Chapter Ten - Speculation

The next morning, Skye stared bleary eyed at her bowl of porridge. She had been pumped with adrenaline as she got into bed and it had been difficult to get off to sleep. Tabitha, on the other hand, seemed brimming with energy, yet much more focussed than Skye was used to. Apparently, she was much too deep in thought to join in with the taunts coming from down the table about the smell of vinegar wafting through the air. As she reached for the bottle of golden syrup, hoping for a good dose of sugar, she caught Mikey's eye at the Hufflepuff table.

His wide smile seemed to say, 'last night was brilliant. When do we head out on our next adventure?'

Skye shook her head conveying she never wanted to do something that stressful again, but couldn't help but contain a smile. Mikey and Skye had seemed to perfect the art of wordless conversation at meal times. Usually though, Tabitha would be pestering her and asking to relay their telepathic conversation. She didn't have the art to decipher his expressions and usually came up with terrible suggestions such as, 'my golden Hufflepuff locks amplify the art of finding' or the classic, 'I smell of a troll's armpit'.

She snuck a glance at her unusually quiet friend. Currently, she was frowning at her bacon and eggs as if she was trying to get them to spontaneously combust. Mikey had seemed to notice as well, tilting his head to the side in questioning.

Skye shrugged in response, 'I'm sure we'll know sooner or later', her expression replied.

"Tabitha, you didn't hit the Weasley twins with a fountain of vinegar last night, did you?" Cormac McLaggen seemed to pull Tabitha from her trance.

"Naturally," she replied smugly. Looks like word had already gotten around. Skye wasn't surprised.

"Nice. Of course if it had been me leading everyone last night, no one would have got caught," he said, his voice dripped in self confidence. Skye rolled her eyes.

"Free for all, McLaggen. I can't be responsible for all these chumps." Tabitha shrugged.

"Yeah, but if I'd been there we wouldn't have lost all those points. McGonagall was furious. You know how much she wants that cup," McLaggen's voice trailed off as he shifted blame on to Tabitha.

Skye's eyes searched for the hourglasses and found that Gryffindors seemed to lack a large number of glistening rubies that were there yesterday. He stomach dropped. All that hard work filling it up and now Slytherin were in the lead again.

"We lost that many points?" Skye almost whispered, her stomach fluttered with guilt.

McLaggen seemed to regard Skye with glazed eyes. "See, you've let this one down. Maybe next time you should consult me with your prank ideas."

This one. Skye had only been sitting by this guy since they first started Hogwarts for goodness sake. Tabitha didn't seem up to her usual morning battle with McLaggen though. She just glanced at Skye as if only noticing her for the first time, as well.

"Mmm," was her only reply. Skye could only wonder what she was thinking about. Hopefully, it wasn't another grand plan. Skye couldn't bare to lose more house points and she didn't think her nerves could take another night like that.

XxX

"Flipendo," Tabitha yelled, causing a jet of blue light to cause Skye to be knocked back, landing with a shriek on the hard floor.

Professor Mater rushed over immediately, 'my goodness! Skye, are you alright?'. Skye liked the Defence of Dark Arts teacher, she was that perfect balance of strict, that kept a rowdy class in line, yet managed to exude kindness and keep class interesting. Basically, she was a miracle teacher.

"Fine," she muttered in response as her checks burned in embarrassment. She kept her eyes to the floor as she brushed herself off.

"Tabitha, your aim is off. Concentrate on the pillow. Make it the only thing in your line of vision." Skye frowned at her friend. Usually, she was hyperactive in class and her mind wandered onto things she considered more important. Today, she was incredibly focussed and her spellwork seemed to reflect that. That last Knockback Jinx seemed to throw her a good couple of meters further than anyone was getting their pillows.

"You're not aiming for me are you?" Skye joked. She was trying to make light of the situation, since she guessed Tabitha would feel pretty bad sending her flying like that. Tabitha glanced down in shame, "Merlin's beard, you are aiming for me!"

"No!" She shrieked in panic. "It's just… I was thinking about you and I guess you became the object of my aim."

"Gee, thanks," Skye smiled back. "So, what's got you thinking about little old me then, eh?"

"Last night, you knew Filch was coming. Do you know why or how?" Her gaze was intense.

"Instinct? I don't know, Tabitha," she sighed.

"I have theories."

Skye's mouth twitched, "let's hear them".

"So, obviously you could be a seer. Like a real one that predicts the future and stuff or, have you heard of demiguises? Of course you haven't. They're, like, magical creatures but they have foresight and see the most predictable future, so maybe you're… well not a demiguise, but you have that sort of gift. Or maybe you can sense people, you know? You hear about rare magical abilities. Empaths and stuff. So maybe you sensed that Filch was coming that way or maybe you really are telepathic and you could hear his thoughts!" Tabitha's entire thought processes of the morning seemed to tumble out of her mouth in one long ramble.

"I think I understood about ten percent of that," Skye chuckled. Tabitha punched her in the arm.

"I'm serious, Skye. Has it happened before? What actually happens to you? Don't you want to know what this is?" She was like dog with a bone. She wasn't going to let this go.

"Well, once this guy went to fall off the counter back home and I suppose I saw that before it happened. I ended up rugby tackling him…" Skye blushed, but Tabitha nodded at her to go on. "Then, I suppose when I got my wand I knew which one was mine, but everyone knows that right? It feels right, doesn't it?"

Tabitha smirked, "Maybe, but if it was so normal why did you bring it up? You know this isn't normal!"

"But, the twins knew Filch was coming too. They knew going that way would get us caught and we can't all be these disguise things can we?" Skye pointed out he hole in her theory.

"It's demiguises," she muttered and sighed. "Ok, that one I'm going to have to think on."

"You know, if you do any more serious thinking today, I think your brain might explode," Skye teased.

"Ha, ha. I'm not letting this go, Knight. Soon, the Department of Mysteries will be calling on me for my powers of deduction since they'll be so impressed," she boasted.

"Right after they solve the mystery that is the workings of Tabitha Hart's mind," she chuckled.