Child of the Moon

Chapter III

Ash woke Ris up earlier than she would have liked the following morning, but it proved to be to her advantage; she had the bathroom to herself and was done early enough that she didn't have to share with anyone else. After she was done, she made sure everyone was awake so they weren't late for the first day of classes. Ris decided to grab her book and wait for Shannon and Renée in the common room. She didn't feel up to listening to the other girls argue about who got what shower and hear them fuss over other little things.

When she entered the common room, it was pleasantly quiet and she took a seat in one of the over stuffed armchairs in one of the corners. She opened her book to where she left off and started reading. Ash found his way downstairs; obviously he was also trying to get away from the fussy girls in the room. He jumped onto Ris' lap and took a position that made it look as if he was reading the book with her. Ris smiled at her cat and shook her head.

"You are one odd kitty," she said to the cat and he just looked at her with a look that said 'I know' quite clearly.

"Morning, Ris," came a newly familiar voice.

"Morning, Shannon," Ris replied as she turned to look at the speaker.

"You had the right idea to come down here," she said finding a seat next to Ris. "They are much too fussy to stay around too long."

"I have good ideas occasionally," Ris said with a slight smile. They sat for a moment in silence when Ris suddenly remembered something that Shannon said last night.

"Last night," Ris questioned, "how come you said 'in case Renée made it into Ravenclaw', and not 'in case Renée and you, referring to me, made it into Ravenclaw'?"

Shannon took a moment to remember that point in time and her reasoning before answering, "Because I was rather confident that you would be in Ravenclaw."

"Why is that?" Ris asked innocently.

"Well, on the train you kept pointing out different solutions that opposed widely accepted solutions," Shannon said thoughtfully. "Like you doubted everything the world said was right. What kind of mind like that wouldn't be in Ravenclaw? Besides the fact that you didn't really fit in the other houses."

"I suppose that makes sense," Ris stated, not bothering to mention that the Sorting Hat clearly stated all of the qualities she had that could have put her in any other house.

After sitting for a moment or two in silence, Shannon decided to break it.

"So, where are you from?" Shannon asked Ris.

"I lived in a house in a suburb of London," Ris answered. "My mum and dad worked in London, so they decided to live close to there. Not that it really mattered for my dad, he could've Apparated, but my mum didn't want to commute too far."

"London's a wonderful city," Shannon said in an awed voice. "The only times I've been there were when my brother and sister needed to get their school supplies, and sometimes we went by vehicle and sometimes we went by Floo, so I didn't always get to see the city."

"It gets a little boring the longer you live there," Ris stated with a small smile.

"Well, I guess that would be true," Shannon sighed. "I guess something new does loose its splendor the longer you have it. Like everything in the Muggle world, they make so many new things so fast that the old thing just fades into ordinary or old."

"They just keep finding better ways to live," Ris stated. "My dad always used to say that if we used a combination of living like wizards and living like Muggles, the wizarding world would be better off. And it really is quite a good life, I know, since my father had us live that way. But there are too many 'old fogies' as he called them. Adamant that wizards were far superior than Muggles and nothing they have could be of any use to us. My dad was even pure blood, but he took to mum's style of living in stride, mainly cause the whole wizard thing made her slightly uncomfortable, but, still."

"I know what you mean." Shannon nodded. "My dad's big on that lifestyle, too. He was raised that way cause he's Muggle-born, and he had a taste of both worlds too."

"Maybe that'll happen yet," Ris said absentmindedly. "He would've been happy if it did."

They sat in silence for a moment, Shannon was obviously thinking of the tactful way to approach the question Ris just rose, but was interrupted by Renée running down the stairs. She quickly spotted the other two girls and rushed up to them excitedly.

"It's the first day of classes!" Renée exclaimed. "I'm so excited to see what the classes will be like!"

She pulled the other two girls to their feet, Ash headed back up to the dormitories with a disgruntled look, and they headed out of the common room down to breakfast, Renée leading the way at a jogging pace as she practically skipped down the hall. She turned around to notice that Shannon and Ris were not quite as enthusiastic as her and she quickly headed back to them.

"Aren't you excited?" she asked as she pranced back down the hallway. "We're going to learn magic!"

She did several graceful jumps and turns, showing that she had obviously taken dance lessons, as she continued to work her way down to breakfast. Shannon and Ris both just shook their heads, questioning Renée's sanity.

