Yayyyyyy! Just on time! Told you I would make it. I'm a little bit late because I had to translate the Sorting Hat's song, which isn't a piece of cake when you're not 100% comfortable with the language! But I did it, and I'm proud of it!

Enjoy this new chapter!

3. A Japanese, an Irish.

When the doors closed, announcing the departure of the train, and the red locomotive doubled its speed, spitting out curls of white smoke that drowned the noisy quay, Kate moved forward into the carriage while it was starting to slowly slide on the rails. A few compartments later, she found Maggie and Terry who were discussing about the young girl's defeat to the deal made on the quay. She didn't seem to see her friend behind the sliding glass door.

'That's completely impossible she's wearing green!' she was bawling, red with rage. 'I know her, Kate Whisper! I share a room with her! I know what's in her luggage! Purple, red, black, grey, at a pinch light blue. But she NEVER wears green! Why would she wear it today? Tell him, Kate!'

Apparently, Maggie did see her! Kate had a hiccup when she met her friend's furious eyes and opened the door. However, her temper tantrums didn't miss to make her smile.

'Tell him!'
'It was a stroke of luck!' she assured while shrugging her shoulders. 'You know, my mother buys me new clothes during summer!'
'You didn't have any hole in your socks last year and you didn't change your shoes either, your feet didn't grow... So why would she buy you a new pair?!'

When she was losing her temper, Maggie's potential of deduction was particularly redoubtable. Her dishonesty had something to do with it too; she would always find a reason to prove that the others were wrong.

'My mother isn't allowed to buy me socks?' wondered Kate, still standing in the doorframe, while the train was leaving London.
'In this case, no, it destabilized my forecasts!'
'Hmm. I see... And what was the bet about, this time?'
'You know that Ginny Weasley isn't at Hogwarts anymore?' started Terry, smiling from ear to ear.
'Yes, I know. What does this have to do with Maggie?'
'There is no longer any Seeker in the Gryffindor team...'
'And so...?'

The time she pronounced those words, Kate's thoughts assembled in her head while her eyes alternatively looked Terry and Maggie. Her mouth forming an "o", she exclaimed with a high-pitched voice:

'Maggie's going to apply for the post?!'
'I wasn't planning to, basically!' grumbled Maggie, sulking on her seat.
'Trials are in October. I don't want to miss the chance to see her trying to catch a Snitch in front of everyone!'
'Know that I'm quite good!' she defended herself, arms crossed, with a smirk. 'If you were counting on humiliating me, you're whistling up the wrong neck of the wand!'

However, Kate put aside her excitement, showed a brief smile and took a more serious expression:

'I'm coming back later. But... I have to find Eliot.'
'Who's that?' eructated Maggie in a not very elegant way, unfitting to her usual manners.
'Her cousin', answered Terry in a lower tone to make her understand they were tackling a sensitive subject about which it wasn't appropriate to talk in that tone.
'Oh! I thought you found a new one to your liking!'

She reacted just a few seconds after, opening wide eyes:

'Cousin?! Your cousin?! Eliot, your cousin?!'
'You take time to catch sometimes...' Terry joked.
'I'll explain tonight, in the dormitory', sighed Kate.

Without any more words, the young girl went out to search for her cousin. In the corridor, Marvin Ledger was testing some shrieking darts to scare the girls in the compartments, until sixth years Hufflepuffs decided to chase him after they screamed, terrified. Kate didn't talk to that boy, even though he was in her year. She had had the occasion to share a few words with his twin, Phyllis, during classes, but Ravenclaw girls weren't renowned for their loquacity. The twins seemed to be the opposite: the girl never was far from her bunch of friends but was hiding behind a timidity that seemed insurmountable, whereas the boy, even though a loner, never missed an occasion of being noticed. Somehow, Kate couldn't help but making a connection with her father.
She found Eliot, alone in one of the compartments, his eyes fixed on the forest landscape passing by the window.

'Eliot...?'

Her cousin, too obsessed by his thoughts, didn't answer nor react, his gaze lost outside. So Kate approached him and sat in front of him. Joining her hands and biting her lower lip, she thought about the best way to talk to the young man who, yet, was part of her family. Why was it so hard to reconnect with him, while he always was much more sociable beforehand? For sure, Eliot had always been a sidehead kid, but he never depreciated a conversation.

