Year 3, Chapter 5
Calista and Percy sat across from each other at a study table in the library, a small white mouse frozen on the tabletop between them, Calista's Transfiguration book open to an image of a silver snuffbox.
Calista waved her wand, and the mouse changed into - well, a snuffbox with whiskers, ears, and a tail.
Percy waved his own wand, returning it to its original state, and before it could scurry away, Calista sent another Freezing Charm at it.
"No, no, not like that," Percy said, "You want it to look like the picture in your book."
"Oh, I do?" Calista said sarcastically, "I thought I was supposed to end up with a tail. Gee, that solves all my problems. I guess I don't need a tutor anymore."
Percy looked pained. "You're being rude again," he reminded her, plaintively.
She scowled, retort on the tip of her tongue, but she knew he was right, and she had resolved to try to be less of a prat, just like she had told Sofia and Eva.
"Well," Calista said, instead of what she had been about to, "You could be a little more helpful, you know. Of course it's supposed to look like the picture in the book, it's not like I don't know that."
"Okay," Percy said, his face pinkening slightly. "Try clearing your mind, like Professor McGonagall says, and really picture the snuffbox while you cast."
"That's what I've been trying to do," she said, but it was difficult. She could shove all of her surface thoughts aside, behind the second barrier in her mind, but they kept popping back up in the forefront. There were so many things… the Arithmancy homework she hadn't finished yet, the utter embarrassment of her latest flying lesson, the smarmy looks Olivia was always shooting her in Transfiguration class, the way she felt oddly standoffish with her father the last few days, after their emotional conversation in his kitchen… and then, there was the fact that, on her way here, she had walked by Marcus and Endria Folland, whispering about something in the corridor… she felt her face form another angry frown when she thought about that.
She took a deep breath, shoved everything behind a barrier again, and lifted her wand, ready to try again -
Thud!
She started, as a book came from seemingly nowhere, and slammed into the wall next to their study table.
"What the -" Calista and Percy were on her feet, wands ready.
"Do you know where that came from?" Percy asked. Calista shook her head.
And then another book flew towards them; Calista ducked. this time, though, they had seen it coming from the shelves to their right. Calista stepped over and inspected the shelves.
"There's nothing odd about them," she said, and then another book flew from a few shelves over, flapping through the air and landing on the floor.
"Where's Madam Pince?" Percy asked, craning his neck and looking all around for her; but for once, she didn't appear to be in the library.
Then, Calista heard something. It was a faint, breathy, crackly sort of sound, and it was coming from the other side of the bookcase. She narrowed her eyes, and looked at Percy.
"There's someone behind the shelves," she said, and as she did, a burst of laughter erupted from the same general area she'd heard the other noise coming from. Then, twin mops of messy red hair popped up over the top of the bookshelves, both faces beneath them laughing heartily.
Percy's face turned beet-red, and he lowered his wand, setting his hands at his hips.
"You two!" he shouted, "Have been nothing but trouble since you arrived here - how dare you? We're studying, Fred, I'm tutoring. This is very serious work!"
"Ah, c'mon Perce," one of the boys said, laughter fading to a mere chuckle as a grin spread across his face. "We're just having a bit of fun."
"Harassing students working on academics is a 'bit of fun'?"
"Well, yeah."
"You could have injured one of us," Percy said, indignantly, "As it is, you've likely damaged all of these books - look, that one's on the floor, George, how can you be so careless? I'll write home to Mother about this!"
Both boys emerged from behind the bookcase, affecting contrition.
"Gee, Perce, we're really sorry," one of the boys, the one he had called George said, with mock sincerity.
"Yeah," Fred said, "Please don't throw the book at us."
"We'll turn over a new leaf," George added.
"Take a page from your book," Fred said.
"We're shelving our bad behaviour-"
"It's long overdue-"
Calista glanced at Percy; he was still positively steaming, so she bit back the smile that was trying to find its way to her face. She hated the two of them already, for bothering her father, of course - not least of all because he'd taken it out on her at first - but even she had to admit their wordplay was pretty funny.
