'In the Meantime...Something for Fun' Cont..

[Chris]

Looking at the nearby trees, Seth nodded, not really sure what to say. After handing the twine to Serena, she asked for his hand, which he gave. Breaking a smile at the logic behind the idea, Seth said, "that's worth a try."

Not being a survival expert, Seth nodded at her knowledge. Giving a light chuckle, he added, "that's a good thing to know in this type of area."

*********
Shortly after walking a few steps, Alex felt an embrace from behind. Placing his hand on hers, he appreciated that even in the darkness of the forest, they could still have a light happy moment. Looking up at the ceiling as Peter tossed a fireball up, it didn't penetrate the opening.

Alex asked, "Pete...why did it do that?"

The fireballs floated around the group, and Peter thought of a good way to explain. Turning around, he added, "I'm not sure why, but I imagine it has to do with a form of protection that this deep area of the forest has? It was an observation I made the last time I was here."

Alex chuckled, "was this the time you went back into time?" Peter shook his head, "I observed that after I was back to the present.

*********
Joe watched the young Centaur play the melody. It was rather lovely. Soon thereafter, the music stopped and the centaur stared at the two students.

Leaning towards Sammi, "should we approach?"

*********
Shawn watched as Lance got up and asked a question. With a laugh, "wouldn't that be life's single greatest mystery?" Figuring his buddy wanted a real reply, Shawn added, "that probably depends on the girl."

Shrugging as Lance said something about doing something nice, he disappeared into the bathroom, and came out dressed in the clothes he brought in. Shawn remained seated, and was confused at the outburst about the book. "Uh...buddy...what book?" he asked Lance, around the time that he was asked to forget about it.

[Nicci]

Katie’s eyes lit up immediately at Jey’s offering to let her nominate a student for the award. Already she had someone in mind but didn’t want to come across as biased. Nodding with deep interest she would indeed take her time before announcing her choice to the professor and ensure that she set some tough practical work for some outstanding evidence. Internally her stomach butterflies were doing their usual acrobatic routine and a full facial blush was dying to escape onto her face, the possibility of him actually winning was too exciting to contain but in front of Jey she desperately had to fight it.

Soothed by the sudden aroma of lavender, Katie relaxed her posture and mentally questioned herself. Was the fragrance new to the room or had it been there the whole time and she hadn’t noticed it before? Either could have been possible but she widened her senses in case there were other things she hadn’t been aware of in Jey’s office.
Feeling more at ease, Katie found herself reaching for the offered biscuit but paused before bringing the sugary-topped shortcake to her mouth to answer the professor’s probing question.

“I, I wasn’t always..” she began, feeling the sores and bruises on her body suddenly become warm and noticeable. “But things happened and…I’m not always confident around people anymore. Hogwarts is my only sanctuary really but…”. Katie froze and locked eye contact with Jey who was still leaning over her desk, how could she explain that even in a place she considered her only home strangers still lurked behind their own hidden agendas. What she didn’t realise was that Jey was one of those very people.
**********************************************************

Having watched the other two Slytherins take the piece of string with confused, awkward expressions Serena returned to following Seth. She was pleased that he had offered to accept and humour her idea; the thin bit of woven rope between them now meant something and was rebuilding their foundations of trust.

“Maybe I’ll let you borrow it sometime” she jokingly offered referring to the survival guide. “I can’t imagine this is the only wild adventure you’d get taken on”. Having finished chuckling to herself, Serena suddenly realised how her last choice of words verged on having a double meaning possibly referencing Juliet’s obsession with the habitats of all magical creatures. Quickly needing a direct follow on she added on a statement about Peter.
“I’ve never met anyone like Peter before. Has he always been able to change into a phoenix? Does nobody mind that this happens to him?”
***********************************************************

“I don’t know…” Sammi mumbled uncertain of their current situation “She has a bow strapped across her back…what if she attacks us? Can we trust her?”

