"You look distracted," Marlene bumped Skylar's shoulder as the two sat in the History class.
Their first class with Gryffindors had been uneventful. Snape did his usual things: taunt, bully, sneer, dock points. Nothing new.
"It's nothing," Skylar said, then suddenly changed her mind. It would do no good to keep her suspicions solely to herself. Sharing them with someone trustworthy would be helpful.
Who knows, Marlene could give her the best solution for her problem.
"So you suspect this Aleshia Skylar Westcoast might be your mother?" Marlene repeated slowly when Skylar had finished telling her tale.
Skylar nodded hesitantly.
"That's a ridiculous theory," a new voice joined their conversation.
Skylar and Marlene, startled, turned around to glare at the chubby cheeked, bored looking Asian boy sitting behind them. Skylar could have pinched his cheeks if the boy hadn't eavesdropped in their conversation.
"You should be careful when you talk about things like these, Malfoy." He continued in his warning tone. "If the information reaches the wrong ears, it could prove to be fatal for someone. Be glad that the students in front of you are sleeping soundly."
"And how do we know your ears are right?" Marlene countered.
The boy sighed. "The fact that I am talking with you about this shall be enough proof. Scooch over."
Professor Binns didn't even blink an eye as the boy changed his seat and sat in the front with Skylar and Marlene.
The girls stared at the boy open mouthed, but he could care less. He took out a piece of paper and a pencil, but didn't do anything on it.
"As I said, your theory is ridiculous," he continued in a low voice. "It shows how much you overthink and how hopeful you are that your mother who went missing more than five years ago would suddenly turn up well and alive."
"But?" Skylar prompted.
"But," the boy smiled deviously, "all the evidence you have gathered till now point to your theory being right. So it wouldn't harm investigating a bit more."
"He is right," Marlene agreed and Skylar whipped her head towards the girl in shock. "If you think there's a chance she might be your mum, then go for it. Send her a reply asking her more about herself. And you," she shifted her eyes towards the boy, "I trust you because you don't ooze out any suspicious energy."
The boy waved a dismissive hand in the air.
Skylar sighed and started drawing inconspicuous patterns on the table with her finger. "But I don't want Leshia to have her spirits up then be disappointed," she mumbled sadly.
"Don't tell Leshia until your suspicions are affirmed," the boy suggested. "Write a letter all by yourself and tell your father and your sister when you are fifty or more than fifty percent sure Aleshia Skylar Westcoast is Hermione Granger."
Marlene, again, agreed with the boy, whose name they came to know as William.
The three Ravenclaws, during their break, hurriedly walked to the Ravenclaw tower, the boy giving the answer to the Riddle of the day.
Skylar took out her parchment, quill and ink, spreading those things on the table in front of the fireplace in the empty common room. William and Marlene huddled around her, their bodies positioned in a way that would cover the contents of the letter in case someone were to enter the common room, while simultaneously reading the whole thing while Skylar wrote.
Dear Ms Westcoast,
This is Skylar Malfoy, hoping you are in good spirits. You were right, Leshia and I are at Hogwarts, in our first years. We just started two days ago.
The two of us grew up in London. Our mum disappeared when I was seven and Leshia was six (almost seven). I love reading, breathing in the morning air, watching Leshia and the others play Quidditch. I am still confused about what to be when I grow up, but Leshia does want to be an Auror. Just like dad.
Well, he used to be one. He resigned to teach at Hogwarts.
I'm neither very tall nor very short, skinny and a brunette, while Leshia is short, more on the scrawny side and a blonde. ("Definitely not a dumb one." "Shut up, William.")
I hope you understand why I am not sending our photos along with this letter since your letter was sudden and I am a bit sceptical because of the environment I grew up in. No hard feelings. Honestly.
Now that you know so much about me, I want to know a bit about you too. ("Is this a deal?" "Honestly, it does seem like it.")
Hope this helps.
Skylar Malfoy.
P.S. This might seem a weird request, but please don't send a reply to Leshia. I don't want her to be hurt.
