Briallen Bevin and the Snatcher's Cave

Chapter 7: How Life is So Unfair

"You're kidding!" said Ashley Price as she took a seat next Briallen in the small study room in the school library that Briallen and her friends had found that evening after dinner.

"I wish I was. It doesn't seem right, you know? Teachers are supposed to take care of the students, even if they don't like them, but she just kept on teaching while I was flying around on a stick of wood hundreds of feet in the air with no clue what I was doing! And she knew I didn't know what to do!" said Briallen as she slammed her fist on the table.

The curly-haired boy on Ashley's other side groaned. "Briallen, I'm trying to write here. Could you please not shake the table?"

"Sorry, Anthony," said Briallen dully.

Briallen had only wanted Marisol and Toby to come with her to the small room in the back of the library but Marisol had brought along Ashley (who knew what had happened anyway seeing how Briallen had interrupted her oldest sister's Herbology class) and Ashley had brought along her new friend, Anthony Boesche. Briallen barely knew him but he was nice and she could tell Ashley liked him a lot, so she agreed to let Anthony join them.

"Well, are you sure she knew you don't know how to ride a broom? I mean, you looked pretty confident in the air and you didn't scream for help. Maybe she really didn't know," said Toby.

"There's got to be a reason she doesn't like you, Briallen. It's only the first day so it couldn't be because of something that you've done... it must be because of your abuelo. Maybe she's angry with him for something and she's taking it out on you," suggested Marisol.

"Or maybe," said Toby, "She's just a mean, unhappy lady. From my point of view she was mean to everybody."

"Why do you keep defending the Evil Hag? Do you have a crush on her or something?" asked Marisol sharply.

"No! She called me a untalented loser who would never be able to fly a broom and she said she wouldn't be surprised to learn that I'm a squib! Just because she's pretty..."

"So you think she's pretty. You have a crush on her! And she hates you!"

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"STOP IT!" shouted Briallen. Luckily there were silencing charms surrounding all of the library's study rooms so nobody could hear the shouting coming from inside their room. "Let's just forget about this for now and finish our Transfiguration homework, okay? Now, we only have three out of the five reasons needed on why a match is similar to a needle... I think we could separate 'same size' into things like 'same height,' 'same width,' and 'same weight.' What do you all think?"

"You still haven't gone to the nurse, Briallen," suggested Ashley quietly. Briallen sighed and raised her hand to one of the shallow cuts on her face. "We don't have Transfiguration again until Wednesday so you can finish your homework later. Those cuts need to be looked at."

"I know, I know," muttered Briallen as she packed her books into her bag and left the room. "I still have all that reading to do for Ancient Runes too..."

"I plan on making detailed outlines of each chapter. I'll let you borrow mine if you don't have the time to read the chapter before the next class," said Marisol helpfully. Briallen thanked her friend and left the room. She was walking down an aisle between the rows of bookcases when she noticed Lucan Stone sitting at a desk near a window at the end of one of the rows of bookcases. Briallen turned down the narrow aisle and walked over to him.

"You knew I couldn't control the broom. Why did you tell me what to do? I could have just been humiliated and gone without the cuts and detention," said Briallen in a harsh whisper after having roughly pulled the black-haired boy towards her. "Not to mention, I found out what hinkypunks are! We don't even learn how to deal with them until third year! At least you have previous experience with magic and will have a chance against them! I won't!"

"It was a mistake," said Lucan calmly as his murky black-brown eyes met Briallen's smoky-gray eyes. "One that I will not make again."

Briallen released him from her grip and stared at him, slightly confused but still very angry. "Whatever, good," she muttered before she turned and left Lucan alone again with his books.

Briallen hoisted her bag over her shoulder and released a growl of frustration as she walked out onto the second floor landing. "Great. Why are there never any staircases when I need them? And why do they have to move!" she complained loudly.

"Hey, Bevin," said a voice from behind her. Briallen glanced to her right and saw Benjamin Beauvais walk up beside her. "I heard you had an exciting first day. Disobeyed Miss Winsome and you interrupted one of Professor Stalkes' classes... you managed to anger the two meanest teachers in school within an hour. How unfortunate."

"No kidding... you know what? Life is so unfair! It wasn't even my fault," spat Briallen as she kicked at the landing railing.

"Of course it wasn't," said Benjamin with a smile. "Are you heading to the hospital wing?"

"Yeah, I didn't have time to go there earlier today and Ashley Price said I should get my cuts looked at."

"Well, you did fall into a pile of dragon dung... if it got into your wounds there's no telling what might happen. By the way, I could smell you from ten feet away."

"I know. I washed off what I could but... whatever. I've been in a bad mood for the entire day anyway and the smell kept people away. I bet the smell is really why Ashley suggested I go see the nurse."

Benjamin laughed. "So you don't want me to accompany you to see Mrs Krause?"

"If you don't want to, since escorting first years around the school isn't part of your job."

"Actually, escorting students to the hospital wing is part of my job. It's the escorting students to their meals that I don't have to do." The landing shook slightly as a staircase attached itself to it. "And up we go. The hospital wing is on the seventh floor. It's a pain to get to but if you find yourself having to spend the night there you get to wake up to a fantastic view of the mountains."

"And you know this because..."

"I've had a couple of accidents while playing Quodpot."

"Quodpot?"

"Yeah. It's fun - not as difficult or involved as Quidditch but it can be a bit more dangerous."

