Eshu's Daughter

Ch. 8 - The Meaning of Muggle

Something brushed against her leg and Kit looked down to find a gray cat staring up at her with bright yellow eyes. "Hello, where'd you come from?" Kit said, bending to pet the cat as it wound around her feet and purred happily. The cat meowed and looked up at her again, almost as if answering, and Kit was caught by those strange eyes. They were too knowing, too keenly intelligent for a cat.

"That's Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris," Verity said, glaring at the dust-colored creature as though she were a cockroach Verity was longing to stomp. "She brought him running this morning when I dropped a bottle of ink in the corridor. I had to listen to him shouting about it for ten minutes."

Kit made a sympathetic noise but didn't stop petting the cat. Ellie on the other hand edged away from Mrs. Norris, looking around as if afraid she'd somehow conjure Filch from mid-air right on top of them.

"Oh I'd love to give her a good kick," Verity seethed.

"Don't be stupid," Kit snapped, straightening abruptly. "I'm sure she isn't using her evil kitty-cat telepathy to tattle on you to Filch."

"Just wait till she gets you in detention. We'll see how you feel about the sweet little hell-kitty then."

"Oh, shut up, you two, you're giving me a headache," Ellie said. She was slumped against the corridor wall, fiddling with her school bag strap and watching the two of them impatiently. "We've only got a few minutes till the bell rings and I'd rather not spend it listening to you fight. This afternoon is going to be bad enough as it is."

"Why? What have you got?" Verity asked, turning toward Ellie with a final glare for the cat now glowering back at her from between Kit's ankles.

"Potions." Said Ellie glumly.

Kit sighed. "I'm really starting to hate Professor Snape. 'Which instructions exactly were you reading Ms. Ellsington, because they obviously weren't the ones on the board.'" Kit imitated Snape's hateful, sneering voice.

"He's not that bad," Verity said. "He just expects his students to pay attention in class."

"As if I don't?" Kit said. "If I concentrated any harder my eyes would go crossed."

"Hmm," Verity said noncommittally. "Well I've got Defense next so at least I'll be well rested for Charms this afternoon."

"You don't sleep during Professor Lockhart's class, do you?" Ellie demanded sounding appalled.

"It's more productive than listening to him blather on about himself. It's a disgrace that we're being taught Defense by such a cork-brain."

"Right, well we'd best get going then," Kit leaped in before Ellie could begin cataloguing Lockhart's virtues. It was Ellie's new favorite pastime and she was getting a lot of practice at it. Half the castle thought the man was an idiot. Mostly the male half. "I'm sure you're anxious for your nap, Verity, and I've got a caldron to melt," she said with feigned enthusiasm. "But we should meet up later in the Library. We can work on our charms essay. Flitwick assigned that for the Slytherins as well didn't he?"

Verity nodded and agreed to meet later. She flashed Kit a thankful smile for heading off Ellie's tirade and Kit winked. Ellie was still frowning when Verity disappeared around the corner and Kit laughed, pulling her toward the dungeon rooms.

***

Half an hour later Kit was staring in despair at her cauldron. Puce. For goodness sakes, if she was going to mess the potion up, couldn't it at least have been a nicer color? She glanced at Ellie's cauldron with its light blue potion. She knew perfectly well which of them had gotten it right. How was it possible to be this bad at anything? Snape's curled lip and cruel, triumphant eyes hovered in the back of her mind. The professor seemed to take a certain joy in her failures. Today he'd probably be dancing a jig when he looked in her cauldron.

After the second day of class Kit had moved to the table closest to the dungeon room door. Not only did it put her further away from Snape it also kept her a safe distance from Orva Sibley. Orva of the cat paw birthmark and hateful comments. Orva, who so loved to look down her prissy little nose at Kit. Orva, whose head was just begging for a cauldron to be brought down over it. All in all, a little distance was a good thing where Orva was concerned.

Ellie had asked Spencer about Orva their first week and discovered her name. According to Spencer, Orva had tested out a few Muggle-born insults in her common room their first night. And had her textbooks hexed into haddocks by a pair of fourth-year boys for her trouble. These days, Orva was confining her insults to areas outside Gryffindor tower. Perhaps inspired by the haddock, Spencer was currently plotting a way to slip itching powder down Orva's robes. Kit fervently wished him success. If Orva made one more snide comment about Kit's parents being savages she was going to hex her into next week. Just thinking about it made Kit so furious she sloshed sludgy puce drops onto the tabletop as she stirred her potion and glared at Orva's back. She decided to look up some good hexes in the library that night. She'd be ready next time Orva opened her fat mouth.