'Are you... okay?'
'I am', he sighed not very sincere.
'Why are you staying alone? It makes me sad...'
'That's nice but you don't have to worry, Kate.'
'You sure have friends in that train. Who don't know you're here! What if we go and surprise them?'
'I'm not much into the revenant joke', he chuckled.
'That's not a joke! I'm sure they will be happy to see you again. Come on, please, I'll come with you!'

As soon as she finished her sentence, she got up on her feet in a jump, emboldened with a new courage and encouraged Eliot to do the same. The latter, resigned, sighed before following his cousin into the browsing of the train. Kate's touching naivety that characterized her so much resurfaced as the young girl consulted the people in each compartment, asking them in a charming smile, still lacking of harmony in the arrangement of her teeth, if they knew Eliot. Some Slytherins laughed at her without even answering her, before getting into imitations of her. Other Gryffindors advised her to ask to Hufflepuffs, who had more chances to know the young man who was belonging to their house.
An inopportune encounter made Kate grimace as she saw further, Juffbigles busy handing over candies – which he certainly provided himself by some illegal means –, in exchange of Chocolate Frogs' cards. Out of the question to backtrack. And as she expected, the plump boy with heavy eyes approached her with his usual apathetic look:

'Hey, Whisper! It's been a long time!'
'Yes, yes, Juffbigles, since June, indeed', smiled Kate, hoping to hide her annoyance.
'I have Fizzing Whizzbees, far less expensive than this vulture's ones with her trolley. You want some?'
'No, sorry, I... already bought her candies!' she lied, trying to escape his attention. 'Another time!'

Eliot, who was following Kate in an uncommitted step, went past Juffbigles, who was twenty inches smaller than him, and the latter couldn't help but react when he saw his badge sewn on his uniform:

'Hey man, you're in Hufflepuff? I do a discount for the people of my house! You want some Bertie Bott's beans, without the bad tastes?'
'Don't listen to him, lower your head and don't turn back!' whispered Kate, speeding up, hoping to shake him off.

The reunion kept on when Kate bumped into some other Gryffindor friends in another compartment: Scarlett was throwing candies to Moira, who was trying to catch them with her mouth, while Suzanna was photographing the scene.

'Merlin's pants, you managed to stuck it into my nose!' exclaimed Moira, half laughing, standing up on the seat.
'Are you coming to see Moira's death by candy?' joked Suzanna to greet her friend. 'Apparently it's painful...!'
'Sorry, sorry, sorry...!' apologized Scarlett, pale and feeling terribly guilty. 'I was trying to aim at your mouth!'
'Don't become a Chaser, Scarlett, ever! If you confuse a nose with a mouth, you could be able to do the same with Bludgers and Quaffles, without knowing how to aim!'

Kate's heart lightened with happiness thinking that she was about to carry on her studies with those girls to whom she had became attached. This second year will take place under the best auspices, she felt it.

'Eliot, let me introduce you Scarlett, Moira and Suzanna, who you may have seen at the Leaky Cauldron those past few days. They're my Gryffindor friends. We're in the same dormitory.'
'Hello', he greeted them without much eloquence.
'Girls, this is my cousin. He's back at Hogwarts!'
'Did you warn him about the crank we have as Transfiguration teacher since last year?' asked Moira, the bean still stuck in her nose.
'That's the first thing I told him.'
'At least he won't be surprised when Wolffhart turns him into a woolly billy goat because he wanted to reproduce a farmhouse in the classroom!'
'I'll be back later', finished Kate, regretting to put her friends aside in order to continue her searches.

Walking away, she overheard the last conversations: Moira, succeeding to pull the candy out of her nose, had handed it over Suzanna, maintaining that it was now booger taste certified; this earned her disgusted moans.

'You really don't recognize anyone since earlier?' wondered Kate while they were keeping on their exploration.
'I have vague memories of some faces... But, you know, people change in two years and a half. And I don't know everyone... I won't invent a friend just to please you and help you sleep well!'
'Eliot?'

The two cousins made a U-turn at the interpellation addressed to the eldest. In the corridor, a tall young man, dark hair and glasses on his long aquiline nose, was observing them with wide eyes. No doubt he knew Eliot. Or at least, his dazed gaze was suggesting it. Eliot's eyebrows frowned and he stammered:

'C-Clive?'