"That girl has problems," Shannon sighed. "I swear her mother dropped her a few too many times as a child."

Renée came back to them once again when she realized that the other two girls were not going to try to keep up with her. She contented herself with walking at their pace, but continued to exclaim happily, clap her hands, and dance in one spot. Ris wondered how a person could be so happy and full of energy, especially in the morning, and clearly Shannon was wondering this as well.

"How can you be so energetic?" Shannon asked Renée. "You're never this awake in the mornings."

"Yes, but how many mornings have I woken up in a magical castle that functions as a school to teach young witches and wizards magic?" Renée stated with all sincerity.

"Well, yes," Shannon admitted, "but the rest of us aren't dancing in the corridors."

"True point," Ris chimed with a smile.

"But I've never even known magic existed before," Renée continued to plead her case. "You all grew up around magic, it's not as new to you."

"Another true point," Ris stated and Shannon just sighed in exasperation.

They soon found themselves in the Great Hall. Many students were already there, eating and chatting happily. Shannon, Ris, and Renée found seats at the Ravenclaw table and helped themselves to the food. Once all of the students worked their way down the Great Hall, Professor Flitwick came around the Ravenclaw table and passed out their schedules.

"We do have all of our classes together right?" Renée asked as she looked at the schedule.

"Of course," Kat responded as she sat down next to the first years and looked over her own schedule. "You have all your classes with all the other students in your year. Sometimes it'll be just Ravenclaws, and sometimes you'll have a double class with the other students in your year from another house.

"Well," Renée announced after looking over her schedule, "we have History of Magic first today..."

"Tough luck that is," Kat interjected. "Binns' classes should not be held in the morning."

"Why's that?" Shannon asked.

"Most boring class given at Hogwarts," Kat answered simply. "Professor Binns, the one who teaches that class, is a ghost. They say that he was so used to teaching the class that when he died, he, well, still got up to teach the class."

"How odd," Renée said.

"Yeah, and really boring," Kat said again.

"Well, the next class we have is Transfiguration," Renée read off her schedule.

"That's not bad, it'll wake you up after Binns' class -- the way McGonagall is, that's for sure," Kat informed them.

"Then we have lunch, then Herbology," Renée finished.

"Herbology's a good class, Sprout's a good teacher," Kat stated.

They finished their breakfast in good time so they could, hopefully, get to class on time. Thankfully, Kat agreed to show them to Professor Binns' room, as it was on her way to Charms. Kat warned them of all of the trick stairs and told them about the other quirky things within the castle that gave it its personality, such as the paintings, the doors and how they liked to fool people, the ghosts, and especially Peeves.

"You'll grow tired of his pranks and be annoyed when they're aimed at you," Kat informed them, "but there are times when he pulls off a spectacular prank on someone you don't like, which makes him worth it."

She parted with them at the History of Magic room as she promised. Ris, Renée and Shannon entered the room and chose seats close to each other. They had made it to the room first, thanks to their guide. Lexi and Theresa entered the room shortly after them, and lastly the five boys - Alex, Jeremiah, Damian, Tristan and Andy - came bustling into the room just in time. Just as they sat in the seats they chose, Professor Binns came gliding through the wall. He told them to take out parchment and quills and started right into his lecture in a droning monotone. Ris found that Kat was quite right in saying that this class was boring. It was dreadfully hard to pay attention to Professor Binns as he lectured about people like Uric the Oddball and read off various dates.

They were very happy when that class was over and they decided to go to Transfiguration in mass. They got lost on the way, but managed to get to the class in time. Which turned out to be a very good thing, as Professor McGonagall was quite the strict teacher. As soon as it was time for class to begin, she strode in front of them and informed them of exactly what was expected of them.

"Transfiguration," she told them, "is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone fooling around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She turned her desk into a sheep and back again. All of the students were impressed, though somewhat apprehensive from the warning that Professor McGonagall gave. They were eager to learn this art though, but were faced with many notes and soon realized that this magic took time to develop and master and that furniture and animal transfigurations were high on the list of things that were hard to do. They did get to test their skills after they finished their notes. They were given the task of changing a match into a needle. Ris managed to get hers to become thiner and have a pointier end, but wasn't able to pull off the complete transfiguration. Ris was more successful than most of the class, but not as successful as one other person. Renée managed to make her match have a very pointy tip and even shine like metal. Professor McGonagall was quite pleased and awarded Ravenclaw ten points.

