Ana is honestly slightly surprised that she's not sitting alone on the ride back to King's Cross, but she can't really say she's unhappy about the situation. She doesn't speak much, opting to go over her animagus notes for most of the trip, but she listens in on her friends' conversation.

Jerome does most of the talking, unsurprisingly, with Shaun and Amelia occasionally giving their two cents on whatever topic is being discussed. For the most part they talk about their plans for the summer, but there is some speculation on OWLs and their impending meeting with Professor Flitwick about their career paths.

Ana has pretty much determined what general path she intends to share with their Head of House, so she tunes out of that conversation for the most part to carefully study notes from her second-to-last animagus lesson. She admittedly started struggling with some of the later concepts that they worked on, and she wants to perfect them before getting back to school, that way once she's turned sixteen she'll be able to start working on actually achieving transformation rather than having to waste time continuing to study the theory.

She bids her friends farewell once they reach King's Cross, and awkwardly promises to write when Jerome insists upon it. She's used to receiving letters occasionally, but she's not much for writing them herself if it's possible, preferring face-to-face interactions. Still she resolves to do her best with it.

Her mother is waiting for her on the platform, and Ana deposits her trunk and Dracula's terrarium on the trolley before greeting her mother.

"How was the rest of your year dear?" Winona asks as she pushes the trolley back through the barrier and the two women walk towards the station's exit.

Ana makes a noncommittal sound in reply. Honestly she doesn't much feel like trying to maintain conversation with her mother, instead mentally going through her notes again.

Winona frowns but doesn't push. "Well alright then. We've been quite busy here. I've sent you a few letters and I know Marcus' mother has told him-"

Ana half tunes out as her mother recounts her own goings-on since the start of the year. As expected it contained the usual tea meetings and fussing about politics, so Ana is able to nod and hum at all the right parts mostly on autopilot.

Once she gets home she quickly excuses herself to her room to unpack her trunk.

She is admittedly happy to be back in her own room - the ceiling twinkles over her with the charms her father had placed three summers before and her bed sits well-made and alone next to the window. She's missed having her own space.

Her books are quickly re-shelved onto her bookshelf and her parchments and quills are organized onto her desk just the way she likes them. Dracula is released from his terrarium and settled onto her pillow while she digs out the crystal ball her Baba had given her years before from its hiding place. She settles onto her bed, legs crossed, and places her hands around the cool glass.

It's been some time since she's attempted to use the scrying orb, especially since her Baba doesn't visit quite as often since Ana started school - her mother said something vaguely about increased Ministry interference but honestly Ana finds she doesn't mind all that much. As much as she'd liked her Baba as a child, she thinks the old hag would be more bothersome than anything now.

Ana focuses on her target and tries to let the magic flow through her hands the way she'd been learning before switching her focus to her animagus studies. Her palms warm slightly, and she suppresses a grin at her success and refocuses on her goal.

The surface of the ball begins to flicker, swirling with dark clouds. Ana stares intently, not blinking, and for a moment she sees a flash of light - but then the crystal goes clear.

"Drat." Ana grumbles, dropping the crystal onto her comforter and shaking out her hands, which feel uncomfortably warm now that she's giving them some attention.

"What were you looking for?"

Ana starts and awkwardly tries to hide the crystal ball behind her, though she knows her father must have already seen it. "Nothing." She says curtly.

Her father laughs. "We've known you've had that since you got it Ana, you don't need to hide it."

Ana frowns at him irritably. "If you knew why didn't you say something?" She grumbles, still keeping the crystal ball behind her out of pure habit. "Anyway, I'm trying to see when the next electrical storm will be."

"For you animagus transformation." Her father nods in understanding. "You can probably do that in Divination at school though, can't you? You shouldn't attempt to do it on your own and your Professor McGonagall informed us you aren't to attempt it until you're at least sixteen."

Ana frowns. "I'm aware, I just wanted to get a list of the upcoming storms is all."

Her father steps further into the room, much to her annoyance. She honestly doesn't feel much like making polite conversation, even with her parents.

"You should come downstairs. Your mother really wants to hear about your year." Her father continues, and that's exactly what Ana wanted to avoid.

"There really isn't anything to say dad." She replies shortly. "It was school, I did well, top of my class again of course. That's really it."

Alexander frowns at his daughter. "Are you feeling alright Ana? You were quite eager to inform us of your studies last summer."

"Well that was a year ago dad." She responds, feeling herself losing her temper slightly. She reigns it in so as to not snap at her father. "And this year I'd like to be by myself for a while."

Alexander is still frowning, but he nods slowly.

"Well, alright. Dinner will be ready in approximately an hour."

"Thank you." She replies, turning back to her crystal ball. She waits until she hears the door close before fixing her bracelet and picking up the crystal ball again.

An hour later her hands are throbbing slightly from heat and she's no closer to determining when the next electrical storm will be. Sighing she returns to the ball to its hiding spot without really thinking about it and heads down the stairs, bracing herself for the questions she knows will be coming.

However, instead of insistences that she tell them everything about her year, her mother simply hands her a plate and gestures for her to go towards the dining area. Confused, and a bit suspicious, Ana complies and finds a letter sitting in front of her chair.

"Father, what is this?" She questions as she shifts her plate so she can hold it in one hand as she picks up the letter. She carefully puts the plate down before turning her attention to the envelope in her hand.

Her father chuckles. "It just came with the evening post. I didn't know you and Alec were writing each other this year."

The tone is entirely too knowing, and Ana just knows they've gotten the wrong idea. "I haven't." She states bluntly. "However he did mention at Christmas that he'd like to know how my final exams went so I assume this is him asking after those."

Ana doesn't like the hopeful smile on her mother's face as Winona joins them at the table.

"Mother no. I know what you're thinking and please stop there. Alec is seven years older than me and quite frankly I find him irritating." Ana informs her mother testily.

Winona frowns slightly, looking both hurt and disappointed. "I would never force you into anything dear, you know that. I merely saw that you were wearing his necklace and made assumptions, I apologize."