Without a warning, the newcomer rushed towards his friend and hugged him. Eliot didn't know how to share this embrace. In front of that scene, Kate's heart lightened and she gave an imperceptible sigh.

'I thought I wouldn't see you again!' exclaimed the surnamed Clive, whose naturally pale face was bringing out his surprised and touched emotions.
'M-me neither... With the war, I...'
'Enough talking about this, it's over. Eliot... Man! If you knew how much we worried about you!'

Without noticing Kate's presence, Eliot's long lost friend started to drag him with him, but the little girl decided to intervene:

'Excuse-me, I...'
'I already told your friends that the candy lady will arrive soon', he answered, annoyed and avid to talk in peace with Eliot. 'Go back to your compartment or you'll miss her!'
'She's my cousin', said Eliot, sharply. 'Don't talk to her like that!'
'Oh! Excuse-me! I had no idea! It's just... since I am prefect and we left London I'm getting harassed by first years, they only swear by that bloody trolley! If only they knew all the rubbish they put in those candies...'
'I'd like to talk to you, Clive', declared Kate without freaking out.

Disconcerted, the tall boy nodded, glanced one last time at Eliot before isolating with Kate between two carriages. Alone with the prefect, she noticed his badge indicating his house: Ravenclaw. She couldn't help but feeling proud of her cousin for sympathizing with members of other houses than his, which didn't seem to be obvious for a majority of students who became, in spite of themselves, quite sectarian.

'So... you're a friend of Eliot's.'
'That's right. And you're his cousin?'
'Kate.'
'Kate Burbage, if I'm right...'
'Whisper', she corrected, puffing out her chest. 'I'm a Whisper.'
'Oh!'

Clive exclamation made her jump.

'It was you, last year's girl with the Sorting Hat? Who had announced a new house?'
'Y-yes, it's me.'
'Clive Ollivander, to serve you.'

He reached out his hand with a wide clumsy smile and Kate had the feeling to be considered, for a short moment, as a little celebrity.

'Ollivander...' she repeated with a quivering smile as she shook hands with Clive. 'Like the wand maker?'
'He's my grandfather... But this is not the point.'
'It isn't, indeed. Listen, Clive... I...'

Not knowing where to start, Kate tangled her fingers while biting her lips.

'Are you aware? About what happened to Eliot.'
'We all learned for his mother who disappeared, he grimaced. Two years ago... But... we never really knew what happened to Eliot. We didn't see him again at school. As it was war... We assumed he took refuge, with his father, until the end, until the battle of Hogwarts. But he didn't come back... And he never sent me letters...'
'Eliot was at St Mungo's...'
'What?'
'He's been unconscious. For two years. It's only been three weeks since he woke up... He didn't know his parents didn't...'

In front of Clive's gaze, inside which was growing a shadow of sadness, Kate's words shirked on her tongue, leaving nothing but an awkward and sad silence.

'Take care of him, okay?' she squealed.
'I will, yes. Anyway... thank you for taking care of him like you do. He's lucky to have a cousin like you.'

After one last smile, Clive left the narrow, noisy place, bumped along by the rails. Kate stayed there, still, for a few minutes, lost in the vastness of her thoughts. Her gaze turned towards the window of the door as the Scottish forests were passing by under a threatening sky. In the course of an image, a landscape, the reflection of her own grey-green eyes imposed at her; accidental introspection. Until their colour turned darker and the lines of her eyes undulated, confronting her to a whole different look, which didn't belong to her. Like two dark sapphires inlayed in a pale, piercing box.
Retching, Kate made a U-turn in a hiccup of surprise. Yet, no one was standing behind her.

The Hogwarts Express' wheels screeched a long time on the Hogsmeade's rails. A pouring rain was falling down on the North of the country and the students were reluctant at the idea of going out of the carriages. Some of them were screaming, with discontent as much as joy of being finally here, running with their heads under their capes, while the most talented were using the Impervius charm.

'Firs' years!' rang out Hagrid's voice, his pink umbrella opened above his wild hair.

Kate jumped from the wagon to the quay and her shoes slammed on the wet floor. Behind her, Terry and Maggie came out too, the latter cursing the torrential rain that was compromising her nice, well-kept hairstyle, with wide curls.