"It will work," Marlene said and the trio walked out of the common room to the Owlery, their steps hurried while they whispered.
"Don't send the letter with your owl, if you have one," William said. "Your father or sister might get suspicious if they see it flying with a letter tied to its leg."
"Or what if they want to send a letter themself and they don't find Citrine?" Marlene added. "Use my family owl. Nightshade is not only swift but he is also very trusted."
William shook his head. "No. Mr Nott and Professor Malfoy used to be in the same year and same House. Professor Malfoy might also recognise it."
"But he would think it is Marlene's letter and leave it at that," Skylar argued, entering the Owlery and following her blonde-headed friend. "And honestly, think about it: why would I send a letter from someone else's owl when I have my own? I can always use this argument."
William shut his mouth.
"Honestly, Will," Marlene grinned as the three first years watched Nightshade fly away, "you proved that even a smart Ravenclaw could be the dumbest person."
The rest of the day passed by in a blur until the girls, along with William as their newest addition, were sitting in the Ravenclaw Common Room doing their homework.
"Snape deserves the hate he gets," William grumbled as he threw his second half-filled parchment into the fireplace.
"Dinner, firsties?" The fifth year Prefect sat on the sofa beside Marlene's. He glanced at their scattered books and parchments on the table. "Don't try your hardest in Potion's essays. Snape could care less about them, what he cares about is how good the potion you make turns out to be."
Skylar glanced up at the guy, then her eyes narrowed in recognition.
"Max Cresswell," he introduced himself with a grin. It seemed that all the haggardness the boy had the last day was just a dream. "Eating and sleeping a healthy amount is good for you, you know. Go and have your dinners."
Marlene frowned. "None of us feel hungry, or else we could have eaten ages ago."
"Well," Max mused, as he hit his palms on his knees and stood up, "if you start feeling hungry, don't hesitate on informing one of the upper years or you can personally contact me for the dinner to be provided."
"Why?" Skylar snorted. "Will you make some for us?"
Max laughed loudly, throwing his head back in mirth. "Merlin, no. That would be a disaster."
"Then?" William asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A Prefect's secret," Max whispered then walked out of the common room, whistling a tune.
Skylar was almost at the end of her Potions essay when a loud pop echoed around the common room, startling William so much that he fell off his seat.
"Master has sent a note for Miss," Tally disapparated as soon as she handed the note to Skylar.
"What-" William was still on the floor with his hand over his heart as he stared at the spot Tally was standing not even a few seconds ago. "What the hell was that?"
"Tally," Skylar replied as she opened the note. "Dad's house-elf."
"A house-elf?"
Both Marlene and Skylar looked at their confused friend in astonishment.
"You don't know what a house-elf is?" Marlene asked, receiving a roll of his eyes from William as a response.
"I was literally unaware of the existence of the Wizarding World almost three months ago. How would I know what a house-elf is?"
"Oh, sorry."
A grin grew on Skylar's face as she read the note.
I haven't got any visitors this evening if you feel like a chat,
Love, dad.
"I'm sorry," she said as she ran out of the common room ignoring her friends' agitated "you can't ditch us!"
Skylar and Leshia reached their father's study at the same time. The younger sibling eyed her sister, not even out of her robes, and opened the gate to the study, entering it wordlessly.
"Skylie didn't eat dinner today," Leshia greeted Draco with those words, plopping down on the sofa beside him and watching the ungraded essays her father was checking.
"Skylie," Draco reprimanded the girl, not looking up from the essay in his hand. "Glaring at Leshia won't change anything."
"The prefects bring food for those who miss dinner," Skylar lied as she sat on her father's other side. "You know, missing meals is a Ravenclaw trait."
Draco hummed unconvincingly.
"So, tell me everything."
Skylar let Leshia tell him all about the dormitory, the lessons, the teachers, her housemates as she had talked to her father a bit about those things yesterday.
"And then we told Rodeo where he could go stuff his football, and he thought we were serious, but we were laughing, so he laughed too, but I don't think he got it and yeah…that's pretty much everything until I walked in this room," she said and let out a content sigh.
