"Okay, explain it to me one more time," Kyle said.

It had been about half an hour since John had slipped the diary into Henry's bag. Henry had given them all strange looks when he had noticed, but when they had all feigned ignorance, he immediately left the room.

"Things we know from the book can't be shared," John said.

"Except with each other," Lucy pointed out.

"Yes. But that doesn't apply to things we learn naturally by observation and investigation."

"So?" Kyle asked.

"So, Henry sees the Diary and he knows that it's one of You Know Who's—" he mouthed the word 'Horcruxes', "—which was given to Ginny Weasley by Lucius Malfoy in order to open the Chamber of Secrets, which contains a—" 'basilisk' "—ready to drive the unworthy from the school."

"Okay," Kyle said.

"However," John continued," the only thing he knows from his own observation is that the Diary has the name 'Riddle' in it. He knows that he should bring it to Dumbledore, but if Dumbledore legilimises him, all he'll find out is that Henry found the Diary in his bag, but not that Henry knows it's a—" horcrux.

"Protecting us from scrutiny," Kyle finished.

"Exactly. I'd rather not have authority figures asking us questions that we literally can't answer. I'd considered slipping it to someone like Percy Weasley, but this way should be safe enough."

It had taken Lucy a while to calm down from her bit of burglary, which was strange, she thought, because she was much more level-headed after the incident with the troll.

"So, is that the whole plot of this year derailed?" she asked.

John thought for a moment. "Depending on what Dumbledore does… I hope so."

"Won't that mean that the bas— the monster will still be alive in the Chamber?" Kyle asked.

"Isn't that for the best?" John asked rhetorically.

"I don't know," replied Kyle, "I reckon I could take it." He waved an imaginary sword around.

"Well, we can always ask Harry to open it, if you want to try your hand at heroics," Lucy pointed out.

"I am a Gryffindor, you know."

"That's a good point," John said. "We may need access to it in the future to get the venom."

"If that's the case, we'd need some way to ask Harry for help without being suspicious," Lucy said. "Unless you want to ask You Know Who for his help."

"Can't Dumbledore speak Parseltongue?" asked Kyle.

Lucy sighed. "It's not clear," she said after a long pause, "what's canon or not. Everything from Sorcerer's Stone to Deathly Hallows is real, so far as we know. And the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages books are pretty much how I remember them, but the films are obviously not canon, at least with how everyone looks."

Kyle put a finger on his chin, thinking. "Is flipendo a real spell?"

"I don't know," Lucy said.

"It isn't," said John.

"That means most of the games aren't true," Kyle said. "And I think 'Cursed Child' used that spell at one point."

"What's 'Cursed Child'?" said John.

"Don't ask," Kyle said.

John frowned, but didn't argue.

"Remember that Dobby will still be acting as if everyone is in danger," Lucy said. They were already hearing students excitedly discussing Harry and Ron's daring arrival by flying Ford Anglia. "Which means there'll still be the Rogue Bludger to deal with."

"Plus who knows what else he might come up with if he gets more desperate," John added.

"Are you sure we can't do anything to save him?" Lucy asked, looking at John imploringly.

"Save who?" Kyle said.

"Dobby," said Lucy. "Now that Harry isn't going to get the Diary, go to the Chamber and confront Malfoy at the end of the year, he won't trick Malfoy into freeing Dobby."

"Oh, right," said Kyle.

"Look," John said, "if you've come up with some brilliant idea to save him—"

Lucy shook her head.

"—then there's nothing we can do and, frankly, I'm considering it a pretty low priority."

Lucy harrumphed. "Can you at least pass some House Elf reforms when you take over the government?" she asked.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"She's joking," John said flatly.

"I just feel sometimes that none of you bring up House Elves, centaurs, merfolk… heck, even goblins, as much as you should, considering that they're sentient creatures, too."

She sent them both challenging looks, but received an apologetic look from Kyle and an unsympathetic look from John.

"I have quite enough on my plate, at the moment," John said, "plotting against You Know Who and all that."

Lucy shifted her gaze to Kyle.

"What?" he said defensively. "House Elves are weird little gremlin creatures. I don't have any more of a natural impulse to care about them than I do to care about dolphins, or whatever."

Lucy gasped. "You don't care about dolphins?" she said in a wounded voice.

"Uhh…"

Kyle was saved, in that moment, by Henry returning to them.

"All dealt with," he said, closing the door.

"I don't know what you're talking about," John said, but he was smiling and shook Henry's hand. "Now, it's late and I'm going to bed."

Just admit that you're running away from me.

"Me, too," Kyle said.

Cowards, the both of them.

Lucy spent the rest of that evening and even the majority of the next day in a funk.