'Where do we go?' worried Kate without points of reference.
'Follow the crowd', advised Terry. 'We don't take the boats anymore!'
'They're gonna sink with that water!' joked Maggie, trying to calm her anger. 'Tomorrow on the headlines: "Hogwarts: all first years, drowned in the lake"!'

They took the muddy path leading to the edge of the forest, keeping on their jokes and remembering last year's memories. Especially the moment when Kate nearly fell into the water, if it wasn't for Maggie who managed to catch her in time. Six by six, the students took place in big covered stagecoaches. Kate climbed first in one of them and settled down on the bench at her left; the seat at the front. Maggie and Terry took place near her, on the same bench, the young Gryffindor rushing inside and shoving her friend as if the rain had suddenly turned into acid.

'I hate rain!' she yelled. 'Look at my shoes! They're all dirty now! Such nice leather... ruined by mud!'

On the bench in front of them, three other students took place and Kate recognized the Ravenclaw boys who were in the same year as her: Emeric Beckett, fair-haired boy with glasses, the most brilliant of their class, Fergus Fittle, small, rounded face, a black mop of hair on his head and Dexter Doxmornt, a giant compared to his classmates however as fearful as a rabbit. Without saying a word, the six children shared briefs embarrassed smiles; fugitive and silent greetings. Even though they were together most of the time during classes, the different houses of Hogwarts were rarely fraternizing between one another like one single class. Except unique cases; like Kate or Terry, the latter having contacts in each house thanks to his natural sympathy. He was, in fact, the only one to know the Ravenclaw boys for having spoken with them at least once during last year; which wasn't the case for Kate, or for Maggie who was staring at them with a contemptuous look, pulling back on her cape to avoid a lout to ruin it with mud.
Then, the jaunting car started to move forward on the muddy paths that were leading to Hogwarts. Her curiosity aroused, Kate bent and pulled a piece of the dark cover, which yet wasn't wet, protected by a spell. But imagine her surprise as she expected to see horses... They certainly looked like horses, but black and emaciated. Their thin skin glistening under the rain, highlighting their bones and a pair of wings folded up on their sides. At their back, their long thin tails, ended by a tuft of hair, were swinging.

'What is that?!' she said in a hiccup after her heart jumped in her chest.

Hearing her, the five other students bent in turn and observed what caused Kate's surprise. Fergus opened wide eyes, giving him the look of an owl, Terry raised one eyebrow and Maggie snickered:

'There's nothing, Kate... They're invisible horses! Didn't you know?'
'In-invisible?!'

And as no one was retorting to Maggie's assertion, who seemed to be right, Kate folded back on her seat, confused. After one last look at those creatures she seemed to be the only one to see, she dropped the cover and listened with one offended ear the discussion between Maggie and Terry about that fact. However, another voice, whispering, broke her thoughts:

'I can see them too...'

Raising suddenly her head up, her eyes met Emeric's who had bent towards her to tell her this, in order to not be heard by the others.

'Y-you see them? Those black horses?'
'They're Thestrals.'

Kate took a moment of silence hearing Emeric's calm words, checking that the others weren't listening. After all those debates around her and Shatterfly, she didn't want to sound like a crazy person once more...

'Why do we see them? And the others don't...'

Emeric adopted a more sombre look, rather embarrassed, before getting into calm, whispered explanations:

'Thestrals are creatures of the dark and death. Before, it wasn't a good sign to see them...'
'Are we going to die, are we cursed?!' suddenly worried Kate, her whisper compromised by quavers.
'No, no! Don't panic! It's not that...! I mean... only people who saw someone die can see them...'

Kate's head turned towards the cover, as if she was going to see through it and observe again the stature of those disreputable beasts. Indeed, she had the occasion to see death. However, facing it was a still very vague memory; the one of the cellar in Graveson... She didn't want to see that unanimated corpse, lying in the dust of that dirty room anymore. Their aggressor. A Death Eater. The one that once was Morgana McNair's godfather.
But that also meant that Emeric himself had to assist to the death of someone too and now, the Ravenclaw boy was sharing her secret... Both of them retreated into silence, looking away from each other.