"We're going to start a new chapter, Perce."
"So there's no need to go cataloging our sins for Mum." Fred finished. The twins exchanged grins.
"You should have thought of that," Percy said, refusing to be cajoled, "Before you decided to assault myself and another student."
"We did no such thing," Fred said, "We missed you on purpose."
"Yeah," George agreed, "If you want me to prove it, stand still, I'll make sure I get you this time." He raised his wand.
"No!" Percy bellowed, just as Madam Pince finally made an appearance. She glared at Percy, then at each of them in turn. "Out!" she shrieked, when she noticed the books on the floor. She lowered her voice to a forceful whisper. "All of you, out, now!"
"But we weren't doing anything wrong," Percy said, appealing to the pinched-looking librarian, "Calista and I were only studying, it's these two that were-"
"Out!" she repeated, in a very loud whisper, as if that would somehow restore the sanctity of the library.
Calista grabbed her textbook, and reached for her still-frozen mouse by the tail. The charm broke just as she did so, and it began to squirm and squeak frantically. She fumbled for her wand, but the librarian was ushering them out, and she had her textbook balanced in her other arm. The mouse sunk its sharp little teeth into her hand, and she let go of it quickly. It scurried away, disappearing underneath a set of shelves.
"Oops," Calista managed, as the librarian rounded on her. "And you, releasing beasts into my library!"
She was still whisper-shouting, her face contorted. Calista didn't mean to laugh, but it just sort of happened. The situation was just so absurd, and once she had started, it only got worse. Madam Pince advanced towards her, whispering fiercely.
"You think it's amusing, do you, to defile the library? To send rodents in to chew the books to shreds, to throw them all over the the floor-"
"Hang on," one of the twins said, "Throw the rodents all over the floor? I agree, that's pretty cold."
Madam Pince drew herself up straight, then. "That's it," she whispered forcefully, "I'm going to speak to your Heads of House! I know who you are," she said, looking at Calista, and then at Percy, "And you. I thought you two knew better."
Calista pressed her lips together to keep from laughing again; it was just the way she was whispering. The librarian rounded on the two younger boys. "What are your names, then? Go on, out with it!"
"Well," Fred said, in a loud stage whisper, "I'm Seymour Butts, and this is-"
"Hugh," George said, and he did not whisper, but he did stick his hand out, and grab Madam Pince's in a hearty handshake, before she quite knew what was happening. "Hugh Jass. Pleasure to meet you, but we really must be going."
Calista snorted, as the four of them were herded out into the corridor. They walked a few doors down, and Calista waited until they were out of earshot to look at George skeptically. "Hugh Jass, huh?"
George waved his hand carelessly. "Improvisation. If I had more time, I could have come up with something much better."
Percy was positively fuming, and he rounded on his brothers. "Look what you've done, now you've gone and gotten me in trouble. This could ruin my chances of becoming Prefect in my fifth year! I'm definitely going to write to Mother, now. And you, Calista, I never expected that you would join in their antics, releasing that mouse like that…"
"Excuse me?" Calista glared at Percy. "I didn't release anything, the damn thing bit me and I dropped it, look -"
She held her hand out, displaying a bite mark that was dotted with little beads of blood.
Percy winced. "You should go to the Hospital Wing, before that gets infected."
Calista shrugged. "Maybe, yeah." She wiped her hand on her robes carelessly. "Anyway," she said, looking back at the twins. "You two need to stop messing around in Potions class. If I have to deal with my dad being annoyed because of your rubbish again, I'll hex the both of you."
"Calista, you can't-" Percy began, but Fred - or George, Calista wasn't quite certain - interrupted.
"Wait a bleeding minute, did you say your dad? That's you, then? Snape's get?"
She narrowed her eyes. "I prefer Calista."
"I can't believe anyo-" the other twin began, but the first one elbowed him, and raised an eyebrow at Calista.
