A Little Knowledge

Morning came all too soon for the four Ravenclaws, and in all fairness none of them felt like getting out of bed as they had not slept very well nor very long. But they had no choice. It was the first day of classes. They would be receiving their schedules at breakfast and could not afford to be late. And not even the experience of the night before, dimmed by the brilliant morning light coming in through the window, could entirely eclipse the excitement of starting another year.

As Sophia braided her hair in front of one of the mirrors with help from Corinna, who could do everyone’s hair except her own, she frowned at the circles under her eyes. Corinna, seeing the frown, stuck out her tongue.

“I guess this means that we’ll be adhering to the rules for a while,” she said.

“I should say so,” chuckled Sophia.

From across the room where she was calmly untangling her long blond hair Sissy added her two knuts to the discussion: “Until we’re sure it’s safe or until it isn’t a school night?”

“Boat,” said Olivia, her mouth full of bobby pins as she put her hair up in its usual bun.

“What was that?” asked Sophia with a confused look.

“Both,” she said, taking the pins from her mouth.

“Why don’t you wear your hair down for a change? It would look more flattering,” said Sissy as she watched Olivia placing pins her dark brown hair. She had worn in it in that fashion for as long as she had been in school.

“We might have potions today. Or worse, something outdoors where it's windy,” answered Olivia with a stubborn look.

“Merlin forbid,” said Sissy with a roll of her eyes.

“Don’t forget,” said Sophia, interrupting before Olivia and Sissy could begin to squabble, “that we need to ask Martin to do us that favor ...”

“Who’s going to ask him?” Sissy wanted to know. “Because if you think I am, you are out of your mind.”

“Corinna, why don’t you do it?” suggested Sophia as they finished with her braids.

“Me? Why me? You’re better at this sort of thing!”

“But I wouldn’t want him to feel as though we were pressuring him.” said Sophia with her classic none-of-that! look.

“Fine, but he’ll probably refuse,” grumbled Corinna.

“Either way, we should hurry if we want to catch him before he goes down to breakfast,” said Sophia practically.

Martin Dumbledore looked none the worse for wear when he walked down the stairs leading to the well-lit common room that morning. Sissy couldn’t help feeling annoyed as the younger student bounded over them with his satchel of books slung over one shoulder. He studied them for a moment as he approached and made a face.

“Good morning, girls. How late were all of you up last night?” he asked.

“Not long after we sent you to bed,” shot Sissy.

“I guess mum was right: girls really do need their beauty sleep,” Martin commented with a slow nod.

Sissy was seized with the sudden urge to hex him, but Sophia tactfully stopped her from drawing her wand.

“Yeah ...” Sophia nodded in agreement.

“We were wondering if you could do something for us,” said Corinna, biting her lower lip.

“Sure. Anything,” said Martin.

“Er, can you tell your father about the thing we saw? We think someone ought to know, but ... we don’t want any trouble,” said Corinna.

“I thought about that this morning. I know he’s going to want to talk to me ... about the Sorting ... so I figure I might as well tell him,” said Martin. His shoulders slumped at the mere thought of talking to his father.

“And you won’t mention us?” asked Sissy cautiously.

“Of course not. There’s no need for all of us to catch it, now is there?”

“Right.”

“Thanks for last night, even if it didn’t go exactly as planned. It was ... interesting. Not the type of thing that I imagined ...”

“Ravenclaws doing?” Olivia finished with a grin.

“Well, mum always said that Ravenclaws spend all their time studying or in the library and stuff,” said Martin with a shrug. “I guess maybe she doesn’t know everything.” he added with a half smile.

“It’s different, I think, when you’re on the outside looking in. You only see the surfaces of things, not the reality,” said Sophia.

“Um, we’ll be late for breakfast if we don’t go soon ...” Corinna reminded them all.

“And we can’t have that,” said Sissy.

The five of them left the Aerie together, ready to face the first day of classes.

“Second years, here are your schedules,” said Ambrose, the fifth year prefect, giving them slips of parchments with theirs classes on it just as they sat down to eat. “And you ...” he said to Martin with a frown. The first year schedules had already been given out. He was the last to receive one.

“Charms,” said Sissy blankly.

“Oh, Merlin, not Flitwick in the morning,” said Olivia. They both liked their head of house very much, respecting both his character and intellect, but in the early hours of the day, his squeaky voice went straight through their heads.

“I’ve got Flying lessons,” offered Martin.

“Don’t fall asleep on your broom then,” said Sissy dryly.

