The return to school is about as eventful as the train rides normally are. Rajani sits with Queenie and Eugene and they talk about what they've done since seeing each other at Christmas and compare homework to ensure everything makes sense. Rajani adds an extra inch to her Charms essay after a rather clever observation from Eugene about the nature of size magic. They arrive at the castle just in time for dinner, and then they hurry to resettle themselves in the dorms and hand out the gifts they'd gotten for their housemates.

Lenox puts on his bracelet immediately, and gives Rajani a new charm for her own - a staircase. She finds the callback to their midnight wanderings both amusing and a bit embarrassing considering how it had all ended rather poorly. Still, she attaches the charm to the silver chain around her wrist right next to the snake from first year.

"I'll have my whole school story on my wrist by the time we graduate." She smiles over at Lenox who smiles back almost shyly in return.

"That's actually the idea." He replies.

Everyone quite likes their gifts from what Rajani can tell from their reactions - even Elspeth smiles uncertainly when she unwraps the simple quills Rajani had picked out for her.

"They're self-sharpening, so you don't have to stop in the middle of writing essays. I always find that to be really annoying if it interupts my train of thought." Rajani explains quickly, feeling bad for offering such an impersonal gift.

Elspeth looks surprised. "No, it's great. You didn't have to get me anything." She mumbles something else under her breath but it's too soft for Rajani to make out properly. Still, she's glad the present seems to be well received.

Clary is cackling over her gift. "Oh man, this is fantastic." She grins. "Open yours, open yours!"

Rajani is amused to find that Clary had a similar idea when she discovers the other girl has gotten her a book on how to not get caught sneaking out at night.

"Hey, it was Cadfael's fault!" She protests, putting no real effort behind the dissent.

"And the tree thing was the squirrel's fault so I guess we're even." Clary shoots back cheerfully.

Finn is incredibly pleased with his gift as well. "I've been wanting to find something like this." He tells Rajani when she hands him the package. "It was quite thoughtful of you to get me something even though we aren't very close."

Rajani waves her hand lightly. "It's no problem, I thought you would like it so I got it. No big deal."

From Finn's expression it apparently is a big deal, but Rajani leaves it be as she goes to sit with Queenie on the couch to gather her own presents before heading up to bed.

The next day it's back to classes, and their grades from the mid-winter exams are handed back by their Head of House during breakfast.

Rajani makes a face when she spots the P in Herbology marring the rest of her A and E marks.

Queenie winces when she glances over at Rajani's sheet. "Ouch. Herbology not making sense this year?" She asks, not unkindly.

Rajani sighs. "I probably should study for it more than I do. It's just such a boring class, it's difficult to muster up enthusiasm for leaves that can kill you."

Queenie laughs. "If you say so. I can help you out if you like, I managed an A."

"I got an O!" Eugene announces proudly. "I'd be willing to assist you ladies if you needed it."

Queenie shoves him lightly. "Heck no, no offense Gene but your ego doens't need any more . We're good working together."

Rajani just smiles as they bicker playfully about how big is too big for an ego and turns to Lenox, who's seated on her other side.

"How did you do?" She asks him, politely avoiding looking at his paper without permission.

He shrugs. "Not terrible but not great either. I'll have to step up my game to get the same grades I got last year." He admits somewhat sheepishly. "Maybe I could join you and Queenie when you're working on Herbology."

Rajani nods. "That would be great. The more the merrier."

"I'll join too! My grades are a mess." Clary moans from across the table, collapsing on it rather dramatically and getting her hair in the oatmeal.

"Clary! Ew!" Queenie is immediately pulled out of her conversation with Eugene. "Why are you like this, seriously?"

Clary flicks her hair, sending oatmeal onto the backs of the Ravenclaws sitting behind her. Ignoring their glares she merely smirks. "Can't help being fabulous my friend."

"Is that what they're calling it now?" Queenie fires back haughtily, mirth softening both her features and the words. "People's standards have truly dropped."

The two continue their banter through breakfast and on the way to Herbology.

"You know," Queenie whispers to Rajani as they enter Greenhouse Four, "Our Herbology grades might be because we have this class first thing Monday mornings. Just a thought."

Rajani rolls her eyes good-naturedly at her friend before gathering with the other Slytherins around the long table in the center of the room. The Gryffindors huddle on the other side, eyes narrowed but still too sleepy to be particularly aggressive.

The lesson is a rather simple review of mandrakes, as apparently not many people had answered the questions on them correctly on the exams prior to break. Rajani does her best to pay attention, but between the early hour and the topic she finds herself zoning out every few minutes.

When class finally lets out she decides she really should go the library and do some reading of the Herbology textbook herself before their Defense class.

It's easy enough to fall back into the routine of Hogwarts, and Rajani is just starting to settle into the usual patterns of existence when February arrives, and with it their Quidditch match against Ravenclaw.

In the week leading into the game the reserves team gets to train with the main group, in case an injury puts someone out of commission and they have to sub in another player. Rajani enjoys practice quite a bit, and she's proud to say that she's been improving rather rapidly.

So much so, that when practice wraps up the night before the match Mayra pulls her aside to talk to her.

"Hey, Raj. Just wanted to tell you that you're going to be our primary sub tomorrow." The Irish teen grins lightly, patting Rajani's shoulder proudly. "You really impressed me in practice today."

Rajani floats through the remainder of the evening, ignoring the glares she gets from Alasdair as they make their way back to the common room.

Logically she knows that the likelihood of actually getting onto the field is minimal, not in the least because the other teams are apparently incapable of aggression (and really Rajani has to question that - Quidditch is a contact sport, so fear of making contact seems rather silly to her, even if it does put Slytherin at an advantage).

The next morning she's feeling a bit more jittery about the whole situation, though her rational mind continues to remind her that she's likely still going to be watching the entire game from the bench again.

The game starts up normally enough. The view from the bench isn't as good as it is from the stands, and Rajani's neck aches slightly from having to look up to see what her teammates are doing.