A sudden scrabbling noise distracted Kit from her death glare. She glanced around but the corner behind her was empty. Kit's brow furrowed, and she was turning back to her potion when the scrabbling was joined by a soft thud. Orva's voice drifted across the classroom as she made some comment and Kit felt her pulse quicken with another wrench of anger. The scrabbling, which Kit now decided was definitely behind the classroom door, grew louder. Kit retreated anxiously to her seat as the students near her also began looking around. Soon the weird sounds had become so loud even Snape noticed. His eyes narrowed and he swept toward the door with an irritated scowl.

Yanking the door open he looked ready to curse whoever was on the other side of it, but he never got the chance. He fell back with a startled cry as a dozen cats, a couple of owls, some rats and a dog the size of a small horse barreled into the room. All of them went right for Kit, clustering at her feet and staring expectantly up at her. Kit stared back at them in horror.

Before she could say anything, before Snape had fully recovered from the shock of almost being run over by a stampede of animals, Hagrid, the groundskeeper, thundered into the room, puffing and out of breath. He grabbed the collar of the dog and dragged the animal backwards away from Kit.

"Sorry Professor," Hagrid wheezed, "he took off on me sudden like. I couldn' stop him. I've never seen 'im act like that." The dog's paws punched the air as he reared onto his back paws and tried to lunge toward Kit. "Down Fang!" Hagrid bellowed, wrestling with the dog.

"Get that slobbering beast out of my classroom," Snape said so coldly Kit expected to see each word frozen in the air. "And you can take the rest of these creatures with you as well."

The problem was that none of the creatures seemed to want to leave and Hagrid already had his hands full trying to drag his dog out of the dungeon. Snape spun to face Kit, his face filled with such fury it snatched the breath from her chest and set her legs to trembling.

"Explain yourself," he snarled. As she mouthed like a beached fish, Kit was temporarily blinded by a brilliant flash of light. She blinked, slightly dazed and just registering the small pop that had accompanied the flash of light. Snape rounded on one of the other students.

"Put that away! 50 points from Gryffindor and detention Mr. Creevey." His voice shook with rage and he swung back to glare at Kit. "I want to know how you brought those animals into this classroom. You are moments from finding yourself expelled, Ms. Ellsington, so I'd suggest you make your explanation a good one."

"Now see here professor, there's no call-" Hagrid began.

"I believe there is," Snape spat at Hagrid, never moving his furious dark eyes from Kit. "I am losing patience Ms. Ellsington," He hissed.

"I-I… I don't know-" Kit stammered. She could feel every eye on her. Judging her, wondering.

Ellie leaned over slightly and drew her breath in sharply when she recognized Grizelle among the cats. Leaning closer still, Ellie whispered in Kit's ear, "Tell them to leave like you did on the platform."

Kit's tongue and body unfroze, she became aware of Puck shifting in his pouch at her hip and starting to growl. All she needed was for him to start throwing a fit and make the situation worse. Knock it off, she thought angrily, and was surprised to feel him stop moving, to hear his growl fade instantly. If that had worked on Puck perhaps it would work on the other animals as well. Kit looked down at the animals surrounding her. It was weird to see rats, owls, and cats all sitting peacefully together. Leave, Kit thought, please just leave.

It was as if they had been waiting for some signal. As one the animals got to their feet, or in the owls' case rose up in the air, and calmly exited the room. The tiny exodus passed through the door oblivious to the shocked looks that were following them. Fang had fallen silent and was docilely sitting at his master's feet, his droopy, doggy face seeming to smile as he panted.

"Wha' just happened?" Hagrid asked. He looked in bewilderment from Kit to Fang's supine body and the now empty doorway.

"I'd rather like to know that myself. Ms. Ellsington?" Snape said. His tone had grown even colder and those eyes were sharp and merciless on her.

"I don't know sir," Kit said, trying not to look guilty. Though she hadn't meant to call the animals to her that's what seemed to have happened. But she wasn't about to explain that to Snape. It was better to pretend she had no idea why the dungeon had briefly been turned into a zoo.