Grabbing Joe’s arm the young first year took an uneasy half step forwards before retreating back behind him as an unfamiliar voice came from the young centaurs lips.

“Do not have fear children. I am Errai, daughter of Cephei who is mate to the High Chieftain of the Centaur tribe that inhabit this very forest. I bring no intention to cause you harm”
Astounded by the maturity behind the voice, Sammi looked over Joe’s shoulder cautiously and unexpectedly blurted out a question of her own.

“Where’s Leah?”

Errai frowned, confused by the questioned posed by the glass eyed, two ponytailed female. What was a lee-hah? And why did she not have the courage to stand and face her whilst speaking?

“I know not of a lee-hah. It is no star, nor plant nor anything I have been taught. My mother foresaw your arrival many moons ago on the night where no planets were overhead and Eltanin and Rastaban were far brighter then they ever have been in many a generation. This is why I bring no intention to harm you, I called you out here, and we need you to answer our questions.

Mirroring a similar look of bewilderment, Sammi turned to Joe and whispered quietly in his ear. “What is she talking about? Should we really follow her?”
**********************************************

“It’s a book on seeing the present or future from far away something like crystal ball rubbish..I dunno it’s called scrying or something like that. I gave up Divination years ago as the professor said my mind was too closed. Personally I think it was more that I spat tea all over her plush cushions and my tea leaves always made inappropriate rude shapes.”

Sitting on the edge of his bed again, Lance sighed and felt thoroughly exhausted. “It’s meant to be some hushed secret but Vixie knows and Jules writes to someone in some silly notebook which Vixie has and if she doesn’t urgh…”.

Something inside him urged not to explain the rest of the story to Shawn; it wasn’t that interesting and was just full of pathetic girly behaviour that could only be summarised by whining.

“After I found the first part of the book in the restricted section of the library last week I thought the problem would go away, but now we need to find the second volume and have looked everywhere we have access too. Jules can’t go back to Diagon Alley, Vixie has apparently exhausted many of her own leads and none of us have permission to go anywhere near the kooky old bat’s attic and rummage up there. She could probably see us coming even with that glass eye of hers; I always dreaded finding that swimming in the dishwater she claimed was Earl Grey.”

Pausing for a moment, Lance’s eyes lit up at his sudden scheming idea. Maybe telling Shawn about Dragona wasn’t so bad after all.
“You and Lani can go!…You have a class together right near the hatch don’t you?. No one would suspect you of snooping around up there.”

With bated breath, Lance patiently waited for an answer from Shawn even though his friend’s facial expression wasn’t too sure.

(Jazzie is also picking Gen back up so I will leave her to reply to you Chris.)

[Nicci]

(Recapped from pg26 for Tommy)

“Of course I’m ok with it…” Callie answered before pausing to remember the first night of term where she had flown off the handles at Erin for going to the ball with her brother. Tasha wasn’t anything like Erin and deep down Callie only wanted the best for her closest friend.
“You are already like a sister to me of course I’d support your choice of anyone even if it wasn’t my brother”. For a long time Callie had assumed there was more to Tasha’s friendship with Kyle but clearly now she had been mistaken.

Trying to offer a positive part smile about the comment about Erin, Callie felt the happiness drain out of her body as the wrapped pastry landed on her lap. The brioche looked and smelt amazing but her stomach had quickly lost its appetite just as fast as the ability to speak left her throat. Hanging her head sadly she contemplated an answer to Tasha’s question, Callie knew that her best friend would be reading the building silence just as easily as if she had given her a proper answer but still she didn’t have the courage to reveal the truth.

Turning the plastic wrapped pastry over and over in her hands, Callie handed it politely back to Tasha beside her and prepared to speak. Peter could have been a sufficient answer, it would have ticked all the boxes that Tasha would have wanted to hear, but although he was charming, caring and showing interest he just wasn’t someone else.