Beside her, Alasdair has leaned back completely, supporting himself on his elbows as he critically watches each play as best he can from the awkward angle. The rest of the reserves players are less enraptured, chatting amongst themselves and occasionally tossing glares at the Ravenclaw reserves sitting across the field, who are only too happy to return the expression.

Rajani doesn't see exactly when the situation goes sideways, but it's about an hour into the game when Taylor shouts and then is cut off abruptly.

Rajani immediately looks for her teammate, only to see him tumble off his broom and to the ground. Coach Crowell catches him before he hits the group, but the fourth year is already out cold. The announcer is screaming abuse at the Ravenclaw chaser who had apparently caused the incident, though the mocha-skinned girl doesn't seem to care much as she snags the Quaffle Taylor had dropped and takes off back across the pitch.

Rajani is frozen on the bench for a long moment before Mayra swoops low and yells to her.

"Misra, move your rear, you're up. Grab your broom and get up here!" An instant later the captain is gone, chasing down the Ravenclaw player who had taken the Quaffle.

Rajani shakes off her shock and grabs her broom obediently, swinging her leg over it as soon as it leaps into her hand and pushing off to join the rush of people soaring above.

She realizes very quickly that practicing for Quidditch and actually playing in a game are two very differently things. She's momentarily disoriented by the rush of people around her and the ever-present shouting from the crowd, but she attempts to clear her head and scan the field to figure out where everyone is.

She pushes her broom about five meters higher so she can have a better vantage point, and once she ascertains where her teammates are she dives back down, flanking Mayra on the left as her captain angles to get the Quaffle back from Ravenclaw.

The chaser they're flying after spares her half a glance and scoffs.

"If this is the best Slytherin can manage it's no surprise Gryffindor kicked your asses this year."

Mayra's eyes narrow dangerously, and she subtly gestures to Gwenog Jones before picking up speed. Once she's pulled ahead of the Ravenclaw chaser she pulls in front of her, forcing the girl to slow down and veer to the side - straight towards Rajani.

This maneuver she knows. In a flash Rajani pulls up beside the other girl, forcing her to stop or cause a collision that would result in both of them getting knocked off their brooms.

It takes less than two seconds for the Ravenclaw to recover from the cornering, but it's one second too long as their third chaser swoops in from above and knocks the Quaffle from her hands.

As it falls, Rajani doesn't think - she just dives. Moments later the ball is in her hand and she's wheeling back around towards the opposite end of the pitch. She sees the Ravenclaw chasers bearing down on her, and she quickly passes off to Mayra, who's immediately off, defended by a gleeful Gwenog who nearly beheads one of the Ravenclaw players with a well-placed bludger.

Rajani follows closely, slightly below the main action. She swerves carefully across the field, trying to make sure she's always open for a pass though it's easier said than done. She's so focused on the players she nearly gets herself knocked over by a bludger.

Glaring at the Ravenclaw beater that had targeted her, she decides to try a new approach. She pulls up, and then ascends so she's back over the action, her sense now attuned to bludgers as well as players.

Calling plays during an actual game is quite different than when observing from the outside. She muses as she rolls around a bludger and casually drops a meter to get in the way of a Ravenclaw chaser.

She recognizes the dark-skinned girl who had mocked her earlier, and she gives a lazy grin before spinning her broom in a circle, the straw ends clipping the front of the girl's broom and knocking her off balance just enough to give Mayra time to pass to their other chaser, who catches the Quaffle and then fires on the goals in a single, fluid motion.

Rajani would really have to learn his name after this - she could learn a thing or two from his play style.

"Thanks kid!" He gives her a quick wave and then they're off again.

Queenie tells her later that she'd played for about an hour and a half, but to Rajani it feels like mere minutes before a whistle sounds and she looks around to find Talia Blackthorn, the fifth year Slytherin seeker, grinning wickedly and holding the snitch aloft in one fist.

Rajani joins the celebration in the common room, feeling rather high from the continued adrenaline rush of the game. Several of the main team players congratulate her on doing well for her first game, and Mayra casually notes that it looks like the open chaser spot the next year will be filled pretty easily.

Rajani feels sweaty and ruffled, and she knows her parents would probably be utterly horrified to see her running around in a jersey, covered in dirt and sweat with no thoughts towards taking a shower for at least a while, but she decides she'll let herself worry about that later. In the moment, she simply enjoys herself.

Eugene and Queenie both congratulate her profusely, and Eugene again exclaims that she'd be an excellent captain at some point. Gwenog Jones passes them glasses of an unknown substance, shouting something about only being young once, and though she knows she really shouldn't Rajani tosses it back, still lost in the rush of the win.

She regrets it when she has a hangover the next morning.

"I'm swearing off Quidditch." She informs her mattress, not wanting to move enough to address any of the actual humans in the room. "That rush makes you do stupid things and it's not worth it."

Queenie laughs. "Oh I'm sure it's just because you weren't expecting it. Now you know and you'll be much more graceful in victory next time."

Rajani hums, though whether in agreement or just pain from her pounding headache she isn't quite sure.

"I'm amazed anything managed to make you less that prim Raj." Nia teases from her own bunk across the room. "It was nice to know that even you can let loose sometimes."

"Treasure the memory because it's not happening again." Rajani declares, still into her mattress, and most of her roommates laugh.

"I'll bring you something up from breakfast, okay Raj?" Queenie pats her shoulder lightly. "You don't look up to walking around just yet."

Rajani mumbles her thanks as the rest of the girls file out of the dorms and presumably out to the Great Hall. She finally turns over so she can watch the lake lap against the windows of the dorm, and she smiles lightly. Despite her complaining, and the continued pounding behind her eyes, she has to admit she'd had a lot of fun the day before.

But she doesn't think she'll be accepting any more drinks from Gwenog Jones in the future.