Ana's hand flies up to grasp the pendant hanging over the front of her dress. She's grown quite fond of the accessory and how well it matches her wardrobe, but the reminder of who it was from makes her want to take it off.

"Right well, understandable I suppose. But really mother, I have more important things to consider than boys right now. I have OWLs coming up next year, and my career consultation with Professor Flitwick in the fall."

Her father tilts his head. "Career consultation? I don't believe we had that in Durmstrang." He observes, clearly curious.

Ana decides to let her mother answer the question and turns her attention onto her dinner. She does half-listen to Winona's explanation of what the career consultation is, so when her father asks her a question she's able to catch it and return her full focus to the conversation.

"What I want to do? Well if I'm honest," She hesitates slightly when she realizes how her answer will sound against the conversation they had just had, but she presses on quickly, "I'm leaning towards Curse Breaking at Gringotts. I've looked up the requirements for hiring and it asks for all my favorite classes. In addition, the ability to travel the world and see new things and other cultures would be fascinating to me."

Please don't point out that it's the same career as Alec's.

Her mother looks about ready to do just that but her father speaks first, much to Ana's relief.

"I think that would be a wonderful career for you." He says with a smile. "And your Animagus abilities, once you have them, will likely be quite useful in the field I would imagine."

Ana finally feels herself starting to smile, some of the tension she's been carrying with her since exiting the train easing. "I would imagine so too, yes." She agrees. "And my friend Hannah is a professional Astronomer and I'm certain she'll be more than happy to lend me her NEWT materials for Astronomy if I ask."

Her father looks thoughtful at that. "Astronomy is required then? And NEWT level?"

Ana shakes her head. "Only an OWL is needed, although it must be an E or higher to be accepted without a NEWT. I merely think that since it is a requirement for my career choice then I ought to be as well versed in it as possible, especially considering how important knowledge is for Curse-Breakers."

It's easier to talk to her parents after that, discussing the risks of Curse-Breaking and where she might be able to visit once she's licensed. Her mother very carefully says nothing about Alec, and Ana is begrudgingly thankful for it.

That night she stares up at the stars sparkling overhead and pretends she can see the constellations in the nonsensical mess of lights on her ceiling. When first enchanted the ceiling had accurately matched the sky above it, but with time the charms have worn off and have fallen out of alignment, leaving Ana to go outside to do her Astronomy homework.

She wonders how difficult it would be to renew the charms in a way that would prevent the deterioration of accuracy, and she drifts off to thought of the Arithmancy techniques that might be applicable.

She wakes up the next morning with an urge to work on her Arithmancy homework, having dreamed about the subject during the night. So she takes her workbook down to breakfast with her and starts in on her first set of problems.

Her father has already left, and her mother keeps quiet and reads the Daily Prophet instead of asking Ana any questions. The whole day ends up flying past and Ana manages to finish the entire summer assignment for Arithmancy before dinner is served that night.

Her father isn't at the table when she sits down, and she glances at her mother questioningly.

"There was a fuss at work today, so your father will be home late." Winona says lightly, and Ana is immediately suspicious.

"What does fuss mean exactly?" She asks. Anything that could keep a security warlock of her father's calibre at work past his shift couldn't be anything so mundane as a 'fuss'.

Her mother sighs, and Ana realizes that she hasn't yet touched her food. "Your father won't say, but he did sound relaxed. Most likely something exploded either in Magical Accidents and Catastrophes or the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office again and someone unrelated was caught up in it. He'll likely be home in an hour or so."

Ana knows her mother is probably correct. She also can tell Winona is trying to convince herself. Shrugging, she goes back to her dinner.

Her father does return just before she finishes eating, and Ana stays at the table so she can hear about the incident that she's sure her father will complain about.

And sure enough he starts in as soon as he's downed a few forkfuls of dinner. "Honestly whoever put Weasley in charge of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts was utterly daft. He's a nice enough fellow but he causes nearly as many misuses as he cleans up."

Winona hums sympathetically and Ana decides that she's going back to her room. Arthur Weasley messing with Muggle Artifacts and making a mess is far from an uncommon occurrence and she's rather certain she's heard it all on that particular topic. So she excuses herself, rinses her dishes, and heads back up to her room.

Dracula is still splayed out on her pillow where she'd left him during her studying, and she quickly cleans his terrarium and returns him to it before grabbing her nightgown and starting her nightly routine. Honestly the day has been quite boring, and she still has the entire summer to get through before she can return to school and a more interesting lifestyle.

Once she's clean and changed she settles down at her desk and finally opens Alec's letter from the day before.

Ana,

I'd say I hope you did well in school, but I assume you made top of the class again. Instead, let me tell you about the run-in with a Peruvian dragon that we had the other day, I think you'll find it interesting to note the odd behavior it exhibited.

The letter goes on to describe several misadventures Alec has had in Peru, and Ana finds herself quite engaged despite herself. She takes a few notes on the stories and then pulls out her own parchment and quill. She'd been planning to write to her friends anyway in an attempt to stave off her boredom until bedtime, so she sees no harm in replying to Alec at the same time.

She ends up not quite getting around to her friends' letters, writing a full two feet in response to Alec's three-foot note and then realizing she'll have to ask her parents to help her mail it, as neither of her parents' owl are international flyers.

Sighing, she puts the letter aside and decides to finish writing in the morning, when she'll be more awake and better able to think up reasons why this still definitely doesn't mean she thinks of Alec as a friend.

Franziska spends the entire second day of summer break catching her mom up on everything that had occurred at school that year (after spending the first day recovering from portkey sickness).

Her mother is especially interested in the Giant Squid sighting.

"I never got to see it while I was there, from what I hear it only surfaces rarely." She says curiously. "What did it look like? I had a friend who was convinced it was magically mutated but my boyfriend at the time claimed it was an ordinary squid that somehow got into the lake."

"The latter." Franziska confirms. "You dated at school?" She adds, somewhat surprised. She hadn't known her mom had dated anyone before getting together with her dad.

