Baednook School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Asbjorn Sebastian John Thomas Cobnest

Dear Parents of Prospective Students,

May I take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Baednook School of Witchcraft and Wiazardry, or as we all on the staff fondly call it. 'Baednook'.  We are the premier school of magic in the United Kingdom and as such, have a proud history of producing some of the greatest magical minds the world has ever seen.

As the best institution for the instruction of wizards and witches, Baednook has facilities to match the expectations we hold for each student.  The school itself is built using lost, powerful magics that prevent its walls from being breached with any spell currently known.  Muggles find the area unplottable, the grounds have never had a single muggle cross them. The teaching facilities boast greenhouses and arable land for Herbology, wild areas for the care of magical creatures and even an Olympic-sized Quidditch pitch.  From the tallest of our towers springs telescopes galore for those studying Astronomy and in another, children relax in plush surroundings while learning to read the future through the art of divination.

Each child will be assigned a dormitory of one of the four houses: House Leoclaw, House Eaglebeak, House Malardbill or House Wolffang. A dedicated member of staff will be responsible for the child's welfare while they stay with us, ensuring you can rest easy that your child is well cared for.

To that end, and in accordance with the Minister of Magic's request, each full moon, extra security trolls will be hired to protect the children from Werewolf attack. It is unlikely that the Werewolves we all seem so frightened of could breach the walls of a school as well defended as this, but precaution is better perhaps than a lesson learned in hindsight.

If any of you wish to contact me directly, please send an Owl to Baednook or leave a message on the teller-fown. I will get back to you as soon as I can (which may be some time for muggle means - I never was much good at Muggle Studies).

Yours Sincerely,
Professor Asbjorn Cobnest, Headmaster.


This message was last edited by the GM at 22:43, Mon 25 Mar.

Maddison and Sophia De'Vere.

"Come on, Sophia, the train is smoking," sighed Maddison as she dragged the trolly behind her towards the steam engine and the line of carriages. Families milled in all directions as the girl with bright red hair and dark eyes tried to steer her way through them - a feat made more difficult because she was pulling the trolly instead of pushing it.  Behind her, with a long-suffering stare at the butler who had dropped them off, her older sister pushed her trolly towards the train.
"Really, Maddison, this is embarrassing. People are going to see you being a dork and think I'm a dork too."
"Come on!  I don't want to miss the train. Sophia, come on..." her little sister sighed, stopping to wait for the older girl (more because at that moment she got the wheel lodged in a crack in the pavement).

Once they had their cases loaded onto the train, Sophia guided her younger sibling to a cabin in one of the carriages. The cabin had an older girl - possibly a fifth year - who left as the two De'vere girls sat.
"What was that about?" Maddison asked, noting the rudeness.
"Look, just... ignore it. People can be very, well, downright dumb when they want to be. Don't take it personally. I told you over the summer, our family name has something of a stigma attached."
"Sure, but, well... I'm too young to have been involved in all that!"
"Dork. We both are. Now, shush and pass me one of those chocolate frogs you have stashed away in your trunk."
The train started to chuff away from the station.

A few moments later, a boy around Maddison's age slid open the cabin door and poked his head in.
"Er, is like..." he mumbled.
"Yes, come in. The more the merrier," Sophia said before Maddison could speak.
" 'Sup," the newcomer said, sliding into a seat and opening a copy of Quidditch Weekly, ignoring them. Maddison rolled her eyes.
"Are you a first year too?" she asked.
The boy glanced over the paper. "Oh you are too? I thought you'd be like, a second year or something. Yeah. I'm Harrison Ellesmere. Most people call me Harry."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Maddison and this is my sister, Sophia."
"Cool," Harrison - Harry - said, and then pulled the magazine right in front of his face again. Sophia smiled and winked at her younger sister.
"I'm going to see if I can find Rigel."
"Who's Rigel?"
Maddison pulled her face. "Her Boyfriend..."
"Ewww," muttered Harry. Maddison liked him more already.