A feeling of uncontrollable joy took Kate when she climbed down the jaunting car and stepped the first stairs of Hogwarts leading to the Great Hall. The same frenzy was animating all the students, whatever their age, as amazed as if it was the first time they were discovering the place.
However, around Kate, were watching numerous suspicious looks at the memory of what happened last year. With one same question in all minds: will this mistake happen again?
Kate took place at the Gryffindors table with Maggie, waiting for the three other girls to join them. Observing her elders and schoolmates settling down, her gaze however stopped on Griffin Gale, on the other end of the table. The latter was sharing some jokes with his biggest friend, Ewan McAllister. Griffin always was a good talker, had appealing gestures, never hesitating to go towards others to chat. In a way, he was a leader, loved and confident. And this natural ease fascinated her.

'I think Kate has been cursed...'

Moira's voice diverted her from her contemplation and she noticed that all the Gryffindor girls were staring at her with the same wide smile that was saying much.
Her cheeks blushed with embarrassment.

'I-it's not true!' she denied.
'Yes, yes, of course', joked Suzanna. 'You look like Scarlett when she sees Crivey.'
'I don't know what you're talking about!' took offense the affected girl, tensing up on her seat.
'If I scream in order to make him come, do you think she'll say the same?' started to plot Moira.
'Y-you wouldn't dare!'
'You think? I may be a dwarf but I have the vocal cords of a troll!'
'Not only the vocal cords, if you ask me', added Maggie, who would never miss a chance to taunt Moira, with who she shared a fraternal rivalry relationship, punctuated by many snags.

Silence fell by itself when the first years entered the Great Hall. Most of the students were whispering about their feelings or encouraging a brother or a sister with a look, others, more childish, were impersonating the most noticeable ones, like this little boy with an already well chubby belly for his young age, moving forward in a strange walk, like if his legs were made of wood.

'When I think that last year, we were as ridiculous as them today', whispered Maggie. 'Fortunately, ridicule never killed anyone.'
'I don't see what's ridicule in this', smiled Kate, moved by all those students, barely younger than her, still timid and their heads full of hopes.

Just like the previous year, it was professor Flitwick who was leading the troop, before he climbed on the stage in front of the professors' table. Kate reviewed the teachers: Harry Potter had graced them of his presence and was whispering some words to his friend, Neville Longbottom. If the latter had made the effort of wearing a nice wizard robe, like some older professors, the wizard who saved the world seemed to have neglected his outfit, more common. Sinistra Aurora, their astronomy teacher, was still wearing a long pointed hat, Slughorn was displaying a shirt testifying his doubtful tastes, striped with green and brown, with leather suspenders on his large shoulders, emphasizing the imposing curve of his paunch, McGonagall, in her headmistress chair, dressed up in green, stone-faced, Hagrid was true to himself, with his new ferret fur collar, Mrs Hooch still seemed so stiff, other professors Kate didn't know and who taught to superior years and, finally, Wolffhart as if eternity itself couldn't alter his straight bearing in his felt coat enhanced by his bright red scarf and his completely closed face under his thick grey hair.
Yet, all the room's attention was focused on the Sorting Hat, standing on his three-legged stool, who declaimed his song as soon as everyone went silent:

Time of respite, time of peace,
Except for you, students of Hogwarts
Because this place didn't decrepit,
It's now time for me to do what's smart...
Many were those who had passed under my throat,
And all of them joined the ranks of classes.
They proved themselves patient and bold
And for knowledge's sake, always wanted to practise.
Because with youth, the promise of a future world is forming,
Everyone has to seize his chance to be part of it.
This is the adventure of your life's beginning
And weapons of knowledge will help you through it.

So had spoken the four founders,
Wizards with immortal emblems,
And their proverbs, of which they're authors,
Must resound at your ears in those terms:
Gryffindor praised courage at its best,
Paragon of bravery and loyalty
Always use these qualities and assets
In order to win success and kindness' key.
Ravenclaw preferred to shine with her spirit,
Never stopped her spurts of creativity,
Learn, work, never demerit
And use intelligence in each activity.
Hufflepuff was showing humanity,
A golden heart opened up to beings,
She never feared an ounce of futility
And took the fruits of her altruism.
Above all this, Slytherin preferred cunning
And shine like a star in the dark.
To him, ambition wasn't intruding
In order to make his mark.

But remember, dear students:
Without help, they wouldn't have succeeded,
Without values, dreams or implements.
Unity is strength that cannot be defeated
From the moment you open up to people
And your knowledge decuple.