"Really," Snape said. "I find that hard to believe. Detention and 50 points from Hufflepuff. If you ever interrupt my class like that again, Ms. Ellsington, you will find yourself on the first train back to Kings Cross."

Turning back to look at Hagrid, Snape's sneer had reappeared. "I thought I asked you to take that beast outside? This is a classroom not a kennel."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry professor," Hagrid said, finally pulling his eyes away from Kit. He led Fang out of the classroom and nudged the door closed behind them.

Kit turned from the door to find Spencer grinning at her admiringly and most of the other students looking confused. Orva, on the other hand, looked completely revolted. Even from this distance Kit had no trouble hearing her hiss "Freak" as the students returned to their potions at Snape's frosty command. Kit's stomach clenched at the familiar insult.

***

Someone was crying. The muffled sobs echoed rhythmically through the dorm room punctuated by an occasionally ragged breath. The velvety blackness seemed to be taut and waiting, as anxious as Kit was at the mournful sound. She sat up slowly and edged closer to her bed curtains. They parted with a soft rustle to reveal the muted light of a single candle. In its glow she could see Calliope huddled on her bed, a miserable lump of rumpled sheets and messy hair. She was clutching her pillow to her chest and sobbing into it. Kit had the feeling she had been crying for quite some time.

Should she do something? Call a prefect? Get up herself and see what was wrong? But Calliope had always seemed like such a reserved person that Kit was sure she would hate having anyone see her like this. Anyway, Merrilee was her best friend. Merrilee should be the one going over there to see what was wrong. But Merrilee was happily snoring in her bed, oblivious. What should she do?

Kit had already made up her mind and had one foot to the ground when she heard a new noise that froze her in place. With a muffled slap, slap, Annemette's bare feet struck the cold stone floor as she slid from her bed. She padded across the room and climbed right on to Calliope's bed. The sobbing stopped abruptly with a gasping choke, and Kit drew back inside her curtains so that she was hidden from the other two. She left a tiny gap so she could watch what was happening.

Annemette had pulled Calliope into a hug, and Calliope, perhaps in shock, had gone absolutely still. Either that or Annemette had hexed her, which seemed equally likely. Kit tried to remember a single time the two girls had spoken to one another amiably and couldn't recall one. Calliope was Merrilee's shadow, and Merrilee talked enough for three people - five on a good day - and Annemette, well, Annemette didn't talk much either. She'd made silent superiority an artform.

So right now, seeing Calliope and Annemette whispering in the flickering light of that stubby candle, Kit tried to imagine what they could be saying and came up blank. She strained her ears with all her might but could only make out the indistinct murmur of their voices. She watched Annemette pat Calliope's shoulder and nod her head. It almost looked as if Annemette was comforting her.

Wonder what she needs comforting for, Kit thought, falling back against her pillows and staring up at the dark canopy overhead. A moment later she heard the quiet tinkle of Calliope's lyre shiver through the air. Someone had set it to playing and it was making the most beautiful music Kit had ever heard; something fanciful and light, full of spinning fairies and laughing creatures. It was like a lullaby wrapped in sunshine and Kit felt her eyes growing unbearably heavy.

Kit struggled to focus on Puck lying beside her cheek, fighting the insistent drowsiness that pulled at her, but she gave up with a sleepy murmur. The music was inside her mind now and she surrendered to it happily. She laughed and shot after a fairy dancing just out of her reach, basking in the sunshine that suddenly seemed to be filling the room.

***

Kit awoke with a start the next morning, feeling more rested that she could ever remember. She'd had the most incredible dreams filled with giggling rainbows and a very chatty Cheshire fox. She rubbed at her eyes and pulled her arms into a wide arc over her head, luxuriating in the stretch and pull of her muscles. Ellie's head poked through the bed curtains suddenly.

"Ready to join us sleeping beauty? Cause I don't think Professor McGonagall will be too keen on holding up class just so you can have a lie in."

Kit pulled a face and tried to smack her with a pillow. Unfortunately Puck had been occupying it scant seconds before and he growled angrily at being tossed off. Ellie just laughed and ducked swiftly out of the pillow's way. Now growling as much as Puck, Kit dragged herself out of the soft bed and began hunting for her robes. Ellie fidgeted impatiently beside Kit's trunk, playing with her school bag strap again.