Briallen remembered her grandfather mentioning both Quodpot and Quidditch when he took her out shopping for supplies, and her YW magazine frequently featured professional players for both sports. Briallen's mother had suggested she join some clubs or a sport because, according to Meda Bevin, extracurricular activities are important to have on job applications, no matter what kind of job one applies for (even a magical one - though Briallen had not even began to think of what she would do after she finished school). She knew Quodpot somehow involved explosions and in Quidditch you have to be a good flyer - so obviously Quidditch was out but she was intrigued by Quodpot, even with the danger of exploding.

"Is there a lot of flying in Quodpot? Is it dangerous because of the explosions?"

"It's possible to not fly that much, though, knowing how to fly a broom does come in handy since the game is played in the air," he explained as he looked over at Briallen. "Especially if you don't want to the quod - that's the ball - to blow up in your hands before you get it to another player. You see, there are eleven people on each team and you have to get the quod in your team's assigned cauldron at the end of the pitch - that's the field. The goal is to get the quod into your cauldron before the quod explodes and earn your team a point. There are four periods that are twenty minutes each with a ten minute half-time in between the second and third period. Whoever scores the most points after the fourth period wins the game."

"What if you're good at throwing? Do you still have to be a good flyer?"

"Why? Are you thinking of joining the house team?"

"I don't know, maybe, I'm really just curious. There doesn't seem to be many clubs here and my mom said I should get involved. I'd like join something. I can throw really well: I was the lead pitcher on my softball team for three years!"

"Well, I grew up in a wizarding family so I don't know much about softball but you might be able to make the team if you try-out. But you can't try-out until your second year. We don't usually accept first years because you guys don't have enough experience on a broom. Well, most of you don't anyway because there have been exceptions. You can come and watch try-outs next weekend if you want."

Briallen sighed as they entered the hospital wing. "Sure."

"Ah, Beauvais. I wasn't aware Quodpot practice had already began. What did you do to yourself this time?" asked a tall, lanky middle-aged woman.

"I'm just delivering a first year to you, Mrs Krause," said Benjamin, his cheeks red with embarrassment. "This is Briallen Bevin. She had an accident during her first flying lesson and needs to have her cuts looked at. She may have gotten some dragon manure in them."

"Of course. I heard about what happened to you Miss Bevin. Next time remember to fall off before you get too high."

"Yes, ma'am," said Briallen obediently as she took a seat on a bed near the door. Benjamin sat down next to her.

Mrs Krause looked her over, tsked, and then went to a nearby cabinet where she pulled out a jar of what Briallen thought looked like orange jam. After applying a layer of the orange jam-like substance to all of Briallen's cuts, Mrs. Krause scooped some out and put it in a smaller jar and handed it to Briallen. "You'll want to apply this to your cuts once a day for a week. You should be completely healed by then."

"Thank you Mrs. Krause," said Briallen as she examined the orange-jam-like substance in the little jar.

"You're welcome, dear."

"Briallen, Benjamin," said a male voice at the doorway. Briallen looked up and frowned when she saw her grandfather standing in the hospital wing's entrance. He had that look on his face like he was about to lecture her.

"Dean Bevin. I was just about to take Briallen back to the tower. She had a small accident earlier today but she'll be alright," said Benjamin as he stood up and straightened out his robes.

"Thank you, Benjamin, but I'd like to speak to her first, if you don't mind. Do you mind waiting for her in the hallway?"

"Yes, sir." Benjamin left the infirmary and Mrs Krause disappeared towards the other end of the infirmary and behind a door.

"Briallen, I wanted to speak to you about what happened today," said Cal Bevin as he sat down on the white bed next to her.

"I know Grandpa. You're going to write my mom and dad, aren't you?"

Cal Bevin smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm not. I know what happened was an accident. However, it could have been avoided had you just been honest with Miss Winsome in the first place."

"What do you mean? I didn't lied to her about anything."

"But you didn't let her know that you have never been on a broom before. She naturally assumed that since you are my granddaughter you know everything there is to know about riding brooms."

"That's stupid. Ashley Price told me that not all witches and wizards can fly brooms so why should I know how to just because I'm your granddaughter?"

"Because I used to fly a lot. When I was a student at Hogwarts, I was a Chaser on my house' Quidditch team. All of the professors here know that... I seem to have forgotten to tell them that you were raised as a Muggle though. I guess it slipped my mind in the excitement of you coming to Bergamot."

"Grandpa... if you know it was an accident, do I still have to serve detention?"

"Yes. I do think it will be good for you and technically you do deserve it. However, you and Lucan Stone will not be helping Mr Eldred with hinkypunks as that problem has been solved. You will be securing the north wood's wall instead. The hinkypunks damaged it during the summer."

"Oh... okay," Briallen whispered. Her bad day turned worse knowing she still had to serve her detention.

"You can go now. And be more careful during your flying lessons. Anymore injuries and I will have to contact your parents. You know how concerned your mother is about your safety here."

Briallen nodded, stood up and began to make her way to the hallway where Benjamin was waiting for her but stopped when she reached the infirmary door. "Grandpa? Would you really have made me deal with hinkypunks?"

Cal Bevin chuckled. "Of course not, dear."

"Was it bad?" asked Benjamin as they walked down the hallway towards the seventh floor landing in the portrait hall.

"Actually, no. He was really nice about it. And I don't have to deal with hinkypunks for detention anymore," said Briallen apathetically.

"Ah, taking advantage of being related to the dean, I see."

"No, I'm not... I still have to serve detention. And with Lucan Stone too," said Briallen as she rolled her eyes. "I really can't stand him."