The cabin door slid open again, just as Sophia was about to exit, and a tall, waspish boy already dressed in robes of House Eaglebeak stood framed in the doorway.
"These witches haven't attacked you have they?" he said directly to Harry. It took the much younger boy a moment to realise he'd been talked at.
"What?"  he asked, bewildered, looking over the top of his magazine for a moment. "No? What you on about?"
"You do know their family are all dark witches and wizards, don't you?"
"We are not, Michael, you great idiot. We-" Sophia was cut off.
"Ah ah ah!" the tall boy said, tapping a badge with a P on it. "Don't want to lose House Leoclaw points before the term has even begun, do you?"
Sophia glared at him, while Maddison and Harry watched the scene with utter confusion.
"And who do we have here? Another De'Vere Praetorian?"
Maddison's mouth dropped, utterly horrified. The Praetorians were - or rather had been - a pack of murderous wizards and witches who had served a very evil individual called the Black Queen. To call Maddison one of them was... unthinkable. She had no idea how to react.
"Watch your back, these are wicked witches." With a sneer he was off, and Sophia said several very rude things about his big, wide ears which made Maddison gasp and Harry laugh, and then she, too, left the cabin.
"Are you a wicked witch?" Harry asked.
"No!"
"Na, you look alright to me. You like Quidditch?"
"Yeah, who doesn't. I want to be on the team. My sister is a chaser for Leoclaw."
"Oh cool. That's the ones that, er... chase the big red one, right?"
"You don't know about Quidditch?" Maddison asked, surprised. "What's with the magazine?"
"I just figured, if I'm gonna be here a while, I best figure out the sports, you know?" The lad laughed.
For the next hour, the pair talked about sports. Maddison talked about the sport, using the magazine to discuss the finer points of being a beater (the role she was often given by her big sister playing the garden at home) and trying to get her head around the sport of Football.

Sophia returned to the cabin, smiling a little as she slid the door closed behind her. "It's time to put on your cloaks, guys. We're nearly there. Another hour or so and we'll be at Baednook." She smiled, seeing her little sister sat beside Harry and the magazine held between them but resisted the urge to tease. "Mind if Rigel comes in here and sits with us?"
"Ewww.. No snogging," Harry muttered, looking at Maddison, who grinned.
"Only if there is no snogging," she laughed. Sophia's eyeroll was nearly audible as she left to collect her boyfriend.



The door hadn't been closed for ten seconds when it slid open again and a witch with pale white hair stepped in. She was clearly the same age as Maddison and Harry and she carried a guitar.
"Hello," she said cooly. "I'm here to play. I got kicked out of my cabin for annoying some beanpole idiot."
"Play? Wait..." Maddison started to say, but the girl ignored her and began to strum the guitar loudly. She was actually pretty good and Maddison noted that Harry seemed to know all the songs she was playing.

She was still playing when Sophia and Rigel entered the cabin, the older girl looking at Maddison as if to say "What the hell is going on? Maddison just shrugged. With the girl still playing, the four of them had to sit squashed together on the other side of the cabin politely waiting for her to finish.


Maddison got a very unpleasant vibe from Rigel. She looked him over, wondering what on earth her sister saw in him, when she saw something she did not like. Sophia was watching the girl playing her guitar. Maddison saw Rigel's eyes flicker to her sister's face, and saw his hateful expression that bloomed across it like a virulent disease. And then it was gone. But Maddison felt his evil intent. Rigel's arm over Sophia's shoulder made her feel sick.

Something is going on here, but I can't tell Sophia till I know more. She has been talking to Rigel all holidays by owl. She's really head-over-heels for him.

The train finally started to slow down and ground to a halt.
<red>"Here. At last!" smiled Sophia, and then the cabin was filled with people getting their trunks and bags and picking up any last possessions before leaving the train.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:43, Sat 23 Mar.

The First years were led by another prefect, one that Maddison didn't catch the name of, to the base of a cliff. One one side of them, black waves lapped at the stone beach, to the other side, a narrow stone stairway led impossibly high.
"Ung great. Didn't pack a broom did you?" Harry muttered, appearing at Maddison's side. She realised that he might be as alone as she was in this - he couldn't know anyone else here. And her parents had made every effort to make sure that Maddison and Sophia didn't mingle with the rest of the wizarding world when they could help it.
"You don't think you can get to the top?" she asked, smiling.
"I may give up half way if I can't think of a good reason to go any further," he admitted.
"Well... If you do that, who would I talk to at the top? I only know your name. It isn't like... Miss Stringy-box-thing pants knows my name."
Harry laughed. "Guitar," he corrected her.
"Oh, her name is Git Ar?"