“I don’t really have the time anymore…” she began, clasping her hands together and twiddling her thumbs “I don’t want to hurt anyone like I did with Olli, as much as I hate to admit it I think he was right last week in the infirmary. We were just using each other to cover what we really felt, he clearly wanted Erin and I….I….Oh, It doesn’t matter”.
Now wasn’t the time to go into detail, there were so many things that she should have told Tasha and maybe one day things would come to light. But now wasn’t that time.

Raising her head as Tasha scrunched her empty plastic wrapper into a tight ball, Callie stared up at the late afternoon sky “The right person for me is out there somewhere… I just don’t think they are here at Hogwarts though”
*****************************************************

Tristan fidgeted as he waited alone in the Ravenclaw common room. Thoughts of the past had been pushed back into their memory cupboard and now he just had to concentrate on the present. He wasn’t sorry for what he had said to Erin at lunch but maybe he shouldn’t have been so blunt to strike Olli’s actions as being wrong. Maybe it was this he should apologise to her for?

He had enjoyed spending time with her before the disagreement and still hoped she hadn’t bailed on their study session together even if it was meant to be the three of them.
Glancing up at a nearby clock the minute hand had crept further round then he had expected. Serena had been gone nearly an hour and still he hadn’t even attempted to open his textbook. Was it still worth it? Maybe he just needed some fresh air?

Standing to his feet, a sudden pain shot through his shoulder reminding him of his current condition and sent him crashing back into the high backed chair. Cursing under his breath, the pain flashed back images of the stormy night when Olli fell. His questions still hadn’t been answered about that but maybe like his healing arm both would need an ounce of dedicated patience.
With little else to do he flipped open his textbook and tried to block out the aching.

(Need to get back into character with him me thinks)

(I hope this helps a bit Tommy , I'm sorry I couldn't give you a post to follow with Olli but the rest you should be able to join in with.)

[Nicci]

Unfortunately what the Potion’s master had in mind for Juliet’s detention was far more unappealing then cleaning bottles. For the last forty-five minutes she had painstakingly had to listen to the tall man drone on about every potion that he pulled out of the stock cupboard, that was missing from the stock cupboard and anything random he thought to throw in between.
Twelve shelves loomed in this one alone and there were another three cupboards under the professor’s lock and key. Thankfully two of them were for ingredients and that was the most exciting prospect she could muster from their trivial yet endless task.

Aging potions, Alihotsey draft, Angel’s trumpet draft, all out of Amortentia…damn. Would have been interesting to have to seen some of the most powerful love potion shoved into the back of a cupboard. Maybe that was the reason behind the rumours connecting the Potions Master to the old Transfiguration professor? Maybe that’s why she left in such a hurry?

“MISS SUMMERS!” a deep voice boomed across the short distance and knocked her out of her boredom induced mind paralysis.

“Yes professor?” Juliet jumped to attention seemingly pretending to be eager to write another entry onto the lengthening list.

“Did you make note that I need at least three lots of Babbling Beverages and that you can cross off Baneberry Potions as we shall no longer be keeping those up here in their liquid form and that their ingredients when we get to them should only be ground down into powder as the berries themselves are highly toxic if swallowed whole?”

Giving a mixture of a nod and a headshake, Juliet scribbled down the amendments she had missed and dropped her head heavily on the table. At this rate it was no wonder there was no Babbling Potions made up when the Professor went on and on. He must be addicted to them.
Thankfully glad that the potions that the seventh years had made for their practical had kept the store cupboard full of Beautification Elixirs, she let out a disheartened whine when the professor stopped to admire every bottle with a flexible colour chart. Why!!! She desperately wanted to scream at him, Why was this all necessary.

Mind blown she couldn’t take the strain anymore, this was torture even for her organised mind.
“Please…..!” she whined like a spoilt child “Professor I’ve honestly learnt my lesson. I will promise to attend EVERY one of your classes and even do extra assignments on top of my normal studies but please don’t make me do detentions anymore. I will work hard and help every one of my classmates, I’m not like the Gryffindor’s who have gallivanted off into the Forbidden Forest without permiss….”

