Raylynx's POV
I suffered through large classes like Charms and Astronomy, where students liked to throw spitballs or magic my hair into knots. I savored the moments in one-on-one tutoring with Pomfrey, McGonagall, and Ollivander.
My lessons since the Wand Weighing Ceremony had mostly been helping Ollivander with fittings and so we hadn't had a chance to talk. But today, we were having a quiet evening, sitting behind the front counter, with a light misty rain tapping a lullaby against the window.
"You didn't tell me you were the Hogwarts champion," Ollivander said neutrally, but he couldn't hide a slight smile that passed across his face.
"It's not much." I shrugged. "I'd rather spend my time talking to you about more interesting things."
"Like what?" Ollivander queried.
"Like the fact that wands tell a story."
Ollivander's eyebrows rose. "What do you mean?"
"Following the first task, the judges made our wands repeat the spells they had last performed. I thought you could tell a lot about the person's perception of the tasks they had just done by which spells they cast, and of course, you could, to some extent, predict the kind of spells a wand would cast. Wands tell a lot about their owners and furthermore, I think each wand has a story of their own."
"Quite right. You have managed to communicate a very profound thought to me. I am impressed and it shows your potential as a wand-maker." Ollivander nodded at me. "Now taking into account that- as you so eloquently put it- wands tell a story and a great deal about their owners, how would you consider Mr. Kaius and Mr. Sorentis?"
I began to answer when suddenly the door of Ollivander's store burst open. Borgin stood there, his face alive with rain- and grief. A sharp pain slashed in my chest when I recognized that look.
Ollivander must have also sensed the suppressed desperation in this man's face, because instead of sternly rebuking him for interrupting our lesson, Ollivander asked, "Mr. Borgin, what is the matter?"
Borgin opened his mouth, but his face paled. For a moment, I was afraid he might lose consciousness right there and then. But then words spilled out of his mouth, "B-Burke. D-dead."
We retreated to the back room, where we wrapped a thick quilt around Mr. Borgin and handed him a cup of steaming tea.
"Tell me what happened," Ollivander entreated Borgin, his sharp silver eyes glinting in the firelight.
"These… are the facts", Borgin began, his voice barely a whisper. "Tom Riddle came to work for us, a boy with immense talent and charisma. We sent him to do the most difficult jobs. He was very persuasive, able to get owners to part with their dearest treasures for bargain prices. He was very good at it. He never failed. Save once. We had sent him to negotiate the sale of goblin-made armor from a frequent customer of ours, Hepzibah Smith. We thought it was an easy job. But he came back without having secured the armor. I recall he was very distraught. I told him not to worry. I said, it was bound to happen. But he still left despite my words, leaving behind only a short note with no explanation or anything."
I recalled that very same day: I heard the man before I saw him. He was grumbling loudly, "Disappearing so suddenly like that, Tom! What am I supposed to do without an assistant, eh?"
Then he came into view and I could see that he was a short, somewhat filthy, beady-eyed man.
"Mr. Borgin," Ollivander said in a neutral voice, "to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Nuthin' much. Just wondering if I could put this up on your bulletin board, since I'm in need of a new assistant," the man named Mr. Borgin held up a flimsy piece of parchment that had scrawled onto it: LOOKING FOR PART-TIME ASSISTANT AT BORGIN & BURKE'S, KNOCKTURN ALLEY. MUST BE OF AGE.
"Your assistant left?" Ollivander inquired, raising an eyebrow, "that boy from Hogwarts?"
"Well, he graduated a while ago, Tom Riddle did. But yeah, he left. Left just a short note too, mind you, no explanation, no nothing. Can I hang this sign?" Mr. Borgin asked again.
"Certainly," Ollivander replied, but his face was no longer neutral, but troubled.
When Mr. Borgin left, I addressed him. "Is something wrong, Mr. Ollivander?"
Ollivander's silver eyes fell on me and they were unreadable.
"I assumed it was because he felt guilty for having failed in his job. But then, a strange rumor comes to us from a customer who lives in Little Hangleton, Mundungus Fletcher. Says the ring bearing the Peverell Coat of Arms has been sighted at long last. You can only imagine Burke's and my excitement. A treasure like that! What with the Peverells being one of the oldest of wizard bloodlines… The creators of the Elder Wand and all that…Well, Burke went chasing after the ring for a month or so. Nothing, but another month later, he sends news that he's located the ring. That our very own Tom Riddle has gotten his hands on it. A very good bit of profit for us, we both thought."