Her mom laughs. "Of course dear! I had two boyfriends before I graduated, even kept one for a year afterwards though we didn't work out obviously."

Franziska frowns. "I thought you and dad were pen pals while you were in school though." She recalls.

Pannidda laughs again. "Oh sweetie, just because I knew your dad didn't mean I was saving myself for him. He was just a boy I had met on vacation, and there were lots of cute boys at Hogwarts who were much closer." She looks about ready to say something else, but apparently decides to keep it to herself. "Regardless, school is a time for experimenting and learning what you want in a relationship. By the time I met your dad again I knew exactly what I was looking for and found it in him."

Franziska thinks on it. "Did you know you loved him though?"

"Oh no, not right away. I thought maybe when I was a girl, but love is so much more complicated when you get older. Your father and I just grew together in a way that worked for both of us. It's partly why we had you so late - we took our time getting to know each other."

Franziska nods slowly, not totally convinced but thinking that it sort of makes sense. "So then... do you think Brandon and I are going to break up one day?" She asks nervously, eyes flitting around the room rather than focusing on her mother.

Pannidda looks at her searchingly, staying quiet for a long while. "Well dear, I think that will be up to you." She finally says. "You and Brandon. I know some people who married their school-year sweethearts but I'm proof that sometimes the person that fits you needs some time to find themselves. Why do you ask? Is everything alright with you two?"

Franziska isn't sure she wants to talk about it with her mother, especially now that she knows her mom had broken up with her own first boyfriends - and the second how had Franziska never heard about any of this? - and will probably be pretty biased about the whole thing. So she just shrugs noncommittally.

"Not really, we just had our first fight is all. It's resolved now but it got me thinking. That's all." She says it quickly and knows her mom can tell that there's more to it, but Pannidda makes no comment. Instead she asks if Franziska wants to help her make lunch, and Franziska is only too happy to take her up on the offer.

It isn't until the second week of summer, after several days of mother-daughter time (to the point where Franziska is about ready to change parents just for a break) that Rosalinde's finals end and she's back home for the summer.

Franziska isn't sure how seeing her best friend in person for the first time since August is going to go. They've been writing each other letters all year like they'd promised, and Rosalinde has seemed pretty happy, but the last time they'd been face to face had been when Rosa met Brandon, and that had been a disaster of Saundra-level proportions.

Still, Franziska is excited to see her friend, so she pushes on the Treindl's doorbell and bounces in nervous anticipation on the balls of her feet as she waits for an answer.

Rosalinde's mother is the one who comes to the door, and she smiles warmly upon seeing Franziska. "Frannie love! So good to see you! Come inside, let's have a look at you!"

Franziska has always liked Mrs. Treindl, so she accepts the offer and steps past the wispy woman into the house. The Treindl residence is quite similar to her own home, with a nearly identical floor plan including an oddly angled fireplace. The decorations, however, set the two homes distinctly apart, though Franziska feels comfortable in both of them despite the differences.

"Rosa is still fast asleep, I'll go get her in a minute. But what have you been up too? It's been far too long since you've been over to our house." Mrs. Trenidl waves Franziska into one of the dining room chairs and soon after presents her with a plate of fresh sausages.

Despite having just finished breakfast at her own house, Franziska's stomach grumbles in interest as the smell reaches her. "Oh, I couldn't-" She tries to insist, but Mrs. Treindl is a force of hospitality and won't hear a single complaint, insisting Franziska have as much as she likes.

Franziska is halfway through her third sausage and a modified story about Hufflepuff's victory in Quidditch ("you should play for the school team Frannie dear! You're wonderful at football!") when Rosalinde appears on the stairs, yawning out a half-hearted good morning.

Her mother gestures for Franziska to be quiet, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Morning Rosa. Nice of you to finally join us."

Rosalinde hums and stumbles over to the kitchen counter to help herself to breakfast, and Franziska has to push down a giggle at her friend's obliviousness.

Finally Rosalinde turns around with her plate and looks directly at Franziska. She blinks slowly, uncertain, and then turns to her mother questioningly.

Mrs. Treindl grins. "Yes dear?"

"Mom, is Frannie here and you didn't get me up?" Rosalinde asks, and Franziska finally snorts out a laugh.

"Only for about half an hour." She replies. "I was telling your mom about the football season at school."

Rosalinde whines in as she finally unfreezes and sits down next to Franziska. "You can't talk about that without me around! Frannie, this is the ultimate betrayal!" She declares dramatically, pretending to burst into tears afterwards which gets both girls laughing pretty quickly.

Mrs. Treindl smiles. "Well it was good catching up with you Frannie, don't be such a stranger this summer you hear?"

"Yes Ma'am." Franziska promises once her giggling has slowed enough to allow her to properly form words again. "I'll make sure to come by for breakfast more often."

"Good. Now I'll leave you two be, just tell me if you're going out."

"We'll probably head to the park to do some sketching this afternoon." Rosalinde suggests, glancing over at Franziska who nods in confirmation.

"That would be great, I had no time to draw during the year." She agrees, happy that things between her and her best friend are as comfortable as they've ever been.

They spend the entire week out and about in the city. At fifteen both their mothers think they're officially old enough to handle themselves and no longer fuss at them when they go out, so long as they give a rough estimate of when they'll be home.

This leads to the two spending their days in the heart of Düsseldorf, visiting the numerous museums and people watching at the train stations. They get daily allowances that they ration as well as they can, but more often than not they find themselves forced to walk home after overspending and not having enough for a taxi ride back to the suburbs.

They talk about school some, but Franziska does notice after a month that she hasn't really told Rosalinde anything about the past year, save anything pertaining to the "football season", since Rosalinde isn't really asking.

She wonders if it has anything to do with Brandon. Instead of asking directly, however, she decides to try and steer the conversation and see how things play out and if her suspicions that Rosalinde has been avoiding the topic are accurate.

"So hey, how was school?" She asks as innocently as she can manage. They're in the park today, having decided to try and save up some cash by not spending anything except what will be needed for lunch. "I just realized you haven't told me a thing."