"Aren't you supposed to be in third year? Why are you in our Flying class?"
She affixed a scowl to her face, the most dangerous one she could muster. She remembered that Sofia and Eva had told her the twins were the ones laughing at her during the first lesson. "That's none of your concern."
The twins exchanged a grin, and both of them broke into laughter.
"Oy, did you see that -"
"Just like him!"
"Do it again, that was brilliant!"
"No," one of them said, shaking his head, "Tell us we have detention, go on, do it."
"We're all going to get detention if we don't go to Professor McGonagall, and tell her what really happened," Percy said, cutting Calista off before she could say what looked, by her expression, to be an unfriendly thing to say, "We'll all go, right now. You two can come clean -"
George snorted, not unlike Calista had moments ago.
"Actually," Fred said, "We have urgent business elsewhere, don't we, George?"
"Is it that time already? By me - George, get it? - we've got to go."
They disappeared before Percy could stop them, nearly running down the corridor. Percy looked at Calista, anxiety writing itself into every freckle on his face.
"What are we going to do now? Do you suppose our Heads of House will believe us if we tell them the truth?"
Calista raised her eyebrows. "They'd better," she said, "I meant what I said. If your obnoxious little brothers get me into trouble with my dad twice, I really will hex them both."
(¯ˆ·.¸¸.·ˆ¯)
When Calista entered Arithmancy class, prepared to take her usual seat with Percy, Penny, and Amelia, she stopped short. Emily Yaxley was at the front of the class, talking to Professor Vector. Calista found her seat, but instead of sitting in it, she hovered nearby, hoping to catch Emily's attention.
She was speaking to the professor for quite some time, though; and she was writing a lot of things down, what sounded to be a list of the assignments they'd been given in class so far. By the time she was finished, Emily only had time to spare Calista the briefest of glances and a half-smile before she took an empty seat several rows back.
Professor Vector began speaking; there was no chance to speak to Emily then, not unless she wanted to get herself kicked out of the class. She was pronouncing her disappointment in the effort that most students had put into their last homework assignment. Calista felt her stomach knot; she hoped she'd done all right. She and Amelia had worked together again, and she thought they'd gotten everything right - they'd been at it for hours, anyway. As it turned out, working together on the assignments didn't really make them go much quicker, but it did make them a lot more enjoyable. Especially working together with Amelia, in particular. She was finding that the Ravenclaw girl had a quick wit, and just enough moodiness to make Calista feel like she could be herself around her, much like she could with Marcus.
Marcus… no, she was definitely not going to think about him just now, nor the fact that he had offered to take her flying again, when he'd heard that she still wasn't doing much better with her flying lessons. And most assuredly, she would not think about the way her insides felt all fluttery and queasy when she considered the possibility of flying with him again.
Feeling her face start to heat up in the middle of her Arithmancy classroom was enough of a wake-up; she pushed all of that from her mind, and focused on the lecture, taking perhaps more notes than she normally would have, just so it would be sufficient to distract her mind from wandering again.
When the bell rang at the end of class, Calista walked quickly over to Emily, catching her just as she was about to leave the classroom.
"Hey," she said, "You're taking Arithmancy now?"
Emily nodded, and smiled weakly. "Yeah… Olivia's not happy with me dropping Divination, mind you. But I don't have one smidge of the Sight, I never saw a thing, in tea leaves or a crystal ball, or even in my imagination. I wrote to my mum about it, and she told me I should just switch to the class I really wanted to take."
"Well, good," Calista said, "This class is more useful, anyway. Divination sounds like a load of rubbish."
Calista settled into pace beside Emily; not a second later, she was wondering if it had been worth it.
"Yeah… do you suppose Olivia will get over being cross with my for switching, though?"
Calista rolled her eyes. "Who cares?"
"I do, Calista, come off it. She's still my friend, even if you don't like her."
"Yeah?" Calista challenged, "D'you say that to her, too? 'Calista's still my friend'?"