Clamping her hand over her mouth to stop her pleading, Juliet realised that she had unintentionally told on Peter’s party. Just because she was angry when she had thought about doing it didn’t mean she was actually going to be a grass on Seth but now it just kind of slipped out and from the sudden glaring look from the Potion’s Master he wasn’t taking it as a joke.

“Is this true?” he boomed suddenly dropping the monotone, “Miss Summers that is a very implicating accusation, do you know these students will be harshly punished if they are caught?”

Juliet nodded, turning grey in queasiness. “Yes professor, I saw them myself go in before I came here. I tried to stop them”

“Who were they?”

Three words that she had no choice but to answer. Now they would hate her, wasn’t she the worlds best sort of on a break girlfriend. Not even a Slytherin would be so dirty to snitch on someone else. This was a new found low in her eyes and she wasn’t sure if diabolically was worse then catastrophically to describe her day.
Having spilled the beans but ending up being rather vague in describing Serena thinking she was Callie and the Slytherin she hadn’t seen before, Juliet fluttered her eyelashes desperately looking to be let off her detention after all the information she had given the professor.
Sadly all she got in return was a dark frown of disapproval before the Potions Master informed her to stay put and triple check the list they had made so far whilst he left the room to find a professor who was available to hunt down the rule breaking individuals.

[Chris]

(I'm excited to see what you mean by Katie slipping up, Jazz! Loved Sammi's post. O.O Made me laugh. xD)

As Serena mentioned about the borrowing the book, Seth instantly thought of the book he tossed the ponds/lakes more than he could count. A book that Juliet dwelled on constantly. Luckily for him, the 'tossing into the lake' was more of a joke, since Jules knew that Seth loved that book so much. Looking to the left and right, Seth replied with, "thanks for the offer. I think I've heard enough about fantastic magical beasts." Chuckling on the last part, Seth neglected to see the tree branch that was draped across the path, around head-high. It wasn't hard enough to knock him out, but he hit it and fell to the ground on his back.

Setting his head on the ground, he laid there for a second, reflecting on the fall, and comparing the hitting his head on the branch to some sort of metaphorical hitting that led to he and Juliet taking a break. 'Ground broke my fall. Break. We're on a break. Lunch-break? I ate right? Katie?'

Because of his falling, Seth neglected to hear the last question posed to him.

***********
Joe shrugged after Sammi asked him about if the centaur can be trusted. Keeping his eyes on the centaur, he held Sammi's hand as she started forward, only to take a post behind him. Trying to be a strong figure for her and him both, he listened to Sammi's question and then the centaur's reply. 'That's a reasonable question for Sammi to ask,' Joe thought. As the centaur mentioned about her summoning he and Sammi there, this surprised him greatly.

Turning to Sammi, he asked, "how could they have known we were coming. We didn't even know." As Sammi asked if they should trust the centaur female, Joe shrugged and said, "she isn't wanting to harm us. Let's follow. At the very least, this is our own minor adventure." Joe gave a small smile, and asked, "ready?"

***********
Shawn chuckled as Lance mentioned some memories from Divination. "Fun times," he added. Listening to the Lance's account with summaries of what Vixie and Jules have done, Shawn concentrated for a second and said, "so you're hoping the book is upstairs in the Divination professor's room?" Ultimately, he'd have to ask Lani if she'd be alright, but being as it would help each of their best friends, it was an almost certain affirmative.

"I'll ask Lani when I see her next, but I'm sure we can," said Shawn with a smile. "This is what you were worried about?" he added with a chuckle. "You know you can tell me anything." Shawn tossed a pillow Lance's way.

[Nicci]

Serena raised an eyebrow as Seth spoke of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Where had that connection suddenly come from? Was it from his suppressed problems?
Gasping in shock and letting out a surprised squeal, she hadn’t expected him to be laughing one minute and crashed out on the forest floor the next. The string hadn’t warned her about that.