Rosalinde coughs nervously. "Oh, it was fine. School is school, you know? I almost failed math, but I told you about that in the letters and nothing else really happened."

Franziska hums. "Did I tell you that I got into a fight with a kid?" She asks suddenly, thinking if she talks about her Christmastime spat with Finnigan Rosa might be more open to talking.

Rosa looks over at her in surprise. "What? You? You're kidding." She starts to laugh, but pauses when she sees Franziska's expression. "No." She says, sounding partly scandalized but more intrigued. "Who? Why?"

Franziska feels her cheeks heating slightly. "Well it was over Christmas break, when most of the other students had already gone home. I've told you about my friends other than Brandon right? Fitzwilliam and Nabila?"

Rosalinde nods, and Franziska is quietly relieved at the non-reaction to her talking about Brandon.

"Okay, well, Nabila wasn't there this year, she went home with one of her Gryffindor friends, so I was a little worried that Fitzwilliam was going to feel awkward being with just me and Brandon. That didn't end up being a problem though, but the guy who started hanging out with us might have ended up being a bigger one." She laughs slightly. "His name is Finnigan and he's one of Fitz's roommates."

Rosalinde raises an eyebrow curiously. "Isn't Fitz the totally wimpy one? I find it hard to believe any of his friends would cause problems."

Franziska laughs despite herself. "Rosa that isn't nice! And they don't seem like they're really friends? Finnigan just kind of invited himself as far as I could tell." She pauses, thinking about it. "Actually it's sort of weird. He always stays over break so far as I can remember, but he usually keeps to himself. Even during classes I'm not sure I've ever seen him really talking to anyone."

Rosalinde tilts her head. "Definitely weird that he suddenly started hanging out with you then." She confirms. "So what did he do that was so awful?"

"Ah, it really wasn't so bad. We always play a little pick up game of football during break, really more passing the ball around and arbitrarily deciding when we're trying to avoid passing to someone, and he was a right jerk about the whole thing. He was on his House team last year, but he didn't get on this year so I guess he might have been sore about that." Franziska is proud of herself for coming up with the reasoning on the spot. After all, it would be odd to say that she'd been uncertain if Finnigan knew what football was without giving something away.

"Well he sounds like a prick and I hope you kicked his ." Rosalinde declares, and Franziska laughs a bit.

"Not really. He was on the House team after all, so we ended up sort of tying. It was weird getting that upset about something though, I don't think I've been that angry since Halloween when we were six." She laughs at the memory, and Rosalinde giggles as well.

"Oh man, that was a crazy one, wasn't it? I miss being that age, everything was so much less complicated then."

"Tell me about it." Franziska agrees. The two lapse into a brief silence, and Franziska thinks that as stressful as trying to keep her accidental magic under control was, being a kid really had been easier than being a teenager.

She glances over at Rosalinde to find the small blonde studying her uncertainly. She blushes a bit at getting caught, and clears .

"So, um, I guess something did kind of happen at school. But I can't tell you about it here. Do you want to have a sleepover tomorrow? At your house? My mom is too nosy."

Franziska thinks for a moment than fourteen is maybe a little old for sleepovers. She very quickly pushes that thought away and agrees whole-heartedly. "That would be fun! We can watch Lady and the Tramp like we did when we were kids." She adds with a grin.

Rosalinde giggles. "Agh, I'm too young to be nostalgic! Come, we're going to skip around the park like the young ladies that we are!" She declares, jumping off the bench and taking off, leaving Franziska laughing and scrambling after her.

Their mothers have no problem agreeing to the sleepover, and Rosalinde drops off her pyjamas and toothbrush at the Reinhardt household before the two girls head into the city to see when adventures they can find. Franziska spends most of the day distracted by her own curiosity about what Rosa could possibly have to tell her that's so secret.

Finally, dinnertime comes around and the two girls return to Franziska's house for dinner. Her father is away on Ministry business again, and they give Rosalinde the usual excuse of a business trip, which isn't exactly false.

Dinner takes longer than Franziska would like, but her mother hasn't really seen Rosalinde since they've been meeting at the Treindl house, so Franziska tolerates her mother's endless questions about Rosa's school year.

"Really, you should come over during the year, we only ever see you when Lida is home." Pannidda says, lightly reproving. "You're always welcome here Rosa."

"Thank you Mrs. Reinhardt." Rosalinde smiles politely. The two girls excuse themselves shortly afterwards, and true to Franziska's word they end up watching Lady and the Tramp once they're both showered and snuggled into their pyjamas. Through the whole movie Franziska tries to push down her impatience and just enjoy the time with her best friend.

As the credits roll, Rosalinde takes an uncertain breath in. "Okay, so. Um. One thing might have happened at school. Or, during the school year. Not really at at school-"

"Rosa!" Franziska can't help interrupting, and Rosa groans.

"This is hard, okay? You swear you'll be my best friend no matter what?"

Franziska blinks. "Oh my gosh you murdered someone."

That at least gets Rosalinde to laugh. "No! Oh my god Frannie what? Look I... I'm in a relationship."

Franziska shrieks. "What?? Rosa!" She knows she's grinning and Rosalinde smiles a bit uncertainly in reply.

"But um... it's, um..." She takes a breath and Franziska bites down on the urge to shout at her friend to just spit it out.

"It's a girl. I'm dating a girl. I'm gay." Rosa's voice gets very small as she speaks, her eyes sinking from the screen to the comforter in front of her, where her hands have fisted into the fabric. "So, um, yeah."

Franziska feels a bit like she's been slapped. That hadn't been what she'd expected at all. A thousand questions leap forward, demanding to be asked, but then she remembers Rosalinde's questions: "swear you'll be my best friend no matter what?"

So she pushes the questions aside for now and instead gives her best friend the brightest smile she can muster.

"Awesome! We could totally go on double dates now, and we don't even have to worry about accidentally stealing each other's dates!"

Rosa stares at her, and then bursts into laughter, wiping at the tears that start sliding down her face, and Franziska hugs her and demands information about her girlfriend. They stay up until well after midnight talking, and Franziska feels closer to her best friend than she ever has before.