Ollivander's midterm was very challenging as he preferred not to grade anything written, I stood there in the back room for two hours and answered whatever questions he shot at me. There was no checking an answer or returning to a question- you just knew it or you didn't.
At one point, Borgin walked in, interrupting us loudly, "Ollivander, you haven't heard from Burke, have ya? I haven't heard from him since he went to after the ring bearing the stone with the Peverell Coat of Arms and that was weeks ago?"
Ollivander paused in our examination and we both turned towards the doorway as Borgin came into view, saying, "Said someone named Marvolo Gaunt had it, but then rumor had it that our own Tom Riddle had it. Well, couldn't be a better spot of profit for us! Burke went to go get the ring from Tom, hasn't been seen since. You don't think-?"
Borgin stopped when he saw Ollivander's withering stare and then said weakly, "I'll- I'll come back later then, shall I?"
"Please," Ollivander said, and then shot another question at me.
"Then Burke didn't reply for weeks. Well, Burke is like that you know. He gets very into his work, else he gets very distracted into other possible bargains… I wasn't worried. But time passed… And nobody, not even Fletcher, who's really the busybody of the underground market, had seen him for weeks on end. I wondered what could have happened. I went searching for him. Tried to contact Tom to see when their last encounter had been like. But all I got back was that Tom Riddle had long left Little Hangleton, possibly to Albania or some foreign place like that…I went to the Ministry six weeks ago. They started an investigation and today, finally, they found him. Died in a room locked from the inside with his hand on a cursed necklace. A necklace with a curse so powerful it'll kill anyone who touches it instantly. Of course, the Ministry thinks he was being careless. Made a bargain, then didn't properly handle the merchandise. But Burke's never been a careless man. He was a hard man, to be sure, but he didn't- he wasn't ever… He didn't deserve to die like that."
Borgin's voice died away as he stared, bleary-eyed, into the crackling fire.
I finally turned my gaze from him and glanced at Ollivander.
Ollivander wore the most troubled expression, and his silver eyes were like a fox's, hauntingly sharp and bright as moonlight and altogether suspicious.
Mr. Ollivander and I closed shop and accompanied Borgin back to his own shop in Knockturn Alley, above which he lived.
It was the shadiest place I had ever been in and his own store featured the most disturbing array of items I had ever seen- skulls of all types, a deck of playing cards stained with a most sinister liquid, and an old cracked tea kettle, apparently cursed and responsible for the death of over sixteen Muggles.
"You take care of yourself now","Mr. Ollivander said to Borgin sternly. "You must keep yourself together. I will drop by again tomorrow to check on you."
Borgin nodded numbly as he fumbled with the key to unlock his shop and staggered in.
"I shall escort you to the Leaky Cauldron," Mr. Ollivander said to me.
We began to walk back up Knockturn Alley, towards the Leaky Cauldron.
We walked awhile in silence until Ollivander addressed me quietly, "Your mind must be overflowing with questions. You may ask me some of them, if you like."
"Surely it was all a set-up?" I said. "To be in a room locked from the inside with a cursed necklace. It's almost too convenient. Something about it feels off, especially if Mr. Burke had done several transactions with cursed items before."
Ollivander nodded sharply. "I sense it is off, as well."
"Then it's definitely not an accident? It's definitely..." A chill crept along my spine as I said, "Murder?"
Ollivander nodded again, this time more slowly. "I would think so..."
"And then, Tom Riddle..." I said wonderingly, "The name is strangely familiar."
"He was a Hogwarts student, once," Ollivander replied.
"Yes," he said reminiscently. "At some point, he was not so different from you. Or rather, was he ever the same?"
Confused, I turned to Mr. Ollivander, wanting to ask more about this boy, but we had already come to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Be safe, Ms. Kingsley. I advise you to keep your friends close," Mr. Ollivander said by way of good-bye.
I took my leave then.
As per usual, the Gryffindor common room was the in the midst of yet another Friday party. Somebody (and I had a very shrew idea who) had managed to distribute Firewhisky to the majority of the upperclassmen and they were, to put it delicately, piss-drunk. There were even some students from the other schools here, I could tell by their uniforms. It all seemed so out of place after what I just experienced at Ollivander's.