Sitting alone in the Ravenclaw Common Room, the following evening, she was only half paying attention to the Potions homework in front of her as her quill glided across the parchment. She wasn't truly upset by John and Kyle's attitude towards the plight of the House Elves. The general consensus, so far as Lucy had been able to glean, was that House Elves were generally well treated, if not much thought about, and that situations like Dobby's were rare.

It's not as if I want to get started on SPEW a few years early.

She scratched out a few more sentences half-heartedly.

But Dobby's is another life that we have to save. I refuse to forget about him just because he looks different from us.

"Williamson," said a voice, breaking Lucy out of her reverie. "What are you doing here?"

Lucy looked up, staring at the owner of the voice blankly. Roger Davies, the fifth-year boy, was looking at her impatiently.

"Potions?" Lucy said after a moment.

"I mean," Davies said, "why aren't you down at the Quidditch Pitch?"

"Well, it'd be pretty hard to do my homework with the wind blowing all my pages around and—"

"I mean," Davies ground out, interrupting her, "get your broomstick and get down there for the Quidditch team trials."

Lucy let out an awkward laugh. "I'm not really the sporting type."

"I don't care if you're the 'sporting type' or not, but you're the most natural person on a broomstick out of everyone in the fifth year and below."

"What about Harry?" Lucy asked. Everyone in the Common Room had heard the Quidditch team loudly complaining about the resident Dark Lord defeater and his prodigious flying skill.

Davies rolled his eyes dramatically. "I meant among the rest of us mere mortals."

"Harry's not immortal—" Not yet, "—but whatever. Do you really think I could be on the team? Playing what? Chaser?"

"With those spindly arms?"

"Hey!"

"No," Davies said, ignoring her outburst, "you're a shoe in for Seeker."

Lucy debated hitting him with her 'spindly arms', but decided to be merciful. "What about Cho?"

"Cho's good, and she won't like being replaced," Davies said, "but she knows that putting the best team together is more important than her ego. "Besides, she could play Chaser easily enough or even just be a floating reserve player."

Lucy thought about it for a few more moments.

"Ehhhhhh…"

"Come on, Williamson. Where's your house pride?"

Drowned by incessant riddles.

"Fine," Lucy said in resignation. "I'll show you young whippersnappers how a real expert flies."

It might be fun and will at least be a good distraction from the Dobby situation.

"Whippersnappers?" Davies said in confusion. "The whole team is older than you."

Wanna bet?

"Urgh, when does this thing start, anyway?"

"In about fifteen minutes."

Scribbling down a conclusion to her Potions essay in thirty seconds, Lucy stuffed everything into her school bag and trudged up to her dorm to change into more appropriate flying clothes.

Whoever thought that young girls, robes, and flying broomsticks worked well together was a creep.

"She doesn't even know how to play Quidditch!"

Lucy was currently flying in lazy circles above the small crowd of Ravenclaw Quidditch players and disappointed hopefuls, both hands off the broom and steering with just her knees.

"She'll learn, besides, at least she can make a whole circuit of the pitch without falling off her broom, Boot," Davies said sternly.

I had kind of forgotten how not everyone found flying quite as easy as I do.

Terry blushed. "I told you, a fly flew into my mouth."

"Oh, come on, Boot," Cho Chang, previously-Seeker, currently-Chaser, said. "If I can handle it, you can too. She's obviously the best choice, what with her build and natural skill. Don't be a sore loser."

Terry grumbled and turned around to march back up to the castle with the rest of those who hadn't made the cut.

"Stop showing off and get down here, Williamson," Davies called up to her.

Once she had joined them, he began outlining grand plans for the whole season and started hashing out the training schedule so that it didn't interfere with everyone's prior commitments.

Do we really need three, hour-long practices a week? There are something like forty weeks of lessons a year, so one-hundred and twenty hours of practice for three games. On top of music and spell practice… urgh… and I still need to choose two new spells to focus on this year…

"Are you even listening to me, Seeker?" Davies demanded.

"Not in the slightest," Lucy said immediately.

Davies sighed. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

"You could have just let me do my homework," Lucy pointed out.

Lucy sighed in contentment as she finished her nightly routines and re-entered the dormroom. Henry and John had been very considerate, but having to share a bathroom with boys had been getting on her nerves after six weeks.

She wriggled under the covers of her bed.

"And did you see her pyjamas?" Padma said to Lisa.

"I know, right?"

"Ooh, who are we gossiping about?" Lucy said eagerly as she rolled over to talk with them. Gossip was another vice that John and Henry couldn't provide her with.

"That new first-year, Lovegood."

The smile dropped off Lucy's face.

"Oh."

"And she still had those earrings in!" Lisa continued. "Are they real butterbeer corks?"

"That can't be hygienic."

"Stop it," Lucy said. "Don't bully Luna."

