A/N: Hey folks, I know it's been a while, so sorry for the long pause. I've had a break up and a move and a new academic year to contend with, the turmoil of which I think has found its way into this chapter. It's a little more disjointed than I'd normally like, but it feels good to get something down, so, onwards! Enjoy.

The beginning of October marked their first full month at Hogwarts, and the unexpected September heat had well and truly surrendered itself to Autumn. Routine had slowly descended onto the castle, and most of the first years were now finding their way around with significantly improved ease. Maura, essentially a third year-first year, had found her bearings surprisingly quickly. She was still working on navigating the classroom doors that changed their location depending on the day of the week, but she'd been advised by her dorm mates to allow at least two months to master that properly. Even seniors still sometimes forgot to jump the disappearing step on the fourth floor staircase and got their foot stuck en route to class.

Jane had expected the inevitable routine of school life to come accompanied by monotony, and so she was surprised to receive a letter disrupting exactly that at breakfast on Monday morning. She peered bleary-eyed at the bird that had collapsed after dropping a letter in front of her.

'Antonio?' she frowned, and the Rizzoli family messenger warily opened one eye. 'You are alive! Do you want some… um… here, bacon!' she offered a rasher to her exhausted pet.

'Jane, I really think that owl ought to be retired,' Maura looked with concern at the pile of feathers on the breakfast table. 'How far has he travelled?'

Jane shrugged. 'Eastbourne, probably, if Ma sent him from home.'

'Where is that?'

'East Sussex,' she answered. 'Though, he usually makes a pit stop at my Aunt's in Leeds. How's your British geography?'

'Not quite what I'd like it to be,' Maura considered. 'But I think I have a fair idea of where you're talking about. East Sussex is the South East region, isn't it? On the coast?'

'Yeah, that's right!' Jane sounded impressed. 'How do you know that?'

'My parents have purchased property in the South East, in Berkshire,' Maura explained. 'Though I only spent a month there before boarding the Hogwarts Express.'

'Berkshire…?' Jane's mouth fell open. 'Do you… Don't tell me you live in Windsor!'

'What's wrong with Windsor?!' Maura let out a surprised laugh.

'It's only like, one of the richest places in the whole country! I got the feeling you were well off, but I didn't realise you were that well off!'

'Well, I suppose money has never been an issue, but-'

'Are you neighbours with the Queen?' Jane cut in, her voice suddenly a curdling mix of accusation and sarcasm. 'Do you have a maid? And a butler? Are those real sapphires?'

'What? No, our property does not border the Queen's, we have a grounds man, but not a maid or a butler. And yes, they're real,' Maura automatically put a protective hand to her earlobe and twisted one of her studs. 'They were a congratulatory gift from my parents when they heard I'd made Ravenclaw.' She had been extraordinarily touched at the gesture. Normally she didn't hear from her parents during the term time. 'I'm somewhat surprised to hear you know who the Queen is.'

'Of course I know who the Queen is!' Jane scoffed. 'Just because I'm a pure blood doesn't mean I'm totally out of touch with the world. She visits Muggles and it makes them happy.'

'Her role is really much more involved than that,' Maura began to explain, and was not at all taken aback to see Jane wasn't interested.

'Seriously, Maura? Windsor! Wow.' Jane took a big bite of her French toast. 'Why are you slumming it here? You're already acing the curriculum with your eyes closed. You'd probably be way better off with a private tutor.'

'I never said I lived in Windsor, Jane. My current address is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My parents reside in Bray, Berkshire. It's a good fifteen minute drive from Windsor. And if you must know, I was offered the option of a private tutor, but rejected it in favour of social immersion.'

Jane was uncharacteristically quiet, and Maura didn't have any idea what she'd done to upset her. There must be plenty of students here whose parents were financially successful.

'Aren't you going to open it?' Maura asked finally, indicating the letter and reaching for the bowl of blueberries to mix in with her yoghurt and muesli. 'This reminds me, I need to purchase a punnet of British strawberries at Hogsmeade this weekend. Bass is all out, and I know he gets depressed if he doesn't have them regularly.'