I maneuvered my way through the crowd, trying to avoid being jostled. I spotted Lily and began to make my way to her when I realized she was shouting rather loudly at a young second-year boy clutching a bottle.
"Aw, just let him have it this one night," Sirius was saying to her.
"Black, how many times do I have to tell you? It's against school rules."
"Evans, how many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to be so goddamn uptight all the time."
"Language, please! He's a second year," Lily scolded Sirius, snatching away the bottle from the second year, who scowled.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm sure he's heard the word 'damn' before, Ev-"
"How about the both of you wankers go fuck yourself?" the tiny second-year retorted impressively, puffing out his chest.
Both Sirius and Lily froze.
"Excuse me!? What did you just say?" Lily sputtered, her face turning as bright red as her hair.
"Wow, that was impressive," Sirius said, holding back laughter. "Here." He took the bottle from Lily was expert thieving hands and held it back out to the second year, "I'd say you deserve that one fair and square."
"Black!"
"Evans!" he mimicked her high-pitched and immensely irritated voice.
I shook my head and moved past them.
Just before I headed up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, I spotted Marlene standing with two girls from Letra Damien. Our eyes met and for a moment she seemed caught off guard. But then, she smirked before turning and whispered something to the girls. They all three turned to look at me.
I turned away.
Right, keep your friends close.
What friends? I thought sarcastically.
Upon entering the dormitory and seeing Dorcas and Alice, I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Somebody better tell me what's got Marlene so up in arms or else I'm going to lose it!"
Dorcas and Alice, both sitting at their respective desks, shot uneasy glances at each other.
"Did something happen?" Dorcas asked me, turning around to look at me.
I shook my head and sat on my bed, feeling so fed up with it all. "Six years of friendship and this is it? I beat her at one thing- one little thing, which I didn't even want, and she can't stand me anymore?"
I looked at the both of them. My voice was mixed with both angry and exasperation as I asked them, "What did I do?"
A long silence arose.
Alice's gaze was sympathetic, while Dorcas' was uneasy.
Alice looked over at Dorcas, and they seemed to be communicating between them. Clearly, they knew something about Marlene that they felt compelled to keep silent about.
I sighed and started to get up from my bed. "All right. Fine. Fine, if I've put you in a compromising situation, I'm sorry. I just thought, maybe, I could resolve things if I knew."
"Her dad was going to come," Alice said unexpectedly, breaking the silence. Dorcas looked away from us, and I could tell she felt guilty about giving away Marlene's secret. It made sense, as Dorcas had always been the closest to Marlene among us.
"What?" I said, more confused than ever. I knew that Marlene's family relations were far from ideal, particularly as her father had abandoned them and they, in turn, had abandoned him. But she had never really spoken about it. At least, not to me.
And then Dorcas' words came back to me: "But I think, in the end, even though we're all good friends, we're all different people and we have different relationships we each other. For example, I would understand if you choose to talk about more personal problems with someone like Alice rather than me or if you'd rather talk about… I don't know, Quidditch or something, with Marlene. I wouldn't be angry about that at all."
I took a deep breath and tried to be more understanding. I sat back down and looked at them both. "I don't understand how that's related to me. What do you mean 'her dad was going to come'?
Alice explained in a soft, quiet voice. "Her father hasn't made her a promise of any kind in over ten years. But when she told him about the TriWizard Tournament during the summer, he made her a promise. If she became Hogwarts champion, he would come to cheer her on. He would come be with her. And she thought maybe if her Mom came too, then she could have a family again. She thought that maybe her little brother would be able to see his step-father, but her biological father, for the first time." Alice's voice trailed off as I shut my eyes.
Another long silence ensued.
"Ray?" Alice whispered. "You aren't truly mad at her, are you? Because she was so very disappointed when sh wasn't chosen. It killed me to watch her. And I don't think she knows how to deal with that."
"Why couldn't she tell me about it afterwards? Just for the sake of explaining why she might not want to be around me right now," I said.
Dorcas snorted and finally said, "You really have to ask? Remember we're talking about Marlene, the girl with a streak of pride wider than the whole galaxy." But then her voice immediately changed to a pleading tone, "I know she's in the wrong. I know she is. But please, if you feel anything for her as a friend- try to wait it out."
Alice nodded in agreement with Dorcas' plea.