“Seth! Oh my goodness!! Seth!.. Seth! Are you alright?” She flapped, being caught off guard. She hadn’t even seen the low hanging branch and if she hadn’t been gabbing so much with random questions they wouldn’t have had this minor accident. Panicking about what to do first, Serena hopped about from foot to foot.

By the fact that Seth was moving slightly was a good sign but his ramblings were seriously random. Lunch? Breaking from stopping? Who the hell was Katie? Maybe he was concussed after all?
Dropping to the dirty floor beside injured Seth, Serena kept wittering to herself as she assessed and analysed every inch of her findings. Over and over she asked if a particular spot on his body hurt if she prodded, poked or raised it without giving him a breath to answer. A simple ouch or wince was more then enough to diagnose. Just because he had a minor graze on his forehead didn't mean the rest of his body could be ignored.

Having examined down his left arm and left leg, Serena shot up straight in her knelt pose like a meerkat on sentry duty and called out for Lyn and Betta. She would require their assistance quickly to get Seth back up on his feet again.

Returning to flexing his ankle whilst she waited for the others she continued with her bombarding doctor like questions.
“Seth? Does this hurt at all? Can you hear me ok?”

If he was hit by a spout of confusion he wouldn’t even know who they were, let alone what they were doing out in the middle of the forest. Getting him to think straight might not be easy, maybe she was asking the wrong questions?

“Seth? I'm Serena. Who’s Katie?”
***************************************

Sammi looked blank and shrugged. She had no idea either how the centaur in front of them knew they were coming. Was it psychic? If it was maybe it knew other things about her, like what her favourite type of cake was or even the date of her birthday?

Tempted by her new innocent wonderings and the possibility that her answers were too related, Sammi found herself more relaxed and even nodding in agreement to Joe. In a way this was like a mini adventure for the pair of them and just because the centaur hadn’t heard of Leah didn’t mean they had to give up looking for her.

“Yeah…I think I’m ready” she replied gently, following Joe’s lead without dropping his hand.

Seeing the two children make their decisions, Errai stood wobbly from her tree stump stool and let her panpipes drop against her smooth ivory chest. Now it was time to lead them through the forest.

“Please follow my lead” she spoke drawing her bow off her shoulder and letting her four hoofed legs lead the way into the tree line. “Try and stay close”.
*******************************************

Standing to his feet with a newfound grin, Lance knew this was why Shawn was his best mate. Whatever the problem Shawn never let him down.

“If anyone has a copy it’s got to be her otherwise…” He began before pausing with a slipping smile “We’re screwed basically and might not see Christmas this year. Oh that might be the positive side”.

Picking up the pillow that Shawn tossed his way, he held it a few moments by either side thoughtfully. Even if Shawn and Lani were successful in finding the book he was still responsible for breaking the secret, whether he liked it or not he would have to confess it to Juliet.

“Shawn..” he mumbled feeling the rough cotton against his fingertips “What really happened earlier with…. You know when I was a toa…FROG! I was a frog!”. Cringing he threw the pillow back across the room pathetically to Shawn and hung his head dejectedly.

Dropping back onto the end of the bed he knew that speaking of this was only the tip of the iceberg.
“What did happen to Jules?”

[Nicci]

Having left Lia to deliver her own bundle of introductory sheets of the newspaper to the Ravenclaws, Kalina quickly crossed back across the castle and hurried as fast as she could up the winding staircase towards Gryffindor Tower. Her mind swirled with thoughts about writing something decent to send to Lia by owl as the flashing advert still repeatedly changed its rainbow colours in front of her eyes.

Trying to take every other step two at a time, she contemplated about her most knowledgeable subject matter. Ancient Rune readings could be a hoot in a horoscope style of layout, but would students really be interested in some old waffle? Transfiguration had potential for flare and excitement, but it really was a subject that you had to be there to appreciate the made discoveries or changes.

