrissie anything about what might, or might not, have happened at Keeper tryouts."
"Good," I said fervently. "Because she'll just fall apart again and we'll lose the next match - "
"Oh, for God's sake, Kiara, there are more important things than Quidditch to think about in this world, you know!" Sian burst out angrily. "Come on, Kopa!"
She grabbed his arm and dragged him through the crowd, moving so fast it was as though they had Disapparated; one moment they were there, the next they had squeezed between two chortling wizards and vanished. I then turned quickly to join in Lincoln's conversation, forgetting for a split second to whom he was talking.
"Kiara Pride-Lander!" said Professor Crystals in deep, vibrant tones, noticing me for the first time.
"Oh, hello," I said unenthusiastically.
"My dear girl!" he said in a very carrying whisper. "The rumours! The stories! The Chosen One! Of course, I have known for a very long time ... the omens were never good, Kiara ... but why have you not returned to Divination? For you, of all people, the subject is of the utmost importance!"
"Ah, Cyril, we all think our subject's the most important!" said a loud voice, and Beadu appeared at Professor Crystals' other side, her face rosy, her velvet hat a little askew, a glass of mead in one hand and a mince pie in the other. "But I don't think I've ever known such a natural at Potions!" said Beadu, regarding me with a fond, if bloodshot, eye. "Instinctive, you know - like her father! I've only ever taught a few with this kind of ability, I can tell you that, Cyril - why, even Tiana - "
And to my horror, Beadu threw out a long arm and seemed to scoop Triphorm out of thin air towards us.
"Stop skulking and come and join us, Tiana!" hiccoughed Beadu happily. "I was just talking about Kiara's exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of course, you taught her for five years!"
Trapped, with Beadu's arm around her shoulders, Triphorm looked down her hooked nose at me, her icy-blue eyes narrowed.
"Funny, I never had the impression that I managed to teach Pride-Lander anything at all."
"Well, then, it's natural ability!" shouted Beadu. "You should have seen what she gave me, first lesson, the Draught of Living Death - never had a student produced finer on a first attempt, I don't think even you, Tiana - "
"Really?" said Triphorm quietly, her eyes still boring into mine, and I felt a certain disquiet; the last thing I wanted was for Triphorm to start investigating the source of my new-found brilliance at Potions.
"Remind me what other subjects you're taking, Kiara?" asked Beadu.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology ..."
"All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror," said Triphorm, with the faintest sneer.
"Yeah, well, that's what I'd like to be," I said defiantly.
"And a great one you'll make, too!" boomed Beadu.
"I don't think you should be an Auror, Kiara," said Lincoln unexpectedly. We all looked at him. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're working from within to bring down the Ministry of Magic using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."
I inhaled half my mead up my nose as I started to laugh. Really, it had been worth bringing Lincoln just for this. Emerging from my goblet, coughing, sopping wet but still grinning, I saw something calculated to raise my spirits even higher: Dani Malty being dragged by the ear towards us by Douglas Match.
"Professor Beadu," wheezed Match, his jowls aquiver and the maniacal light of mischief-detection in his bulging eyes, "I discovered this girl lurking in an upstairs corridor. She claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue her an invitation?"
Malty pulled herself free of Match's grip, looking furious.
"All right, I wasn't invited!" she said angrily. "I was trying to gate crash, happy?"
"No, I'm not!" said Match, a statement at complete odds with the glee on his face. "You're in trouble, you are! Didn't the Headmistress say that night-time prowling's out, unless you've got permission, didn't she, eh?"
"That's all right, Douglas, that's all right," said Beadu, waving a hand. "It's Christmas, and it's not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once, we'll forget any punishment; you may stay, Danielle."
Match's expression of outraged disappointment was perfectly predictable; but why, I wondered, watching her, did Malty look almost unequally unhappy? And why was Triphorm looking at Malty as though both angry and ... was it possible? ... a little afraid?
But almost before I had registered what I had seen, Match had turned and shuffled away, muttering under his breath; Malty had composed her face into a smile and was thanking Beadu for her generosity, and Triphorm's face was smoothly inscrutable again.
"It's nothing, nothing," said Beadu, waving away Malty's thanks. "I did know your grandmother, after all ..."
"She always spoke very highly of you, ma'am," said Malty quickly. "Said you were the best potion-maker she'd ever known ..."
I stared at Malty. It was not the sucking up that intrigued me; I had watched Malty do that to Triphorm for a long time. It was the fact that Malty did, after all, look a little ill. This was the first time I had seen Malty close up for ages; I now saw that Malty had dark shadows under her eyes and a distinctly greyish tinge to her skin.