'I didn't know turtles could get depressed,' Jane yawned, still waiting for her morning coffee to take effect.

'Jane, tortoise. Bass is a tortoise. There's a very clear distinction between turtles and tortoises. And of course tortoises can become depressed. Though, I try to reduce Bass's likelihood of serotonin deficiency, through his diet.'

Jane ripped open the envelope. 'This better not be Ma telling me about a new kitchen spoon that sings while it stirs, or some shit.'

Maura gave an obligatory chuckle, secretly very jealous that Jane's mother bothered to take the time to write to her, even if the usual contents of her letters tended to be of little significance.

'Aw, crap.' Maura looked up in time to see Jane's lip curling reproachfully.

'What is it?'

'My cousin's wedding,' Jane groaned. 'I'd forgotten.'

Dear Jane,

I hope you haven't forgotten your cousin Kara's wedding is this Sunday, and since we promised her months ago, you WILL be in attendance. I will meet you and Frankie at Hogsmeade on Saturday, and we will take the Floo network to London, to meet up with Tommy and your father in Diagon Alley. I have already written to Professor Cavanaugh, and he has granted permission for the excursion. I have enclosed a permission slip for Frankie to leave the school grounds. Please collect your brother in the morning, and meet me at The Three Broomsticks Inn at 2pm. If you or Frankie don't have anything nice to wear to the wedding, then go to Hogsmeade early and try on some things at Gladrags Wizardwear. I will pay for the clothes when I arrive, but nothing too expensive, or we won't be able to afford Kara a wedding gift. You and Frankie will miss your classes next Monday, as the ceremony doesn't begin until late afternoon on Sunday. I am putting you both on a train back to Hogsmeade on Monday morning, remind me to buy your tickets on Saturday. Professor Cavanaugh says he will send Mr. Hagrid to meet you at the station. Give this letter to Frankie after you've read it – I didn't want to waste ink writing out another.

All my love,
Ma.

P.S. Let Antonio have a good rest before you send a reply. He's looking a little more worn than usual

P.P.S. Janie, I've already asked Kara, and if there is a special boy you'd like to bring to the wedding, she says you can have a plus-one

P.P.P.S What are Frankie's friends Kallon and Vorn like? He's mentioned them in several letters now, and they seem like nice boys, but I want your opinion before I tell him to invite them to Christmas

'I have to find something fancy to wear,' Jane buried her face in her arms, and continued to mumble. 'I hate being fancy. I don't even want to go. And I've got Quidditch practice on Saturday morning. Rowan'll have a fit if I cut practice to go clothes shopping in Hogsmeade.'

'My Rowan?' Runa overheard as she passed by. 'Don't worry; she's usually having a fit about something. I wouldn't take it personally.'

'I don't want to miss Quidditch practice to go shopping for a dress,' Jane whined, straightening up.

'What do you need a dress for so urgently?'

'Jane has a family wedding to attend this weekend,' Maura spoke up, hearing the increased pitch of Jane's voice, and knowing she was a lot more upset than she was letting on.

'Oh. Well, are you busy tonight?'

'I might be organising an owl burial,' Jane muttered. 'No,' she informed Runa, who was shooting her a quizzical look.

'Bring Jane up to Ravenclaw Tower after dinner,' Runa said decidedly to Maura. 'We'll find something for you to wear, Jane, and you won't have to sacrifice a second of Quidditch time. Rowan owes me. I am such a good sister…' and she was off again, gone in search of blueberry waffles.

'I've got to give this to Frankie,' Jane stood up with a sigh, taking her coffee with her, and heading to the Hufflepuff table.

This left Maura quite alone, and very confused as to Jane's deterioration in demeanour. She took several unsatisfied mouthfuls of her breakfast, before picking up a nearby copy of the Prophet. An attractive woman wearing a skirt suit with a black leather cloak and hoop earrings adorned the top half of the front page. She looked calm and collected as she answered questions from a swarm of media representatives in a very posh-looking atrium. MINISTER FOR MAGIC JANET TAMARO TO STEP DOWN the headline read.

