The Crystals of Hiraj

Sasha Malfoy and Emily Potter were arguing again.

It wasn't their fault, really. It just was that their families were declared enemies. And also that they were dedicated to uphold their family's honor. And to being stubborn.It had started with a small magical top. Emily had gotten it for her birthday, May 30th, and had had the bad notion of showing it off to the class. Of course, Sasha had immediately gotten out her birthday present (March 26), a pocket-sized animated wooden horse, and had bragged about how her family could give her better presents. Most of the preschool class was now gathered around them to hear about how the Potters had a better chimney or how the Malfoys had a gigantic front hall. Nicholas's sister, Holly Parker, was shaking her head and sighing as she tried to negotiate between the two. Holly was always trying to settle their fights though mediation, but Nicholas had realized long ago that nothing would stop those two from arguing short of a miracle. It would truly be a miracle if they stopped. Every time this happened, the class was split in two. Everyone except Holly and him had a preference for one or the other family, and the classroom became a battlefield between two fiercely loyal armies.

At Emily's right side stood Jeffrey Weasley, her best friend, his carrot-red head highest among the soldiers. At her left was Jessica Holmer, an outspoken girl whose blond braids quivered in anticipation of the battlefield. Jessica, like most of the children on Emily's side of the room, sided with her more for her father than for Emily herself. Harry Potter had saved the world from Voldemort, and that alone caused fervent devotion among the children. None of them had been born anytime close to the Great War, but stories of chaos and horrid killings from their parents had instilled that devotion, as well as quasi-direct orders from their parents to obey the Potter lineage.

Emily's major followers, apart from Jessica and Jeffrey, were all lined up in her second row. Joshua Gregory, Jason Varney, Madison Spencer, and Kimberley Johanssen. All standing as tall as they could, protecting their "honor".

On Sasha's side of the battlefield, there were all those whose parents had not wanted Voldemort's demise, those who had actively or passively supported him. Of course, that was not said, and all surviving Death Eaters had been pardoned to ensure general peace, but Voldemort supporters and Harry Potter allies faced each other with great hate.

Sasha was flanked by golden-haired Alexandria Mettauer and forest-eyed Timothy Vallerino. Directly behind her hovered Olga Afzal, Evan Darner, Arianna Ponteri, and Luke Bezell. The others packed in between them and the wall didn't matter. Those were the ones Sasha trusted the most, the ones that would most probably follow her into Slytherin when they finally got to Hogwarts.

Nicholas looked at Emily's followers, then at Sasha's. The only ones not on either side, apart from Holly and him, were Sasha's sister Sofia and her crowd. Sofia never took part in these fights. She never took part in anything. She silently considered herself queen of the classroom, and would sit in a corner and paint pictures of world domination while her crowd all watched her. She was the strangest person Nicholas had ever seen. Sasha's anger, Emily's stubbornness, and even Jessica's devotion could not measure up to Sofia's quiet rulership. Her icy blue-gray eyes observed the room as the anger between the two camps bristled, but she seemed not to notice that her sister had gotten into a fight again and turned back to her paints. Around her, Mortimer Isawry, Sadarta Jackson, Hansen and Igor Mikelevitch, Jenna Wegnestein, and Maureen Brackelhurst were sitting, staring at her to see if she wanted anything. It was rather disgusting, the way they served her like slaves. But her eyes and manner demanded it. She was a real Malfoy, more that Sasha ever could be.

Nicholas felt someone else was missing. Lauren Amincy and Abigail Bahlyn were not in the classroom. The two friends usually didn't side with either side of the many Emily-Sasha conflicts, mostly for embarrassment of their parents not choosing a side in the war and staying hidden in the Alps during the fighting. If they were not in the classroom, they must be...

"The teacher's coming!" shouted Nicholas.

All of a sudden, everyone was in their seat. Ms Ginny Weasley came in, followed by Lauren and Abigail, to a room of smiling preschoolers seated at tables. Sasha and Emily were busy drawing a house, and the top and the horse lay forgotten on the floor in the center of the room.