Ana is quite pleased when she receives her exam grades back the first morning after they return from Winter Break. All Os except for one E in Herbology, which she'll take considering how unprepared she had felt for that class in comparison to the rest.

She's particularly pleased with the O in Potions, though perhaps part of that pride comes from the shock and praise she gets from her sixth year friends.

"I'm pretty sure I almost failed potions my second year Ana, that's seriously impressive." Hannah compliments when she sees the grade. "I bet you manage to get all your OWLs, seriously, you're such a stereotype."

Ana isn't sure what that word actually means, but Hannah's tone gives away the fact she's quite impressed, so Ana thinks it must be a good thing and she smiles.

Josie laughs at the comment. "Seriously though. You're the most Ravenclaw Ravenclaw I've ever met, and I've got three older siblings who were all sorted into Ravenclaw."

Sarah Poole, who's seated nearby but just a bit separate from the rest of the group - as she usually is - looks rather upset by Josie's comment but keeps quiet.

The rest of breakfast goes by comfortably, and Ana is glad that the nearly month-long break they have for the winter hadn't dented her acceptance among the older students.

The sixth years all share stories about what they'd done over break, and Eric is teased quite a bit over his visiting the Kiddell household the week before they came back.

Then school starts up again in earnest and Ana is happily back in her element. She pays extra attention in Herbology, even taking some notes during class - something no one else does but she needs her grade to go up before the end of the year so she's not embarrassed.

She even - reluctantly - agrees to Shaun's offer to sit in with his study group. She vaguely remembers them from when she'd dropped in during final exams the year before, but the only names she can concretely recall are Shaun and Fitzwilliam and she suspects that's only because she knows them from her house.

She mostly stays off to the side while the others chat and compare notes, though she does tune in a bit more when they start working on their Herbology assignment. The session isn't extremely useful, but she does agree to join them again the following week when Shaun asks once they pack up their books and head down for dinner.

Despite having spent the better part of three hours with her year mates, Ana still opts to sit with the sixth years that night. It's partially habit and partially a genuine preference for their company.

The conversation is mostly on schoolwork and the renewed intensity of NEWT year for the sixth year students, and Ana does her best to keep up and take note of anything she thinks will help her when it's her turn to prepare for the tests in four years.

It's a familiar routine, and comfortable as well. It's almost too easy for Ana to slide back into the nearly mechanical motions of school and homework. Honestly she likes it - the more she's on autopilot the less she has to pay attention to her roommates and classmates, most of whom irritate her.

Of course, she can't entirely ignore them, especially not Evie, who seems to be the sort of person who would be unavoidable even if she wasn't actively trying to get her nose into everyone else's business.

In fact, her least favorite house mate seems to have gotten ever worse since the break somehow, which honest Ana hadn't thought was possible. While Evie had never really let rules or regulations dictate how she handles everyday life, since returning from her trip home she seems to be going out of her way to bend and break every basic principle Hogwarts has in place for keeping students safe.

It starts on a particularly gross January morning, when the skies are gray and there's just the hint of snow swirling around the windows - enough to frost the glass but not enough to actually be enjoyable. It's Friday, so Ana has nothing to do until Astronomy that night so she decides to go study in her favorite corner of the library.

It's calm at first, pleasant really, and Ana has nearly lost herself in her Transfiguration essay when something flies past the window to her right.

Ana wants to dismiss it, but when she instinctively glances up she realizes the flying object is, in fact, a person.

Specifically a person who isn't supposed to be flying.

Sighing heavily, Ana closes her textbook, packs away her things, and heads to the front of the library to talk to the librarian.

"Madame Pince? Could I leave my bags here for a moment?" She asks politely, and the librarian easily acquiesces. Ana has heard stories that the woman is quite stern and inflexible with other students, but as a frequent patron of the library Ana has never had a problem.

She's about to hurry out, when she pauses and turns back. "And would you happen to know where Coach Crowell might be at this time?"

The librarian looks a bit confused by the question, but she thinks it over. "I believe he'd likely be in one of the teacher's lounges. I can give you directions if you like."

She doesn't ask why Ana wants to know - there's an unspoken rule in the library that people's business is their own, and they'll share if they want to. It's yet another reason why the library is Ana's favorite place in the school.

Following Madame Pince's directions, Ana manages to make her way through a section of the school she's never traversed with relative ease, and luckily the Quidditch Coach is in the first room she checks.

"Coach Crowell?" She taps on the door politely to announce her presence.

He looks over and frowns when he sees her. "Ms. Vulchanova. What can I do for you?"

Ana knows that the coach doesn't have any particularly warm feelings towards her, due to her general indifference towards flying, which means he has less patience for anything she might want. So she keeps it simple.

"I believe I saw Evie Jones flying one of the school brooms on the far side of the castle, next to the library.

That gets his attention. "That infernal-" He cuts himself off, muttering angrily under his breath. "Thank you for informing me Ms. Vulchanova." His thanks is curt and distracted, but Ana doesn't blame him for it. After all, the last time Evie had been on a broom she had sent their roommate Amelia to the hospital wing.

Ana briefly debates following the coach to watch the situation unfold, but she very quickly nixes the idea and instead returns to the library, where she happily returns to burying herself in her schoolwork, naïvely thinking that that will be the end of it.

She's very quickly cured of this notion when not two hours later her peaceful bubble is shattered by the library doors flying open and an absolutely furious Evie Jones storming in.

"Where is she? I know you did this Ana!" She's shouting, oblivious as ever to the glares she's getting from the other occupants of the library.

"Miss Jones, the library is a quiet place to study. I must ask you to leave if-"

Evie ignores Madame Pince as she scans the library, clearly looking for Ana, who shrinks back behind the bookshelves, really not wanting to deal with it. She'll have to eventually of course, but she'd rather the confrontation not sully her favorite place in the school.

Madame Pince is clearly growing irritated, and finally she picks up her wand, and with a simple flick of the librarian's wrist Evie is forced back out of the room and the doors are firmly shut behind her.