"They're not pushing you hard enough," Draco said happily. "You shouldn't have time for muggle games. Want me to have a word with your teachers?"
Leshia and Skylar laughed out loud, recognising the joke for what it was.
"No!" she exclaimed happily. "And we have been working on Snape's awful essay," she added grimly.
"Us too," Skylar agreed. "Marley, Will and I had been trying to get it finished since the last two and a half hours."
"Aww my poor babies," Draco pulled the two closer to his sides. "Who is this Will guy, by the way?"
"He is a guy in our House Marley and I befriended for History notes," Skylar grinned at her father. "The fox-eyed one, you know. He is a Muggleborn like mum and I honestly have no idea why but he loves history, both magical and muggle."
Leshia perked up at that.
"Pass on the notes to me when you are done," she said - more like demanded. "Even Katie doesn't write the History notes and it's a pain to read from the book and not fall asleep. And Dad?"
"Yes, my lovelies?"
"You did not hear anything."
"Hear what, Aleshia?"
The Malfoy family laughed heartily and talked more until it was time for the girls to go back to their common rooms.
Draco looked at the time and smiled sadly. "It's almost curfew, now. Let's get you two to your respective towers. Come on."
Leshia was the first to jump off the sofa and kissed her father's cheek. "No more Tally kisses." She declared, trying to look intimidating.
Draco grinned.
"Okay, well, next time I'll come and deliver it personally at dinner when everyone's watching," he said mock-seriously. Leshia grinned trying to weigh up the pros and cons of each scenario. They seemed equally embarrassing. "Well how about now, may I kiss you goodnight?" he asked.
Leshia grinned and nodded.
"Okay," she said and felt him kiss her forehead.
Draco then turned to his elder daughter who was watching the scene with a bright smile.
"Your Highness?" He asked.
Skylar put on a mock-thoughtful expression, bursting out laughing as her father's eyes narrowed mock threateningly at her. "You are allowed."
The brunette closed her eyes when she felt the kiss on her forehead.
"I think I'd better walk you two back," he said looking at the time again. The girls followed his gaze and their eyes went wide. "Come on," he said and held out his hands for the two to grab.
"We can walk by ourselves," Skylar pretended to be annoyed but still held Draco's offered hand.
It was a few minutes into their way back that Skylar remembered something she wanted to ask her father about.
"Did you know Marlene's father during your own school time, Dad?" She asked as the trio walked towards the Ravenclaw Common Room.
Draco hummed absent-mindedly and answered after two minutes of pause.
"Theo and I were not close. He lived in seclusion. All I know of him was that his father was a big devotee of Voldemort and his mother had died when he was around four. Honestly, I had thought he had died during the war so seeing Miss Nott was quite a pleasant surprise."
Skylar felt like her father was hiding something from her but dismissed the thought as they reached the bronze eagle knocker.
"We're here now." She announced.
Leshia watched with a gaping mouth as the knocker asked a riddle.
"A long neck and several tails. What am I?"
"The Japanese dragon serpent?" Skylar's reply was posed as a question.
"Are you answering or asking?" The knocker asked.
Leshia chuckled.
"I am asking you to confirm, actually." Skylar crossed her arms in front of her chest, posing like she was ready to have a debate with the knocker right then and there. "I am sure I have read about such a creature - which I sadly can't remember the name of - in a book, whose name too, I can't remember for the life of me."
"Well," the voice from the knocker sounded highly amused, "your answer is correct, my dear. The upper years taught you well, I see."
With that, the doors to the Ravenclaw common room opened and Skylar disappeared into the bronze and blue room after bidding a last goodnight to her family.
William and Marlene were waiting for her in the exact same spot she had left for them, having their dinners and all their stuff dumped on the sofa.
"You are more than welcome to join us," Marlene said and Skylar skipped over to them with a happy smile.
The Ravenclaw trio was lounging in the library when William found something valuable for Skylar.
"Read this," he slid a magazine towards her with a seriousness the girl hadn't seen on his face before (they have only been acquainted for a day).