Maura skimmed the lengthy text at the bottom. Tamaro had announced she would be ending her term as Minister for Magic of the United Kingdom at the end of the year, in order to pursue more challenging career goals. Mentioned were several offers from the magical division of the United Nations to join their ranks, which she was seriously considering. "It has been an absolute pleasure to work towards the betterment of life for the witches and wizards of Great Britain and Northern Ireland over the last four years," was quoted near the end. "It saddens me greatly to leave behind the work we have created together. In four short years, we have achieved marriage equality, harsher penalties for reoffenders, better education opportunities, and improved the standards of care for magical creatures, among many others. However, I am feeling the pull more strongly than ever to contribute to the legislation of positive change at an international level. I fear that if I do not take the opportunity now, that chance will pass me by, and watching possibility sail from her clutches is something a good politician will never allow."

'What's up with Jane?' Maura was torn from her article by a familiar voice, and looked up to see Runa occupying the space Jane had been in minutes ago. 'She's acting weird. And she's never ditched you at breakfast before. Is this her French toast? Will she mind if I eat it?'

'I'm not sure that she's coming back for it,' Maura bit her lip. 'I think I've upset her, though I don't know what I did.'

'What do you mean she's not coming back? Isn't this her owl?'

'Yes, he's not in particularly good shape. Do you think I should take him to Hagrid? I've been allocated a research period for Alchemy, so I have some time this morning. Perhaps he'll have some tonic, or an infusion of electrolytes.'

At the mention of 'infusion', Antonio looked up suddenly with wide eyes, and struggled agonisingly slowly to an upright position. He seemed to sigh before spreading his wings and haphazardly taking flight, presumably to seek refuge in the owlery.

'Or not,' Runa remarked, watching the poor bird make for the nearest exit. 'Why's Jane upset?'

Maura sighed. 'She found out the house my parents purchased when we moved here is very close to Windsor, and seemed to be a little agitated at their presumed affluence.'

'Hey, no way!' Runa suddenly got quite excited. 'Where are you? Oakley Green? Dorney Reach? Datchet?'

'Bray. Do you live nearby?'

'My Dad does, in Eton Wick. I'm usually there for half the holidays. That's so bizarre, I can't believe I didn't ask you where you lived yet. So… was her presumption correct?'

'You mean are my parents rich?'

Runa nodded.

'Yes,' Maura said simply. 'But that doesn't make sense. Jane isn't upset with you for being well off.'

Runa laughed. 'Only my Dad. Mum sort of got screwed over with the divorce. Jane probably doesn't know. Do I look like a snooty rich kid?'

'No!' Maura exclaimed. 'Wait, do I?'

'Weeellll…' Runa screwed up her eyes and pretended to survey her. 'I'm totally joking!' she went into a short fit of giggles at Maura's indignant look. 'You don't look snooty, but you certainly look very well put together. Plus, your shoe collection is insane, and the labels sewn into your clothing make my Gringotts vault want to weep. I'm surprised Jane didn't twig you could afford to pave your driveway with galleons already.'

'She said she had suspected I was well off, but not that well off,' Maura recited. 'Why does it matter what my parents earn?'

'It's not so much what your parents earn,' Runa said, a little more softly. 'It's what hers do. So far as I know, her Mum is a housewife, and her Dad's a plumber. He used for work for Vladimir Plot Plumbing Supplies, in Hogsmeade, but that went under, and now he's self-employed. Most wizards don't even know what a plumber is, because it's traditionally a Muggle occupation, you know? Obviously they're not poor, but I think things are stretched a little tighter than what's comfortable. I think Jane's a bit embarrassed about it.'

'And so that's why she didn't want to go shopping for a new dress,' a look of sudden recognition crossed Maura's face.

'That, and the girl really likes Quidditch. Or she's actually scared of punishment from my slave driving sister. Which… wouldn't be an irrational fear, come to think of it.'

'Well, so, what am I supposed to do?' Maura looked at a loss. 'I don't have control over my parents' incomes… and it's hardly as if I'm going to ask them to earn less! I don't imagine Jane will find charity a very attractive option, either.'

'You're right about that,' Runa nodded. 'Find a way to tell her you don't care about her family's Gringotts balance. You don't care, do you?'