Ana can admit that she lingers in the library a bit longer than she normally would have after that, waiting until her stomach seems to be actively attempting to consume itself before she exits the safety of Madame Pince's domain and makes her way to dinner.

"Hey, there you are!" Hannah waves her over cheerfully. "I thought we might have to send Eric to collect you again - you don't normally study this much when it's not exam time."

Ana grins wanly. "Got caught up with Transfiguration, you know how that is."

Hannah laughs and nods in understanding, shifting to make room for Ana at the table.

The second year glances uncertainly towards where the rest of her year usually sits, and she's relieved to see that Evie is absent. Hopefully the confrontation can be pushed to the next day. Or even better, perhaps Evie's inability to focus on anything for very long will cause her to forget entirely.

Those hopes go straight out the window when she returns to the dorm briefly that evening to collect her things for Astronomy.

"You! Hey, don't run off, we need to talk." Evie is still fuming when she grabs Ana's arm before the Bulgarian can escape back out of their dorms and to the library.

Ana sighs. "There's nothing to discuss Evie. You were flying illegally, I told Coach Crowell, as I'm expected to. It's school policy and especially as Ravenclaws we should be following the rules."

Evie scoffs angrily. "Well it's a stupid rule and I wasn't hurting anyone!"

"Yet." Ana can't help but point out.

Evie glares. "Look, I don't know what your problem is but you've kind of been a huge jerk to me since day one and I'm sick of it! I never did anything to you but you insist on being rude and sticking your nose in my business where it doesn't belong!"

It takes every ounce of Ana's self-restraint to not snap back, to not point out that Evie breaking school rules where Ana could see made it her business, that Evie had repeatedly ruined her projects and potions with her inability to follow rules, of the hypocrisy of saying that Ana was the one who couldn't stay out of other people's personal lives. But she manages to bite her tongue and substitutes an eye roll.

"Believe what you like Evie, I'm going to go study." She says primly and stalks past her roommate, who surprisingly lets her go.

Amelia is sitting in the common room, and she shoots Ana a nervous glance before hiding behind one of her textbooks. Ana ignores her other roommate and exits the Tower completely, heading back down for the library with a singular focus.

After that things are even more tense between Ana and Evie than normal, but Ana can't really bring herself to feel bad about it since Evie's new response to her is complete ignorance. Not having to worry about avoiding her accident-prone roommate in every class is honestly something of a relief, and dealing with the constant sense of someone glaring at her back is something she's willing to handle.

January bleeds into February, and the spring thaw starts earlier than it had the year before, much to everyone's consternation. Making their way too Herbology through the greying slush makes Ana's least favorite class that much more tiring to attend, though she continues to partner with Jemma Finnegan which makes it a bit less frustrating, as the Hufflepuff girl is quite adept at the class.

She also finally learns why Professor McGonagall had been a bit off for the entire year from Josie during a particularly lively lunch period.

"Her husband passed away over the summer." The sixth year explains. "It's why she's living at the castle again - she sold their house in Hogsmeade pretty soon after it happened. Terrible business really." She shakes her head sadly. "Married only three years, and after he'd pursued her for so long too."

Ana for once is somewhat intrigued by someone else's romantic life, but she doesn't press for any more information, not wanting to pry into her favorite teacher's personal business. She does, however, try to be extra polite and enthusiastic in her next Transfiguration class. It pays off when she earns twenty more points for Ravenclaw.

Valentine's day arrives, and honestly Ana is a bit irritated by the entire affair. Even the sixth years are annoying, with Josie and Horace fight-flirting in the way that they always do but it's somehow even worse, and Eric abandons the group completely to sit with Laurel at the Gryffindor table.

Only Hannah empathizes with her irritation over the holiday. The chubby blonde proposes they find the least festive corner of the library and study together until it's passed by, and Ana is only too happy to accept.

"So you're not a fan either." Hannah says with a laugh as they clear a corner table of bright pink confetti. "Think that will change when you get a boyfriend?"

Ana scoffs. "I don't intend to ever do so. Marriage and boys in general don't seem to be worth the effort if I'm honest."

Hannah laughs again. "I feel that, though you may change your mind when you're older. For now though, quiz me on Charms, would you? We have a quiz next week and I am in no way ready for it."

It's comfortable with Hannah, and they while away the holiday mostly unscathed by the flying cupids and random heart floating around the castle, though Hannah does get some glitter in her hair when they briefly venture into the Great Hall for lunch.

All in all Ana thinks she may have avoided the worst parts of the holiday - then she heads out to Astronomy and all her careful avoidance turn out to be for nothing when she catches a Gryffindor couple snogging in the corridor.

"There are children here." She snaps at them, bright red and doing her best to not make any eye contact whatsoever.

The girl starts giggling helplessly while the guy turns red and awkwardly starts trying to tuck his shirt back in. Ana presses on, still blushing and reaffirming her own disgust with the whole concept of couples.

That doesn't stop her Astronomy class from being focused around Venus that evening, only cementing her frustration with the situation. At least Shaun, who she decides to sit beside, doesn't say anything on the topic.

Evie however is quite loud about how she's hoping to get even more flowers and chocolates the next year - even though Ana is relatively certain that she hadn't received any in the first place this year. In fact, it seems nearly everyone else is buzzing with excitement from the holiday - even Amelia is smiling a bit despite Ana thinking her roommate would feel the same way about Valentine's day as she herself does.

She manages to survive the rest of the class, and when she collapses into her bed she's relieved to know that it's officially the fifteenth.

The match against Hufflepuff is coming up fast and practice is getting intense, even for the reserves team.

Connor always pushes them harder during game weeks in case something occurs during the game and one of them had to step in. It had paid off well in their last match when Fiona managed rather respectably as a backup Keeper, though she certainly wasn't as good as Kent and it was mostly thanks to the Chasers upping their game and the Beaters increasing their aggression that they'd managed to pull a narrow win in the end.

