AS JANUARY'S END drew nearer, Luxanna's world felt increasingly more confined. Her head still rang with Moody's threats, accentuated by the memory of Potter's betrayal; she could hardly bear to even think of her father. The constant reminders of her foolishness only seemed to highlight the enormity of her error. If there ever was a time she needed Giubiana's blessing, it was now.
It was a peculiar tradition; one she kept secret, unbeknownst even to her mother, (despite it originating from her side) kept alive by a silly childhood memory of Luxanna's. Often finding that superstitions—despite how reluctant she was to believe in them—provided some form of relief from a difficult situation, it had stuck with her. And, after her brush with the Death Eater, it felt like the right thing to do. Not a full ritual, as was the custom, but enough.
First, she would have to fashion a puppet; she would do it by hand, as her Transfiguration skills were lacking.
That afternoon, Luxanna began collecting everything she could get her hands on: wood, straw, fabric, yarn, whatever. Once she had gathered it all, she set to work in the dormitory, with an Italian picture book by her side for reference. Weaving pieces of straw together was a simple enough task, but not particularly mind-consuming; as was with most rituals, one soon fell into a meditative state. The sun began to set over Hogwarts; the last rays of its waning arc penetrating the surface of the lake, creating a faint sheen on its surface. By the time Luxanna had finally decided that she was satisfied with the design of her puppet, it was fully dark. She placed her creation right under her pillow next to Frost, and prepared for her patrol duties.
Luxanna's head sank beneath the bubbling surface of the bath, dipping her hair into the steaming water. It was late in the evening, long past curfew, and she had slipped away after patrol in search of a quiet place; the prefects' bathroom came to mind as a refuge, secondary of course to the Chamber of Secrets, but Luxanna had been far too startled to go back in there after her last visit, despite having dismissed the noises as a trick of the mind.
This would have to do, for now. She reached out, resting her fingertips lightly on the edge of the tub, feeling the heat of the steam as she looked up. Her head had finally stopped hurting; the migraines came and went much like the waxing and waning of the moon, she had learned to watch for their coming, to rest and bathe and drink considerable quantities of Pepper-up in preparation.
"Ah, the copious luxuries that come of being a prefect," said Luxanna wryly.
"Yes, yes..." replied Frost. She was curled up in a ball atop Luxanna's uniform, her tail flicking in idle play as she tried to swat a passing bubble. "But you really should get going now, you need to have some sleep."
"Alright, Mother," said Luxanna, her eyes glued to the ceiling in a show of disobedience.
Luxanna eventually climbed out of the tub, wrapping herself in a white robe and patting her hair dry. She slipped her socks on, taking care not to step on Frost, and moved to grab the underwear that was hanging on a nearby hook, but no sooner than she did so, the door of the bathroom burst open.
"Potter?!"
She reacted out of instinct; first, by launching her underwear at him, followed by a pair of shoes and a bottle of shampoo—anything at arms reach, really. "Get out! Get out!" she shouted furiously, now reaching for the shower hose.
"Black? What are you doing— Stop!" he yelled, shielding himself from a flying spray of bath water. "Stop it!"
Luxanna grabbed her wand in one quick movement, levelling it at him and uttering a spell; Potter fell backwards into the corridor, cursing loudly. The painting he had staggered into also cursed as it fell to the floor with a loud clatter, while some others shrieked at the disturbance. Luxanna watched him cautiously, eyes ablaze, her migraine again at full force.
"Why are you here?" said Potter, groaning. He was still bent over and clutching his head, having only just avoided slamming it on the wall of the corridor.
"Me? It's the prefects' bathroom!" She stopped in front of him, too startled to even realise the absurdity of the scene, or the blush now very evident on Potter's face at catching her in such a state. Luxanna tightened the belt of her dressing gown.
"Yeah, but at this hour..."
He made to get up, reaching out with his hand to shield from the wand still pointed at his face.
"I could ask you the same," said Luxanna. Then her eyes fell on the objects on the floor; several feet away, the golden egg Potter had seized in the first task of the tournament, and much closer to where he was sitting, one she didn't recognise, a piece of parchment dotted with ink. It was too dark to make out, but it resembled something quite akin to a map. "What's this?" she asked, inclining her head.