“Then History of Magic,” said Sophia rather glumly.

“Why are they doing this to us? What did we ever do to them?” lamented Corinna, who loved history, but was just as bored by Professor Binns as everyone else.

“We’ll have to write my mum for some Sugar Quills,” said Sissy, whose mother never failed to send her anything she asked for, including sweets that she distributed to her friends.

“I’ve got Charms after you then,” Martin informed them. “Is Professor Flitwick nice?”

“Wonderful,” said Olivia with a quick nod.

“Double potions this afternoon,” Sissy noted.

“Ugh!” said Corinna and Olivia in unison, earning a disapproving look from Sophia.

“I have Herbology,” said Martin.

“Be careful if you’re in there with the Slytherins. They try to make Professor Sprout’s life a living nightmare and we usually get caught in the middle,” warned Sophia.

“Or near a dangerous specimen when it finally snaps,” said Sissy sourly. She had nearly been bitten by a carnivorous plant that the Slytherins had been baiting the year before.

Martin only raised his eyebrows in response to her statement.

“It could be worse,” said Olivia.

“How?” Corinna wanted to know.

“I don’t think we have potions with the Gryffindors this year,” said Olivia with a hopeful look.

“An - dare I say it? - explosion-free year?” said Sissy with a derisive snort.

After a few moments of silently reading their schedule and eating their breakfast, which had nearly been forgotten in the excitement, Olivia said, “We could win this year. There’s no reason why we can’t.”

“The House Cup?” asked Martin.

“It’s all she thinks about at meal times,” said Sissy with a little smirk.

“I just ... want to win,” said Olivia with a shrug. The look in her eyes was hopeful and intense.

“Bellew!” called a voice down the table.

Corinna started and looked in that direction. It was the captain of the Quidditch team, David Clearwater, who was eating the morning meal with the rest of the team.

“Excuse me,” she said to her friends as he gestured that he wanted to speak to her.

David made room for her at the table, and Corinna sat down, but she felt very awkward. What if he expected her to eat all of her meals with the team? She wanted to have them with Sissy, Sophia, and Olivia like always. She frowned. So did Clearwater.

“I supposed you’ve heard,” he said.

“Heard what?”

He glanced at his teammates, and his shoulders drooped. It wasn’t good, whatever it was.

“I’m off the team. My marks ...” he said, looking away from her. The other players were staring at their plates. “I thought Flitwick would reconsider once my parents ... But that’s how it goes ...”

“You aren’t playing?” asked Corinna, afraid of what she was hearing.

“Yeah ...” he sighed. “Thought I would have a year to train you to take my place as Keeper, but that’s out the window. Flitwick decided yesterday evening. Ambrose is the new captain. You’re the new Keeper,” Clearwater informed her. He looked heartbroken.

“I’m sorry,” stammered Corinna.

“Don’t be, Bellew. You came recommended from Madam Hooch, and her word means a lot,” he said, referring to the former Holyhead Harpy who was the flying instructor. She was still quite young and had joined the staff only two terms earlier. Some of the older students like David had actually seen her play professional Quidditch.

Corinna colored and said, “Thanks then.”

“Welcome to the team. I just wish Ambrose could be telling you this next year,” said Clearwater, jabbing the prefect next to him with his elbow. “Practice is being arranged right now. Ambrose will get back to you,” said David. “You can go back to your breakfast now.”

“Thanks,” she nodded before doing just that.

When Corinna returned to her seat, her friends had nearly finished their breakfasts and the girls were flipping through their Charms’ texts, which they had, of course, already thoroughly perused on the train the day before.

“I’m playing Quidditch,” Corinna blurted out.

“We know. Reserve Keeper,” said Sissy with an undisguised roll of her eyes.

“No ... Clearwater can’t play this term,” she said, shaking her head.

“That’s absurd! Why ever not?” asked Olivia indignantly.

“His marks ...”

“Oh,” said Olivia with sudden understanding.

“Then you’re going to be the team’s Keeper?” asked Martin, raising his eyebrows in surprise, and perhaps a bit of awe too.

Corinna only nodded and began to push her eggs about on her plate. They were already cold, and she certainly didn’t feel like eating. It was an honor being chosen for the reserves as a second year. But to play for the team? She felt too inexperienced, and rightly so, having only played ‘friendly’ games with her house mates before. She had not even owned a broom growing up. Too expensive and dangerous, according to her wizard father and muggle mother, respectively. The Tinderblast that they had bought her that summer was used, and pulled strongly to the left, and was hardly a match for the newer Shooting Stars that most of the other players rode.