The climb is long and hard and takes nearly an hour to complete. Several times, everyone had to pause for rest at a space where the path widened; the prefect called them observation points. Each one had a weird statue in the middle but they were just black blobs in the night sky to Maddison.

Finally, they made it to the top and to the doors of the Grand Hall. They were huge doors, not pretty at all but of stained wood that seemed to be burned by salt and held together by sheer stubbornness. Maddison did not doubt that they would withstand even a troll's charge. She found herself standing with a panting Harry and the mysterious musician girl from the carriage.

" Is it true about what they're saying? You're one of the De'Vere? Is it?" The voice came from behind her, and Maddison turned about to look at the speaker. He had a mess of black hair that looked as though a comb would weep if it had to try and sort it out, but his face was rough and the joke died in Maddison's mind before it ever formed into a fully-fledged thought.
"I'm Maddison. And while I may be a De'Vere, we're not all bad, you know."
"Really? Have you apologised then? For what your dear Uncle Archie did to people, then?"
Maddison blinked. Is he for real?
"Just ignore him. He's a drag," Harry chimed in, touching her arm, trying to turn her away from the unkempt figure.
"You're quite rude, aren't you."
Maddison turned to look, seeing the musician girl staring at the tall boy and blinking as her brain tried to take in all this information.
"Rude? You're the one hanging out with a Dark Witch. Watch your back. Her kind boils mudbloods..."

Maddison was horrified, and so were several people around. Worse, though, the musician girl recoiled from the word. She knew what it meant. Maddison had been sure she'd been from a muggle family, but still, it was an awful insult to throw at someone.
"You're delightful. And you call me a dark witch, seems you... you're..." She struggled to find the words to respond.
"Mr Shrike. Did I just hear you utter something reprehensible to Miss Griffiths?" The voice was somewhat shrill but clear as a bell as a matronly figure walked up the last step from the coast. She wore a pantsuit, pin-striped, and carried her wand precisely before her. "If you were in a House, I'd deduct 5 points immediately. You're immensely lucky that you are not. Apologise, at once, to Miss Griffiths... And everyone else, line up please." The woman had a voice that brooked no argument. Maddison stood behind Harry and in front of 'Miss Griffiths'. She was still crying a little. Maddison dug in her pockets and offered her a handkerchief.
"I'm Maddison De'Vere," she said.
"Rowan," the girl replied. "I'm Rowan Griffiths."
The adult - a teacher clearly - cleared her throat. "Welcome to the school of Baednook, an institution far older than any other in the world in the business of teaching young minds about magic in safety. We were here when the Romans invaded, we'll be here long after they leave. My name is Professor Veridian and I will be here to prepare you for the sorting ceremony. Now... Who will be first? No volunteers? Fine, I think I saw one young man volunteer earlier. Mr Shrike, come forward."

They watched as, one by one, children were sent into the grand hall through the foreboding doors.

De'Vere, Maddison," called Professor Viridian.

Maddison stepped through the doors and came out of the dark night into a room filled with moonlight. There was no wind, but instead, a thousand candles floated about two and a half meters in the air, drips of hot wax landing on the ancient stone floor below. Maddison's eyes followed a drip, and saw it landed on older stains from other candles, other sorting ceremonies, from centuries before.

The silence was expectant. She made her way past rows and rows of watching faces to a three-footed stool where she was told to sit. An orb, the kind a king might hold, was placed into her hand. It throbbed in her palm, then the golden sides of the orb changed hue to be a deep, rich crimson. A cheer arise from one section of the hall and Maddison was ushered, by a prefect, to join them.

"Oh thank God, Maddison. I was so sure you'd end up in Wolffang or Mallardbill... I didn't think you'd end up in Leoclaw!" she said, hugging her little sister.  Maddison looked around to see if Harry was on their table.  She asked her sister.
"Oh no, he's in Ravenclaw, I'm afraid. He must be pretty clever. And look, he's with that girl who played the guitar the entire time in the cabin."
"Her name is Rowan," Maddison said slowly, looking around at her Housemates.

She was sure she'd have been in the same house as Harry at least. Now what was she going to do?

Maddison did not sleep as badly as she thought she might in a room with four strangers. She dressed before the others had woken and headed down to the Common Room early. Today would be the first day she was to learn things she didn't know her way around school at all.

The common room was empty. High windows let in natural light and a grand view of the steel-grey sea. Plush, if worn, armchairs and sofas lay empty and abandoned. Maddison hadn't spent much time here last night - she'd gone up to her room and hidden until sleep had claimed her. Sophia had tried to comfort her a little, but she had been distracted by Rigel too much.