After the class was dismissed, the girls headed back to the Great Hall for lunch. On the way, Shannon shared her resentment at the fact that Renée was able to complete the magical task that she, herself, was not so successful at performing.

"I mean," Shannon tried to defend her dignity, "you're a Muggle-born, you didn't even know this existed till two months ago."

"I read a lot," Renée said sheepishly.

"That you did," Shannon admitted crossing her arms.

"Maybe you shouldn't take so much offense to it, Shannon," Ris added her view. "Maybe with work you'll turn out better, Renée just started with it right off the bat and maybe it won't develop as far."

Shannon looked sideways at Ris. Ris tried very hard not to laugh at what she just said, as she knew better and that was said with some sarcasm, but if it made Shannon feel better...

"I suppose that could happen," Shannon said thoughtfully.

Renée sneezed slightly, which Ris was sure was a stifled giggle, guessing that Renée picked up on her sarcasm. Ris smiled slightly and Shannon gradually figured out that Ris didn't really mean what she said. This was rather obvious due to the fact that Shannon was now glaring at her.

"Okay," Ris gave in, "maybe Renée's just more gifted than you in witchcraft. But is that really a better answer than my first one?"

"I'll pretend the first one's true," Shannon stated haughtily, turning her face away from them. She couldn't keep up the charade of being actually angry, though, and started giggling. Renée soon joined her and Ris couldn't help but join in either.

"Oh, it's just not fair," Shannon huffed. "I want to be better than you at something! Stupid gifted people." Shannon finished by attractively sticking her tongue out at Renée.

"Well, it's hardly my own fault," Renée said, pouting. Ris laughed at their antics, as she could tell that neither of them were fully serious.

"And, you!" Shannon turned on Ris. "You're not much better! Your Transfiguration was nearly as good as hers. The rest of the class couldn't even change their match."

"Yours seemed a little pointier than a regular match," Ris tried to cheer Shannon up.

"Did it really?" Shannon asked in speculation.

"Oh, yes, totally, I saw it with my own eyes," Renée chimed in.

"You know, I think you're right," Shannon stated confidently. "It was pointy, maybe I'm not a total failure as a witch."

"Even so, I don't think they test you on your success as a witch from your first official act of witchcraft," Ris pointed out.

"I suppose that would be a little unfair," Shannon agreed.

"Just slightly," Ris confirmed sarcastically.

They had reached the Great Hall and it was abuzz with the chatter of all the students that were milling about for their lunch break. The girls sat down at the Ravenclaw table and helped themselves to the food that was already on the serving dishes. Shortly after they started eating, Kat joined them.

"So, how is your first day of classes going?" Kat asked them.

"Oh! It was amazing!" Renée excailmed and started talking rapidly about the day. Kat just smiled and nodded at her and glanced at the other two.

"Binns was boring, she did good in Transfiguration," Shannon translated and summarized what Renée was still ranting about.

"Ah, yes," Kat said with a nod, "to be expected. Well, the Binns part, good on her for doing welling in Transfiguration, I find it rather difficult myself."

"Where are Faith and Ray?" Shannon asked, noticing the other friends they had made were not present.

"Oh, sometimes the lunch between different years doesn't quite line up," Kat answered. "I was afraid that lunch would be rather lonely, but I have you guys."

"What about the other second years?" Renée asked, having finally stopped talking about the day thus far after realizing that no one was actually listening to her.

"Well, my options there are the extreme of all girly-girls, or Loony Lovegood," Kat answered slightly bitterly. "Not the cream of the crop as far as I'm concerned."

"Loony Lovegood?" Shannon questioned.

"Yeah, it's really Luna, but she's...shall we say, odd," Kat replied slowly, nodding her head towards the end of the table. There sat a girl with dirty blond hair with almost frighteningly bulging eyes. She was reading an issue of The Quibbler while eating her lunch. She seemed to not be bothered at all that she was by herself, she even had a dreamy type look on her face.

"She reads the Quibbler?" Shannon said in disbelief. "No one takes that thing seriously."

"Her daddy is the publisher of the Quibbler, and I'm pretty sure she believes every word that is printed in that magazine," Kat stated meaningfully. Shannon and Ris nodded in understanding of what Kat meant.

"What's--?" Renée started.

"It's like wizarding tabloids," Shannon answered Renée's question before she finished asking it.