Just then, Marlene came in, staggering slightly.
I immediately got off my bed and headed for the shower. Feeling pity for her in my head was one thing, but when I saw her in person, the most my self-restraint could handle was keeping back the angry retorts.
But suddenly, I felt myself shoved brusquely to the side and a powerful odor of alcohol overcame me. I looked up just in time to see Marlene run into the bathroom. She slammed the door thunderously loud before she started to retch into the toilet.
Dorcas immediately raced to the bathroom to be at Marlene's side, holding back her hair as Marlene vomited violently.
Alice looked at me with miserable eyes.
"Is it going to help her or hurt her for me to go in there right now?" I said, motioning towards the bathroom.
Alice just shook her head helplessly. "I don't know, Ray. I don't know anymore."
Seeing Alice so miserable made me try, at least for her sake, to be a little more mature. I quietly left the dormitory. Knowing I would find no solace in the party, I put my head down as I hastily moved through the crowd and out the dormitory door.
Had I been a little more observant, I might have noticed Lily standing there, fighting feelings of shock and hurt as she looked upon James intimately speaking and quietly laughing with the golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty Lorraine Sorentis from Academie dex Talonxs.
But I exited into the hallway in a matter of seconds, feeling as though my heart was going to burst from all of the pent-up anger I had felt for so long.
I didn't want to trek up to the freezing cold Astronomy Tower nor did I want to go to the Room of Requirement. I had spent the entirety of a week before the Tournament in that room; wonderful as it was, I needed a break.
I finally found a very tall window in the middle of the hallway on the third floor. There was just enough stone to fit my butt on it. I sat there and pulled the thick red velvet drapery around me.
It was still cold there, pressed up besides the glass. I gazed out the window. My breath on the window glasses caused frost-flowers to blossom, ice-crystals to show their delicate six-pointed figures before melting into raindrops that streaked across the window, and silver-white foliage to veil the glass. I looked beyond into the night sky. There were no stars out together, not even the Sirius star. Instead, it was a most opaque sky that promised that soon, the sky would unleash its entire reservoir of frost and snow onto the rest of the world.
Sitting there, in the silence, my thoughts came to me; calmer, and more honestly.
Marlene, I know you want to see your father again.
I don't blame you for that.
Because I want to see mine too.
I felt my eyes grow hot and a crippling pain in my chest, as though someone was squeezing my heart mercilessly, suffocating it.
I want to see my father more than anything.
Mum, too.
Sola, as she used to be.
And Jamie, as he used to be.
I know what it's like to want to see your family whole.
I stared desolately out at the cold landscape; so uncaring, so oblivious to the suffering of humans.
When I came out from behind the draperies, it was nearly dawn, and the soft pale blue morning light of winter was touching upon the cold Hogwarts grounds.
I went quickly, avoiding the main hallways in case I ran into Filch or Mrs. Norris, though I wasn't entirely sure if curfew applied anymore. I didn't want to test the idea.
I knew that the portrait of Brutus Scrimgeour hanging in the Trophy Room led to a secret staircase to the fourth floor. Aiming for that, I made my way down the Armory Gallery, terrified of knocking anything over, and into the Trophy Room.
I headed straight for the portrait of Brutus Scrimgeour and made to open it, when suddenly another item caught my eye. It was a familiar item: an award.
We once played quite an exhaustive game of Hogwarts Hide-And-Go-Seek with the girls in which Marlene and Alice tried to tag myself, Dorcas, and Lily before we got our hands on the Special Services Award: Tom Riddle in the Trophy Room. I managed to slap ol' Tom right on the 'iddle' while Marlene took down 'Dorky' with a spectacular dive and Lily, with a mad glint in her eye, came racing down the trophy room, barely outracing Alice to the award. The wall fairly shook when she slapped it.
"Tom. Tom Marvolo Riddle, 1943!" I whispered aloud. I searched the Trophy Room for any further information on him, but only found his name on an old Medal for Magical Merit and a List of Head Boys.
If he was so accomplished, then why did he become an assistant at Borgin & Burke's? I wondered. Surely he could have claimed some high-ranked Ministry job of some sort?
A soft mew could be heard in the hallway outside, followed by Filch's low voice. I immediately opened the portrait and climbed in, softly shutting the portrait door shut behind me.
"You didn't come back last night," Dorcas commented, when I slipped into Moaning Myrtle's stall to join her.