"News from abroad with our correspondent Rina Millard. Rina takes on the Americans," Skylar whispered loud enough for Marlene to hear. "It's-"
"The sentence near the moving photo," William said, looking at her seriously and motioned with his eyes for her to read. "The America's Institute on the west coast of Mexico - headed by esteemed witch Leshia Westcoast-"
Marlene gasped aloud, receiving glares from people surrounding them. The girl did not pay them any mind as she looked at the magazine, leaning on Skylar's shoulder.
"Lord darn it, couldn't they publish a picture of her?" The blonde girl muttered frustratedly. "It could have made our work a lot easier."
"Our work?"
Skylar shut her mouth quickly as she received two sets of withering glares from both her friends.
"We pitched our ideas, too, so it's also our problem now on." William replied and brought the magazine back to his side.
"Anyways," Marlene shrugged and grinned, "it's fun acting like a detective."
Skylar could be found in the library, once again, after the dinner, but this time, it was Leshia with her, telling her elder sister all about her day in a low voice. The siblings were sitting in the far back of the library, sitting on the same table that the Ravenclaw trio had now claimed as theirs.
"- and when Rodeo got paralysed repeatedly, without a break, Dad exchanged him with Rachel and I swear you'll be very proud to hear I defeated her at least five times before she played dirty and bound me right before the class ended."
"Bravo, Leesh." Skylar patted her sister's head like an owner petting their dog's head in pride. Leshia looked back at the elder like an eager puppy prompting the girl to sigh defeatedly and roll her eyes in mock annoyance. "Marlene is as same as Rodeo in terms of defending herself so Will and I decided to be each other's partners, and well, the competition was tough. Even Dad was impressed by his skills."
Leshia's eyes were wide in wonder, then she grabbed her sister's arm and pleaded with wide pleading eyes. "I need to meet your history-loving, savage-sounding new guy friend. He sounds so cool."
"Cool?" Skylar removed the tight grip on her hand gently. "He is a pain in the -" the girl stopped abruptly, nervously glancing away from her sister. She cleared her throat and started anew. "Will has one of the most foul mouths I have ever seen, and treats himself like he has a right to judge your every move and when we confront him about these things, his go-to excuse is 'My older sister is three years older than me' and that's it."
"His excuse is more than valid, though." Leshia said, making Skylar glare at her. "Elder sisters do have a weird trait of teaching their younger siblings almost everything they know. Believe me since I have one myself."
"I never taught you cuss words," Skylar rebuked.
"You did not," Leshia agreed. "But you did teach me defence; both muggle and magical; you taught me how to draw, how to paint - in which I turned out to be a lot better than you - you talked to me about almost everything and I used to listen." She shrugged and then smiled. "Some I learnt, some I didn't."
The brunette's eyes narrowed into slits at the blonde's too much angelic smile.
"What did you do now?"
Leshia sighed. "A git was saying bad things about Dad after Potions, so I gave him a piece of my mind. The Muggle Studies Professor heard me and -"
"- you landed yourself your first detention on the third day of school," Skylar finished for her. "That's a record, I'd say, so congrats on that. Secondly, what do you want me to do since I can bet my pride as a witch that Dad found it out right after you got that detention."
Instead of answering, Leshia put a page of yellowed newspaper on the table. "Read this."
Skylar snorted as she picked up the page and read it. This was the second time that day someone was passing her something to read. Coincidentally, it was about the same person too.
Woman found washed up on the beach.
"It's a Muggle newspaper." Leshia said. "America, specifically, California based. Remember that Westcoast woman? It has some information on her and I want you to read it."
Skylar hummed thoughtfully as she read the article.
Yesterday, in the early hours of the morning native Californian Tom Wilkers, aged thirty-five, found a woman washed up on the beach. She was unconscious and dressed in strange thick robes. Wilkers brought her straight to the emergency room where her injuries were treated and where she was revived.