"Oooh," Renée nodded in understanding, "I see."

"So, yes, you three are far more preferable to most anyone else in Ravenclaw," Kat stated. "No offense to them, they're all just not my kind of people."

"I can understand that," Shannon assured Kat and the other two girls nodded in agreement.

They ate their lunch while listening to Kat tell them stories from her first few days at Hogwarts last year until it was time for them to start heading to class.

"Just out these doors to the left, 'bout the easiest class to find," Kat informed them as they were about to part ways and head out to Herbology.

"This a double class," Renée said reading her schedule, as she still pulled it out at every opportunity. "Oh, we have it with the Slytherins, is that the house you said was bad news, Shannon?"

"Yes," Shannon answered wrinkling her nose. "This is bound to be a fun class."

"Well, I'm sure they can't all be bad..." Renée tried to sound hopeful.

"There are always bad apples, no matter how optimistic you are," Shannon sighed.

"Talking about the Slytherins?" a voice behind them asked. They turned to see Alex and one of the other Ravenclaw boys walking behind them. He had the shade of hair that was arguably red or brown and was of average height, which seemed slightly short standing next to Alex.

"Pretty easy to recognize a description of a Slytherin, I suppose," Shannon nodded.

"I was just informing Alex here about their wonderful qualities," the other boy told them in an Irish accent. "He's Muggle-born so he needed to be warned."

"Finally!" Renée cried with joy. "Another Muggle-born! I was starting to think I was the only one in Ravenclaw!"

"Aren't you the girl that got us ten points in Transfiguration this morning?" the boy questioned.

"Yes," Renée answered sheepishly.

"Figures, the Muggle-born outperforms us all," he laughed.

"My thoughts exactly," Shannon added.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced," the boy said. "I'm Jeremiah Rosenberry, but feel free to call me Jer for short."

"Shannon Bollard."

"Renée Smith, with an accent on the second e."

"Ris Klein."

"Hey, you did next best to Renée in transfiguration," Jer addressed Ris. "You're not Muggle-born too, right?"

"No, I'm half," Ris answered.

"Better off than me, I'm Pureblood and still getting outperformed by the Muggle-born and Half Blood," Jer said with a smile. "But, since you two are girls I will forgive you both."

"How kind of you," Ris replied sarcastically.

"I try." Jer smiled. "Him, on the other hand, if he ever out performs me, he gets no forgiveness," he said pointing to Alex.

"Yes, I'll have to try my best to do worse than you." Alex hung his head in mock shame.

"Bloody right," Jer said, elbowing Alex in the side playfully.

"I'm pretty sure mine wasn't that much better than yours, anyways," Ris told Jer.

"Well, I suppose I might've done okay," Jer said thoughtfully

They had crossed the lawn and reached the green houses by this point. Before them stood five different greenhouses, they headed toward the one labeled with a 1 as there were already other first years gathered around the door.

"Oh, no, don't let her see me!" Jer suddenly ducked behind Alex.

"Jeremiah!" came a feminine screech from the cluster of first years.

"Too late," Jer groaned. He sighed and regained his composure and stepped out from behind Alex shouting, "Alicia!"

A short brunette girl ran up to Jer and threw her arms around him, to what seemed to be the great displeasure of Jer.

"I haven't seen you since the train ride," she squeaked. "Silly you, trying to hide from me, aren't you?"

"Yes, you're just too good for me," Jer said in obvious disdain. Ris got the feeling that the girl was only teasing and some how missed the fact that Jer obviously did not return her feelings.

"Oh, and who is this, Alicia?" Another Slytherin girl came up to them. She had a look of disgust on her face as she looked at the group of Ravenclaws. "He's not in Slytherin."

"Oh, but he is a pure blood," Alicia comforted her friend, "and Ravenclaw is not nearly as bad as the others."

"I suppose that is true," the girl said changing her distasteful expression to more of a coy one as she studied Jer more closely. Thankfully for Jer, the Herbology professor opened the door at that moment.

"Oh! Time for class!" Alicia ran off to join the other Slytherins entering the greenhouse. A look of relief washed over Jer as he came back to join them, making sure he was behind all of them as they entered.

"Aw, how lucky for you," Shannon teased, "you have a girlfriend!"