Emily blushed. "Calista…"
"Of course you don't," Calista pushed on, suddenly quite cross. "Because Olivia's the bloody princess of Slytherin, and I'm just… what was it she called me? An 'ugly misfit little freak' or something like that?"
Emily stopped short, and turned to face Calista directly, her face pink. "It's easy for you, isn't it?" she said, in a low, urgent voice. "You don't need Portia and Olivia like I do. You don't have to fit in, because your dad's a professor, and Head of House besides, and if anyone gives you too much trouble, they know who's going to come 'round demanding answers, don't they?"
Calista narrowed her eyes. "That's… are you mental? Have the past two years been Olivia not giving me trouble? And I've only ever mentioned my dad once to get her off my case, and that was this year."
"You don't have mention him," Emily said, passionately, "Everyone knows who you are, and if you think for one second that they don't, why do you suppose it is that you're the only Slytherin hanging around with a bunch of people from other houses?"
"Uhm," Calista said, feeling her temper rise further, "Because I'm not a stupid, prejudiced prat like you're starting to sound like? Because I don't care what house my friends are in, as long as they're nice to me?"
"No," Emily said, keeping her voice much lower than Calista's was, "It's because no one dares to give you a hard time for it, not to your face. Percy Weasley? Come on, do you really think people aren't saying things about that?"
"Olivia says things all the time. And anyway, why should anyone say anything? He's nice, when he isn't being all stuffy, and he's one of the top students in our year. What's wrong with him?"
"Look, Calista, I don't want to argue with you, I really don't." She peered over Calista's shoulder, probably to see if anyone was listening to them. "I don't care who you're friends are, but some other people do, and it's not fair for you to… to judge me because I can't make the same choices you can. My dad doesn't teach here. If anyone gives me a hard time, I just have to deal with it myself."
"That's not true," Calista said, "You can go to my dad just the same as I can. He's Slytherin's Head of House, you know, not just mine."
"It's not the same, Calista. You have to see that." Emily's voice was coming almost pleadingly now, and that annoyed Calista just as much as everything she'd said.
"Maybe you don't want it to be the same," she said, and even to her own ears, the tone of her voice was scornful, even a bit vicious, "So you have an excuse for being Olivia's spineless little puppy."
"That's cruel," Emily said quietly, but Calista had already stormed off.
(¯ˆ·.¸¸.·ˆ¯)
The first Hogsmeade weekend came on the heels of Calista's argument with Emily, and in light of everything Emily had said, it felt almost defiant to meet up with Percy, Oliver Wood, Penny, and Amelia in the entrance hall. Calista reflected that she could have done without Oliver's company, but she was pleased with the rest of it, so she didn't do much more than scowl at him a bit.
Percy nudged her; evidently he had seen the look she'd shot Oliver. "Be nice," he reminded her, in a whisper. She scowled again, but half-heartedly. The five of them set off together.
When they arrived in Hogsmeade, mostly as small clusters of students separated into little groups of monochromatic robes, but a few mixed groups like the one Calista was part of, the crowd split along the High Street, and students spilled into the shops. A good deal of them went to Honeydukes, and quite a few of the lads headed into Spintwitches' Sporting Shop, which Oliver looked at longingly, but Percy took him by the elbow. "Come on, Oliver, the plan was to go to the Three Broomsticks first, before the rush, and check out the shops after, don't you remember?"
"Do you suppose they have the new Nimbus yet?" Oliver was still craning his neck in the direction of the shop.
The five of them headed into the Three Broomsticks, and found a table in the corner that would fit all of them comfortably. They had managed to beat the rush, but only just as it turned out. Students streamed in after them, and by the time Oliver and Amelia had returned with five butterbeers, all of the other tables were full.
Amelia slid into the seat beside Calista, and poked her in the ribs.
"Ow!" Calista scowled. "What was that for?"
"Look," Amelia leaned towards her, and spoke quietly. "Up at the bar - isn't that your friend, from the Quidditch team? She was just trying to order firewhiskey, I heard her."