Their first practice in March is as vigorous as Myr had anticipated, but with almost half a year of practices under his belt now he's proud to say that he can keep up quite effectively with Laurel's ridiculously intense warm ups, and he even privately enjoys some of them, sometimes working out in the dorms with Charlie even though he technically doesn't have to.

Once they've finishes warm ups the main team takes off, leaving the reserves to begin their own practice.

Connor grins. "Alright troops, as you all know they switched up the order of competition last year, so we played Hufflepuff later than normal. I assume this means you all remember quite a bit about that game."

Everyone nods. How could they forget the final defeat that left them without the Quidditch Cup?

Connor nods in response. "Good. Then you'll remember that their primary play style is aggressive rather than defensive. Most people assume Hufflepuff would be as mild on the field as they are in everyday life but that is the exact opposite of the truth, and if you forget it you get situations like what happened last year."

"So we need to play more defensively?" Fiona pipes up, while Remi makes a face, clearly unhappy with the idea of playing in any way other than with intense aggression.

Connor nods shortly. "That's a big part of it. The tough part of defensive playing is that you have to find the balance between defending but still playing offensively enough to score points. It's why most professional teams focus more on their defense than their offense - the offensive aspect of things usually comes easier to most players."

Connor then proceeds to run them through a few new exercises that supposedly will improve their defensive plays.

If he's honest, Myr doesn't think the new games are giving him any sort of new angle to his playing, and he wonders aloud later during their water break if he may have already been playing defensively.

Connor laughs. "Beaters usually are the most defensive players on the team, though they can play aggressively as I'm sure you all remember from Gwenog Jones's showing last game." He looks over at Myr directly as he continues. "You, however, are particularly defensive. I may run you through some stuff to improve your aggression later, but for today we'll stick with the schedule."

Myr ducks his head in slight embarrassment when Fiona nudges him teasingly. "He's defensive in everything he does, you should have heard him trying to talk Evera down from her epic revenge quest last year."

Connor grins. "Well I'm glad he failed, that was a fantastic day. Nothing like a bunch of Slytherins unwittingly dressed up in red and gold." He takes a moment to savor the memory before snapping back to full focus. "Alright enough of that. Everyone on your brooms, we've got less than an hour to perfect everything."

Practice is absolutely exhausting, and Myr is embarrassed that he actually falls off his broom a few times, something that hasn't occurred in a few months. Fiona naturally teases him about it good-naturedly (and Remi a bit mockingly) but by the end of practice he's honestly feeling good, even if he knows he's going to be horridly sore in the morning. They pack everything back into the Quidditch shack, and Myr  and Fiona carry their brooms back up to the Gryffindor common room.

They've developed an after-practice ritual of sorts ever since coming back from winter break. As they'd both gotten new brooms for the holidays they were learning together the best ways to take care of them.

They're sitting on the floor of the common room in front of the fire, warming up after spending over an hour in the bitter cold March air, sharing a broom care kit that they had borrowed from Bill Weasley.

"You ready for the match this weekend?" Charlie joins them by the fire, vibrating in his excitement. "Hufflepuff won't know what hit them!"

Fiona smiles brightly. "You guys looked good at practice today, that's for sure!"

Charlie's grin turns conspiratorial. "And just between us, even if we lose Hufflepuff is going to get some payback for last year." With that he stands back up and cockily prances up the stairs.

Fiona glances over at Myr, who feels a distinct dread curling in his stomach.

"Just let it go. You know how he gets when he has a prank idea."

"Normally Aidan is involved at least somewhat to keep them from going too overboard or read up on what exactly they need to do. But I kind of doubt he'd be involved in a prank against Hufflepuff."

Fiona laughs a bit. "I didn't realize you trusted Aidan that much. Figured you'd find the whole group to be immature."

Myr scoffs slightly. "They are but at least Aidan is smart about it. I'll try talking to them tonight after dinner."

Fiona rolls her eyes but says nothing as she returns to caring for her Cleansweep.

As it turns out, Myr never gets a chance to talk Charlie and Brandon out of their hare-brained schemes, as he doesn't see them after dinner, or ever at dinner. This of course only increases his anxiety about the entire situation.

"Calm down Myr, at worst they'll get detention and lose a few house points, so what?" Evera is completely unconcerned by the absence of her two friends. "Ravenclaw is a million points ahead of all of us anyway, it's not really looking like a competition this year, and good-natured rivalry is a healthy part of the sport."

Myr is rather unimpressed by her blasé interpretation of what he finds to be a rather unfortunate state of affairs but there is logically little he can do without actually knowing what Charlie and Brandon are up to, or where they even are within the seemingly endless corridors of the Hogwarts castle. So he reluctantly sits back and sulkily eats his dinner while his housemates chatter on cheerfully around him.

The two troublemakers return from whatever escapade they had been on just before the prefects come by to tell everyone to go to sleep, and Myr pounces.

"Where have you two been?" Myr hisses as they scramble into their pyjamas and slip into bed.

Charlie just winks at him. "You'll see in the morning. Get some sleep, we have double Herbology with the snakes in the morning."

Myr does try, but his worries over what exactly his dorm mates had gotten up to in their absence keeps him tossing and turning for hours before he's finally able to enter into an extremely fitful sleep.

As it turns out, he needn't have worried at all. The next morning the Hufflepuffs get a surprise when their benches have all been hit with a spongify spell, resulting in a very bouncy breakfast for them.

"How did you even manage that? You weren't at dinner." Holly admires as she plays with her own breakfast.

Brandon and Charlie high five cheerfully. "We had a bit of help." Charlie admits.

"An insider if you would." Brandon adds helpfully.

Myr raises an eyebrow. "Aidan actually helped you with that? I thought he was the responsible one of you three."

Charlie laughs. "It was his idea actually! Brilliant, isn't it? Just the right mix of annoying and fun, and by skipping dinner we had an excuse to be in here late looking for food."