"You're not the only that had trouble getting up this morning," Ellie said. "Calliope was completely gone; Merrilee had to shake her for a full minute before she'd get out of bed. We actually thought she was dead for a second. And Annemette was napping on the floor by her bed when I woke up. I guess she must have fallen out of it in the night, but I never heard a thing."

"We could hold a carnival in here and you wouldn't wake up," Kit said struggling into her uncooperative robes. They kept getting bunched and twice she tried to pull her head through one of the sleeves.

"Ha, ha, that's rich coming from someone that just slept though five alarms, Grizelle's caterwauling and Annemette's grumbles, which believe me were not dainty and cute. I didn't even recognize half the curse words she was using, and Spencer could've written the book, so that's really saying something."

"Annemette was actually cursing?" Kit said, pausing as she swung her school bag onto her shoulder. "But she never curses. She won't even say 'bloody' and everyone says that."

"Yeah, well, she definitely wasn't sounding like a toff this morning."

"Sorry I missed it. Hey, did Calliope seem OK?"

"Yeh, it was weird, she was actually smiling. It makes a huge difference from that sour expression she usually wears, I can tell you. Why do you ask?" Ellie replied.

"I woke up last night and she was crying. Don't know about what, but she seemed really upset. Annemette got up and talked with her."

Ellie shrugged, looking puzzled. "Couldn't tell it by this morning. Like I said, she seemed happy." With a glance at her watch and an impatient moan Ellie began fidgeting again. "Do you think you could move just a bit faster? I'm starving and we'll be lucky if there's toast left."

Kit snatched Puck from the bed and slid him into his pouch, tying the top with a flourish. "All set," she said cheerfully.

***

All morning Kit kept glancing at Calliope, searching for signs of last night's unhappiness. But Calliope was looking no more doleful than usual. On the contrary, several times she actually made a grimacing sort of smile while listening to Merrilee talk. By lunchtime curiosity had Kit firmly in its grip and she hurried to claim the spot beside Calliope where Jynx normally sat. Jynx merely settled across from them with her nose buried in a book about counter curses.

"How's your morning?" Kit asked Calliope, pulling a plate of sandwiches closer and selecting what appeared to be a ham one.

Calliope looked at her silently for a moment as if she hadn't quite understood. "Same as yours. We do share classes."

"No I meant how are you feeling?" Kit waved her sandwich impatiently dislodging a fat slice of cheese.

"What's it to you?" Calliope asked, eyeing her warily.

Kit lowered her voice. "I heard you crying last night and I wanted to make sure you weren't still upset."

Merrilee paused with her sandwich halfway to her mouth, looking concerned. She turned so she could hear their conversation better and put the sandwich back down.

"Oh," Calliope muttered, glancing at Kit uncomfortably. "I was just being stupid, it's nothing."

"It didn't sound like nothing," Kit said. Merrilee looked as if she was about to demand an answer when Calliope finally spoke again.

"I miss my family, that's all." Calliope said, starring hard at her own sandwich. Merrilee relaxed back in her seat and patted Calliope on the back.

"You've just got to stop thinking about it so much. How can you have fun if you're moping about them all the time?" Merrilee asked with a little smile.

"I miss my mom and dad a lot too," Kit said.

"I don't hear you crying about it though," Calliope said still looking anywhere but at Kit. "You never even talk about your family."

"I'm not ashamed of them or anything if that's what you're thinking," Kit said. She shoved her plate away and then clenched her hands in her lap. "I've just been busy with school. I write them everyday." Well almost every day, Kit thought fairly. She'd missed a couple days when she'd been particularly swamped with homework. But just because Kit wasn't bawling her eyes out every night or talking about them constantly didn't mean she didn't miss them.

"That's what Annemette said I should do, write my family more often. She offered to lend me some stationery," Calliope said.

"That's a good idea," Kit said with a nod. "You can have some of my stationery too if you like. It's got Unicorns on it."

"Oh, me too," Merrilee chimed in. "I've got butterflies."

"Thanks," Calliope said, going back to staring at her half eaten sandwich.

Kit returned to her own sandwich, and a thought popped into her head. "Were you playing your lyre last night," she asked.

"You heard it?" Calliope asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah, it was really beautiful. I didn't listen very long though, I tried to stay awake but I was just too tired."