Padma rolled her eyes. "We're not bullying her, Lucy."

"Yeah," agreed Lisa. "We're just talking about her behind her back."

"Well, don't do that either."

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Padma asked.

"There's nothing wrong with my knickers," Lucy said. "Luna is…"

"Luna is…?"

Five times the witch you are. Possibly some kind of seer. A poor girl who lost her mother and only has a half-mad father looking after her. Probably somewhere on the spectrum.

"She's a harmless first-year and a member of your house," Lucy settled on.

"Urgh, you're such a goody-two-shoes," Padma huffed.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "First my knickers, now my shoes. What's next?"

"A wet blanket?" Lisa supplied.

Padma glared at her friend, but Lisa couldn't hold back her giggle.

"Urgh! Good night!" Padma ground out.

Lucy bid everyone goodnight as well and rolled over.

Poor Luna.

Lucy had tried to befriend the strange girl on the first day of classes, but Luna was so far detached from ordinary social convention that Lucy had quickly made her excuses and left before the awkwardness grew too severe.

I honestly can't blame her yearmates that she doesn't get any friends until her fourth year. Or might not, depending on how events play out.

Lucy was struck by the sudden thought that all the changes they made might result in Luna never making any friends, which would be so unfair to the girl.

It took Lucy a while to fall asleep.

The next day, Lucy bumped into Kyle on the way down to breakfast.

"Woah, there," he said, holding out a hand to help her back to her feet.

"Thanks," she replied, blushing. "You headed to breakfast?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go then. God, I'm starving."

Kyle gave her a strange look. "I saw you take three helpings of beef stew last night," he said.

"Hey! I'm a growing girl."

"Are you sure?" Kyle said, eyeing the top of her head.

"What was that?" Lucy said warningly.

"Nothing!"

"Yeah, I thought so."

They walked through the doors of the Great Hall together. As usual, they had arrived before the majority of students were awake.

"Is there any rule that says you have to sit at your house table?" asked Kyle.

"No," Lucy said. "Feel free to join me, if you'd like."

Kyle smiled and nodded.

"Now, today, we're going to sit…" Lucy looked up and down the table carefully, "… there."

"Is there any particular reason?" Kyle asked as they walked past dozens of empty spots.

"Because, there are, like, fifty pots of tea on every table and only one pot of coffee," Lucy said. "And it's not even good coffee."

"Ah."

They sat and Lucy poured coffee for the both of them.

Kyle sipped his drink and looked at what was available, while Lucy was busy putting milk and five teaspoons of sugar into her cup.

He took in the racks of toast, all manner of jams and preserves, mountains of juicy sausages and thick slices of bacon, scrambled, fried, boiled, and poached eggs, beans, grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, hash browns, black pudding, white bread, brown bread, rye bread, sourdough bread, plain rolls, seeded rolls, raisin rolls, porridge, yoghurt, a dozen varieties of cheese, and two dozen varieties of fruit.

"Is there any Captain Crunch?" he asked Lucy.

She shook her head sadly. "No cereals, no biscuits and gravy, no spaghettios, no pancakes, only Canadian bacon… you get used to it. It's not so bad."

Kyle frowned. "Maybe we can convince the House Elves to switch up the menu a little."

Lucy shook her head again. "I doubt it. While the headmaster is nominally in charge of them, the day to day management of the House Elves is delegated to Filch and I can't imagine him indulging us. John knows where the kitchens are, but he got caught sneaking in once and McGonagall made him promise not to tell anyone how to get in. John's the kind of guy to take that kind of promise seriously, too. I know the entrance has something to do with a portrait and a bowl of fruit, but for the life of me I can't remember the details, which is annoying, because normally I'm really good when it comes to Harry Potter trivia. You don't know how to get in, do you?"

"Uh, no."

"Shame."

Lucy spread some strawberry jam on a slice of toast and Kyle contented himself by constructing a truly monstrous sandwich.

"Teenage boys," Lucy said, eyeing Kyle's creation warily.

"In fairness," Kyle said, trying to work out how to eat the creation of his own ego, " I was a teenage boy before I got here, too."

"Oh, yeah,"

"Though, I can't say I'm looking forward to bunking with eleven-year-old boys going forward though," Kyle said, wrinkling his nose.

"Set the male perfects on them," Lucy suggested. "And when that doesn't work, set the female ones on them."

"Good idea."

"I know."

Kyle busied himself with his breakfast, while Lucy examined her new schedule.

"Defence later," she said to herself.

"Hmm?"

"It's my first Defence lesson of the year, this afternoon, with the legend himself."

"Lockhart? But he's a fraud."

"With looks like that, I don't really care," Lucy said nonchalantly.

Kyle didn't look like he was particularly willing to agree.