The only words the woman could utter were 'Aleshia' and 'Skylar', which she kept repeating for over an hour. Her strange mantras earned her the name Aleshia Skylar Westcoast – in honour of where she was found – as she cannot remember anything of her life prior to her rescue.
She is now recovering in hospital. We cannot release pictures, because of the strange injuries she sustained. The police believe her to be a victim of attempted murder, and it would be dangerous to release such information.
"The date's rubbed out," Skylar observed, frowning. All her suspicions were leading to one point, but that place was dangerous. For her and for her family. "And I don't see why you are so invested in a stranger's-"
There was a weird glint in Leshia's eyes that had Skylar stopping mid-sentence. She recalled her words to see if she accidentally let something slip out but couldn't come up with anything.
"You looked at the date the first thing after reading the article," Leshia whispered gleefully, her voice rising to a normal decibel as she spoke each word. "That means you too suspect that she could be mum. Skylar, this Aleshia Skylar Westcoast could be our mother!"
Skylar, as smart as she was, saw no reason in hiding such a thing from her sister. At last, she would be free of the burden she had been carrying since she had sent the reply.
"She…" Skylar sighed for the nth time that day, "she could be mum, you know. All - all the points seem a little too coincidental for me - and I - I did not want to get your or Dad's hopes up just in case - just in case she didn't turn out to be who I think of her to be and-"
"- and bear all the crushing pain of disappointment all by yourself?" Leshia asked. "Being macho is my forte, Skylie. I am the Gryffindor among us. You should just read around and be smart, I will handle the action work."
Skylar smiled at Leshia. "About dad…" she started worriedly.
The smile on Leshia's face dropped a bit. "Let's not tell him until we confirm it ourselves."
"Okay," Skylar agreed. It was for the best their father did not know about this. "I will ask Will if he knows the timeline of any of these things, like, when they happened, and all that. He is the only Muggleborn I trust as of now and... let's try to look for some other clues, too. Deal?"
"Deal."
It was Saturday and the six first years could be found on the ground, soaking in the sun and talking about everything and nothing.
William had no problem being the only boy in the group, who had been introduced to the other three girls just a few minutes ago. Instead, the boy felt anything but uncomfortable with them, answering all the questions and jabs (courtesy of Marlene and Skylar) thrown his way with a sweet smile and a roll of his eyes (the last one directed at his two friends).
"Well well well, if it isn't the little blood-traitors," Cole Ashton's cruel voice came and the girls quickly leapt to their feet.
"What do you want now, Ashton?" Leshia demanded.
"I want to see you all dead!" Ashton sneered. "Or even better, suffering under the Cruciatus curse for the rest of your life."
"Well it's not going to happen any time soon, so you may as well just get lost," Rachel snapped.
"I'll come to you in a moment, Weasley!" Ashton hissed.
"Somebody really should teach you some manners, Ashton."
A male voice came from behind the first years and they spun around to find all the Weasleys and several of their friends had joined them, by far outweighing the Slytherins. In the distance the on duty teachers were making their way over in case a fight should break out.
"You'd better watch yourself, Malfoy." Ashton sneered at the Malfoy siblings. "Your big redhead friends won't always be around to protect you!"
With that, the Slytherins sloped off down the lakeshore.
"Are you all alright?" Tom asked, looking rattled.
"Thanks to you guys," Katie said gratefully.
"Yeah, thanks," Leshia said softly. "I really hate those Slytherins."
The group fell silent as Professors Flitwick and Sprout walked past them.
"Everything all right?" Sprout asked curiously.
"Yes, Professor."
The group chorused and they headed away from the lake.
Most people were outside, so the Gryffindor girls quickly commandeered the comfy chairs of their common room and spread out their work after being separated from the Ravenclaws as the other three had decided to stop killing time and look for more clues related to Ms Westcoast.
After a ten-minute daydream involving her mother's miraculous rescue (cause she can't focus after such a big revelation) Leshia was knocked back to her senses by a blow to the head.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed in pain and held her hand up to her throbbing head.
"Didn't you hear me yell heads?" a sixth year boy's voice came. "Oh crap I'm sorry, you're bleeding. You'd better get to the hospital wing, here I'll show you!"