Left with only Quidditch in mind as she swung open the portrait door with her foot, Kalina scrambled inside pushing the piles of newspapers ahead of her. Greeted by the chirping and laughter of some voices beyond she knew this was a golden moment to get Lia’s hard work heard.

“Excuse me?” she asked a short third year student charismatically “Would you like a copy of the new Hogwarts Express school newspaper… oh of course you would. This is our introductory edition and we need extraordinary students like yourself to get involved. Do you have a particular talent for Transfiguration or the know how for Herbology? Then we’d like to hear from you just send…..”

“Thanks” came the uninterested reply from the Gryffindor student as they snatched the thin paper out of Kalina’s hand and continued on with their conversation to their nearby friend.

Partially let down, Kalina refused to give up hope and shuffled a bit further across the room over to where two second year boys were playing wizard chess.

“Hi there!” she beamed with wide eyes interrupting a key play by one of the students. “Would you like to read about the upcoming first edition of the school’s hottest new newspaper? I see you have a great knack for chess there, would you be willing to get involved with a games page that maybe allows all the school to get involved with a paper chess game huh?”

“Can you get out of the way I’m trying to play! Oh now look what you’ve done my bishop is in pieces! Just get lost will you” came the scolding reply. He hadn’t even taken a copy of the paper to read later.

Shaken, Kalina slunk away still with a bundle of papers pressed against her chest. With her head held low after being rejected by a third and forth group of individuals, she slid a few copies onto the windowsill and made her way towards the dorm staircase. Taking a few lonely steps up, she unexpectedly found herself greeted by a robed pair of legs.

“Here” she mumbled dejectedly without looking up as she handed out a copy of the introductory sheet. “Something new coming to the school next week. If you are interested in writing an article please send an owl to Lia on the editorial team?”
Not expecting a reply, Kalina was startled by the male student’s interested “mmm” followed by a serious question.

“So who’s covering the Interhouse Quidditch season this year? Doyle never was one mention me last year they were too busy rating the players by their appearance then their talent”

“I….am” Kalina mumbled worriedly before looking up and realising who she was standing face to face with. The rest of her sentence failed to be audible from there onwards and a building awkwardness had begun to take its place. Of all the people that was equally as bad as Alex to bump in to William was a close second.

“I’m not going to play!” she stated confidently finding her feet again “I told you in confidence and what did you do? Just make it blatantly obvious that I have left the team in front of everyone”.

Shocked by the sudden rush of intensity in Kalina’s voice, Wills lurched upright and realised that he must have hit a nerve. Before he had a chance to apologise Kalina had begun to speak again.

“And Gen of all people to replace me with. I guess you and Alex must really have more in common then you realise apart from lack of tact”.

Stopping her from pushing past with a block of his arm, Wills kept her from walking away and breaking eye contact. He hadn’t intended to make her feel bad and he certainly knew in his heart that he hadn’t replaced her with anyone let alone Genevieve. What could he possibly say to her to make her believe the truth?

“Kal wait!” he began, as he watched the cascade of curls fall over her shoulder “I’m sorry I pointed the finger, I didn’t tell them you had left the team though and certainly didn’t break the news that it was about Alex. No one has the right to know about that unless you or him say so….”

“Thank you!” she interrupted coolly preparing to duck under his arm with her bundle of papers whether she could do it gracefully or not.

“But…listen please. I think you are great…in whatever you do. Whether you play Quidditch or made a bold choice to just write about it in a newspaper, just don’t give it up because of someone like Alex. You don’t deserve to let him move on alone and…..”

“I don’t need your advice Wills” Kalina added with a humph, tired of the topic of conversation.

Desperate to make the rest of himself heard, Wills had to dramatically wrap up a conclusion to his point. If she wasn’t going to listen to him hear maybe she would if he invited her to the Quidditch practice he had organised that evening with the rest of the team.