'Of course not!' Maura sputtered. 'Her parents' occupations are hardly her fault! I hope she doesn't think I look down on her for it!'

'Money's not important unless you don't have enough of it,' Runa shrugged. 'Now,' she stood up from the table. 'If Jane comes back and asks where the rest of her toast went, I wasn't here.'

Jane's mood had failed to improve by the time dinner rolled around. In fact, it had worsened. She had spent the afternoon trapped in a double period of History of Magic, watching Professor Kravitz pompously describe fourteenth century witch hunts. As if that wasn't punishment enough in itself, she had also earned her first detention of the year, after she and Joey Grant had been caught having a parchment plane war in the back corner. Professor Kravitz had scheduled the detention for the following evening, which interfered with Jane's Quidditch practice. An upholder of bureaucracy to the death, Professor Kravitz had refused to reschedule the detention until she got a form signed by both her Quidditch captain and her Head of House. Her free time before dinner had been spent traipsing in frustrated circles around the castle trying to locate Rowan, then Professor Korsak, and finally Professor Kravitz again.

Upon receipt of the form, Professor Kravitz rescheduled her detention for Wednesday evening, and spent a good ten minutes reminding her that he was not obligated to do this, and it was purely an act of selfless generosity. Jane had grunted an obligatory thanks, and turned to drag her exhausted feet downstairs to the Great Hall, where the evening meal had already begun. It wasn't until she had descended to the fourth floor that she remembered she had promised Frankie she would help him with his telescope technique on Wednesday night before his midnight Astronomy lesson. The instrument was old, at least third- or fourth-hand by now, and very finicky. He said the stars and planets were all blurry, and as a result, his constellation charts were a mess. There was no way Kravitz would cut her another break so soon, and she knew she was going to have to go back on her promise. She stomped her foot down in a sudden blaze of anger and frustration. Fortune rarely favours those who are already in a rut of bad luck, and this particular moment was no exception. Instead of the dull echo of shoe on stone that she was expecting, Jane's foot plunged into an empty cavity, and the infuriating realisation that she was another unsuspecting victim of the disappearing step shot through her.

The step reappeared almost instantly, but Jane had already fallen down painfully on the step above by then, her leg trapped mid-calf in the staircase. She had her wand, but she didn't know how to free herself. She was already late for dinner, and the staircases were empty. Peeves came swooping through a wall then, saw she couldn't get away, and tried to put a helmet from a nearby suit of armour on her head.

'Trapped just like an ickle firstie, Jane Rizzoli!' he crowed with glee. 'Rizzoli's a firstie! Rizzoli's a firstie! Stuck in the stairs, and nobody cares!'

Jane made a sudden lunge as best she could, and managed to wrestle the helmet from the poltergeist. He sped off in a series of backflips, cackling manically, and Jane launched the object at him. He dodged, not that it would have caused him any damage, and the helmet made a wincingly loud clanging as it made contact with a landing two floors below.

'Who was that? Peeves, if you're being destructive again, I'll call the Baron!' the voice of the Charms teacher, Professor Molette, was heard in a threatening tone.

''Twasn't me, Mrs!' Peeves protested.

'I'm not married, Peeves. Who threw this, then, if it wasn't you?'

'Ickle firstie Jane Rizzoli!'

'Jane Rizzoli's a third year, and at dinner right now, I'm sure.'

'She's stuck like a firstie! Stuck in the stairs, and nobody cares!' he made a snickering exit, going to wreak havoc elsewhere.

The neat clicking of heels began almost instantly, and Jane was mortified that the most attractive professor in the castle was about to discover her in such a vulnerable position. Sage Molette had not left Hogwarts so long ago herself. This was only her second year on the grounds in a professional capacity, having replaced Professor Flitwick upon his retirement. She was tall, blonde, and had eyes so deep they made you want to dive in and go swimming. Jane had seen many times her ability to control a class simply by smiling and sweeping a patient, penetrating stare across the room. Soon, a pair of buckle strap heels housing stocking-clad legs that went for days were in front of Jane, and a moment later, Professor Molette was sitting on the step next to her.