Rigel - there was an issue Maddison had no idea how to solve. He had given her a vile look, one of such intensity that Maddison had never seen before. She was scared, almost, to think what it could mean for her sister. She fancied she might be able to follow him around, to see what he did and where he went. Maybe she could blackmail him into leaving her sister alone - or maybe she could go to a Professor with evidence and ask them to intervene.

Maddison paused at one of the portraits - a fat man was sleeping in an armchair.
"Excuse me... Do you know the way to the Great Hall?" she asked. The painted figure opened one eye, nodded and pointed to the doorway.
"'ead that way, down the stairs, follow the bannisters that look like snakes, and you're there." and without much ado, closed his eyes again and fell asleep.

Maddison shrugged and walked out of the common room and followed the portrait's instructions, finding herself in the great hall. She paused at the threshold. Inside, house elves dressed in pillowcases cleaning and polishing the tables and chairs in the Great Hall.  She hadn't seen so many House Elves before. Her family's house elf, Silvy, had passed away when she was young and Maddison had wept over her for months.

"Um, excuse me, is it okay if I come in?" she asked, hardly daring to shout.  Several house elves looked up, exchanged looks and most went back to their work.
"'Ow may Borpy 'elp, Ma'am?" said one of them, approaching. She - Maddison couldn't tell exactly how she knew the House elf was a she - smiled encouragingly while drying her hands on the hem of the pillowcase she wore.
"Oh, well, I just wanted to come to breakfast early but, erm... I was just a bit... you know? I was... um... Can I sit quietly and be quiet while you work?"



Borpy's head tilted to one side, and she smiled, taking Maddison's hand. The girl was surprised by how warm it was as she was led to the Leoclaw table. She was even more surprised when breakfast materialised in front of her.
"You will fit right in here, Borpy thinks. You have the brains for it."
"Yeah? Lots of people don't seem to think I belong here."
The House Elf shook her head and waggled her finger. "You don't need to listen to them. Listen to Borpy. Listen to Headmaster. Not to bullies. De'Veres belong in Baednook."
Maddison had been picking up a slice of toast and paused halfway to her plate. "You know who I am?"
There was chuckling from several of the House Elves. This, then, was obviously a silly question.
"Yes. Borpy knows."
"I wish I knew why they hated me so much, and Sophia. She never mentioned this at home. It was always how great Baednook was - not about the bullies. That prefect, the tall one with big ears? He was horrible on the train. And then a boy had a go at me before Sorting. You'd think I had done something terrible."
"You don't know 'bout Archibold De'Vere?" Borpy asked, slowly.
"I mean, I know he did some bad stuff - I don't know what bad stuff - for the Black Queen. Nobody will tell me."
The house elf scratched her chin and thought for a moment. "Borpy not sure it will make you feel better to tell you about Archibold De'Vere, Mistress. He was very bad to your kind. But..." Borpy sighed. "You can't be really who you are without knowing him a bit. Maybe you can show not all De'Veres are bad. Your sister does this too - she works hard to show how good she is. You will be just like her."
Maddison sighed internally. Being compared to her sister - being asked to live up to her standard was impossible - but she nodded and buttered her toast. "So you'll tell me about Uncle Archie?" she asked.
"No. Borpy will bring you something tonight to read. You learn for yourself."

---

Slowly, the breakfast hall began to fill up and house prefects handed out the class schedules to all the students. Maddison scanned hers carefully.

Monday       Tuesday               Wednesday              Thursday      Friday
Charms  (M)  Transfiguration (M)   Potions           (R)  Charms  (W)   Transfiguration (M)
Potions (R)  Lunch                 Charms            (W)  History (R)   Potions         (W)
Lunch        Herbology       (W)   Lunch                  Lunch         Lunch
History (R)                        Magical Creatures (W)  DADA    (R)   Brooms 101      (W)

"What are all the letters in brackets?" Maddison asked nobody in particular.
"They're the other House you're having the lesson with. R for Ravenbeak, M for Mallardbeak and W for Wulffang. Honestly, lessons with Ravensbeak are the worst. They fancy themselves as 'the smart kids' and all that. Mallardbill House is nice to work with, but don't try and gossip with one of them - they'll all know before you've left the lesson. Wolffang are hard work too - they tend to be about hierarchies and power and stuff but some of them are good. The ones who want to make the world a better place are usually alright." Sophia had slid into a seat near Maddison. Probably, Maddison reflected, because Rigel had sat directly across from her and Sophia had wanted to appear to be a caring big sister.
"Looks like I have charms with Mallardbill first then," Maddison said, looking at her schedule.
"Don't lose that," said Rigel. "If it is left out of your presence for long, it comes to find you and glues itself to your forehead."
Maddison laughed.... and stopped when she saw she was the only one.
Rigel shook his head. "I'm serious. It was stuck on my forehead for DAYS!"