The students' applauses ended an entire minute later, as Suzanna shared her feelings with her schoolmates:

'Well… I preferred last year's one! I have the feeling that he's just trying to repeat to us that we're about to work, work, work and that's all that matter anyway!'
'We have to work, it's normal, we're in a school!' reminded Scarlett, the most serious of the five.

Finishing applauding in a slow, weary way, Maggie bent towards Kate:

'However, he didn't even mention Shatterfly. Do you think it's because he didn't find a rhyme with butterfly?'
'I think he went mad last year and now he recovered', squeaked the nominee.

Deep inside, Kate had had this small hope that her house would be in the Hat's song, even though in the form of a metaphor. However, it didn't happen: Shatterfly was some madness that existed for an evening, one year earlier.
Flitwick unrolled the parchment on which was the list of the new students. The first one, Amelia Aberkimbs, was sorted into Ravenclaw. And while the students were passing under the Hat, Kate glanced at the Hufflepuff table, where Eliot was lost in his thoughts, fixed on some inexistent point, without even listening to the ceremony. He was barely reacting when a student was sorted into his house. But she couldn't go to see him and resigned herself to follow the protocol in order to forget her cousin for a few minutes.

'Slytherin!' claimed the Hat when he passed on the head of a boy named Max Mallarck.

After a few ovations from the green and silver ranks, professor Flitwick called:

'Matsuda, Tetsuya.'

A young boy, with Asian features, detached himself from the rank and climbed the stairs with excitement.

'What is a haired lemon doing here?' wondered Maggie, downcast.
'If I didn't know your special sense of humour, I could think you're a racist!'
'No but Maggie's right: there's a big, renowned wizarding school in the Far East, the most renowned in the world', added Scarlett who would always feel the need to tell some general knowledge in her speeches.
'And so, according to you, because he looks like that, he goes there instead of Hogwarts?!' wondered Moira. 'Merlin's pants, I should have asked if there was a wizarding school for dwarves before coming here and stand you all the time!'
'Shhhh!'

The whispers stopped when the Hat was put on the called Tetsuya Matsuda. There was a long silence; a very long one that lasted a few minutes. Whispers started to rise in the room.

'Oh! Maybe he'll be the last Hatstall of our century!'
'A Hatstall?' asked Kate.
'When the Hat doesn't speaks out after five minutes of reflexion, we call the person a Hatstall', enlightened Scarlett. 'It happens very rarely… Less than ten in a hundred years.'
'And… What does that do?'
'Nothing', grumbled Maggie. 'Except that I'm hungry… Why do we have to wait?!'
'Shatterfly!'

The announcement had the effect of a silent bomb. All the students were holding their breaths. Numerous gazes turned towards Kate, whose heart stopped beating. Flooded by emotions and so much attention, she avoided dizziness while she was keeping her eyes fixed on the boy under the Hat. The latter got up, happy as his previous mates, without understanding the fantasy of the situation. It took him a few seconds to realize that no one gave him an ovation and the poor child discomfited on the spot.

'Here we go again…'
'What's this nonsense?'
'So it wasn't a joke?'
'This Hat is completely wrecked!'

Kate folded flat on her chair while rumours started to grow in the Great Hall. The headmistress reacted immediately and got up, straight away, silence regained control.

'Mrs Aurora, can you bring mister Matsuda into the anti-chamber until the end of the repartition?'

The astronomy teacher obeyed and took the Japanese boy in a hidden room behind a painting next to the professors' table.

'Let's resume!'

However, the effect of this new incongruous repartition was in all minds and the elders had a hard time following the rest of the ceremony. The next one, Stella Ness, was sorted into Slytherin.

'So… so that was true?' whispered Kate, curled up on her bench, hoping to hide from the other students who were staring at her with insistence, as if she was about to give them an explanation. 'Shatterfly… exists?'
'In any case, according to the Hat, it does…' grimaced Scarlett, staring at her friend.
'You should be happy, Kate!' wanted to comfort her Suzanna, more optimistic. 'You will finally have the place you deserve! You're not alone anymore!'
'Yes, Suzanna's right!' Maggie went on, more cynical. 'Now there's you and a guy who probably doesn't speak English…'
'It will be better than hang out with a girl who has no sense of tolerance', retorted Moira to the last girl who spoke.
'O'Cearb… Cearbhail, Ei… Eibhlin?'