The first week of July Rajani spends most of her days sitting impatiently by the window. She gets plenty of owls from her friends and boyfriend (who she has neglected to mention to her parents so far), but none of the letters are the one she's eagerly waiting for.

And then finally, on the second Tuesday of the month, a large tawny owl that Rajani doesn't recognize swoops through the window and deposits an envelope bearing the Hogwarts crest on the table behind her. She thinks maybe it falls a bit heavier than it should, but she also thinks that that could very well be wishful thinking.

She gives the owl the treats she's been keeping with her by the window, and then hesitantly reaches for the envelope at it flies off. Slowly she lifts it - and there's definitely an increased weight to it. That can't be her imagination.

She tears open the envelope, pulls out the letter with the required textbooks list and deposits it carelessly onto the table. She then peers hopefully into the envelope - and barely suppresses a squeal.

She tips the Prefect badge out of the envelope and into her hand where it lands somewhat awkwardly, one of the points at the top digging into the skin of her palm. But she doesn't care - she made prefect.

She curls her hand around the badge, needing the slight sting to ground her through the giddiness that she feels building up inside her chest.

She needs to tell her parents. That thought pushes her to finally move, snatching the letter off the table and sweeping the ripped envelope into the garbage can by the table.

She nearly faceplants down the stairs she's moving so quickly, but she thankfully manages to catch herself against the railing, though she thinks she'll likely be sporting a rather ugly bruise on her right bicep for a few days at least.

The near miss does encourage her to slow down slightly and she makes it to her father's study with no further incidents. She takes a steadying breath - she never spoke to her father much before but since getting to school her interest in engaging with her parents has decreased even further - and then knocks politely at the door.

"Come in." Her father calls from the other side, sounding both distracted and irritated at the intrusion.

Rajani keeps her head bowed respectfully as she slips into the room. "I apologize for imposing, but I wished to inform you that I have been made Prefect." She holds out the badge and notices that her hand is shaking slightly. She promptly tries to correct the tremor though she's certain her father has already seen it.

She risks a glance up to find her father is actually smiling.

"Rajani that is simply wonderful, excellent job. Go and tell your mother, we must do something special for dinner tonight."

Rajani blinks, and them beams at the man in front of her. "Thank you, I will." She agrees and quickly excuses herself from the room, feeling light as air at the unexpected praise. She quickly heads down the hall to the sitting room where she's certain her mother will be, either reading or sewing.

She knocks lightly to announce her presence and then steps inside, smiling in response to the small nod her mother gives her.

"My Hogwarts letter just arrived." Rajani says after a moment of silence. "I was made prefect."

Once again she holds out the badge proudly, and is happy to see that her hands have calmed down, though the area of her palm where the tip is still resting is starting to dent inwards.

Her mother looks up and absolutely beams. "Oh honey that's wonderful! We'll have to do something special tonight in celebration - what would you like? Anything at all, I can run to the store now to get any ingredients we might not have."

Rajani grins. "Then could we have Chole? Made with the spices from the Dehli markets your sister sent us?" She asks hopefully.

Her mother nods briskly. "Of course! I'll start it in an hour or so."

Rajani nods happily and practically skips back up to her room. She puts aside the letter and - reluctantly - the badge and sets to work writing letters to her friends and Ed to give them the news.

It isn't until she's half-way through Clary's letter, the fourth one of five that she intends to write, that she realizes that her getting the prefect badge means that Queenie didn't. And since Queenie is still in South America for another two weeks she isn't going to know until then.

For the first time Rajani feels a slight stab of worry. How will Queenie react? Will she be upset? Probably yes, but will she show it? Will it hurt their friendship? They had promised it wouldn't, but faced with the idea now after a summer of no communication Rajani is less certain the deal will still be in place.

Rajani pushes Clary's parchment aside and grabs the completed letter to Ed to add a coda. They'd agreed that part of the dating deal was to be able to dump their concerns on each other without judgement, and she definitely needs somewhere to vent her nerves.

The added section of the letter ends up spilling halfway down another piece of parchment, and Lakshmi looks distinctly unimpressed by the growing pile of deliveries sitting in front of her cage.

"Sorry girl, but this is a big deal! Even mother and father were impressed, and they've never been impressed with me before. Honestly it would have been such a disappointment to them if one of their daughters was a prefect and the other wasn't." She explains to the owl, who retains her irritated gaze, uncomprehending of and indifferent to Rajani's justification. Rajani shakes her head with a faint, tired smile. The high of the letter arriving has more than worn off and she's feeling rather drained now.

She decides to finish the letter to Clary and write the letter to Elspeth in the morning and addresses the three she's finished before giving them to Lakshmi for delivery. The owl still looks less than impressed, but she takes the envelopes and swoops out the window with no verbal complaint and Rajani takes that as a win.

She spends the rest of the afternoon skimming through her sister's fifth year potions book, which Rajani had taken the liberty of permanently borrowing from Sahana's room at the start of the summer, along with all of her OWL-level workbooks. She figures one can never get too much of a head start on studying for what are supposedly the second most nightmarish set of exams she'll have to endure. And she's also preemptively thankful that she won't have nearly as many NEWTs to stress about.

At least dinner that night is delicious, bringing back faded memories of her youngest years, when they were still hiding in India in fear of both sides of the War and she was close with her sister to the best of her limited recollection.

She hasn't seen Sahana at all so far during the summer, and even Mayra hasn't been replying to her owls. Rajani is a bit worried, but both of them are working so she figures they don't have the time to do much besides their jobs.

The conversation at the table is fully focused on school, which is actually surprising for Rajani - normally she doesn't get to speak at all during dinner if her friends and their families aren't over for a meal.

She's relieved that neither of her parents thinks to bring up the upcoming career consultation since she honestly doesn't know what she wants to do besides probably something in the Ministry. She doesn't feel up to pretending like she's going to give their inevitable demands, phrased as suggestions of course, any particular thought. She plans to figure out what path she wants to take on her own, without her parents telling her what it should be.