Calista followed her gaze; Kim Avery, Ethan Briggs, Conor Quinn, and Peter Boyle were indeed hovering near the bar, together as usual.
"She's eighteen now, I think," Calista said. "Maybe some of her friends are, too."
"I dunno," Amelia said, sliding a butterbeer over to her. "But Madam Rosmerta told her she won't sell it to anyone in Hogwarts student robes - oh my gosh, look!"
Kim was stripping her Hogwarts robes off, now; underneath, she had on Muggle clothes, jeans and a sweater. She folded her school robes over her arm, and looked back at the pretty woman behind the bar expectantly. The crowd around her laughed; Calista could hear the murmur of it from all the way back in the corner, and more and more people were paying attention now, pointing her way. Some of them appeared to be asking their neighbors what was going on.
Madam Rosmerta looked back at Kim, and Calista couldn't quite make out her expression from the distance she was at, but she threw her arms up in the air; then she tilted her head back and laughed, loudly. She said something, and then she turned away, opened a bottle, and poured a very small amount into a glass. She slid it across the bar at Kim, who lifted it up victoriously, turning around to show it off to the entire pub.
"Wicked," Amelia said, "Think she can get us some?"
Oliver grinned, but Calista and Penelope made nearly identical faces at Amelia; when Percy saw Penelope's, he hastened to copy it.
"Er," Percy said, quickly, "That's… that's an awful thing to say, Amelia. Or Calista. Whoever that was."
Calista snorted. "Did you even hear what she said?"
Percy turned pink. "Well… not quite, but I got the gist of it."
"Well, you don't all need to have kittens over it," Amelia said, "I was joking, wasn't I?"
Kim had downed the contents of the glass, and was wheedling for another one. Penelope made another disapproving face, but this one was directed across the pub at the older Slytherin girl, rather than at Amelia.
"I think we've been here long enough," she said, "Perhaps now is a good time to visit some of the shops."
Percy nodded quickly, and rose, but Amelia rolled her eyes. "You're so uptight, Penny. I haven't even finished my butterbeer yet… look, Calista hasn't, either. We're not ready to go, are we?"
Calista glanced towards the bar; Kim had procured another glass.
"Which store were you thinking of going to?" she asked Penelope.
"Spintwitches'," Oliver said, immediately, and Penelope frowned. "I was thinking of Scrivenshaft's, actually. I could use some more quills; I've been taking pages and pages of notes in Arithmancy."
"Or perhaps we could visit the bookshop," Percy put in.
Calista lifted her butterbeer and drained most of the rest of it in one long sip.
"Bookshop," she agreed, setting it down.
"Don't I get an opinion?" Amelia asked, "I'd rather go to Zonko's. Or better yet, stay here, and watch that Slytherin girl get herself in trouble."
"Kim's eighteen -" Calista started again, defensive of her friend, but Penelope interrupted, coming around the table to take Amelia by the elbow.
"Since when do you not like going to bookstores?" she asked her housemate. "Think of all the horrible jinxes you can read about," she added distastefully.
"Oh, that's true. I can do that." Amelia grinned, and drained her own butterbeer as well. "Bookshop it is, then."
"'Horrible jinxes'?" Calista echoed, once they had pressed through the crowd and gone outside. It had been a bit uncomfortable for Calista, who still didn't like to be caught in large crowds, didn't like being touched unexpectedly. She found the chill of the autumn air welcome after the din of the crowded pub.
"Yeah," Amelia said, "Describing them to Penny and watching her freak out is one of my favourite pastimes. When we were first years, I showed her a picture of someone with with a face full of boils and she nearly vomited right in the common room, it was brilliant."
"Brilliant?" Penelope sniffed, as they all set off in the direction of the bookshop, "It was vulgar and rude. You're lucky I still decided to be friends with you. I-"
"The Furnunculus curse?" Calista cut in. "I cast that on Portia Macnair, first year. It does look pretty bad."