Leshia climbed gingerly to her feet and then swayed, her eyes clouding over dangerously. She would have fallen into the hearth had the boy who'd assaulted her in the first place not been there to catch her.
"Easy," he said and he lifted her easily from her feet. "You two coming?"
He asked her friends and they were on their feet in seconds.
The boy carried Leshia easily all the way to the hospital wing where Madam Pomphrey was seeing a boy covered in boils.
"Exploding chess accident," the boy told her sheepishly.
"Oh dear, well, lie her down." She said and the boy lowered Leshia onto the bed.
Leshia opened her cloudy eyes and winced at the pain in her throbbing head.
"Sorry about that," he said. "Name's Ryan Lofting, if there's anything I can do…"
"No I'm fine," Leshia croaked and she sat up. Ryan looked like he was fighting a battle, to stay and look after the little first year he'd injured (and a teacher's daughter at that!), or to go and finish his exciting and very competitive game with his friend.
Leshia saw the conflict play on his face clear as day.
"Thanks for bringing me, you should probably get out of her way," she said, nodding to Madam Pomphrey who was bustling over.
Ryan grinned.
"Fair enough," he said and nodded to her. "Take care."
With that he headed out feeling sufficiently guilty.
Madam Pomphrey pointed her wand at the wound and moments later Leshia felt a tingling sensation and the wound was gone. She was then examined for concussion and allowed to go.
"You'll be fine," Madam Pomphrey said cheerfully, but then rushed off again as the boy with the boils had just made a large pop and was now covered in feathers.
The girls contained their laughter as they rushed out and headed back to their common room. On their way though they were sidetracked by Professor McGonagall who looked at the blood on Leshia's T-shirt.
"What happened to you?" she asked, sounding partly firm and also concerned at the same time.
"A little common room accident; Madam Pomphrey fixed me right up!" Leshia replied cheerfully.
McGonagall smiled and nodded.
"Well, be more careful next time." She said and carried on her way down the corridor.
Within no time the girls had returned to their common room and after receiving a round of applause from the sixth years Leshia escaped to change with bright red cheeks.
Ten minutes later she was back doing her homework, only this time she sat on the ground away from any exploding chess pieces. Concentrating was easier now and by lunchtime they'd finished at least one of their essays.
"I think I aced that one," Rachel was saying as they sat down.
"It was definitely easier than the one dad set," Leshia said as she reached out for the bread rolls.
The Ravenclaws were nowhere to be seen. Maybe so engrossed in their research that they forgot about lunch.
They were happily talking about Lupin and the time they'd seen him transform when Draco appeared behind them.
"You okay?" he asked, his wizened eyes taking in the faint pink line that was all that remained from Leshia's encounter with the chess piece.
Leshia smiled and nodded.
"Never better," she said cheerfully. Draco nodded once and walked off, back on his patrolling rounds.
From up the table Ryan winked to Leshia, she had evidently not 'told on him' and he respected that. She grinned and turned back to her friends.
"He's the Quidditch captain, isn't he?" she asked the other two.
"Yep, looks like you might stand a chance after all, he likes you," Katie said.
Leshia frowned.
"He told his friends that you were cool for a first year and nothing like he expected," Rachel enlightened her.
Leshia grinned.
"Still doesn't mean anything," she said. "I mean, just because he thinks I'm okay doesn't mean he's going to ignore that everyone will be better than me."
"It would be so cool if you could play for them," Katie said, referring to the Quidditch tryouts poster they had seen in the common room earlier that week. Leshia has always loved Quidditch and it was a good thing that Hogwarts had changed their rules to allow first years to play Quidditch.
"Only problem is I'd have to use a school broom since mine is broken and back at home," Leshia said with a sad sigh. "The school brooms are crap, my dad says."
They finished lunch on a high note, discussing the new racing broom that was coming out and soon were making their way back to their common room to finish their homework.
The words Murder of Rhys Jones were highlighted with a blue pen on the newspaper Leshia had shown her sister yesterday.