“Kal…what are you doing this evening?” flew out of his mouth without thinking about how it sounded.

Flashing an unimpressed expression, Kalina wrinkled her brow and knew exactly what to reply before making her way up the staircase.

“I’m busy with a friend… a friend who actually takes my feelings into consideration. I hope you enjoy your introductory sheet but I have things I must be getting along with.”

Left alone to face the rest of the busy common room, Wills had no choice but to let everything that had just happened go. He needed her back on the team more than anything but if she didn’t come around willingly then he had to give her more time.
Looking down at the copy of the Hogwarts Express that she had given him sparked an idea. Maybe these few sheets of paper held the answer, with this there was still the time to get himself noticed.

[Nicci]

It was a good fifteen minutes before Kalina found her pile of papers that little bit lighter. Each dorm room had been given an equal share of the designated handouts so there was no excuse for anyone to say they hadn’t at least seen it around the place.

Making her way back down the stairs, she cautiously kept her eyes peeled for any signs of Wills still hanging around the common room. The two playing wizard chess were still locked in a tight intense battle, the group nearest the door were still chatting about their homework assignments but there was no Quidditch captain. Thank goodness.

Relieved, Kalina exhaled heavily and continued on her way; there were still two bundles of introductory sheets to give out to the heads of houses of Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Without a student point of contact the two professors would have to be the next best thing for getting the word out about the arrival of the new Hogwarts Express.

Twenty minutes it took Kalina to locate the professors she needed to see. Globby Shanks, the head of Hufflepuff was out feeding the birds near the greenhouses and luckily Slytherin’s was down in the dungeon scolding a group of first years for leaving a frogspawn like substance in the girl’s bathroom. Both were very pleased to see the revival of the project but still held doubts in the backs of their minds about the reasons for it being closed before.

Pleased that she had managed to reassure both professors that Lia was trustworthy as the chief editor, Kalina drifted her way towards the Great Hall still clutching her own personal copy of the introductory sheet. Now was her chance to think about her own entry, she just needed an interesting talking point about Quidditch.
Dropping into a spot at the empty Gryffindor table, she clutched at the pendent Lia had given her around her neck tightly and closed her eyes. If anyone needed a lucky break it was her right about now.

[Jazzie C]

Jey leant forwards, her eyes full of concern. Full of what would look like sympathy to poor Katie, but it was anything but sympathy. Jey had learned long ago that people were manipulative creatures... at least, the ones worth properly paying attention to were. To avoid being burnt she had become the fire and she became ruthless. "What happened, Katie?" She asked her, gently, the flames burning in her eyes.

Before she had come back to teach at Hogwarts, a Seer had predicted a future of darkness and power for Jey. She had to fulfil the prophecy and she would use anyone to help her do so. She felt that Katie could be instrumental... she knew the girl would have a part to play in this game... it just wasn't quite clear how significant a part it would be. She stared at Katie, who looked distant and thoughtful, waiting... waiting.

[Nicci]

To naive and trusting to spot the deceit behind Jey’s false intentions, Katie put her empty cup back down on the desk and rubbed her bad arm like an uncomfortable habit.

“Some...people don’t approve of me” she mumbled, feeling tears well up in the corners of her eyes
“I, I try my hardest but it’s never good enough”.

Hearing the ingrained slap of her uncle’s angry hand making hefty contact with her delicate ivory face in her mind, Katie winced and shrank away.
Inhaling heavy, rapid breaths she fought with her inner demons and tried her hardest not to let the tears fall.

“I’m sorry” Katie finally announced, remaking eye contact with Jey.
“I won’t let it affect my work I promise.”

What Katie hadn’t realised was it was too late, the gate was open and the sea of weakness had bolted out of her like a herd of frightened horses. Jey already in her predatory mode across the desk would ensure a quick swift kill of the innocent girl and they’d be no escape for Katie from her controlling mind games.