"Don't look like that," Lucy said. "Just wait till you see how the male population looks at Professor Sinistra. My… appreciation… of Lockhart is far more innocent than that."

Kyle frowned. "Which one is Sinistra?" He asked, looking at the staff table.

"She's not there. She's the Astronomy professor, remember? So she only has evening classes and doesn't take breakfast here. Don't worry, you'll understand when you see her."

Seriously, I'm not looking forward to fending off advances from teenage boys ten years my junior in a few years time.

Kyle was examining his own schedule with his brow creased. "Potions," he said darkly.

"Just don't get on his bad side," Lucy recommended. "He's not the best teacher, but he does know his stuff. He's… stern, but he doesn't berate anyone unless they're being particularly stupid… for the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, at least."

Kyle let out an uneasy laugh. "Somehow, that doesn't fill me with confidence."

"Oh, don't be like that," Lucy said. "It wouldn't be Hogwarts unless half the staff aren't wildly incompetent, a danger to children, or actively evil."

"Or all three in Lockhart's case," Kyle said.

"I could care less."

Lucy made sure to arrive at the Dark Arts classroom early and hurried to get a seat front and centre. She wasn't the only girl crowding the front benches.

Most of the boys slouched into the room just moments before the lesson began but still managed to get there before Lockhart.

"Me!" Lockhart said, bursting into the room. Lucy smiled dreamily without thinking about it.

Okay, I have got to ask him about his haircare routine. Ah, but it probably has some tricky spells in it. That'd suck… Then again, Lockhart managed it and he's supposed to be terrible at magic.

"Me, Gilroy Lockhart. Order of Merlin, third class." His smile widened, flashing his bright teeth at the whole class. "Honorary member of the Dark Force Defence League. Winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award," he made eye contact with Lucy, causing her breath to catch in her throat, "five times. but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

He actually winked at me! Okay, move aside all you pretenders. My new, most favorite professor is here.

"Now, just to get an idea of how well prepared you all are, I have a very simple quiz prepared."

Oh. Right. We were supposed to read his books, weren't we? The only questions I know the answer to are the ones mentioned in Chamber of Secrets. Okay, so his favorite color is lilac. Ah, a man after my own heart. That's question one. Question two…

Lucy had to guess at most of the answers, but for some of them she could extrapolate from the snippets she did know. In the end, she didn't think she had done very well.

Why do I feel like I've disappointed him?

When Lockhart had collected their answers, he happily announced that Michael Corner had got all but one question correct, much to his embarrassment.

"Now," Lockhart's face and voice suddenly grew deadly serious, silencing any murmurs in the classroom, "it is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind. You may find yourselves facing your darkest fears inside this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I can ask is that you remain calm."

He's so dramatic! I love it.

With a final warning, Lockhart whipped the cover of the large cage before them.

Hold on. That's not a pixie.

Small, though larger than a pixie would have been, squat, with black fur and a long nose, the creature stared at the class with great intensity.

"A niffler?" someone said disbelievingly from behind Lucy.

Oh no.

"Let's see what you make of it!" Lockhart cried, opening the cage.

The next few minutes were chaotic, to say the least. Lucy spent the first few moments patting herself down to ensure that she didn't have anything shiny on her, but the cries of consternation and pain from behind her were proof that not everyone was so lucky.

"Somebody grab it!"

"It's too quick!"

"Hit it with a spell or something!"

"No, don't hurt it!" Lucy shouted, having quickly discarded the use of the Severing Charm as inhumane and an overreaction.

The niffler was bounding between students, grabbing anything that glittered and scampering away before it could be caught.

"Do something, professor!" someone with a higher estimation of Lockhart's magical ability than Lucy shouted, but Lockhart was already hiding under his desk after the niffler had snatched a golden label pin from his robes.

It's too small and fast to hit with a spell. It's attracted to shiny things…

"Use Colour-changing Charms!" Lucy shouted. "Make everything dark and dull!"

A dozen voices shouted out in unison, though it took Lucy three tries to cast the spell successfully, and the room, its contents, and everyone in it had all colour washed away.

It's like a black-and-white movie.

One very bright—

Tee hee hee.

—student had thought very quickly and cast the charm again, this time making the cage on Lockhart's desk glitter in silver and gold. The niffler stopped trying to steal Mandy Brocklehurst's hairclip and almost flew across the room towards the cage, dropping its collected treasures as it went.

Anthony Goldstein, entirely in greyscale, stood ready and slammed and locked the cage shut once the niffler was back inside.

A tired cheer went up from the assembled Ravenclaws. Lockhart poked his head above his desk, looking surprised for a moment before comporting himself.

"Well done, everyone!" he said jovially. "A point for Ravenclaw House, each."