The blonde Gryffindor looked up at the three Ravenclaws who were grinning madly at her and her friends. The six of them were in the library, at the far end, the Gryffindors were fetched by Marlene from the Gryffindor Common Room early in the morning, right after breakfast.
(Leshia had assured her sister of the now non-existent injury, who had been mother-henning and whining about knowing of the injury early in the morning)
"August," William's smile vanished as he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "Specifically, the end days of August, that's when this murder took place in 2007."
He tapped at the highlighted heading with his finger.
"Five years ago," Rachel gasped.
To Aleshia's utter horror and amazement, William took out a tablet from her bag. He opened the screen of the device and put the thing atop the newspaper.
"Read it," Marlene encouraged.
The article opened on the browser highlighted some major events that took place in August of 2007, and one of them was the Rhys Jones murder case. Leshia gasped.
"As my dear friend William said," Skylar spoke, "the Rhys Jones murder case took place in August of two-thousand and seven, the same month and year Mrs Hermione Granger-Malfoy disappeared while on one of her researches. According to our calculations-" the Gryffindor girls watched in complete awe as Marlene passed a parchment full of mathematical calculations to Katie, "- it must have took Mrs Granger-Malfoy approximately ten days to float her way to South America, through the Muggle way and not even one day to reach South America through magical means."
William swiped the screen to show the next article. Leshia and her friends skimmed through the article quickly.
Rachel, the slowest reader among the trio, leaned back to look at the three Ravenclaws in confusion after reading the article. They had already read the article about how Miss Westcoast was found so it made no sense to re-read it and waste time.
Their confusions grew clear as Skylar continued speaking.
"We suspect that Mrs Granger-Malfoy was brought there after being concussed in a fight which obviously included a lot of lethal curses as the words 'weird injuries' in this article indicate. Her opponent erased her memories so that when Mrs Granger Malfoy wakes up, she doesn't get to go back to her family. They then brought her there, which meant that the trip to South America took one day and then they left her on the coast of the sea, all alone, until Mr-"
"Wilkers," the other five offered.
"- until Mr Wilkers found her and the rest is history." Skylar finished with a heave.
Leshia, Rachel and Katie clapped as the three Ravenclaws bowed in unison, as if they had just ended a performance.
"The research is commendable," Katie commented. "Firstly, how did you enable the internet in Hogwarts? Do the teachers know?"
Marlene took out a thick tome. Leshia made out the title 'Rulebook' on the blue cover.
"According to rule number 579," she said slowly, "Ravenclaws are not to divulge the secrets of their house to other house members."
The Gryffindors whined and argued in protest, except Katie, who violently shushed her friends along with the Ravenclaws before the strict librarian, Madam Pince, could come and throw them out of the library.
"I have a question, and I consider it extremely important," Rachel said suddenly. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "When was the last time you three ate something?"
William grinned big.
"Last night, and you have to thank Marley and I for that cause this madam was refusing to be away from numerous magazines and articles." He pointed to Skylar, who smiled sheepishly. "Miss Nott scolded her for being too much obsessed and not taking care of herself while I brought the food to the common room with the help of our beloved Prefects as it was way past curfew."
Leshia scowled at Skylar, who was avoiding her eyes. The brunette had a habit of eating only after her work was done and while it was sometimes good, it also sometimes proved to be fatal for the girl herself as she missed two meals per day at the most.
"You, missy," Leshia shook her head disappointedly at her sister and stood up to take her hand, "are going to have breakfast with me. No more research for the day, got it?"
She led the girl out of the library and towards the Great Hall. Whoever passed by them, chuckled amusedly at what a sight the two made: The short girl walking in the front with a determined expression on her face as she marched ahead with an embarrassingly whining taller girl getting dragged behind her.
From the High Table, several teachers whispered and chuckled amusedly at the Inter-House Unity shown between the houses of lion and eagle, although, none was more amused than Draco who was trying hard not to laugh too loudly at the scene of Skylar being chaperoned eating by Leshia.
After all, he had an image to keep up with.