Professor Flitwick's hesitant pronunciation in front of that name, probably Irish, erased for a few moments the doubt in Kate's mind. A frail, red-haired young girl stepped out of the crowd, an embarrassed expression on her face: the professor certainly did mispronounce her name. She settled on the stool and the Charms teacher skilfully put the Hat, which swallowed half of her small head. Until he claimed:

'Shatterfly!'

The doublet disconcerted the assembly, shook by an even greater confusion. The bedlam in the Great Hall was deafening as the professors themselves didn't know how to react otherwise than with surprise. Just like Kate did last year, the young Eibhlin joined her classmate in the anti-chamber and didn't come out. She couldn't react, nor follow the conversations. She would have liked to plug her ears, run away. As if she never started this racket. Why it all didn't go normally? Why wasn't she sorted into another house? Away from all this…
Maggie's hand grabbed hers in a compassionate gesture, rare from her, and stretched a timid smile on Kate's face, allowing her to listen more serenely to McGonagall's speech, who was as confused as the rest of the assembly.

What a relief it was for her when she got back to her beloved dormitory, her so comfortable four-poster, on which Sir Sulkington was snoring, lying flatly on his mistress' pillow.

'We're back…' she whispered before she started to unpack.
'For a year. Again. And far to be the last.'
'Thanks for reminding me, Moira, I will have to stand you a long time!'
'If it reassures you, Maggie, I feel exactly the same.'
'Hardly arrived and already tired', sighed Scarlett with a thin voice, going to her bed. 'You're going to kill me, girls!'

They all got changed for the night and Kate overtook to start the reading of the book she had bought without her mother's knowledge. With the arrival of two new students in Shatterfly, there was no doubt it wasn't a case to take lightly. Perhaps there was a rational explanation for all this. Not forgetting her special gift and the fact that, last year, she managed to enter Morgana McNair's memories. She, besides, congratulated herself for not bumping into her during this first day… She had had enough emotions for tonight.
Under her cover, Scarlett was reading a novel, while Moira was showing to the two other girls, the spells she had learnt, in theory, during summer.

'Give me your hand', she asked to Maggie.
'I don't trust you.'
'It's not dangerous!'
'I trust you even less.'
'Come on, Maggie!' begged Suzanna, all riled-up.

Maggie sighed and agreed to give her hand, her palm down towards the floor, to Moira who grabbed it with her small podgy fingers. She pointed her magic wand, under the little reassured look of her roommate, focused and pronounced the spell:

'Capillus!'

Immediately, an abundant brown fur grew on the back of Maggie's hand, her face contracted in a panicked and horrified disgusted expression:

'Ahhh, for a gargoyle's sake, Moira! Take that off! Take that off!'

The girls in the room started to laugh out loud as Maggie had gotten up, jumping everywhere and shaking her arm, like if she was trying to shake off the fleece that had grown on her skin.

'Please, take that off!' was she yelling.

But when she saw that it was only making their laughter double, she stopped, nevertheless still febrile:

'My parents will disinherit me if they learn that they're daughter is a Yeti-to-be! I have financial assets to receive! But you can't understand that! I come from a noble family, with a reputation to hold! And my beautiful soft skin… My beautiful skin…! Since I was born, I distemper myself with ointments and… and… look what it became!'
'That's okay, Big Foot, come here and I'll fix it!' chuckled Moira with tears in her eyes. 'Finite.'

When the ambient elation calmed down, Suzanna added her reflexion, sitting cross-legged near Moira:

'And still, Maggie… you didn't even started puberty! Hair everywhere!'
'I-I don't want to think about it!'
'You should! That will happen!'
'I'm still too young for this!'
'There's nothing bad in growing up', intervened Scarlett, shrugging her shoulders, without taking her eyes off of her book.
'But you'll see the difference', Moira kept on, preferring to play with Maggie's fears. 'Hormones, all of that…'
'Hormoans? What is that?!'
'They're invisible parasites that makes you fall in love', tried to explain Suzanna, very serious.

Hearing that, Kate and Moira shared a look before bursting out laughing again, under the misunderstanding looks of their roommates. Both of them living in a Muggle environment, some sciences, their friends were compensating with magic or legends, were more of their competences.