'It's not like you to let the disappearing step get the better of you,' she said in a kind, curious tone.

Jane swallowed an enormous lump that had materialised in her throat, and felt the prickling of tears at the back of her eyes. She stared resolutely at the shoe that still had its freedom and tried not to cry in front of her Charms teacher.

'Have you not learnt vanishing spells yet?' Professor Molette asked as she performed the necessary transfiguration on the step.

Yes and no. Any kind of explanation was going to come out croaky, and give her upset state away, so Jane settled for a quick, uncommitted shrug as she pulled her leg free.

'Bad day?' the professor guessed, and Jane nodded miserably, rubbing at a sore spot on her leg. 'Are you hurt? We can go to the hospital wing; I hear Madam Martin's very good at what she does.'

Jane shook her head, and quickly wiped away an escaped tear as she stood up. 'No, I'm good,' she croaked, very obviously not as she limped her way back up the stairs.

'Jane, aren't you going to dinner?' Professor Molette called after her, her voice surprised, and laced with concern.

'Nah, not hungry,' Jane lied without turning around as she trudged to Gryffindor Tower, her ears pricked for the sound of pursuant heels. She was very grateful that the teacher decided to leave her be, and did not follow.

'Jane, Professor Molette said you weren't feeling well, so I've brought you up some cottage pie, and jelly, and orange juice,' Jane could hear Abby's voice on the other side of her drapes, and then the clink of bowls on her bedside table.

'Thanks,' Jane said from inside the safety of her four poster, unwilling to pull the drapes and show Abby her tearstained face. Jane Rizzoli had never cried in front of anyone at school before, and she was not about to start now.

'Have you got a tummy bug? Are you throwing up? Because I know a spell-'

'No vomiting,' Jane promised in as cheerful a voice she could muster. 'Just a bit queasy, I'll be fine by tomorrow.'

'Maura said not to worry about… something about a dress fitting tonight?'

'Oh,' Jane had completely forgotten about her wedding attire appointment. 'Yeah, cool, thanks.'

'She said come Wednesday night instead.'

'Can't,' Jane said glumly 'Detention. I'll go Thursday. Thanks for the dinner, Abs.' An arm extended from behind the drapes, and retrieved the bowl of pie.

'Hey, Frost?' Frankie hovered awkwardly at the Ravenclaw table the following morning. 'Have you seen my sister? She said last week she'd help me with some Astronomy tomorrow night, but there's a Gobstones Club meeting, and I was wondering if we could do it tonight instead.'

'Bad luck, man,' Frost looked up from squeezing lemon juice over a pancake. 'She's got Quidditch practice tonight, and she's on detention tomorrow anyway.'

Frankie's face fell. 'Oh. Professor Clark's probably going to give me a detention too if I muck up another star chart.'

'I can help you,' Maura piped up. Today was the first school day since they'd become friends that Jane hadn't met her on the stairs for breakfast, and she couldn't shake the feeling Jane was avoiding her. Some beginner Astronomy would be a nice distraction from the ball of unease growing in her stomach. She had lain awake for at least an hour after everybody else had drifted off the previous night, trying to decipher Jane's mood. Was she angry, or embarrassed, or what? Maura's worry was slowly turning into impatience. She hadn't done anything wrong! Jane was being childish. 'We'll go up to the Astronomy Tower after dinner, Frankie,' she gave him a smile.

Jane's face was dark and broody all day. She seemed to be deliberately avoiding being alone with Maura. At lunch, she said she was going to check on Antonio, and never returned. At dinner she made sure to sit in a big group with Frost and Anna and some other Ravenclaw boys, and contributed very little to conversation. She left the table early under the guise of getting ready for Quidditch practice. If she was being honest with herself, even she didn't know exactly what she was upset about. She just felt snappy, and on edge, and nothing was going right. Her mother wanted her to bring a boy to the wedding, and to buy a cheap dress, and do well in school so she could get a better job than her parents. Instead, she had detention, couldn't afford a dress, and had been icing out her friend for nearly two days because her parents could afford to buy her whatever she needed. And still Maura was helping her. Jane had heard through the grapevine that Maura had stepped up to help Frankie get a bit more telescope-savvy. This feeling didn't frequent her system very often, but… maybe it was guilt. She knew she was being an ass. She just didn't know how to apologise.