Whatever it was, it was clearly of great importance to Potter, judging by the way he snatched it away and quickly turned the page around. "None of your bloody business," he said.
With a snort of irritation, she seized the parchment from his hands. When he tried to protest, Luxanna brandished her wand menacingly in front of his face. "I'll take this as your punishment for sneaking out, then," she said, a hint of delight in her voice at the opportunity to punish him; she had still not forgiven him for his breach of trust, and never would.
The despise was written all over his face; he looked about ready to tell her to take the paper and stuff it up her arse (or something of an equally articulate nature). He clenched his jaw and looked away, and for a moment, Luxanna was gripped by the desire to goad him into saying something to provoke her; she could have used a bit of back and forth right now. But, her lips remained sealed. She was the figure of authority here—her disdain for Potter was powerful, but not enough to overcome her better judgement. At least not this time.
She tucked the parchment inside her robe, gathered her clothes from the bathroom, then faced Potter and said, with a little more enthusiasm than was strictly necessary, "Enjoy your bath, Potter. Oh, and next time I catch you it'll be detention. I'll be sure to have a word with McGonagall about it."
Sometime in the night, she was awoken by a rustle of movement. Panicked, Luxanna sat up immediately, half expecting to see Moody's face staring down at her. She felt for her belongings under the pillow, and her hand wrapped around Frost, who had been curled up and sleeping. "Sorry," Luxanna muttered.
She moved the curtains out of the way to have a look, and once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, Luxanna caught sight of the empty four-poster bed next to her—Maisie Spinster was missing, and a hunch told her that the girl got up for a reason other than to just use the loo.
Hastily pulling on her dressing gown, Luxanna made for the door, only to realise it was locked. By pressing her ear to it, she could barely make out the voices of Spinster and Selwyn in their ushered whispers, but could not distinguish the words. They seemed to be in a rather heated discussion, though. After a minute or so, the voices began to grow distant, presumably leaving the corridor in search of a different, more private space.
"Alohamora," Luxanna whispered, slowly turning the handle back as far as it could go before clicking the door open, but despite how careful she was being, it caught on the usual indent in the floor and subsequently made a loud scraping noise, so that Luxanna only caught the last few words before the girls went silent at the disturbance.
"...hardly enough, Spinster."
Luxanna retreated back into her bed. Entirely sure that the last tethers of sleep had faded away and would not be coming back anytime soon, she withdrew the parchment from underneath her pillow and whispered, "Lumos."
What she believed to be a map was now just an empty piece of parchment, devoid of any lettering. Luxanna flipped it over in her hand, confused. She was sure she'd seen it. Sure of it... Right, it must be some sort of illusion, she figured, and set to trying out various dispelling charms, but no matter what spell she used, the blasted thing would not give in. She sighed. What would Potter use?
Before she could ponder on that question, however, the inevitable sounds of footsteps approached the dormitory and somebody shuffled back in; Luxanna could not see who it was, she had already drawn the curtains back for cover. Careful not to make a noise, Luxanna slid the parchment back where it belonged, along with her wand, which she now kept there as well, compelled by her paranoid state.
"Gone?! What do you mean it's gone?" shrieked Luxanna.
"I don't know, Lux, I woke up and it was missing," whispered Frost, a slight tremor to her voice.
She had woken up early in the morning, startled to find that the maphad gone missing. She was currently in a state of ransack, furiously turning the entire dormitory upside down; all of the dresser drawers were hanging out, the bedsheets all awry. There was no sign of the parchment. How was it possible? She had placed it right under her pillow. How, just how, had somebody managed to slide it from right underneath her head?
As if on cue, Selwyn stirred from sleep, lifting the sleeping mask from her eyes to inspect the situation, and promptly providing Luxanna with the realisation.
"You!" hissed Luxanna, rounding on her.
Selwyn said nothing in response, which only further irritated Luxanna. Her face was as impassive as it always was these days, ever since the evening of the ball. She seemed not to bother with rousing Luxanna anymore, perhaps too insulted to confront the realisation that she had been lied to this entire time. It was clear she fancied more silent ways of torment, such as stealing.
In the corner, one of the other girls glared back at Luxanna in a menacing fashion.