She wonders if Sahana had gotten any tips from them, or if, as Rajani had always assumed, Sahana had just always known exactly what she wanted to do. Rajani had always assumed she would know by this point what she wants to do as well though, so it's possible her youthful assumptions were regularly incorrect.

She has a hard time sleeping that night, the faint remaining excitement of her new title warring with her concerns over Queenie's reaction and the impending career consultation that she doesn't feel ready for whatsoever.

She does eventually fall into a fitful slumber, but she doesn't feel particularly well-rested when she wakes from it the next morning. Yawning heavily, Rajani needs a few minutes, during which she gets dressed, before she notices that Lakshmi has returned and there's a small pile of letters back on her desk.

She perks up slightly and grabs the topmost one, which ends up being from Nia.

Congratulations, should I be calling you your majesty now?

All seriousness, great job, you're going to kill it.

Nia

Rajani grins. Nia's never been much for writing so just the fact she wrote back at all means a lot. The next letter is from Ed, but it's also the thickest so Rajani decides to read the third letter first.

However, it's not a reply from Lennox, as she'd expected it to be, but rather is from Eugene.

"How did you even get this? Eugene isn't even on this half of the world, nonetheless this continent." She asks her owl. Lakshmi gives her a half-glance before going back to her water bowl, the look almost mocking.

Rajani laughs. "Okay, you're the best owl in the world, I got it. Wonder what Eugene wants?"

Hey Raj,

I hear you and I are going to be teaming up this year! When Queenie didn't get the badge - and yeah, we got our letters out here in Peru just fine, which is cool! - we knew you must have gotten it instead. Queenie says congrats too by the way, and also she demands that since her fiancé and best friend are the prefects we should get her all the benefits that go with the title.

Rajani lets out a thankful breath, both that the school had somehow contacted Queenie and Eugene out in the jungle, and that neither of them seem upset.

We've got some crazy stories to share when we head back to school though, South America is amazing! I'll stop writing here, they're about to send the daily post owl and I don't want to miss it, but congrats again!

Eugene (And Queenie! <3)

The end of the letter is clearly signed by both of her friends, and Rajani finds herself a bit teary. She blames the lack of sleep.

"Then Eugene is the other prefect." She informs the sitll disinterested Lakshmi. "That will be fun! Imagine if it was Alasdair or Cadfael? I mean, we're on not terrible terms now but still, it's not like I really ever talk with them even if we're not enemies anymore."

Finally she turns to the letter from her boyfriend. She feels a bit bad now that she dumped everything on him the day before when it's turned out to be fine.

She tears open the envelope and is surprised to find that in addition to a letter there's a map stuffed inside. She looks it over in confusion and finds several areas marked with what she recognizes as ancient runes.

"What?" She mumbles to herself and turns to the letter, assuming the explanation will be contained within it.

She has to get through most of the letter before she finds her desired explanation, and she has to admit it's actually pretty sweet.

Ed tells her exactly what she probably should have figured out herself, that her and Queenie are better friends than to let a title come between them, and she shouldn't worry about it so much.

However, I know that's not so easy to do, so I'm taking you out to have a bit of fun. You're probably wondering what the map is for, correct? Well I hope you've been doing your Ancient Runes homework, because you'll need to put it to work here. Find the spot labelled "Fun" and meet me there on Thursday at ten AM. We'll have a proper London date to get your mind off of things. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Yours,
Ed

Rajani grins at the sign off and turns back to the map. She hasn't actually done her Ancient Runes homework, but she figures there's no time like the present.

Finding the indicated rune isn't hard - it's coming up with an excuse for her parents that proves to be the more difficult task. Mr. and Mrs. Misra won't take just any reason to let their daughter leave the house without their supervision, and she definitely can't use her sister or Mayra to bail her out.

She ends up multitasking, finishing Clary's letter from the day before and getting started on Elspeth's while she ponders how exactly to convince her parents.

Then, halfway through Elspeth's letter, she glances back at Clary's and is hit by a wave of inspiration.

Her parents surely wouldn't object to her spending time with a fellow pureblood, would they? Rajani quickly adds a coda to Clary's letter, sends Lakshmi out with it, and then hurries down the stairs to talk to her parents, hoping Clary will agree to her request.

She knocks lightly on the sitting room door to announce her presence. "Mother? May I come in?"

Vandana glances up from her book and smiles softly, a look that Rajani honestly hasn't seen in a while and it momentarily catches her off guard. "Of course, what do you need?"

Rajani clears . "Well, one of Clary Traver's cousins is starting at Hogwarts this year so she and her family are taking her school shopping tomorrow, and Clary asked if I would like to go with them. I know you and father are quite busy so I thought-"

"That sounds wonderful dear!" Vandana doesn't give her the chance to finish, her eyes already lighting up with the potential. "We haven't properly met the Travers family! Oh, but your father and I are quite busy tomorrow, but you absolutely should go! Tell the Travers we wish them well, and give our luck to the new Slytherin!"

Rajani smiles. "Of course mother! Thank you so much!"

She quickly darts back up to her room, grinning, and is surprised to find that Lakshmi has already returned, complete with a reply from Clary.

The next Travers going to Hogwarts is my cousin Ava, and she doesn't start until a couple years after we graduate. And we don't even hang out with her branch of the family, but yeah, I'll cover for you. Have fun with your boyfriend!

Raj quickly folds up the letter and hides it in her desk drawer, grinning. She definitely intends to have fun.

Myr gets a summer job.

He feels like it's something he should do, now that he's fifteen and well on his way to being an adult.

His Uncle Cyril offers to pay him to work at the curio shop but Myr turns him down, wanting to get the job on his own merits. And also not wanting to see Uncle Cyril and his mother pretending that they haven't been getting closer since Cadi moved to London for university.

Honestly, Cadi not being around is a big part of his decision. He hadn't realized how much time he spent with his older sister until she wasn't around anymore. She had said she would try to come home for a few weeks, but that was before she decided to take a second summer course, completely filling up her schedule.