Evera and Holly continue pestering the two about the prank, much to Myr's chagrin.

"Don't encourage them, it'll only make things worse." He groans, more towards his food than the girls. He knows nothing is going to discourage Charlie and Brandon from causing him headache after headache, whether or not their housemates are for or against it.

Aidan joins them as the Gryffindor second years exit the Great Hall.

"That was awesome! It worked perfectly, we definitely need to log this one in our records." The red head grins, and Myr balks.

"You keep records?" He repeats, incredulous.

Aidan grins. "Of course! It's only good etiquette to keep track of one's results, to avoid any mistakes being repeated in the future."

"You could just not repeat things at all and avoid causing any irreversible mistakes in the first place." Myr points out, but he knows it's hopeless and they aren't listening anyway, chattering together about possible future applications for the spongify transfiguration.

Classes that day go by in a bit of a blur - Myr is keeping up well enough in his studies and Herbology is always rather mindless for him, even with the double block before lunch. He ends up partnered with Nabila, who's equally efficient with their task, as well as equally focused which Myr appreciates. He's not really up for talking.

Transfiguration is after lunch, and Myr is surprised how many of their Hufflepuff classmates stop by Brandon and Charlie's table to laugh about the breakfast prank. He still isn't thrilled by their trouble-making but at least no one seems to have been hurt physically or emotionally by the trio which Myr supposes is worth quite a bit more than he sometimes gives credit for.

Class passes quickly, if difficultly - Transfiguration is definitely his worst class - and Myr retires to the common room for a game of gobstones with Holly afterwards, uninterested in joining his classmates by the lake.

"You've been pouty all day." Holly observes as she knocks one of his gobstones out of the ring with practiced ease. "What's eating you?"

Myr shrugs as Holly lines up another shot. "Nothing much. I guess it just bugs me that Charlie and Brandon didn't get into any trouble over this morning. It will only encourage them to get worse in the future if they think they can get away with it."

Holly hums and hits his gobstone yet again. Myr braces before it spews the usual stench over his robes. "Maybe. This seems like more though. They've been pranking for almost two years now and this one was really pretty tame comparatively. Brandon putting itching powder in the Slytherin Quidditch team's clothes was much worse, if much funnier." She grins at the memory, and Myr can't help but do the same. It had been pretty funny, especially after what Gwenog Jones had done to Kent during the game.

He doesn't say anything for a while as he carefully lines up his own shot. It isn't until after he's hit one of Holly's gobstones twice that he replies. "Cadi hasn't written me in a while. She already didn't tell me about her new boyfriend, and I guess I'm worried that she's pulling away." He misses his next shot and gets another cloud of stench blown over him for it.

 Holly frowns and pauses the game with a quick flick of her wand. "Hey, I'm sure it's nothing. A girl's first relationship is crazy. You should have seen Laurel back in her fourth year when she was dating Bill. It was only two months but she was like another person. Don't worry, Cadi is just figuring things out."

Myr nods idly, not completely convinced but certainly feeling a bit better about the entire situation. After a moment, he blinks.

"Wait... your sister dated Bill? As in Bill Weasley?"

Holly giggles. "They were a mess. Wanna hear about it?"

The rest of the afternoon isn't quite as bad as the morning had been.

The next day is the match against Hufflepuff, and Lola Abbot is merciless in her taunting of Charlie as they play cat and mouse above the rest of the game. The commentator is quite amused by the banter as well, though he's rather blatantly rooting for Lola, being a Slytherin.

The game is shorter than most, lasting a little over an hour with no real dramatics to speak of, and Myr can admit he zones out a bit until the very end, which is as nail biting as the year before had been.

Charlie spots the snitch first, but Lola uses a dive to catch up with him, putting them neck in neck. Ultimately Charlie manages to snag the snitch almost directly out of Lola's palm, and her laughter is loud enough to be heard from the ground over fifty meters below.

"Good game." She acknowledges as the teams shake hands once everyone has dismounted. "You may just prove yourself a Seeker yet Weasley."

"I beat you today." Charlie protests. "I think that already make me a Seeker."

Lola just grins and moves on to shake Laurel's hand. Tyler grins apologetically at Charlie as they pass each other.

"She's like that, don't let it bug you."

Myr watches the whole exchange with no small amount of amusement. He can appreciate Lola's brand of snark, having seen his own mother utilize it to great effect against his Uncle in the past.

The rest of March passes rather blandly, and soon Easter break is approaching.

Myr of course signs up to go home, much to his classmates' protests.

"You'll see them in two months anyway, and it's only a week! Stay with us!" Evera whines pitifully as the group of Gryffindor second years walk up the Astronomy Tower for their Wednesday class.

"Yeah, if you go we'll think you're getting sick of us." Drake sighs. "Would you want to emotionally damage us like that?"

"Yes." Myr deadpans with no hesitation, earning laughs from most of the group.

"You're heartless Cadwallader." Holly teases. "But really, you should stay at least once. Easter break is so much fun since most people stay."

"All the more reason to leave." He counters. "I deal with you all enough when you're somewhat restricted by classes. I can't imagine how much worse it gets when you're allowed to run free all day."

Despite continued wheedling for the rest of the week he doesn't budge on his decision, and when it's time to head down to the station to go home there's a spring in his step. As much as he (usually) likes his classmates, he misses his family and nothing is going to stop him from seeing them whenever the opportunity presents itself.

And if his friends have a problem with it, well, that's their problem to deal with.

Easter, Franziska thinks, is significantly better than Christmas.

Sure, Christmas is a bigger affair and Hogwarts looks stunning all decked out in lights and tinsel, but very few people actually stay over the Winter break. During the one week they have for Easter almost everyone sticks around and she feels much less lonely.

Cian and Donaghan had both gone home for the break, but every other second year Hufflepuff is still in the dorms, and Franziska loves how full it is.