'My mum explained to me that it's something in your body that triggers when you grow up and that turns you into an adult', Kate enlightened them, leaving her book in which she wasn't finding anything for the moment.
'It turns you?' repeated Maggie, paler and paler. 'Just like that? Poof?!'
'Manner of speaking! For example, for boys, their voices change…'
'Ha ha! Do you imagine Irwin with a deep voice?!'

Irwin Peakes was their classmate, in Gryffindor too. He was a rather clumsy boy, with a high-pitched voice that made him sound not very serious; he was the laughing stock of other students. A real handicap for him.

'Perhaps! But we'll have to wait! Look, my cousin Eliot, now he's fifteen, his voice has changed a lot!'
'Oh! By the way! Tell us about your cousin!'
'Your cousin?' wondered Scarlett, as her auburn eyebrows barely frowned. 'The one we saw in the train…?'
'Indeed…'

All of them approached Kate's bed to talk about it. Moira sat on it to be at their height, chasing away poor Sir Sulkington who, frustrated, returned clawing Maggie's trunk, his favourite. Since the time, the latter learnt to not worry about it anymore, at least apparently. Kate knew that, deep inside her, Maggie was dreaming about skinning him to make a luxury pillowcase.
She told them about her month of August, for the least, exhausting. The letter with the green seal, St Mungo's, Eliot's reaction about his parents' death, his readjustment to the real world…

'And… do you know why he woke up?' asked Scarlett, pragmatic.
'Nobody can explain… But… it was at the same time as the solar eclipse…'
'Eclipses have particular properties, you should talk about it with Professor Aurora, she could help you', suggested Moira.

They all nodded before Kate resumed:

'I had a dream… when Eliot woke up. I had a dream… that it was exactly happening… That was weird. I was so close… But there was someone. I think it was a woman. She was on Eliot's bed and… I don't remember what she told him…'
'Do you think it was a premonition?!' wondered Suzanna, impressed.
'Maybe you're imagining things… You thought you dreamt about Eliot but it wasn't the case.'

Kate nodded, without really knowing what to think. This dream seemed so distant to her. Very vague. And she had it the day she learnt about his awakening, in other words, a few hours after it happened. When the Whispers didn't knew about it yet…

'And… do you think you could manage to read his mind?' whispered Maggie as the other girls started to return to their beds.
'Read his mind?'
'You know, like you did with McNair!'

She imitated Kate's gesture, briefly sticking her hand on her friend's forehead, who felt stunned for a second. Kate flickered her eyes before thinking about that possibility.

'But… what could he remember? He was unconscious! And… I don't even know how I did with Morgana!'
'Yes, but his awakening maybe wasn't a coincidence. Maybe he kept some pieces of what happened. Maybe he's keeping a secret!'
'I won't go that far…! He's my cousin!'
'But… I thought you told me he has changed?! Don't you remember what you're saying or…'
'Yes, he's changed, but everybody would have!' she defended him, sharper. 'What would your reaction be if you lost your parents?'

This assertion gave Maggie a grin, which wasn't quite the reaction Kate was expecting.

'If my parents die, of course I'll be sad, very sad, but in the absolute, I would be freer of my moves, I would have a normal life, except the fact that I would have inherited hundreds of thousands Galleons', she chuckled as she nodded in rhythm with her words. 'It's not very comparable… To tell the truth, I can't really conceive how a relation between a child and his parents should be…'
'Really?' grimaced Kate.
'Someday you'll come at my house. You'll see…'

Maggie went back to her bed, her face a bit saddened, causing her friend's heart a twinge. Thinking about her own situation, Kate had to admit she was having a very strong, powerful bond with her parents. The war perhaps helped strengthening it; because now, they had common memories of those painful moments. And as soon as she was sharing a look with her father, they were having this feeling that only them could know what the other was thinking, the feelings between them.

Eliot had no parents anymore.
Maggie had, but they weren't acting as such.
Kate could find herself lucky. Very lucky…

When the lights went out, only the stars were gleaming in the cloudy sky and only Sir Sulkington was moving in the darkness before he jumped on Kate's bed, the latter curled up around the item she was holding tightly in her hand: her mother's necklace. Warm and comforting. Like a caress before sleeping. Like a lullaby whispered at her ear. Beating, like a small heart, like her mother's heart when she snuggled against her.
Yet, when Kate sank into a deep sleep, she couldn't notice that a soft light was coming out from the pendant. Like a stone deep down under water, reflecting the distant sun.