This prompted a slightly more enthusiastic cheer.

"Colour-changing Charms were an interesting approach. An inventive use of the spells you know is the hallmark of many a great wizard or witch."

You know, that almost sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

They spent the rest of the lesson undoing the Colour-Changing Charms and repairing the damage the classroom and students had suffered. Lockhart instructed them to write about another inventive use of a first-year spell as homework and dismissed them for the day.

Lucy wanted to ask Lockhart some questions though and remained behind, but there was already a crowd of girls around his desk. Lucy got started on his homework assignment.

"—and let's just say I'm glad that I had a tea strainer at hand!" Lockhart said, prompting giggles from his crowd of admirers. "Now, off with you," he said genially. "Go and enjoy the rest of your day."

There were more giggles and excited whispers from the gaggle as they left, leaving Lucy alone with Lockhart.

"And what can I do for you, young Miss…?" he asked with a charming smile.

Lucy took a breath, trying to soothe the beating of her heart. "Lucy… Williamson… I just have to ask… your hair." Lockhart's smile widened. "It's just so… you know?"

"I do," he said, basking in the attention.

"How do you—"

But Lockhart was shaking his head. "Trade secrets, I'm afraid, Miss Lucy."

"But—" Lucy protested.

"You must understand," he continued, "I don't want to stay in the business of fighting dark creatures forever. When I retire from that career, I intend to be the foremost producer of hair care products in Europe. No… the world! I can't just give away years worth of research and experimentation to anyone, even if they do have luscious locks themselves." Lucy blushed. "I'm sorry, dear."

Damnit. He's right.

"You're right, I can't ask that of you," Lucy agreed dejectedly. "Oh, well. Here you are." And she thrust a sheet of parchment towards him.

"What's this?" he asked.

"The homework. You asked for six inches—"

Don't even think about it, Lucy.

"—on incentive charm usage."

"But it's only been ten minutes," Lockhart said, looking at her in surprise.

Lucy just shrugged. "That's only like two or three hundred words," she said, then turned around towards the door.

"Wait," Lockhart said, scribbling on a scrap of parchment. "You seem like a bright kid, a real up-and-coming girl. If you can work out how these interact, you'll be a step towards one of my shampoo secrets."

Lucy took the parchment curiously.

Potion ingredients?

Her eyes widened in understanding, one hand absentmindedly reaching up to tug at her hair.

"Not a word to anyone," he told her, winking.

"Yes, professor! I mean, no, professor! I mean—"

Lockhart laughed. "Off with you!"

Lucy carefully put the parchment into her copy of Magical Me, snapped it shut, and hurried to the door. She turned back at the threshold.

"Thanks! You're the best."

As summer let out its last breath, everyone got settled into the Hogwarts routine. Lucy got back into the rhythm of balancing school work, homework, practising spells and music, and with the new addition of Quidditch practice three times a week. Despite her best efforts, she was starting to get the gist of how the game was played and what her role in the team was.

John was as serious as ever and Henry took another gaggle of first-years under his wing, though Kyle swore off joining a homework club of 'little kids'.

Kyle was a source of frustration for Lucy.

I wouldn't mind him being just so good at everything, if he could just see how unusual it is! Charms, Potions, Transfiguration… he's just annoyingly good at all of them. Even in just the few weeks he's been here, he's already overtaken me in some areas. And he's just so clueless about how unfair that is! At least I have him beat when it comes to essay writing.

After pouring over her textbooks for this year, Lucy had decided to add the General-Counter Spell, finite incantatum, and the Slowing Charm, arresto momentum, to her miniscule repertoire. Professor McGonagall's advice to focus on a limited number of spells was slowly making a difference. Her Levitation Charm was now as good as anyone else's in her year, though she had had to practise for ten times as long as anyone else.

Lucy served herself a bowl of oatmeal— no, I won't call it porridge— as the post-owls swooped down to deliver their deliveries. She watched as one of them landed in front of John and offered up the newspaper it was carrying. Her interest peaked when John took one glance at the headline, made a surprised face, then immediately stood up and walked quickly towards Henry, throwing a significant look her way as he went.

What is it now? she thought to herself as she went to join the two of them. I didn't think anything significant was going to happen soon… Lucy half-gasped. Unless…!

"Is it Sirius?" she whispered furiously, clutching Henry's arm to help stop her speed-walk across the Great Hall.

"He's out," John said with a rare smile. He held out the newspaper, which Lucy almost snatched away from him. "A deal was struck where he'd serve the rest of his sentence for having an illegal animagus form under a limited house arrest."

"A limited… does that mean that he won't be able to…" Lucy looked around to check that no one was listening in on them, "adopt Harry?"

"Probably not yet," Henry said sadly.