"I'd like a word with you, Dani," said Triphorm suddenly.
"Oh, now, Tiana," said Beadu, hiccoughing again, "it's Christmas, don't be too hard - "
"I'm her Head of House, and I shall decide how hard, or otherwise, to be," said Triphorm curtly. "Follow me, Dani."
They left, Triphorm leading the way, Malty looking resentful. I stood there for a moment, irresolute, then said, "I'll be back in a bit, Lincoln - er - bathroom."
"All right," he said cheerfully, and I thought I heard him, as I hurried off into the crowd, resume the subject of the Rotfang Conspiracy with Professor Crystals, who seemed sincerely interested.
It was easy, once out of the party, for me to pull my Invisibility Cloak out of my pocket and throw it over myself, for the corridor was quite deserted. What was more difficult was finding Triphorm and Malty. I ran down the corridor, the noise of my feet masked by the music and loud talk still issuing from Beadu's office behind me. I thought of all the places Triphorm would take Malty in the castle: perhaps in her office ... or perhaps she was escorting her back to the Snake-Eyes common room ... but I pressed my ear against door after door as I dashed down the corridor until, with a great jolt of excitement, I crouched down to the keyhole of the last classroom in the corridor and heard voices.
" ... cannot afford to make mistakes, Dani, because if you are expelled - "
"I didn't have anything to do with it, all right?"
"I hope you are telling the truth, because it was both clumsy and foolish. Already you are suspected of having a hand in it."
"Who suspects me?" said Malty angrily. "For the last time, I didn't do it, OK? That Ball boy must have had an enemy no one knows about - don't look at me like that! I know what you're doing, I'm not stupid, but it won't work - I can stop you!"
There was a pause and then Triphorm said quietly, "Ah ... Aunt Katalina has been teaching you Occlumency, I see. What thoughts are you trying to conceal from your mistress, Dani?"
"I'm not trying to conceal anything from her, I just don't want you butting in!"
I pressed my ear still more closely against the keyhole ... what had happened to make Malty speak to Triphorm like this, Triphorm, towards whom she had always shown respect, even liking?
"So that is why you have been avoiding me this term? You have feared my interference? You realise that, had anybody else failed to come to my office when I had told them repeatedly to be there, Dani - "
"So put me in detention! Report me to Crighton!" sneered Malty.
There was another pause. Then Triphorm said, "You know perfectly well that I do not wish to do either of those things."
"You'd better stop telling me to come to your office, then!"
"Listen to me," said Triphorm, her voice so low now that I had to push my ear very hard against the keyhole to hear. "I am trying to help you. I swore to your father that I would protect you. I made the Unbreakable Vow, Dani - "
"Looks like you'll have to break it, then, because I don't need your protection! It's my job, she gave it to me and I'm doing it. I've got a plan and it's going to work, it's just taking a bit longer than I thought it would!"
"What is your plan?"
"It's none of your business!"
"If you tell me what you're trying to do, I can assist you - "
"I've got all the assistance I need, thanks, I'm not alone!"
"You were certainly alone tonight, which was foolish in the extreme, wandering around the corridors without lookouts or backup. These are elementary mistakes - "
"I would've had Crate and Gabber with me if you hadn't put them in detention!"
"Keep your voice down!" spat Triphorm, for Malty's voice had risen excitedly. "If your friends Crate and Gabber intend to pass their Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. this time around, they will need to work a little harder than they are doing at pres- "
"What does it matter?" said Malty. "Defence Against the Dark Arts - it's all just a joke, isn't it, an act? Like any of us needs protecting against the Dark Arts - "
"It is an act that is crucial to success, Dani!" said Triphorm. "Where do you think I would have been all these years, if I had not known how to act? Now listen to me! You are being incautious, wandering around at night, getting yourself caught, and if you're placing your reliance on assistants like Crate and Gabber - "
"They're not the only ones, I've got other people on my side, better people!"
"Then why not confide in me, and I can - "
"I know what you're up to! You want to steal my glory!"
There was another pause, then Triphorm said coldly, "You are speaking like a child! I quite understand that your mother's capture and imprisonment has upset you, but - "
I had barely a second's warning: I heard Malty's footsteps on the other side of the door and I flung myself out of the way just as it burst open; Malty was striding along down the corridor, past the open door of Beadu's office, round the distant corner and out of sight. Hardly daring to breathe, I remained crouched down as Triphorm emerged slowly from the classroom. Her expression unfathomable, she returned to the party. I remained on the floor, hidden beneath the Cloak, my mind racing.