Luckily, Moaning Myrtle was currently occupied elsewhere.
"I know," I said, crossing my legs and sitting beside her.
"You should have come back," Dorcas told me. "Whether Marlene was there or not, it's still your room, too."
I shrugged. "I found a window that I liked the view from."
"How's Marlene?" I asked. "Did she say what happened to her?"
Dorcas blew out a puff of air and rolled her eyes. "From what I gather, she spotted Sirius kissing yet another girl and drank herself sick after that. I think she's all right now, though no doubt she'll wake up with a massive headache."
"But no time to talk about Marlene anymore," Dorcas said and her eyes glinted excitedly, "we're nearly done." She stirred the potion four times and repeated thrice, "Animalia Mutaris."
Finally, I carefully added the last six petals of epigaea, timing the drop between each petal with intense focus.
"You know this is illegal," I said, as we both squatted down close to the potion.
It was bubbling quite rapidly and shifting in flashes from teal to crimson to white.
"Yep," Dorcas said casually.
"You know we might die doing this," I warned.
"Yep," Dorcas replied cheerfully.
Finally, the potion calmed a bit, though it continued sloshing around, and finally settled on the color of pure, metallic silver.
"Well, we've timed it right. It's the day of a half-moon," Dorcas commented, scooping some up in two flasks.
"All right, do you remember the spirit animal you've decided on?" I asked Dorcas, accepting a flask from her.
Dorcas nodded. "And you, Ray?"
I nodded.
"Right then, I'll go first," I said to Dorcas. "And if something goes wrong, just run."
"Shut up, I'm not leaving you anywhere," Dorcas replied firmly. "Besides, nothing's going to go wrong."
I nodded and took a deep breath, to steady myself.
This was by far the most advanced magic I had ever had to produce.
As I had now practiced a million times, I carefully and precisely waved my wand thrice in side-ways infinite shapes, once in an upwards flourish, two downwards taps on the wrist, and six upwards spirals. In my head, I was concentrating hard on the meaning of "intuitive".
White steam began pouring out of the tip of my wand, forming a large tailed, whiskered, and furry animal.
"Verto animalis quadis interiorem mentis," I said, fighting hard to keep my voice from breaking.
With a trembling hand, I lifted the flask to my lips and then drank it straight down.
The most curious tingling sensation entered my throat and then suddenly rushed into a wave of ice-cold liquid that seem to slam straight into my heart.
I gasped.
I thought I heard Dorcas' voice but then I felt as though my ears were submerged in the same freezing cold water and all sound seem distorted, as though I were truly underwater.
Then, the trickling feeling of frost began to climb up both legs, to my stomach, even to the tips of my fingers.
The flask slipped from my fingers and shattered against the floor.
Suddenly, my eyes were blinded by the brightest silver light. Deaf and blind, I lost my sense of balance and fell to the floor. I thrashed against the white ice that surrounded me, threatened to suffocate me.
I thought I heard shouting, but when I opened my mouth to reply, I felt two sharp pains in my mouth and I lost any intention of communication.
And finally- when I thought I was going to pass out from not being able to breathe, my chest suddenly seemed to expand, and I felt perfectly in tune with myself again.
A smushed voice came from behind me. "This may not have been the best idea we ever had."
I unsteadily tried to shift my four padded paws so that I could face her, but really found the bathroom stall to be far too small.
I tried to voice my displeasure- instead an uncomfortable, deep growl resonated from my throat and my whiskers twitched in impatience.
"Watch it!" Dorcas shouted as I nearly whacked her across the face with my strong bottlebrush tail. Her voice was so clear and I could smell her.
"Morph back!" Dorcas suggested.
I closed my eyes and concentrated my whole mind on the idea of a "human'.
I felt myself sort-of shimmer and then, I stumbled a little when I was back on two feet.
Dorcas caught me. She was beaming.
"Brilliant, Ray, brilliant! You're a ginger-colored cat!" She grinned. "You've got sort-of bandy legs and your head looks a bit squashed. Very cute."
"Couldn't have been some elegant unicorn, eh? I had to be an upset-looking cat," I joked, trying to sound casual. But my entire body was shaking from relief.
Dorcas shook her head, "Give yourself some credit, Ray. You've accomplished the Animagus Transformation. That's quite an achievement, no matter what you say. Oh wait, here- Fractura."