"If that's ever going to be possible," John said, glancing at the Staff Table. They could see Dumbledor perusing his own copy of the Prophet. His typical, genial expression made it impossible to guess at what he was thinking about.

Is this something he has a plan for? Lucy thought to herself. What happens if Sirius eventually tries to take Harry away from the Dursleys? Will Dumbledore try to stop him? Will Sirius listen to Dumbledore? He did in canon, but at that point, Sirius was still on the run from the law and Dumbledore was helping to protect him. If he were free, would he accept Harry's treatment at the hands of his relatives?

"These conditions aren't too restrictive," Henry said, reading the details in the paper.

"Will Harry be able to visit him for Christmas, at least?" Lucy asked.

Henry hummed, his eyes flitting to and fro. "Maybe with supervision…"

Lucy nudged him to the side so that she could read beside him. For a long moment, they read silently, then, suddenly, Lucy was overcome by the most peculiar feeling that she was being peered at intently, like she was being examined under a giant microscope. She gave a start and looked around the hall. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and when she swept her gaze to the staff table, Dumbledore was still reading the newspaper, his eyes looking nowhere near her.

"This is boring," Kyle said.

Lucy ignored him and started the F-minor scale.

"Seriously, I thought music was supposed to be, I dunno, beautiful or exciting or something, but you've just been going up and down for the last thirty minutes!"

Lucy finished F-minor and gave him an unimpressed look. Then she started G-major.

"Gah," Kyle exclaimed.

"Lucy knows what she's doing," Henry told him, not looking up from the book he was reading. "Proper practice is important."

Kyle made a face. "Normally, I just coast by on my massive talent."

Lucy's eye twitched, but she didn't let that distract her.

"That may work now, when you have such an advantage over your peers, but you're only shooting yourself in the foot, long term," Henry said. "Some of the stuff that the upper years study gets really complex and if you don't start good habits now, you'll struggle when your natural talent isn't enough."

Lucy saw Kyle's dismissive expression out of the corner of her eye, but he let the matter drop.

Five minutes later, Lucy finished her scales for the day and finally got around to playing an actual piece of music. She hadn't intended to infuse any magic into her music that day, but Kyle's attitude and his annoying aptitude for magic had really gotten on her nerves and she wanted to vent… and maybe show off a little.

A layman might not have thought that the flute was the best instrument for exciting and bombastic music, but Lucy wasn't a layman. She knew the flute as well as anyone else and knew how to get the audience's hearts pumping even without magic. With magic it almost felt like cheating. She had been practising subtlety and nuance for some time, but threw it to one side.

This might be a little much for Kyle's first introduction to me using magic in my playing, but I feel like showing off.

Ten minutes later, she wasn't going to wear herself out if it wasn't a special occasion, she let the magic fade away and she lowered her flute.

Henry and John had had enough exposure to her music by now that they could control themselves a little better when she really got into it, but because it was Kyle's first time, he had no resistance whatsoever.

For several long moments, Lucy watched with amusement as he stared at her blankly, mouth agape, until John whacked him on the arm.

"Are you still with us, Kyle?" he asked.

Kyle blocked a few times and gave his head a shake.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm… fine. What was that?"

"That's Lucy's secret talent," Henry said.

"Not that secret," Lucy said. "Everyone in Henry's homework group has experienced it and even if most of them didn't realise something magical was happening, Hermione is observant to have recognised that something was happening. Plus, Dumbledore knows, too."

"He does?!" John exclaimed.

"Oh," Lucy's face flushed. "Didn't I mention that?"

John shook his head with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Oops."

John sighed. "Hopefully he doesn't think too much about it."

"Okay, seriously, why are you obsessed with being secretive?" Kyle asked, still visibly recovering from Lucy's performance.

"Well, for one thing, there's an immortal Dark Lord who wouldn't be too happy if word of our actions against him got out," John pointed out. "Another thing is that Dumbledore wouldn't be too happy to learn of all the illegal things we have done and for another thing… Well, let's just say that I don't like attention on me."

"Why not?"

"Because he's plotting to take over the world," Lucy said.

"No, I'm not," John snapped.

"You've made that joke before," Kyle said, looking between Lucy and John.

John gritted his teeth. "I'm not planning to take over the world," he said. "It's just that… there are a few situations where a little… intervention would be in everyone's interest."

"Ah, the shadow government running everything behind the scenes," Kyle said.

"No," John said.

"Yes," Henry objected. "Or what else do you call using mind control to influence world affairs?"

"But not for my own sake! But for the big things, preventing wars, genocides, famines… there's probably already a secret society of wizards and witches doing so, legitimately or not. Are you honestly telling me that you don't plan to be in New York City on the eleventh of September, 2001?"

"Huh," Kyle said.