It takes nearly a month before he can get an interview, and another two weeks after that before he finally (thankfully) is told he got the job.

It's nothing fancy, he just buses tables at a slightly upperclass restaurant by the port, but it's good money and it gives him something to do each evening.

And admittedly he does like the nice blazer - that his Uncle insists is a late birthday gift - that he wears as a part of his uniform. It makes him feel a bit classier himself, and his coworkers have about a few of the looks he apparently gets from the younger customers.

His favorite fellow worker is a seventeen year old girl named Tegwyn, who everyone calls Wyniteg for reasons Myr still can't figure out a month into his job, who reminds him a lot of Cadi with her quiet demeanor and sharp wit.

More importantly she recognizes him from school, which she just graduated from.

They end up volunteering for the closing shift together pretty often once they both realize their connections to the wizarding world, and Wyniteg is more than happy to help prepare Myr for what to expect in his final three years of Hogwarts.

"How is it we never met at school? There can't be too many people from Whales there." Myr observes one night as they walk back towards his house.

Wyniteg shrugs, staring up at the stars overhead. "We were in different Houses, so there's that. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor don't mix nearly as much as they both do with Hufflepuff. And the school is pretty big. There's maybe thirty to fifty kids per year. So statistically speaking-"

Myr laughs. "You really ought to meet my sister someday, you'd get along well I think."

Wyniteg grins as well, still gazing skyward and nearly stepping into the street. "So you've said. She's going into politics, right? When she gets past entry level she should contact me - I want to get into the Ministry and there's a special branch in the British government for people aware of the wizarding world. Ambassador work, stuff like that. It's a straight shot to the top."

"She would probably enjoy that." Myr admits. "She knows how owling works so I can give you her address, get you guys in contact. Given that she's okay with that of course."

They reach his house at this point, and as he does every night Myr invites Wyniteg inside for a late dinner, but as always she politely declines and spins around to head back to her own house, humming the Hogwarts' school song just loud enough to follow Myr all the way up to his front door.

"How was work?" Aster greets him as he steps into the house. She never goes to sleep before Myr gets home, which honestly Myr rather appreciates. He enjoys talking about the customers of the day and Wyniteg's weird observations about most of them.

"I would really like to meet this girl. You say she's a witch?"

"Ravenclaw." He confirms. "She wasn't a prefect or anything which would explain why I never knew her." He adds redundantly. He knows his mother is a bit suspicious of Wyniteg, which Myr figures is fair - she hasn't actually met the girl. Still, it does irk him slightly that his mother doesn't trust him to know if his friends are dangerous or suspicious.

Aster suddenly sits up. "Oh, that's right! Your letter came in today. No badge, sorry sweetie."

Myr shrugs. He hadn't been particularly concerned with who would get the prefect badge, though if it didn't go to him then he has a good feeling about who did get the role. "I bet Charlie got it, which really is fair. He's mediated Remi's madness quite a bit honestly, I just don't have the patience to deal with that."

His mother laughs. "This Remi sounds like quite the character." She observes with amusement, and Myr shrugs, grinning faintly despite himself.

"Honestly? The giant squid thing this year was tame for him. But it feels like every House must have that one crazy reckless kid - Evie from our year is Ravenclaw's, and Hufflepuff has a girl a year below us who manages to turn one thing into something it isn't supposed to be at some point during the school year. This year she made it rain in the dungeons for a solid five hours before anyone could fix it. I almost felt bad for the Slytherins." He laughs.

"And the Slytherins?" His mother prompts, clearly entertained by the stories.

Myr pauses, and then shrugs a bit sheepishly. "Honestly I'm not sure. I know a couple of them have played some nasty pranks on all the other houses, not even just during the prank war a coupld of years ago. But I don't really know any of them well, they just keep to themselves. And like I said, they're intentionally mean, so I don't really want to get to know them"

His mother frowns. "An entire House made of mean kids? That sounds a bit far fetched Myrddin."

Myr is immediately on the defensive. "I know it sounds judgey but I'm serious! Not one of them has ever been nice to any of us. The older students confirm it too, they're all just... they act like they're better than the rest of the school. And who wants to deal with that on top of school?"

Aster doesn't look convinced, but she lets it go. "Alright then. Oh, and your uncle wants to take you into the city to shop for your school supplies sometime next week - when is your day off?"

Myr has to double check his schedule the next day, but ultimately they go on the following Tuesday.

They arrive in Diagon Alley via the Floo ("Was it really so hard to get that hooked up sooner?") and Myr tumbles straight into a familiar face.

"Myr!"

"Hey Holly." He grins. "On break?"

She laughs and shakes her head. "Not working today actually. Tuesday is a quiet shopping day so I'm getting my school stuff. You too I take it? Ooh!" She suddenly peers at the fireplace behind him. "Is Cadi coming?"

Myr isn't sure how to feel about Holly apparently being more excited about maybe seeing his sister than actually seeing him. "No, she's got summer school so-"

"Yep! She's joining us for lunch!" His Uncle interrupts him cheerfully. Myr hadn't even noticed him coming through the floo. "It was supposed to be a surprise but eh, close enough! And you must be one of Myr's school friends?"

Holly nods cheerfully and sticks out a hand. "Holly Kiddell, future wandmaker! My sister Willow is around here somewhere too, though she's got a ton of random nonsense to buy for NEWT-level Divination so we split up for now. We're meeting up at Fortescue's at noon to go find somewhere to eat."

"Well why don't you join us! The more the merrier I always say." Uncle Cyril invites her along, and Holly of course agrees eagerly.

"I just got all my books, but I can wait!" She adds. "Hey, Myr you can come with me 'cause I already know where all the books are except for Muggle Studies since I don't take that. And Mr. Mry's, um..." She frowns. "Are you his dad I guess? You don't look alike, no offense."

Something in Myr tightens ever so slightly, and he sees a similar tension in his uncle.

Holly immediately picks up on the new atmosphere and backtracks fast. "Sorry, that was probably rude to assume-"

"He's my Uncle. Uncle Cyril." Myr interrupts quickly. Holly blinks, and then starts frowning.