Maddison glanced over at the Ravenbeak table to catch a glimpse of Harry when there was a tap on her shoulder.
"Hey," he said as several suspicious eyes turned on him. "How are you doing? For sure thought we'd be in the same house."
Maddison stood up and collected her things, getting a pat on her arm from Sophia as she left the table. "Yeah, me too. Was kind of rubbish we didn't."



"I'm going to go to the headmaster at lunch today and ask to change houses. Everyone in Ravensbeak is a bit too eager and oddly snooty. Like they know way more than me? I'm not into talking to people like that. Besides..." he paused, looking off down the corridor they were walking down.
"What?" Maddison asked, following his gaze.



Maddison saw what Harry was looking at. Thorfinn was walking to breakfast - late - and in his haste, he had dropped a letter he'd been reading. She exchanged looks with Harry and the pair moved over to the letter, picking it up.



"Look at this. 'We just need to find a way to leverage them, and the Vile One will make himself known.' What do you think they're talking about?" asked Harry.



"I think it's an object. I think it's probably something like books or a diary. Look, it says them... so it's more than one thing. And it would be pretty hard to leverage people against someone who has never met them, isn't it, really? It is 'something', not 'someone'. I wonder what though. I bet the Vile one is a Dark Witch or Wizard."
"Damn, you should be the one in Ravenbeak, not me," smirked Harry.

A little later, Maddison bade Harry a good morning, leaving him in possession of the letter, and headed to Charms. She found a seat near the front of the class - she was so very keen on learning her first spell and she knew that Charms was all about spells.  The Charms classroom was very clean - Maddison couldn't spy even a single strand of a spider web anywhere. There was an unusual smell in the air though, slightly unsettling.

The classroom quickly filled up.  Students chatted and looked around. There was no sign of a Professor at all.

BANG!  The doors behind Maddidon opened and a figure strode in. At first, Maddison thought it must be a teacher, then she noted the robes and realised it was a student. Probably late for lass.

And then she saw that it was the tall, big-eared bully - the prefect from the train.
"Good morning, Class." he said. Maddison looked at the blonde boy she was sat beside who just shrugged back at her, equally perplexed. "I said, good morning, Class."
A weak echo of the greeting filtered through the room in response, which seemed to please the boy.
"I am Michael Queensbury. Headmaster Cobnest has asked me to take this class while Professor Hardbroom is away. I will be here to teach you some very basic charms. Now, there will be no silly wand waving, no made up incantations. Is that clear?"
Another weak reply of assent from the class. Maddison wished she hadn't been so keen and instead sat at the back where she could have hidden. Michael's eyes swept over her and she could see the sheen of a nervous sweat on his skin. She realised that he was too terrified of the responsibility put in his hands right now to do much to bully her, which at least was something.
"Today's spell is very simple, but should challenge you. The incantation is auferetur. Let's all practice saying that together."
Everyone began repeating the word in an array of different ways, and Michael shook his head and held his hands up. "No, no, no. Let's try this. Ow-fer-ree-tur," he said slowly. Everyone copied. His eyes widened slightly, meeting Maddison's. He held up his hand for silence.
"Miss De'Vere, if you please?"  Maddison flushed red. Was he trying to pick on her - to make a fool of her in front of everyone?
"Auferetur," she repeated.
"And again?"
"Auferetur?"
" That is how you must all pronounce it, just as Miss De'Vere has. Off you go."
He approached her desk as everyone paired up and looked down at her. "Five points to Leoclaw. Good work. See that you keep it up."  His tone could hardly be called friendly, but at least he wasn't decrying her as an evil, dark witch this time.