The wall of our stall cracked at a corner and swung back to combine the area of two stalls into one. I backed away from Dorcas, to give her room to transform.
"All right. I'm going for it."
I nodded, though I felt nervous, knowing what she was about to undergo.
She performed the incantation expertly and downed the potion in one.
She shivered and then held her breath.
"Dorcas?" I said hesitantly.
She shook her head and leaned forward, gripping at the wall. The flask fell from her hands. I immediately flicked my wand at it, thinking hard, "Arresto Momentum!" The cup slowed just before it hit the ground and slowly rolled away. Dorcas was still not breathing and her eyes were now closed. The sound of her fingernails scrabbling against the wall in the silent was terrifying.
Suddenly, she gritted her teeth and her nails dug in her palms.
She started trembling uncontrollably, her hands slowly slipping down the wall.
She fell to the ground suddenly, crashing down.
"Dorcas!" I started to move forward, but she shook her head frantically, her eyes still closed.
I held my breath, too. Please, please transform. Please.
She grasped at her throat and I knew what she was feeling- that suffocating feeling.
But that meant that she was close!
And suddenly, I stood before a graceful and elegant gazelle.
Her eyes, framed with thick black lashes were the darkest shade of black I had ever seen, but in them I could recognize that cool intelligence and merry laughter that I'd only ever found in my Dorcas.
I laid a hand gently on her neck. "Dorcas?"
She batted her eyes at me and flicked her snow-white tail. That was the only bit of her that was white. Everything else was a soft beige color, save for her antlers, which were a rich oak color, and her hooves, which were also ebony black.
"Can you transform back?" I asked her.
The gazelle closed both her eyes and then, I hugged my dear, two-footed, human Dorcas hard.
Dorcas, laughing, hugged me back tightly.
"I can't believe we actually did it!"
Dorcas smiled at me. "This is so bloody wicked!"
"C'mon, we have to clean up," I said, and we both bent down to retrieve the materials.
"Reparo," I said, pointing at the stall wall, and it fixed itself.
"We have to go if we don't want to be caught," Dorcas said to me. "It's nearly lunchtime."
I nodded, and we left quickly, heading back up to Gryffindor Tower to quickly dispose of the evidence and wash our hands very thoroughly.
We were not a moment too soon. Alice and Lily came in just seconds after we'd stowed away our Potions equipment in our trunks.
"Did you see the announcement on the common room board?" Alice asked us.
We both shook our heads.
"Apparently the Masquerade Ball has been cancelled," Lily explained. "Instead, we're going to have a Yule Ball over Christmas Break, in honor of the TriWizard Tournament."
"Well, I will definitely be going ho-" My words swallowed themselves when I realized I had no home to go to anymore.
"Er- Shall we go down to lunch?" Dorcas said a moment later.
There was some mumbled agreement and we headed down together when suddenly I was stopped by a second-year Gryffindor boy.
He held out a roll of parchment to me. "I was asked to deliver this to Raylynx Kingsley."
"Thanks," I said, taking it from him.
Lily, who had been studying him closely, suddenly cried out, "I remember you! You were at the party last night. You and your foul mouth!"
The second-year Gryffindor looked at her coolly, "Oh right. You're Head Girl, then, are you?"
And without another glance, he shoved his hands in his pockets and strutted off.
Lily's jaw dropped. "Is he really just a second-year? He's so disrespectful!"
"Might even be worse than Potter and Black," Alice said, grinning.
Lily's face suddenly soured. "It's not possible to be worse than James Potter."
I opened the letter and read it.
"What does it say?" Dorcas asked me.
"It's about a meeting regarding the Second Task," I said, feeling my stomach plummet. "It's tonight, in the room by the staffroom."
"You're discussing the Second Task already? You barely got over surviving the First one," Lily said sympathetically.
"Don't remind me," I groaned.
"Where's Marlene?" I asked as we traipsed down the stairs to the Great Hall.
I didn't miss the look the three of them gave each other.
"Let me guess," I said impatiently. "She'd rather not spend time with me."
"For a little while, maybe," Lily said, trying to sound comforting, but failing.
I said nothing, feeling the same weary frustration from last night wash over me again.
But when Dorcas nudged my shoulder and winked at me, I couldn't help but feel elated all over again.
We had done it. We were Animagi.