And of course, there's the best part of Easter - the egg hunt hosted by Professor Sprout and open to anyone who's interested. It's a school-wide, no-holds-barred competition that requires a mix of teamwork and magical prowess, and Franziska absolutely loves it.

"Frannie! You're on our team for the hunt this year, right?" Kiera wakes her up the day before the hunt will commence by leaping onto her bed and rather abruptly dragging her from a nice dream about a meadow and some bunnies that she can't quite remember, but which has left her with a lingering feeling of contentedness.

"Naturally, but who is 'our'?" She replies easily, rubbing at her eyes and halfheartedly swatting at the mass lying on top of her.

Kiera obligingly sits up, allowing Franziska to do the same. "Well all the second year Hufflepuffs, naturally, and then the second year Gryffindors want to team up as well! Well, some of them, Nabila says she has better things to do than run around school like a chicken with her head cut off."

Franziska raises an eyebrow. "I assume you're paraphrasing?" The Nabila she knew wouldn't ever use such a coarse comparison.

Kiera grins unabashedly. "Maybe. Anyway, are you in? The ABC club is already in the Gryffindor common room organizing an attack plan."

"ABC club?" Franziska thinks it sounds vaguely familiar, but in her still half-asleep state she can't figure out what exactly Kiera is on about.

The blonde girl grins. "Aidan-Brandon-Charlie, you really are tired if you're forgetting basic knowledge like that. Come on sleeping beauty, let's get some food in you so you'll actually be useful, yeah?"

Breakfast is a far less formal affair for Hufflepuffs during break, as the common room is almost directly next to the kitchens making it easy to sleep in and grab something from the house elves later. Kiera lets Franziska get dressed and then the two girls head over to pick up something to eat.

The house elves are as cheerful and accommodating as ever and the two girls end up armed with enough snacks to feed a small army, which they take with them up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Food! Sweet, I knew bringing the badgers in on this was a good idea." Brandon grins as the two of them enter the common room. "Just set them down on the table and join the circle."

Franziska finds herself a spot between Leona and Henry Davies, who seems a bit more fidgety than he usually is, even with his seemingly endless well of energy.

"Okay, quick overview for the new arrivals." Charlie quickly takes charge of the meeting. "We're going to split into teams of three that we're going to try to balance by magical ability. Naturally myself, Brandon, and Aidan are going to be the team leaders since it was our idea."

Franziska spots Tonks rolling her eyes playfully at the comment. "And what if we'd like a lady in charge?" The metamorphagus questions.

Charlie frowns. "Well I suppose each group can have a female co-leader? That way it's fair."

Brandon pouts. "Aw, no. Don't give in to their demands Charlie!"

Holly laughs. "And who will the co-leaders be?" She asks, redirecting the conversation back on course.

Charlie frowns. "Huh, I'm not sure. I guess whoever wants to be?"

"I'm a co-leader!" Tonks shouts immediately, causing Kiera to burst out laughing.

"Can I volunteer too?" Holly asks hopefully.

Next to Franziska Henry is still fidgeting, and she looks over at him as the rest of the group continues debating who the best co-leaders would be.

"Hey, you feeling alright?" She asks, genuinely concerned. A mini flu epidemic had struck half the house earlier in the year and she wonders if he's coming down with something.

He grins at her. "I'm okay. Do you think we could invite some of the Ravenclaws to be in our team as well?"

Franziska smiles brightly. "I think that would be awesome! Let's tell the others and then you and I can go try to find them at the Ravenclaw Tower, okay?"

Henry perks up immediately and turns back to the still bickering group. "Hey! Hey guys Frannie and I are going to go try and recruit some Ravenclaws too!" He shouts over the chaos.

Brandon looks over first, though everyone eventually calms down enough to direct their attention to the two Hufflepuffs.

"That's a great idea you two! You don't mind if we place you in groups while you're away?" Charlie agrees easily.

Both Henry and Franziska give an affirmative to the question and then head out of the common room to hunt down more allies.

"Let's check the library first. That's a pretty standard Ravenclaw hangout." Henry decides as they descend the stairs to the fifth floor corridor.

Franziska agrees, but can't help teasing him a bit. "That's a little stereotypical of you. I thought you were better than that Henry."

He blushes. "Okay, so I admit there's a specific person I'm looking for and she's in the library a lot."

Franziska's curiosity is most definitely piqued by the comment but she decides to leave her friend be for the moment. It will be more fun to with the rest of the girls around for support anyway.

Henry makes a beeline for one of the back corners of the library as soon as the two of them step inside, leaving Franziska to linger awkwardly by the door. However she soon spots a familiar face and decides to do some recruiting of her own.

"Hey Fitz!" She smiles and pulls out a chair so she can sit next to him. "Do you have anyone to do the egg hunt with tomorrow?"

He perks up when he sees her, but deflates at her questions. "Oh, um, I don't participate in that. I'm allergic to pollen and stuff and there's a lot of it out around this time of the year."

Franziska's smile falls. "Oh, alright. Well, I hope you'll root for us!"

Henry seems to have struck out as well when he rejoins her at the entry of the library.

"Amelia says group things aren't her cup of tea." He reports sadly. "Said said she thinks Jerry and Shaun would be interested though."

Franziska nods, bouncing on the balls of her feet to try and reinvigorate herself despite their initial failures. "Well let's go find them then! We only have a day to prepare after all, every second counts!"

The duo take off back into the winding halls of Hogwarts towards the Ravenclaw Tower.

They manage to catch Laurel's boyfriend just as he comes out of the common room.

"Eric! Eric hi, you don't know me but I'm one of Holly's friends." Franziska quickly intercepts him, smiling as brightly as she can manage.

Eric looks surprised, but he smiles back after a moment. "Franziska Reinhardt right? Hufflepuff second year, spotless record." He grins at her look of surprise. "Part of being prefect is knowing everyone in the school, and the fact you're friends with my girlfriend's youngest sister doesn't hurt. Anyway what can I do for you?"