"It's enchanted," Calliope said. "I had it play a lullaby to help me sleep last night. My mom used to play it for me when I was little."

"What's enchanted?" Ellie asked. She dropped into the seat beside Kit and smiled wearily.

"What took you so long?" Kit asked. She shoved the plate of sandwiches over so Ellie could select one and scooted aside to give her more room.

"I couldn't find the right counter jinx. It took me ages to turn my hair back to normal."

This cryptic remark appeared to be too much for the normally silent Calliope, she'd just opened her mouth when Merrilee beat her to the question. "What in Merlin's universe did you need a counter jinx for?"

Jynx had lowered her book at the sound of her name, and only now seemed to realize they weren't talking about her. She continued to listen intently, however, the spine of her book making a dent in her bread where it had come to rest.

"Orva," Ellie said, clenching her fist so that her sandwich was reduced to a lumpy white ball. "She threw a jinx at me in the hall after Charms. I'm not sure what it was exactly which is why it took me so long to find a counter jinx. Turned my hair pea green."

"She didn't?" Merrilee said, her eyes wide.

Ellie merely nodded sharply, her mouth a thin line. Kit, who'd wondered where Ellie had disappeared to, swung around to look at her fully for the first time.

"That horrible little twerp. That does it, I'm definitely hexing her next time I see her," Kit's eyes gleamed and she rubbed her hands together. "I've learned some good ones too. What would you like me to do to her Ellie? I could cover her in boils or make her skin break out in plaid stripes. Or I could make it so that everything she eats tastes like vinegar for a week."

Ellie looked like she was having a hard time deciding, though Jynx was of the opinion Kit should use all three. Annemette spoke up before they could settle on a particular hex.

"You shouldn't do any of them. If you get caught doing magic in the halls it'll be an instant detention. Not to mention the house points you'll lose us. Just stop provoking her."

"We haven't been provoking her," Kit said with a glare. "She's a prejudiced, spiteful-" Kit spluttered trying to find a bad enough word.

"Even if you haven't been, you still can't hex her," Annemette said. Her pious expression made Kit want to fling something at her. The bell announcing the end of lunch saved Kit the trouble. Instantly their uneaten food vanished along with the plates and cups so that Kit was left without ammo.

***

Kit glared at her wristwatch trying to make the hands move faster. Professor Binns' somnolent voice droned in the background. It was a more effective sedative than any spell could have been. Most of the class lay slumped over their desks, some with mouths hanging open, a few snoring openly. Ellie was hunched determinedly over her parchment scribbling notes, but even her eyes looked heavy and she rubbed at them as if trying to wipe away the sleepiness.

In half an hour the Hufflepuff first years would be having their first flying lesson and it was only the promise of this that was keeping Kit's head off her desk. She felt nervous and excited at the thought of actually flying on a broomstick. She also thought it sounded darned uncomfortable. But surely if the entire wizarding world rode brooms it couldn't be that bad.

Why wouldn't the stupid watch move any faster. She'd be dead of boredom at this rate if the lesson wasn't over soon. Glancing over she saw that Ellie was poised above her parchment, her head bobbing forward as her eyes slid closed. With a jerk Ellie snapped back up, shook her head and began scratching her notes again. Kit had to admire her determination.

The Hufflepuff girls had a rotation going and today was Ellie's turn to take notes in History. Kit dreaded her own days; her legs were always black and blue afterwards from the number of times she'd had to pinch herself to stay awake. And she had a suspicion that Annemette was using an Eye-Opener draft to get through her assigned days. That or she was drinking way to much coffee in the mornings, her notes always looked like something spit out by a seismograph. Ellie's head hitting the desktop jerked Kit out of her thoughts.

Finally the bell rang, startling the unconscious students into wakefulness. Merrilee fell right out of her chair and blinked hard as though trying to figure out exactly where she was. Ellie was just peeling her face from her notes as Kit shoved her parchment and quills unceremoniously back into her bag.

"Come on," she said to Ellie, urging her from the classroom and barely resisting the urge to run all the way to the front doors.

"I don't know why you're in such a hurry to break your neck," Ellie grumbled, still trying to slip her quill into her bag. This was complicated by the fact that Kit had a hold of her arm and was dragging her through the halls.

"It's flying, Ellie. You can't tell me you're not a little excited. Imagine how awesome it'll feel to be swooping around in the sky."