"She wishes she was," Jer rolled his eyes. "That's the trouble with being pure blood, you meet all the other pure blood kids, and your parents are sometimes a little crazy on wanting to keep the blood line pure. And then, impressionable children get the idea that they're somehow betrothed to another child."

"She thinks you're engaged?" Renée asked shocked. "At such a young age?"

"She thinks is the key word," Jer sighed. "My parents are friendly with hers 'cause it's the polite thing to do, but they won't marry me off to someone without my permission."

"The wizarding world is so odd sometimes," Renée commented as they chose their spots along the long table that stood down the center of the room. After everyone had made their way into the greenhouse and sat down, their professor addressed them.

"Good afternoon everyone, I am Professor Sprout and I will be teaching you about the wonderful plants of the wizarding world," she said. She didn't look nearly as tidy as the other professors that Ris had seen but she guessed that was from working with plants, one doesn't really want to look their best when doing that.

"Those of you who are Muggle-born, and even some of you with wizard blood, will soon learn that wizarding plants are far different than ordinary Muggle ones, but even those have their uses in the magical world. You will learn how to care for all kinds of plants as well as how to keep yourself safe from the dangerous ones.

"Well, let's begin with role call, as you have no doubt noticed, this is a double class with another house. Since this is only the first day, I would not expect you to know everyone, so here is a chance to learn a few new names.

"Able, Zachary."

One of the Slytherin boys raised his hand to indicate that he was present.

"Bollard, Shannon."

"Why does my last name start with 'B'," Shannon muttered under her breath as she raised her hand.

"Boot, Theresa," Professor Sprout nodded to Theresa as she raised her hand. "Less of a troublemaker than Terry, I hope."

"Buehring, Timothy; Casson, Ethan."

Ris looked over to where the Slytherin boys were sitting, still convinced that they just did not look like pleasant people.

"Crane, Damian; Durning, Alexander."

Ris also took the time to look and see the Ravenclaws as she called their name, wanting to make sure that she could put names to faces.

"Farrows, Kenneth; Harrison, Roxanne."

She looked over to the group of Slytherin girls for the first time and felt the same way as she did with the boys. They may have been pretty, but they didn't look nice.

"Klein, Amaris."

It took Ris a moment to register the fact that fact that it was her name that was just called and sheepishly raised a hand.

"James, Joshua."

Another Slytherin, Ris thought to her self as her eyes trailed over to the boy raising his hand, and what a confusing name.

"McCombs, Tristan."

Another Ravenclaw that I haven't met yet.

"Mohr, Kathleen."

Ris looked over to the girl raising her hand. She looked more pleasant than the other girls in Slytherin, perhaps they weren't all bad.

"Parkinson, Tulip."

Ris recognized her as the girl that had been rather rude to Jer.

"Patterson, Andrew."

That's the last of the Ravenclaws that I haven't met, Ris thought, making sure that she could name all the people in her class.

"Robb, Alicia."

Ris recognized her as the girl that had assaulted Jer. Alicia added a little wave to him as Professor Sprout called, "Rosenberry, Jeremiah."

"Smith, Renée."

Renée held up her hand very professionally as she sat very straight in her chair.

"Williams, Alexis; and Yaxley, India," Professor Sprout finished the role. "Well, now that we have that covered, take out some parchment and your quills and we'll start notes on the some common medical herbs."

At the end of the lecture, the students headed back to the castle, all talking about what they had already experienced, and what they anticipated in the following classes. As the Ravenclaws were done for the day, they all decided to head back up to the dormitories together.

"I was kinda hoping that we'd get to learn bout something a little more exciting than herbs in Herbology," Shannon complained.

"I thought it was fascinating!" Renée objected. "I never knew wizards used plants for so many things."

"I think you find the wizarding world itself fascinating," Ris commented.

"The glamour will wear off eventually, I'm sure," Jer added.

Renée crossed her arms and huffed at them, unable to think of a counter statement.

"Seeing all this stuff for the first time is rather overwhelming," Alex attempted to support Renée's side.

"Exactly," Renée nodded, "I'm sure you all would be amazed by a telephone."

"A tele-what?" Jer asked.

"My point exactly," Renée stated triumphantly.

They had reached the door at this point and Renée demanded that she be the one to use the knocker. She rapped it once and the cool voice spoke.

"The knight arrived at the tavern on Friday, stayed two nights and then left on Friday, how is this possible?"

The all stood in thoughtful silence for a moment when Renée suddenly spoke.