Henry ends up having to respond as Franziska recovers from the shock of being known by a prefect, something she thought only happened if you're a major troublemaker. "We're looking for Jerome Boot and Shaun Roberts. Are they in the Tower?"

Eric thinks for a moment, and then nods. "I think I saw them playing chess in the common room. Wait here, I'll go grab them for you."

It takes five minutes, but Eric successfully returns with not only Jerry and Shaun but also Evie Jones, who Franziska has mixed feelings about being there. Nonetheless they pitch their proposal to all three students and all three agree to join their team for the hunt.

The group of five head back to the Gryffindor Tower and are met with a surprising amount of efficiency.

Brandon greets them first. "Badger! You're my co-leader okay? Great. And hey, you got more recruits! Evie, no blowing anything up, I think the prefects would stop letting us bring our friends in here if you did."

Evie frowns despite Brandon's tone clearly being joking. "I won't. Not intentionally."

"Maybe just don't touch anything and we should be good. You can be on my and Holly's team." Charlie quickly steps in before any feathers can be ruffled. Evie looks like she's going to say something, but then nods and pulls on a smile.

"Sounds like fun! What's the game plan?"

They spend the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening making sure everyone is on the same page for maximum efficiency. Franziska has to admit she really enjoys being a co-leader for one of the teams as she has a bit more say in how things are going to be handled and she vetoes several suggestions that break school rules.

She's certain she won't be able to sleep a wink thanks to the excitement coursing through her once they finally break for the night but she actually manages to fall asleep rather quickly.

They decide to have breakfast with their teams, so Franziska heads over to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Brandon. They're joined by Shaun, Tyler, Leona, and Remi, and they go over their strategy quietly as they eat.

"Everyone is clear on the plan then?" Brandon triple checks, his eyes gleaming in the same way they do whenever he's about to pull a prank.

Once everyone has given the affirmative they focus on eating quickly, wanting to be able to take off as soon as the headmaster announces the start of the hunt.

Soon enough Dumbledore rises, his eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Now then, I know you're all eager to get started so I won't dally. Let the egg hunt begin!"

Brandon is immediately out of his seat, and the rest of the second years aren't far behind, charging for the doors in their groups.

Franziska nearly trips as they head for the courtyard, but Brandon grabs her hand to steady her and they race the rest of the way with their fingers still locked together.

Tyler and Remi summon their brooms once they reach the southern courtyard and take off to examine the roof for any eggs. Shaun, and incredibly skilled transfiguration student, begin casting Revelio on everything in sight while Leona stands guard to warn if any competitors are on their way.

Meanwhile Franziska and Brandon do their best to hunt the Muggle way, using the occasional charm to lift things that are just a bit too heavy. By the two hour mark they've collected almost twenty eggs, which are stored in a specially enlarged bag hanging from Leona's waist, courtesy of her sister Sarah.

"Alright team, pull in. Let's move to our next section." Brandon waves Shaun and Leona over, and the latter shouts for Tyler and Remi to come down and join them. They trek over to the edge of the Forbidden forest, waving to Charlie and Holly's group as they pass them exploring the Quidditch pitch along with several older students.

With less flying required for this part Tyler stays on the ground with Franziska and Brandon and helps them with the charms while Remi searches the treetops.

After about thirty minutes Franziska is struck with an idea.

"Hey Brandon, I'm going to ask Hagrid for some tea. There might be an egg inside his hut." She calls to her co-leader who grins and flashes her a thumbs up before returning to digging up an egg that Shaun had found earlier.

Flicking a braid over her shoulder, Franziska trots over to the groundskeeper's squat little home by the forest. She does find an egg in his garden, which she carefully puts into the pockets of her robe before knocking on the giant wooden door.

When Franziska had first seen Hagrid as a first year she'd been rather terrified of the hulking giant of a man. Now though she knows he's really a harmless sweetheart.

Her knock is greeted by a loud barking that causes her to jump back a solid foot in surprise.

Hagrid opens the door and laughs at her startled expression. "Sorry about tha' lass, Fang's still gettin' settled. You lookin' for an egg I take it?"

She blinks at the wolfhound puppy peeking out from between Hagrid's feet. "I... yes, I was. When did you get a puppy Hagrid?"

The groundskeepers gives a long, rumbling laugh. "Fang 'ere is gonna help me with me duties! 'e's just a pup now but in a few years he'll be scarin' off the toughest forest creatures!" He pats the puppy's head affectionately, and Franziska grins.

"He's really cute. I'll have to come visit more often!" She says. "But um, about that egg?"

Hagrid laughs again and lets Franziska play with Fang in the doorway while he fetches an entire handful of eggs for her, to her absolute delight.

"Oh this is wonderful! Thank you so much! I'll come visit tomorrow at tea time and tell you how we did in the competition!" She promises before rushing back to her group with her treasures.

When the competition wraps up six hours later Leona's bag is completely full, as are most of their pockets. They'd collected fifty-one eggs, which was more than either of the other two teams had. However they still loose out by seven eggs to one of the sixth year teams, much to everyone's chagrin.

They still celebrate in the Gryffindor common room that night however, and it's honestly a lot of fun, even if Evie does accidentally set one of the chairs on fire and get herself ejected from the Tower by one of the prefects.

The Hufflepuffs return to their common room well after curfew, but they're accompanied by the seventh year Gryffindor prefects so they don't lose any House points, much to Franziska's relief.

The next day she makes good on her promise and takes tea with Hagrid in his cozy little hut, playing with Fang and regaling the groundskeeper with tales of their planning and how close they'd come to winning the whole thing. She eventually branches off into other stories about things her classmates have gotten up to, from teaching her Christmas crew how to play football to the endless and often frustrating antics of the ABC club.

She ends up leaving hours later with another promise to take tea with him soon, and she's already looking forward to it.

The rest of break is spent gorging herself on chocolate with her friends and playing chess and gobstones.

All in all, she definitely prefers Easter to Christmas.