"More likely falling off. This really doesn't sound safe to me. There have to be other ways wizards travel. This can not be the only one."

"I'll bet it's the coolest," Kit said with a gleeful smile as she shoved open the front door and bolted down the stairs to the lawns. Moving away from the lake she headed toward the forest. Moving away from the lake, she headed toward the forest. Midway across the lawns stood a tall witch with short, spiky, gray hair and stance like a football linebacker. Both her hands were perched on her hips as though challenging her students to be late. Kit was delighted to see they were the first students to arrive and she eagerly stepped up close to one of the brooms. It was rather shabby looking and her earlier misgivings came back. The ragged handle seemed guaranteed to give a person splinters in all sorts of uncomfortable places.

"Oh Kit, look! It's Verity. We must be having these lessons with the Slytherins," Ellie said. She was practically jumping in place, having found the excitement she lacked earlier.

Kit swung around and peered toward the castle. Sure enough, there was Verity along with a large group of other students, some Hufflepuff and some Slytherin, moving toward them. Kit waved broadly and saw Verity flutter her fingers in response. It seemed a half-hearted gesture. In Verity's wake, Kit recognized the two girls she'd seen the afternoon of the Jelly Bean Society's first meeting. The taller of the two had dipped her head so she could hear what her dark-haired companion was saying. Kit thought she saw the smaller girl gesture at her but couldn't be certain.

Ellie waved Verity over and immediately began interrogating her. "Have you ever flown a broom before? Is it very hard? Is it uncomfortable? Do you-"

"Give her a chance to catch her breath Ellie, that's not exactly a short walk," Kit said, laughing.

Verity smiled weakly and Kit wondered if she wasn't feeling well. She kept glancing nervously over her shoulder at the other Slytherin students.

"It's not too hard. I think you'll do fine Ellie," Verity said.

The other Hufflepuff girls arrived shortly and they glanced curiously at Verity, their bright eyes darting between the three friends. Kit smiled at them and motioned toward the unclaimed brooms near her.

"Did you run the entire way?" Annemette demanded as she strode next to her broom.

"More like a jog," Kit said.

"You got first pick though," Merrilee said eyeing her broom askance. The broom's twigs stuck out as if they had been carelessly tucked into their binding by a messy child and its handle was decidedly crooked. "Not that there appears to be much to choose from."

"I have a perfectly good broom back home. If the school didn't have that ridiculous rule about first years not being allowed their own brooms I'd have brought it. What do you have Merrilee?" Annemette asked.

"I have a Comet back home. How about you?"

"A Nimbus," Annemette said with pride dripping from every syllable.

"I have a Nimbus," Verity said, speaking for the first time since the other girls had arrived. Annemette eyed her coolly and apparently decided not to comment.

"Is that a good broom?" Ellie asked, looking back and forth between Annemette and Verity as though watching a tennis match.

"So," interrupted a cold voice from behind them. "This is what you've been keeping company with, Verity? No wonder you're always sneaking off."

Kit turned with a start to find the tall, silver-haired girl sneering at them. Her eyes lingered on Ellie and her nose was wrinkled as if there was very bad smell under it.

"Playing in the Mud like a common sow. Where is your house pride?" The girl continued, drawing a giggle from her companion.

Verity had stiffened, her face leeching of all color. She didn't say anything, however, acting as if she hadn't heard the other girl's comment. Which only seemed to annoy the silver-haired girl more, her sneer drew even wider.

"Mudblood got your tongue?"

At the word "Mudblood" there were several gasps and Jynx turned very red, looking as if she'd like to smack the other girl. Kit didn't know how, but she was certain they'd just been insulted.

"What did you say?" Kit asked, glaring.

"Oh are you one as well? I called you a Mudblood. It means you're a filthy Muggle and about as welcome in this school as a rabid knarl. And half as talented I'll bet."

"Well isn't that a coincidence," Kit growled, her hand moving toward Puck's pouch.

Ellie gasped at her, "Kit, no, you'll get in trouble."

"Stop all that rabbiting over there and get beside your broomsticks," barked the spiky-haired professor. She was standing just ten feet away now and Kit saw that all of the other students had already taken up positions beside their broomsticks while the group of them had been swapping insults.