---

After teaching the incantation and the wand motions, Michael singled out Maddison once more.
"Stand up, Miss De'Vere. Hold your wand as I showed the class. Now, clearly and precisely focus your intent on the target - say the wall behind me. Once you are ready, carefully annunciate the incantation. In your own time."
Maddison did as she was instructed, aiming the spell at the wooden panelling of the wall. She had no idea what the spell yet did - she suspected Michael was supposed to have told them all but had, in his panic, forgotten. The sun shone through the window behind the prefect into her eyes.
"Auferetur."
The sudden, jarring sound of glass being cracked and smashed filled the air and Micheal spun to see what had happened. When he looked around at the class again, he was livid. "I said the wall, not the window!" he cried in disbelief, running over to check the damage. "Ten points from Leoclaw!"
Maddison sat down, hoping the ground would swallow her up. The boy beside her gave her a wink of support. She nodded her thanks.

Charms class ended soon after with Michael extolling them to listen to his instructions and not go breaking windows like some careless vandal - or worse, deliberately. Maddison could not get out of the room fast enough.

Gained: The Knock-Knock Charm, School: Charms, incantation: Auferetur. Effect: To cause a loud knocking or rapping to come from a distant place.

Maddison headed to potions class muttering under her breath.  She found the classroom filled with all manner of different instruments, bubbling away to one side of the room. In the middle of the room, the desks were arranged in a circle around a short 'pit' in which a table was set and ingredients placed upon it.



"Come in, dear children. Come in," the professor said. He was round and bald but very welcoming, and warm-looking, Maddison thought. He talked with a soft, kind voice that made her smile and almost forget the humiliation from Charms.
<green>"Come on in," he smiled, as the Ravenbeak students came to join the classroom. A smile lt her face as Harry walked in and sat beside her.
"Alright?" he asked. Maddison shrugged - now wasn't the time to tell him she'd already vandalised one of the classrooms.
"I am Professor Barkbeetle. It is my delight to meet you all. I hope you'll all enjoy this class - eventually. Today," the professor said, <green>"we shall be starting with the rules that will keep you safe in potions class. You may think that liquids cannot hurt you, that little more than a slightly odd soup cannot stop your heart or freeze off your kneecaps... but they can. And I will show you how to be safe. Everyone, get out your quills and paper. You will need to take notes."



As the lesson wore on, the Professor began to tell the class about how to hold a cauldron, why one doesn't put there face directly over a bubbling cauldron. Then, he began asking more questions of the class, using their answers to illustrate further safety tips.

"You, my dear, must be a De'Vere. Yes, I'm sure you are. I have a question for you, then." He paused, rubbing his hands together. "If you look at page 84 of your textbook, you'll see a very long set of instructions for, what my fourth-year students like to call, the nose-peg potion. What safety precautions would you take, Miss De'vere, to ensure you were safe making such a potion?"
Maddison looked down at the potion recipe... it went on over six pages and was needlessly complex. Or was it? She wondered why these steps would be included at all unless they were all part of a need for such elaborate working.
"Well... First I'd make sure I had lots of light - so many instructions, you see, I'd hate to misread them in a gloomy room. I'd use a pencil to tick off each part of the instructions as I go. And, well... I think that these are very complicated, but maybe the detail is necessary. I wouldn't cut corners because why would a textbook have all these weird steps in that aren't strictly needed? Um...
Very good Miss De'vere. Anything else?"
"Well, I probably wouldn't attempt it until I knew what I was doing," she said, unsure of what he was prompting her for. Evidently, it was just that, for Professor Barkbeetle pointed at her and nodded his head with a smile wide on his face.
"Excellent answer. Very excellent answer. If only your sister had such sense, we wouldn't have had to regrow her eyebrows last year. 10 points to Leoclaw."

The rest of the lesson went excellently and Maddison left the room feeling much better about her first morning in Beadnook. Harry walked with her towards the Great Hall.
"So, what do you think we should do about the letter?" he asked.
"I guess we'd best get more information before we try anything. I'd hate it to be innocent and just jumping to conclusions."
Harry nodded. "I'm going to go see Cobnest, get this mess about the houses fixed. Hopefully I'll see you this afternoon."
A knot tangled in the bottom of Maddison's gut. "Want me to come with you?" she asked.
"No... I don't want him to think I'm asking just cos I like you or something gross like that."
They parted in the corridor outside the Great Hall and Maddison went and sat down inside, unable to feel hunger  as nerves gnawed at her.