'What are your objectives for this year?' Maura asked atop the Astronomy Tower that evening, busy setting up her telescope in the rapidly setting sun.

'Uh… I think we just have to be able to name some stars and constellations, and I think Professor Clark said something about mapping Jupiter later in the year. But I haven't really got that far yet,' Frankie looked apologetic. 'This telescope's ancient, and I can't see anything through it.'

'So who's at fault?' Maura attempted a bit of humour. 'Man or machine?'

Frankie looked at her blankly. 'What's a machine?'

'It's an apparatus that uses mechanical power to… well, never mind,' Maura straightened up. 'Do you feel comfortable with setting up your telescope?'

Frankie nodded, looking jealously at Maura's polished brass telescope sitting on a dark mahogany stand. His rickety telescope was made of copper, and was probably once a very attractive instrument. Now though, it was riddled with greeny corrosions that he couldn't get rid of, and rattled on its stand.

They stood watching the grounds grow darker, waiting for the sun to disappear. The Astronomy Tower was the tallest tower of the castle, and they had a magnificent view of the grounds.

'I've only ever been up here at midnight before,' Maura commented. 'Hogwarts really is beautiful.'

'There's Jane,' Frankie commented from the other side of the tower. Maura joined him instantly, and followed his pointed finger to the dusky Quidditch pitch.

'What are they doing?' Maura squinted. 'They're all clustered down one end.'

'They'll be playing half-pitch,' Frankie explained. 'It's where you sort of split the team in two to create an opposition. You put two Chasers on attack, one Chaser on defence, and pit the Beaters against each other. The Chasers rotate roles after every goal so they get a go at both skills, and the Keeper just kind of gets double practice.'

'That's only six players,' Maura mentally counted. 'I thought a Quidditch team had seven?'

'Yeah, there's the Seeker, but while half-pitch is going on, they just play catch and release with the Snitch. Or they'll fly in amongst game play to force the Chasers to practice agility. Jane said Belle's pretty good at it. See, look, there she goes,' he pointed out a girl weaving her way in amongst Rowan, Bek, and Andreas as they fought for control of the Quaffle. 'It can be a bit dangerous, because sometimes things get heated in the centre of play. In the summer, me and Jane will play half-pitch with Giovanni, and if Dad's home, he'll play Keeper. We used to get Tommy to weave in and out for a bit of fun, but one time Jane and Gio had a head-on collision right as Tommy was flying between them. He fell off his broom, and then broke his arm and got a concussion. Ma won't let us do that anymore.'

'Who's Tommy?' Maura asked, confused. She had never heard the name before.

Frankie frowned. 'Our brother. Didn't Jane tell you?'

'No,' Maura shook her head, a little hurt. 'No, she's never mentioned him.'

'I was wondering, Frankie,' Maura asked an hour or so later. 'If you had an outfit picked out for your cousin's wedding this Saturday?'

Frankie didn't look up from Maura's telescope. She had judged earlier that his telescope needed a repair job; she couldn't focus the eyepiece, and suspected the rack and pinion were to blame. Frankie was enthusiastically charting stars through her telescope, delighted that he could see the night sky properly for the first time since he'd arrived at Hogwarts.

'No, not really,' he shrugged, stepping back from the telescope. 'I've got some black pants, and I can borrow a shirt from one of the Hufflepuff guys. Dad's probably got some old dress robes I can wear. Have I charted Polaris right?'

Maura knelt down to have a look. 'Yes, that's Polaris. Now, if you look to the right and up a little, you should see the five stars making up Cassiopeia.' She stepped back and hesitated before adding, 'I only ask, because Jane has another Quidditch practice on Saturday morning, and if you needed to purchase any clothing articles in Hogsmeade, I would be happy to assist you.'

'You're thinking about the time I put my tie on backwards, aren't you?' Frankie grinned, moving to take his place at the telescope again.