"We'll finish our chat latter shall we, Verity?" the silver-haired girl hissed as she stalked away, her dark haired friend close behind and still throwing smirking glances at the outraged Hufflepuffs.

Ellie stepped closer to her own broom and Verity, trembling slightly, took up a position at the broom beside her. Kit flanked Verity on her other side and silently seethed, not only at the insults but at the fact that Verity hadn't said a thing. Was she ashamed of them? Kit recalled last Sunday, seeing the events in a whole new light. Verity hadn't fled that day because she didn't like those girls; she just hadn't wanted to be seen with Kit and Ellie.

"I am Madam Hooch," the professor said, staring at them balefully with her yellow eyes. "Today you will be learning to fly. Broomstick flight can be dangerous so pay attention and keep your minds firmly on your brooms." She scowled at the Slytherin students. "And keep your hands to yourselves. Any shenanigans in my class and you'll be in detention so quick you'll think you Apparated there."

Kit stood straighter as the professor's eyes passed over them, pausing on Verity, the lone Slytherin student standing in a line of Hufflepuffs. Kit thought she saw the professor's eyes widen slightly and her neat brows arch higher. Verity was staring straight ahead as though turned to stone.

Indeed, since the earlier comments she might very well have become a statue for all the reaction she'd shown. The professor turned away with a jerk and moved toward the head of the line of students. Her withdrawal left Kit with an unobstructed view of the Slytherin students standing across from her. As one they were glaring at Verity and the silver-haired girl's eyes promised retribution for Verity's defection.

"Extend your hands over your brooms and say 'up,'" the professor instructed.

Amid the flurry of commands and the ensuing chaos as some brooms leapt directly into their riders' hands and others rolled about on the ground, Kit leaned close to Verity and whispered, "Who, exactly, was that?"

"Vanessa," Verity said her voice low and flat. She stared fixedly at the broom in her hand, refusing to meet Kit's eyes.

"The blonde or the crow?" Kit asked.

"The blonde."

"And the crow?"

"Evilyn." Verity twitched slightly.

"Friends of yours?" Kit returned, taking pleasure in the way Verity's hand clenched on her broom handle.

Before Verity could answer Madam Hooch was in front of them barking out, "Say 'up' firmly. With command." She looked meaningfully at those few people still struggling with their brooms.

Kit's broom had leapt into her hand despite her half-hearted 'up.' Verity as well had had no trouble with hers, but Ellie was staring down at her broom in anger. She tried saying 'up' forcefully, then switched to a coaxing tone in an attempt to sweet talk the broom into her hand, which shifted to a round of curses as the broom continued to ignore her. Finally, when Madam Hooch turned away to snap at one of the Slytherin boys for walloping his friend over the head, Ellie stooped and snatched her broom from the ground.

"How could you just let them insult us-" Kit demanded, glaring at Verity, but she had to break off when Madam Hooch returned her attention to their side of the class.

"Now mount your brooms. Grasp them firmly with both hands, one in front of the other, not too tight and not too loose," the professor said. She walked among them adjusting grips and snapping out instructions. Kit noticed she seemed to have very little patience with the Slytherin students in particular.

Kit didn't have another chance to question Verity. Soon they were kicking off from the ground and hovering on their brooms. With a small exclamation of surprise Kit found that far from being uncomfortable her broom felt as if there was a cushion mounted on it. It was actually not bad hovering there and she felt a tiny thrill at being in the air. It was admittedly smaller than earlier when she'd had no nasty comments weighing on her mind, but it was there all the same. Kit shared a smile with Ellie and tipped her broom handle down as they were being instructed.

At first when she rose in the air Puck scrambled about in his pouch, clearly upset at leaving the ground. Be calm, Kit ordered in her mind and he settled soon after. She had a feeling he'd be making her pay for this later, however. By the end of the lesson Kit had almost forgotten about Vanessa's insults and Verity's spinelessness. Kit really enjoyed flying, though she was still slightly wobbly in the air, and she was already plotting when she could get on a broomstick again. This was fabulous and she wasn't about to wait till next year when she could have her own broom.

"Return your brooms in a pile over here," Madam Hooch called to them after they'd touched down for the last time.

Kit and Ellie lost Verity in the scramble of students flinging their broomsticks at Madam Hooch's feet. When they looked up it was to find Verity headed back toward the castle much too fast for either of them to ever catch up. Trailing behind her and laughing uproariously were Vanessa and Evilyn. Kit's insides clenched as she imagined the insults they were hurling at Verity and what they might be saying about Ellie and her.