"Oh! Oh! I know!" she cried. "His horse's name was Friday!"

"Well spotted," the voice replied and the door opened.

Renée did a little dance for joy as they entered the common room, all shaking their heads. They then found a group of chairs and couches to sit and relax in.

"So, how do people in the Muggle world make a living?" Jer asked.

"Well, there are many, many things that people can do for a living," Renée replied.

"What do your parents do for a living?" Jer made the question easier.

"Well, my mother is a nurse," Renée answered. "She...it's kind of hard to explain if you don't have any idea...let's see..."

"Nurses are like Healers," Shannon helped. "They help the sick people."

"Yes, that, thank you, Shannon." Renée nodded to her friend. "Only, her job is special, she works with the X-rays, they're like machines that can take a picture of inside your body so they can see what's wrong with you easier."

"Fascinating," Jer said intrigued. "Muggles have developed amazing technology to adapt to not having magic."

"And my dad," Renée continued answering the question, "is a photographer."

"Ah, that one I understand," Jer said nodding. "What about you Alex? You're Muggle-born too."

"Oh, well, my dad works in a steel factory, and my mum's an elementary teacher," Alex answered simply.

"And you," Jer addressed Ris, "you're half, what does your Muggle parent do?"

"Oh, my mum's a musician," Ris answered.

"Really?" all of them chimed.

"Um, yes," Ris stated, slightly taken aback by all of them being surprised.

"What kind of musician?" Renée asked eagerly.

"She plays in pit orchestras at West End," Ris answered.

"Really? That's amazing!" Renée said enthusiastically. "It's always been my dream to perform there!"

"Muggles really do have a wide range of job opportunities," Jer commented.

"Your turn," Renée said turning the question around. "What do your parents really do Shannon?"

"Oh, I suppose anything they would have told you wouldn't have been quite right, would it?" Shannon said. "Well, my mother is a translator of ancient artifacts, and she kinda freelances it, but right now she's in Egypt working for Gringotts. And my father works with the Department of Games and Sports after he retired from the Montrose Magpies."

"Montrose Magpies?" everyone echoed; Renée and Alex questioning, Ris uncertain, and Jer excited.

"It's a Quidditch team, a wizarding sport, you'll understand when you watch it, all the houses have teams," Shannon explained. "And yes, he really played for them."

"They're like, the best English team!" Jer exclaimed.

"Yeah, they are, he even trained us all some, both my sister and brother were on the Ravenclaw team," Shannon continued.

"That's amazing," Jer said still impressed.

"All right, your turn, Jer," Renée said turning to him.

"Oh, right, of course you'd want to know," Jer said. "Well, my mum is a stay at home mum, so nothing spectacular there, but my father works for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

Ris blanched slightly. Just what she needed, a friend whose father could get her in trouble and force her into the life they make werewolves live.

"That sounds exciting," Renée said, thankfully no one noticed Ris' complexion pale.

"Yeah, he's got his work cut out for him," Jer continued. "He's trying to get more rights for a lot of the part human ones. There's a lot of people in the way."

That relaxed Ris slightly. Maybe there was little to worry about, but then she realized something that was almost worse.

"Well that's hardly fair, why would they do that?" Renée asked.

"Because the wizarding world is obsessed with purity." Jer shrugged. "He has even less support now, his main partner died in an accident a couple months ago, David..." realization dawned on Jer's face and he turned to face Ris and finished, "Klein."

Ris looked away and squeezed her eyes shut. She thought that she'd be alright with talking about it, she'd been preparing herself since the conversation turned to their parents, but it was just too much.

"I'm sorry, Ris, I only just realized," Jer started, trying to comfort her.

"You're fine, Jer," Ris managed to get out. She suddenly stood up, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm sorry, I need..." she trailed off as she ran to the dormitories. She heard Shannon and Renée calling after her.

She ran into the room and closed the door behind her. She climbed onto her bed and close the curtains around it. Ash looked quizzically at her and mewed softly as she put her face in her pillow. Ash nudged her check in concern but jerked his head up when the door creaked open.

"Ris?" Renée called. Ris sighed and turned her head so she wouldn't be muffled by the pillow.

"Please, I need some time alone," Ris managed to say with little difficulty.

"Alright," came Shannon's voice. "We just wanted to let you know that we're here if you want to talk."

"Thank you," Ris said softly as the door closed.