"Don't rush off on a flight of fancy," Henry said. "The thing you've got to consider is… How should I… oh, have you ever seen Star Trek?"

"Yes? Oh, the Prime Directive. Don't interfere in the natural development of a species… or a group, I guess, in this case."

What a load of nerds.

"Yeah, no. I agree with John," Kyle said dismissively. "The world's a fucked up place. It doesn't take a moral paragon to see that."

"Thank you," said John.

Oh, here they go.

"Right! Enough of that," Lucy said loudly. She pointed at John. "You're supposed to be studying." She pointed at Kyle. "You're supposed to be practising Legilimency. And you!" She pointed at Henry. "You're going to help me with my Feather-light Charm."

Lucy was deep in thought.

Okay, so the inclusion of Veela hair is obvious and I think I can see how the powdered mermaid scales —ethically sourced, naturally— fit in, but, for the life of me, I can't see where the murtlap essence goes. I mean, obviously the man knows what he's talking about, just look at him, but I've been studying these reagents for weeks and—

"Are you even paying attention to the game, Seeker?!"

Lucy gave a startled start. She had been dutifully looking out for the Snitch, but it was pretty dull floating a hundred metres above the game so that the Bludgers didn't bother her.

"Whoops!" she shouted back to Davies. "Sorry, cap!"

"Don't you 'sorry, cap' me!" Davies shouted back at her. Evidently, he had abandoned his Chaser duties in order to come and talk to her. "We're two goals down—"

"Hufflepuff score!" Lee Jordan's amplified voice called out. "Hufflepuff lead ninety to sixty!"

"—three goals down," Davies corrected himself. "Get down there and play interference!"

"Sure thing, cap," Lucy said, throwing him a salute and angling her broomstick downwards. She heard him spitting out expletives as he followed her towards the melee of players, but she ignored him and focussed on what she was about to enter.

Davies had given her two roles to play, depending on how the game was progressing. To Lucy's complete disinterest, Davies had explained how the Seeker had more to think about than just catching the Snitch. When the Chasers are outflying their opponents, he had told her, she was just to make sure that the Snitch remained uncaught, but when the Chasers were conceding more goals than they were getting, she was supposed to dive into the middle of the action and disrupt the other team's plays.

Just be annoying, Lucy, she told herself. You can do that.

In the last moment that she had the advantage of height and could see the whole game, she saw one of the Hufflepuff Beaters line up a Bludger and send it streaking towards Cho, who had the Quaffle and was heading towards the Hufflepuff goals.

Re-angling her descent, Lucy used the speed she had gained from losing so much altitude to speed in front of the Bludger before it reached Cho, causing it to start chasing her instead, and sped away, pulling the Bludger with her and keeping Cho safe. Then she had the problem of the Bludger trying to knock her off her broom, but a couple of spins, a roll, and flying straight through the Hufflepuff Chaser formation caused it to switch to a new target.

Lucy just managed to hold in her squeals of joy, but she caught sight of Davies' expression when they next passed and decided to focus on the game more than enjoying flying.

Lucy started harassing the Hufflepuff Chasers and interfering with their Beaters. It was apparently a foul to target the Seeker with a Bludger when the Snitch wasn't in play, so Lucy would fly right next to the Ravenclaw Chasers when they had possession, forcing the Hufflepuff Beaters to either target someone else or concede a penalty. With her help, the Ravenclaws managed to claw back a few goals and retake the lead, but it meant that Lucy was ignoring the search for the Snitch.

Lucy was congratulating herself for just successfully leading a Bludger into the Hufflepuff Keeper, when she heard the crowd's cheering increase.

"And Diggory has seen the Snitch!"

Lucy said something worthy of getting detention and swivelled her head around, trying to spot her rival.

There he is!

Diggory was moving fast. He was diving from height and was rapidly converting his altitude into speed. Lucy couldn't see the Snitch, but she aimed herself to where Diggory was heading and willed her Cleansweep to accelerate as fast as possible, pressing her body flush against the broom.

For several long moments, Lucy struggled with several priorities simultaneously. She was trying to spot the Snitch, keep an eye on Diggory's position, plot the best path forward through the melee of Chasers, all while listening out for the telltale thump of a Beater's bat against a Bludger.

There!

She finally saw the Snitch. She was even closer to it than Cedric was, but it didn't matter. His meteoric descent had him shooting across the pitch at ludicrous speeds. In a last ditch attempt to stop him from winning the game, Lucy veered into his path, but Cedric proved that he wasn't the Hufflepuff Seeker for nothing by gracefully slipping past her by a hair's breadth. Lucy follows him in the faint possibility that he would overshoot the Snitch, but it was an empty gesture and she knew it.