"Stop staring, Travers, your eyes might burn out," Luxanna quickly snapped back, and Travers immediately looked away, on the off chance that the words had been a threat, before Luxanna turned back towards Selwyn, who had lazily raised her eyebrows, as if to say, 'Well?'.
"I know you took it," said Luxanna, seething. "I know you did." She held out her hand, motioning with her fingers. "Give it back. Now."
Selwyn rolled her eyes. "Took what? Your dollie?" she asked, followed by a groan.
Luxanna's cheeks grew red as she bent down to pick up the Giubiana doll which had fallen out of her bed in the ruckus. She quickly stowed it away in the drawer of her bedside table. The others giggled.
"I think your mind's a little muddled, Black," said Selwyn. "Not that it's usually in a better state, honestly."
"Maybe you should consult your hair," said Travers. Luxanna struggled to understand what this meant, but not a moment later, Travers covered her face with her palm and mimed speaking down into her shoulder; an obvious interpretation of how Luxanna probably looked while speaking to Frost. "Barking mad, you are," she added in a near laugh.
Luxanna's anger rose, turning her pale; she felt her mouth trembling, and for some reason, this made her want to scream, even though she truly wanted to believe herself above such petty insults. But, as she was so often caught in these vicious cycles of anger and rage, so too was she now gripped by the urge to throw caution to the wind and proceed in blasting both girls to pieces. The worst bit was, Travers was probably right; she was going mad.
"You shut your mouth," snapped back Luxanna. "This doesn't concern you, you stupid cow."
"That's quite enough, Lux," whispered Frost.
Luxanna ignored her.
Travers gaped at her, looking very much like she had just been slapped. "What did you just say to me?"
Luxanna had another few choice words she wanted to say to that chit of a girl, but before she had the chance, Spinster spoke up.
"Wee bit early for a spat, don't you think?" She was leaning back in her bed, her arms folded over her chest; it was clear she had been observing the scandal for quite a while. "It's just that... all this shouting... It really plays havoc on my sleep routine, you know?" She spoke slowly, an odd hint of amusement to the manner in which she gesticulated. "Once I'm awake there's no getting me back to sleep, so I can't be doing with the racket, now, you know how sensitive my ears are..." There was a pause, in which the rest of the girls stared at her. "And I was already up so late last night... polishing that Charms essay—the one we have for Friday... Whole thing took me nearly four hours, I'm telling you..."
Feeling that this was another one of those pointless monologues of Spinster's, Luxanna quickly interjected, "Yes, we understand, Spinster."
"So you do," continued Spinster. "Well... it just so happens that since I was up late... and didn't witness any of this thievery you're all on about... it must mean that you've just misplaced whatever it is you're looking for, Black... It's that simple." She said all of this as if she fully expected it to resolve the tension, and it was impossible to tell whether she was being intentionally patronising or just simply oblivious, because this statement officially marked her as the prime suspect in Luxanna's eyes. If Spinster was up all night, it was more than likely that she was the culprit.
"Oh, please..." groaned Luxanna.
"But hey— You'll tell me how it is that you came back to the dormitory so late yourself?" said Spinster, shifting into a more upright position, a sudden spark to her eyes at the golden opportunity to pry.
"The voices must've told her to go and have a midnight stroll," replied Travers.
"Enough!" snapped Luxanna, and as she reached under her pillow to grab her wand, the girls all braced for impact, throwing their hands up. But all Luxanna said was, "Accio Parchment!"
Just like that, all the drawers swung open, and several bags unhooked their straps in a struggle to withhold the flurry of paper that fought to make its way out. There was parchment flying everywhere, several grazing Luxanna's arms and creating stinging papercuts. The pages bounced off the walls in a raging gush of wind, some falling to the floor, some rolling out of the door, still others getting snagged on her clothes.
In the meantime, Rowle had woken up and was shrieking for her life, shielding her head with her hands, while Selwyn tried desperately to cast a Protego charm. A particularly nasty piece of parchment that was stuck within the margins of a bulky Charms textbook had decided to take the entire book along with it, hitting Travers in the head and promptly knocking her out.