"Why were you talking with that Slytherin?" Annemette demanded as they walked back to the castle.

"I hate to say it," Jynx piped up, "but that whole house is trouble. You ought to ignore the lot of them."

"My dad says Slytherin house turns out more dark witches and wizards than any other," Merrilee added. Calliope nodded sharply.

Kit glanced at them from the corner of her eye and then looked back at the castle determinedly. She might have been mad, but Verity was still their friend. "Verity's different. She's not like the rest of them. Ellie and I aren't going to stop talking to her just cause she's in a house full of stuck-up dark wizard wannabes."

***

Sunday dawned gloomy and overcast. Rain fell in sheets outside the castle, forcing the students to remain indoors where they weren't in danger of drowning if they stood still too long. Kit and Ellie waited in the front hall for an hour. Finally, Kit swung away from the stairway with an angry growl.

"She's not coming," Kit ground out, wanting to punch something very badly.

"Maybe if we just wait a few more minutes," Ellie said. Her voice wavered and there was no confidence in it, just a desperate kind of hope.

"Don't be an idiot. She doesn't want to hang out with us anymore and we both know it."

"She could just be stuck somewhere. You don't know for certain she doesn't want to be friends anymore."

"Ellie, grow up. She hasn't spoken to us since the flying lesson and she's hasn't looked over at us once during meals - despite the fact you've been doing a great impression of a jack-in-the-box every morning trying to get her attention."

"I'm sure she's just busy with schoolwork. She wouldn't ignore us on purpose," Ellie said, her voice pleading.

"Well she is, Ellie. You can't pretend otherwise," Kit said. She slumped down onto the bottom step and hugged her knees. "Face facts, you saw what those Slytherins are like. If we hadn't met on the train I doubt she'd have even looked twice at us. She's probably relieved she doesn't have to hangout with a couple of Muggle-borns anymore. I don't know why she did in the first place."

"That's a horrible thing to say," Ellie snapped. "Verity's not like that. She wouldn't call us names or hate us just because our parents aren't magic. She said so on the train."

"Yeah, well where is she then? Tell me that."

"I-I…" Ellie stumbled to a halt, seeming unsure what to say. She sat down beside Kit and stared at the toe of her shoe, rubbing it absently so it shone brightly in the flickering torch light. "Maybe her housemates are holding her hostage…" she said hopefully, and they giggled in spite of themselves.

"Looks like it's just the two of us now, jelly bean," Kit said offering a sad little smile. "I propose rule number two. No non-Hufflepuffs in the society. This whole inter-house thing was a bad idea from the start. You can't trust anyone outside your house."

"That's not completely true. Spencer's not bad," Ellie said.

Kit stared at her in surprise for a moment. "But you're always complaining about him and all the pranks he's pulled on you."

"Well, OK so he can be the world's biggest prat. But he's still not all bad. He hexed Orva on Thursday so she was covered in fur. She had to stay in the hospital wing for a couple of hours," Ellie said, her grin so wide it almost lit up the entry hall.

"He didn't really?" Kit breathed leaning forward.

"He did," Ellie said with a chortle. "Colin told me. He said Spencer heard about Orva jinxing me and hexed her the first chance he got. And," she added with another happy laugh, "Colin got it on film! He promised to give me a copy of the picture. I can't wait to see it."

Kit laughed and fell back against the stairs so that her elbows rested against them. "I take back all our plotting to give him whiskers. In fact, if he ever wants it, we can even break rule number one and let him into the society."

"I wouldn't go that far," Ellie said. "He's still a prat. And a boy."

"True," Kit said staring moodily at where a group of Slytherins had just come up from the dungeons. Verity wasn't among them, but the green and silver of the students' patches suddenly recalled her to why she and Ellie were wasting an afternoon sitting on the stairs. "Come on, let's go see if we can help out with the Sett. Verity's not worth waiting around for."

Ellie glanced sadly at the Slytherins as they moved into the great hall, but she climbed to her feet and the two of them set off for the Hufflepuff common room and a much more satisfying afternoon. If this was the way it had to be, Kit thought, well then fine. She wasn't going to spend any more time pining after someone that obviously didn't deserve their friendship in the first place.