"Diggory catches the Snitch!" Lee Jordan shouted to the crowd. "Hufflepuff win, two-hundred and fifty to one-hundred and forty! It was good flying from the new Ravenclaw Seeker, but her inexperience showed by not paying enough attention to the whole game."

Lee continued to commentate, but Lucy tuned him out, annoyed that she had lost the game. Roger was waving her and the rest of the Ravenclaw team to leave the pitch, so Lucy descended to the ground, wincing as she dismounted her broom and stretched her legs.

Why broomsticks? she grumbled internally.

A short shower and a change of clothes later and she was sat in the locker room with the rest of her team.

Roger launched into a debriefing, praising everyone and giving calm advice for areas to improve. It was a decent bit of leadership in Lucy's opinion. He wasn't even upset at Lucy for missing the catch, nor did the team let her apologise. They all agreed that the Snitch turned up in a better position for Cedric. Soon enough, Roger let them go, most of them at least.

"Can I have a quick word, Williamson?"

If she were truly thirteen, that sentence might have filled her with trepidation, but as it was, she was just curious what he wanted to talk about.

"What can I do you for, cap?" she asked.

"First of all, don't call me that," he said.

No deal.

"Second of all," he looked at her severely for a moment, "do you still want to be the Seeker?"

"What?"

What?

"Yes? I mean, of course I do."

"Is there something I've done to upset you?"

"No? Roger, if this is about the Snitch—"

"No," he said. "No one could have caught it from where you were. Your flying today was pretty damn good."

"Okay," Lucy said slowly. "Then, what's the problem?"

Roger took a deep breath. "It's your attitude," he said eventually.

Huh?

"Quidditch is a team game, yeah? And were you paying attention to the rest of the match? Did you even know what the score was before Diggory caught the Snitch?

"Err…"

"Yeah, I thought so. And it's during practice, too. You treat this like it's an amusing diversion and that's all."

Lucy huffed, embarrassed to be called out and unable to deny it.

"It's only Quidditch," she muttered.

"And some of us actually care about Quidditch," Roger shot back, a little heat entering his voice. "Some of us might want to make a career out of it."

Oh.

She didn't say anything, but Roger saw her expression.

"It's very rare for a fifth-year like me to be picked as team captain and I could very easily lose it next year if I don't succeed."

"Okay," Lucy said in a small voice.

"And it's not just me, there are five other members of this team and the whole house supporting us and—"

"I said okay, alright?" Lucy told him. "I'll… I'll take it more seriously from now on."

"Thank you." Roger relaxed a little. "Sorry for telling you off."

Lucy smirked, a hand on her hip. "You're really not very scary, Roger," she said. "Uh, that wasn't me flirting with you, honest."

He gave her a strange look.

"Not that I wouldn't flirt with you," she said, suddenly remembering that this was the guy who had bagged a date to the Yule Ball with Fleur Delacour.

Now that I look at him, he is pretty nice, isn't he? For a teenage boy, that is.

"Lucy," he said flatly. "You're a second-year."

"I'm thirteen and you're fifteen," she said equally flatly.

"Lucy…" Roger struggled to find words for a moment, before giving up on being diplomatic. "You look like an eight-year-old."

"I do not!"

"You sound like one, too."

Why you little…

"Are we done here, cap?" she ground out.

"Run off and go play," he told her.

Hefting her broomstick onto one shoulder, she threw him one last glare before stomping off… in a very mature way, of course.

"Hey, Williamson!"

She was only half a minute away from the Quidditch pitch, long since empty of students, so she turned around, ready to show Roger that she was older than eight with some very colourful language.

"Yeah?!" she said, before noticing that it wasn't Roger. "Oh, Cedric."

The fourth-year was casually strolling in her direction, a broomstick slung over his shoulder in a much more effortless way than Lucy's was. His hair was damp and tousled, his having obviously just got out of the shower recently.

"Nice flying, today," he said.

"You, too," Lucy replied. "Nice catch."

"Oh, that was just luck," he said nonchalantly.

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was."

"No, it—" Lucy let out a breath. "Oh, whatever."

"You're not upset over missing the Snitch, are you?" he asked. "Only, I couldn't help but notice that you're not with the rest of your team…"

"Oh, Roger just wanted to talk," Lucy said.

"He hasn't been giving you a hard time, has he?" Cedric asked seriously.

"Well, kind of," Lucy admitted.

Cedric frowned. "I'll go have a word with him."

Oh, for the love of— Of course he wants to defend the little girl from the big, bad bully. Cedric's a prefect, too, isn't he? Oh, wait. Not until next year.

Eventually, Lucy and Cedric separated to go to their common rooms and Lucy managed to make her way to lunch. Kyle, John, and Henry gave her enthusiastic praise and commiserations. Henry didn't even gloat that Hufflepuff had won.