"You're the uncle? The one who gave Myr a hand-me-down-wand?"

Just like that the atmosphere is light again and Myr laughs as his bewildered uncle gets a very stern dressing down from Holly, who now that he's looking has clearly grown several inches since he'd last seen her.

"I'll go get my books then." He grins, and his uncle looks over at him helplessly.

Holly is still ranting about wand core compatibilities when he returns, arms filled with his required textbooks.

"Uncle Cyril? You have the Galleons." He interrupts when Holly finally takes a moment to breath. His uncle looks incredibly relieved at the distraction, and he happily accepts the pile of books and flees for the counter to pay.

Holly and Myr exchange a glance, and both burst into giggles.

Once he's recovered, Myr raises an eyebrow. "Wand core compatibility? That's a new one. You learn something this summer?"

Holly laughs again. "Some of it yeah, but actually Emery had some really good observations about how the wood itself might physically interact with the cores! You remember him, he's in the year above us. He got an O on his Herbology OWL so he's got a lot of good insight on plant stuff that I don't have yet."

Myr shrugs. He does vaguely recall a face to go with the name, but Emery has always been Holly's friend more than his - or anyone else's in their year.

He ends up changing the subject awkwardly. "Cool cool. So is Willow Head Girl?"

Holly rolls her eyes. "It's literally all we've heard about for the past two weeks, yeah. Bill Weasley is Head Boy though so hopefully he'll chill her out a bit."

Myr grins. "Hey that's awesome! I'm pretty sure Charlie is Prefect for our year so that's kind of cool for them." He then adds, out of curiosity, "How did you know about Bill?"

"Oh, Head Girls and Boys are told ahead of time who their pair is, so they can communicate over the summer and start figuring out how they want to handle the prefects during the train ride in." Holly explains. "You're probably right about Charlie though. I'd've put Galleons on it being either you or him, none of the other guys are even slightly qualified for responsibility."

Myr grins. "I don't know, Remi can be very-"

Holly is shoving him with a laugh before he even finishes the thought. "Oh good gracious no. I need brain bleach to clear that idea from my mind." She half-laughs, half-groans. "Evil thought! Evil."

Uncle Cyril rejoins them then, and Myr keeps Holly from attacking him with more wand knowledge by asking about her summer.

"I mean, other than Willow going on and on about being the Head Girl, it was actually pretty fun! We stayed with Laurel and Eric for a bit and we all hid from our parents and their constant questions about when the wedding is going to be. OH, also Laurel might be pregnant!" Holly looks thrilled. "They don't know for definite yet, Eric says they'll be sure in a week or so, but I might be an aunt! How exciting is that?" Holly twirls happily.

Uncle Cyril raises an eyebrow. "And you say they aren't married yet?" He observes cautiously.

Holly sticks her tongue out. "Oh if it's true they'll get married first, trust me my parents were very clear about how they'd feel having a bastard in the family. But still, Aunt Holly! It just sounds wonderful doesn't it?"

Myr smiles at her. "It's pretty neat, yeah. I can't even imagine Cadi having kids."

"Cadi having what now?" A teasing voice breaks in, and both Myr and Holly spin to greet the newcomer.

"Hey sis."

"Cadi!"

Cadi grins. She's wearing a dress, which in and of itself startles Myr, but she's looking far more professional and made up than he's ever seen her before in general.

"Wow Cadi, you look lovely." Uncle Cyril beams, and she flips her hair cheerfully.

"Thanks, it's been working for me really well too. Word of advice Holly - I don't know if it's different in the Wizarding world, but you're probably going to have to dress nice to get a job because guys won't hire a girl they can't fantasize about."

Myr chokes on air and Uncle Cyril flushes as well, even as Holly bursts into laughter.

"It's a bit different, but really depends on who you're trying to get a job with. The blood-purists definitely fit that mold though! It's weird how similar the Muggle and Wizarding worlds really are." Holly muses.

They meet up with Willow fifteen minutes later, and once introductions are out of the way they end up wandering around Diagon Alley in search of somewhere to eat.

Uncle Cyril and Willow get into a discussion about current wizarding politics that Cadi ends up jumping in on, leaving Myr to chat with Holly while they walk.

He tells her about his summer job and Wyniteg, and Holly eagerly details her continued apprenticeship under her Uncle at the Kiddell wand shop. Once they find a place to sit down, Myr tells Cadi about Wyniteg's offer.

"That actually sounds pretty cool." Cadi admits with a small grin. "Getting to work in both worlds would be fantastic, but I'd probably want to learn more about the actual duties and roles available down that track before pursuing it. I do still want to help people after all."

"I can give Wyniteg your address if you wanted to owl back and forth a bit. She sounded like she knows a lot about it." Myr offers, and Cadi shrugs with a grin.

"Why not? Networking is super important - that's my older sibling lesson for you this year. Remember it for it shall change the course of your job opportunities."

Myr laughs and the group continues chatting through lunch. Cadi has to leave for her afternoon class but she swaps information with Willow before going. Personally Myr is amused at how well his sister gets along with the Kiddells.

Willow and Holly stick with them as they all collect the rest of their school supplies, and they part just before the sun starts to set when Myr and Uncle Cyril have to floo back to Whales.

Later that evening, when Uncle Cyril is downstairs talking with his mother over the remains of dessert, Myr retires to his room to start packing his books into his trunk.

He stops when he comes across something a bit odd. He slips out of his room and hurries down the hall to peek his head back into the kitchen and dining area.

"Um, Uncle Cyril? You bought me two of the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook." He pipes up during a lull in the adults' conversation. "I think you might be able to refund it?"

Uncle Cyril glances up, and then laughs. "Oh no, sorry! That one is for me." He explains standing to take the extra book from Myr's hands. "I was actually just telling your mother - Headmaster Dumbledore asked me if I could be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year, and I figured since it's your OWL year you'll need a good teacher!"

Myr blinks slowly, staring at his uncle as he processes the information. That... well.

It's certainly going to be an interesting year.