“That’s quite a stroke of luck,” commented Sissy with a smile. “Not that this was unexpected. Last year Clearwater probably spent five hours on the Quidditch Pitch for every one in the library. He’s smart, but it takes more than just raw intelligence to succeed. He never studied, and finally, he’s paying for it,” she told them unappologetically.

“But he was so dedicated to the team ...” sighed Corinna.

“He should have had an eye on his marks too,” Olivia admitted grudgingly.

She felt nothing but sorry for Clearwater. It was surely a terrible blow to him being taken off the team, not to mention what having less experienced Keeper did to their chances of winning the Quidditch Cup and by extension the House Cup.

“A lesson for all of us,” said Sophia seriously, looking from Olivia to Corinna. “No neglecting your marks for the team,” she added.

“Right ...” Corinna agreed.

Just then they heard the sound of screeching high above them as the mail began to arrive. An owl dropped a letter on Martin’s empty plate. Sissy, whose father was an Unspeakable, recognized it as a Ministry of Magic owl.

“What’s that?” she asked curiously as he opened it. None of the girls had mail so early in the term, although they noticed that several first years received mail, including parcels containing things they had forgotten.

“A letter from my mum, congratulating me for getting into Ravenclaw,” Martin answered with a shy smile as he read.

“How sweet!” said Sophia. “Won’t you read it to us?”

Martin blushed a little and said, “You don’t really want to hear it, do you?”

“Apparently Sophia does,” said Sissy.

Corinna nodded that she wanted him to read the letter to them as well ... mostly because it would take her mind off what she had already begun to dub as ‘the Quidditch situation’. And because there was something rather sweet about the way Martin had asked the question. Most of the boys in their own year they had found out early on were stupid prats who were only interested in Gob Stones or collecting Chocolate Frog cards. But Martin seemed different somehow, although Corinna admitted that it was too soon to say for certain. But for now, he seemed all right.

“I do as well,” said Olivia encouragingly.

With that Martin cleared his throat and began reading, but the color never left his cheeks: “Dear Martin, I’m so proud! All those years of tutors and not being allowed to go outside whenever you wanted have certainly seemed to pay off, haven’t they? I imagine your father nearly swallowed his tongue. I would have given anything to have been there to see it! And I know you must be thinking about family tradition and being an Eagle in a family of Lions. But that isn’t the case. My brother - your Uncle Merrick - was a Ravenclaw, and so were two of your great uncles. So in a way, you are carrying on a tradition and a very fine one. Be sure to mind your studies and to make some friends. I know you will love Hogwarts just as much as I did. Love, mum.”

“It sounds like you’re very close to your mother,” observed Sissy as he put the letter back in its envelope and stuffed it into his satchel.

“I am,” he admitted, frowning and trying to decide if she were about to tease him.

“I can imagine, what with your father being here for most of the year,” nodded Sophia, whose own mother taught at a small school for young wizarding children while her father kept a shop in Glasgow, commuting back and forth by broom on the weekends.

Martin chuckled and said, “But he always comes home for the summer, and for the holidays when he can manage it. Summer’s when mum is busiest at the Ministry, so it all works out.”

“She’s an Auror?” asked Sissy.

“Yeah.”

“That must be really neat,” said Olivia. “She must have loads of stories to tell about her job.”

“Actually ... she won’t tell me about her work or anything like that. Says such things aren’t for children’s ears,” said Martin with an annoyed expression. Obviously he didn’t think he was a child anymore.

“Was she one when the last war was going on?” asked Sissy, looking quite interested for a change.

“She entered training while the war was still on, but father says that she didn’t see hardly any action,” he explained.

“My father is in the Department of Mysteries and went to France to help fight him,” said Sissy.

“Grindelwald?” asked Martin.

Sophia, Olivia, and Sissy all blanched at the name of the worst Dark Wizard in the last hundred years or more. Corinna, whose parents didn’t discuss such things, remained unmoved.

“Your father killed him, so I guess you can say his name, but most people don’t. It’s unlucky,” Sissy explained to him.

“I didn’t know that,” he stammered.

“It’s all right, but I think you would give some of the older professors a heart attack if you did that in class,” said Sophia.

“Names are powerful things, you know,” said Olivia somberly.

Martin wanted to tell them what his father said about names and about fear, but it was time to go to class and he was really looking forward to having flying lessons.

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