'Well I… it hasn't escaped my memory, no,' Maura admitted, chuckling. 'I thought, perhaps, if you had formal trousers and a shirt, then maybe a waistcoat? I'm not sure of the cost, but we could find something inexpensive and improve the aesthetics with magic.'

'Yeah, that'd be cool, thanks,' Frankie nodded. 'You'll have to get my permission form off Jane though, or they won't let me leave the grounds. How many stars in the Plough again?'

'Seven. They're the seven brightest of the Ursa Major constellation. You might also know it as the Big Dipper, or the Starry Plough. I've also heard that they call it the Butcher's Cleaver in Northern England, though when there are so many different ways to interpret it, I'm not sure why you'd choose such a gory comparison…'

Frankie grinned to himself in the darkness, and let her go on as she began to rattle off all the Astronomy-based Asian folklores she had read about. He was glad Maura had made friends with his sister. She was handy to have around, and seemed to be able to handle Jane's moods as well as he could.

Another forty minutes later, they were traipsing down the steps of the Astronomy Tower, and crossing the courtyard to access the main part of the castle. It hadn't taken Frankie long to locate Pegasus, Cygnus, and the Summer Triangle once they'd moved to examine the southern sky, and he seemed in very good spirits now that he knew it was his telescope to blame for his Astronomy inadequacies. It was nearly his curfew, and so they had turned in with a bit of time to spare. Maura was not eager to lose more Ravenclaw house points for the sake of providing academic tuition. She had promised to take Frankie's telescope back to her common room and have a tinker with it, in the hopes that it was just a gear mechanism stuck from a lack of use.

They parted ways on the ground floor, Maura realising suddenly that the Hufflepuff common room must be on one of the lower floors, or maybe even underground. She started up the stairs, slowed by the clunky instruments. It was easier to carry them, since locomotoring them both simultaneously was a skill she was yet to master – they were liable to bump into each other on the way up, and she was wary of putting dents in her telescope. She was overtaken by five members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team on the third floor, coming back from practice. Curiously, Jane was not among them, and nor was their captain.

One of the seventh year Chasers, Bek Piper, turned to her on the way up. 'You're Jane's friend, aren't you?'

Maura nodded. 'Is everything okay?'

'Yeah, she just wasn't feeling very well after dinner, and threw up towards the end of practice.'

'I've never seen anyone puke fifty feet in the air before!' one of the older boys added. 'I wish I'd seen it hit the ground!'

'Rud, you're so gross,' Bek gave him a disgusted look. 'I mean, she's not dying,' she turned back to Maura. 'But if you think she maybe wants some company, then Rowan's taken her to the Hospital Wing.'

She had barely got her sentence out before Maura was dashing back down the stairs as fast as her burdens would allow.

'I didn't know Jane had a girlfriend,' the Keeper turned to continue his way to Gryffindor Tower.

'I don't think they're dating, Rud.'

'Could've fooled me. The only one I'd run to the Hospital Wing for is Selene. Actually, probably not even a run for just a spew. Maybe a brisk walk.'

'How long have you been together?' the new fourth year Seeker, Belle, asked.

'We're not,' the senior grinned, not batting an eye. 'She hates me. But she's so lovely…'

'So then,' the other Gryffindor Beater, Joren added, 'Maybe Ruddy is to Selene as that chick is to Jane.'

'Not the same thing,' Bek answered with a sly grin on her face. 'So far as I know, Jane doesn't have a dart board with that girl's face on it in her dorm.'

'What?! You're a dirty rotten liar, Rebekah Persephone Piper.'

'The truth hurts, doesn't it?'

As the raucous group reached the fifth floor landing in fits of laughter, Maura was bursting frantically into the Hospital Wing. The figure of Rowan came immediately into view. She was standing at the end of a bed, still in full Quidditch garb. The curtain around Jane's bed was partially pulled, obscuring Maura's view from the corridor. Rowan turned to her as she proceeded further into the room. The look of concern on the Quidditch captain's face was harrowing. She then heard Madam Martin mention St. Mungo's from behind the curtain, and the part of her that was still rational fell away.

'Jane Clementine Rizzoli!' she heard herself almost shouting. 'Don't you dare die!'