They had managed to rush out of the room just in time before a bookshelf could collapse right over Selwyn's head. As they stood panting in the corridor, several other students peered out from their respective dormitories, disturbed from sleep by the commotion.
"Some prefect you are," said Rowle, crossing her arms over her chest.
Luxanna opened her mouth to protest, but in this moment, even she had the decency to at least feel ashamed.
Selwyn had collapsed on the floor with her back to the door, rubbing her head. She shot Luxanna a withering look, saying, "Satisfied now? You can comb the entire room and you'll never figure out which one of us took your precious little parchment."
"I will. And once I do—once I find it right among this mess, I'll know it was one of you," retorted Luxanna. "And just so you know, I heard you two last night, whispering... conspiring. Do you mind explaining what that was about?"
"As a matter of fact, I do mind, seeing as it's none of your business."
How scathingly ironic, thought Luxanna. "Is that so?" she said with all her usual indignance.
"I may be many things... but I'm not a thief," Selwyn muttered. Then, turning away from her, she added in a whisper, which caught Luxanna somewhat by surprise, "Nor a liar."
Just then, apropos of nothing, Spinster burst into laughter. "Oh, just boy talk," she exclaimed light heartedly to the crowd of onlookers peering from within their dorms, so that it seemed almost believable. "And hey," she turned to Luxanna, "you owe me a Charms essay for this early wake-up."
Despite being unable to share what was truly on her mind, and though she would never admit it to Alex, it truly felt relieving to be able to share even the most trivial of her worries with somebody. They were sitting in the dimly lit library, Alex listening intently as she recounted the recent events to him; all about how Peeves was tormenting her in the Weasleys' stead, about Potter and his little visit to the prefects' bathroom—about the parchment. About just how staggeringly obnoxious that Selwyn was being. For a while, she could pretend she and Alex were just two friends having a chat about school life, carefree and unburdened by a war raging on the very horizon.
"So that was you, then? That thundering noise last night?" said Alex. "I'd thought it was just Warrington in the loo."
"But the map, Alex!" insisted Luxanna, her hands slamming down on her thighs in frustration.
There was a pause as Alex let out a heavy sigh. "Are you certain that it was a map?"
Luxanna sighed, too. She wasn't exactly certain, but as she tried to recall all of the details she could remember from the night before, the lettering and the marks, it was the only thing credible yet equally straightforward enough that came to mind. Because of course Potter would need a map to find his way to the toilet, the idiot.
"It was a map. A map of Hogwarts." assured Luxanna. "I think Spinster took it last night, while I slept."
"Maisie?" Alex asked incredulously.
"Yes?" replied a female voice.
Luxanna jumped. It was Spinster, she was standing right next to them all of a sudden. "Where did you come from?" said Luxanna rather more aggressively than she intended to, having nearly jumped out of her skin.
Spinster, as always, was unfazed by Luxanna's rudeness. She merely shrugged her shoulders, offered a polite smile to Alex and helped herself to a seat in their booth. "Alex invited me," she said. "So, how's my essay coming along?"
"What?" Luxanna gaped. "I'm not doing your essay, Spinster, forget about it."
"Just teasing you, love," replied Spinster, a giggle tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Of course not."
Luxanna shot Alex a dirty look, and a very noticeable one at that, hoping that this would deter Spinster from joining them. But the girl only pulled out her textbook (The pages had been glued together with poor charmwork, so that it resembled a head of cabbage more so than a book) and set to reading up on Charms. Merlin knows she needed it.
"Maisie, did you take Lux's map?" asked Alex.
Oh, like she'd bloody tell you!
"I didn't know that Hogwarts had a map," said Spinster. "It must have been really difficult to make, though, mustn't it have? Say, how would one even go about mapping a place that's constantly on the move? All those staircases, towers, dungeons, and let's not even begin to talk about the secret passageways. If I was any better at Charms I'd say you would've had to charm each individual block of stone to keep track of it all, else your mind would explode. Fascinating. If you do find it, Black, I'd really fancy a look myself."
Insufferable.
"How do we know you're not lying?" said Luxanna. It wasn't really a question, more like a statement, but one of such a grave degree that it sounded almost like a threat.
Spinster did not even bother to look up from her book. "You'll just have to take my word for it, won't you?"