"You hexed your housemate?" Percy said, horrified.
Calista opened her mouth, but Amelia unexpectedly came to her defence. "Oh, come on, Perce," Amelia said, "If it was that Macnair cow, I'm betting she had it coming. Didn't she?"
Calista nodded. "She did. Prissy, stupid, smarmy little -"
Amelia grinned widely.
"Nevertheless," Percy interrupted, frowning as he turned his head to look at the pair of them, "That wasn't the proper way to handle the situation, whatever it was. I hope you know that, now, Calista. You should have gone to your Head of House-"
"I know," Calista said, irritated. "Speaking of my Head of House, you sound just like him right now. That's what he said, when he gave me detention for it - two years ago, Percy, so drop it, all right?"
"All right, all right," Percy said, but he looked rather inflated at being told he sounded like a professor, even if it was likely his least favourite one.
"The hell with Percy," Amelia muttered to Calista quietly, "I hate that girl. I'm glad you did it; we would probably have been friends loads sooner if I knew you did."
"What did she do to you?"
Amelia huffed. "She… you know what? I don't feel like talking about it. Let's just say I have my reasons for wishing she'd disappear off the face of the earth, all right?"
They had reached the bookshop. It was substantially less crowded than the rest of the shops on the High Street, but when they entered, it was immediately apparent that the crowd that did exist within were disproportionately clothed in blue-trimmed robes.
"Wow," Calista remarked, "This feels like Arithmancy class; practically no one but Ravenclaws."
Penelope preened a bit; Amelia grabbed Calista's hand and led her into a dim corner of the shop with a sign posted above it warning young children away. Calista started, but managed to keep from jerking her hand back from Amelia's.
"Here we go," Amelia said, reaching for a thin green volume, "'Horrifying Hexes for the Hardly Human', this sounds good, doesn't it?"
Calista peered over her shoulder as she flipped through the pages.
"That's boring," she commented, after Amelia had gone through several, "I already know all those spells. Is there a better one?"
She started to peruse the books, when she felt Amelia close by her side again. "Hang on," Amelia said, voice low, "What d'you mean, you already know all these spells? I haven't heard of half of them."
Calista glanced at her friend, and shrugged. "Kim and her friends told me about a lot of them," she said, "Plus my dad has a lot of books…"
"Wicked," Amelia said, for the second time that day, "Can you teach me some?"
"Well, I haven't actually cast most of them," Calista admitted, "I just know of them."
"Well, we can try to learn them together," Amelia said, still quietly, but with enthusiasm brimming over the edges of her words, "Practise, you know? Just… we can't let Penny or Percy find out, they'd go squealing to Flitwick or someone and ruin it."
"How would that work? We hex each other, or something?"
"Yeah, why not? We can undo them quickly."
"I'm not hexing you," Calista said, firmly, after a brief moment of consideration. "I like you."
"But if I ask you to-"
"No way. What if I can't undo it properly? We'd definitely get in trouble if we had to go to the Hospital Wing. Besides, I don't want to hurt you… and I don't really want you hurting me, either."
Amelia frowned. "I guess you're right," she said, reluctantly. "But I want to learn curses and things, you know? Not just Shield Charms and all that, but real offensive spells."
"You do?" Calista raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Mostly everyone I've ever heard say anything like that is in Slytherin. Or was - my uncle says we should be learning proper Dark magic all the time."
"Yeah, well… how are the rest of us supposed to stand up to all those Slytherins with their Dark magic?" Amelia countered, "I bet Mum and Dad are teaching them all at home, and I for one don't want to be casting pretty little charms against someone trying to cut my head off, or something."
"I don't even… 'all those Slytherins', excuse me? And just who wants to cut your head off?"
Amelia waved her hand. "You know what I meant. And I didn't mean you, you're not an insufferable snob like the rest of them - well, maybe you're half of one." She grinned.
"Slytherins aren't all bad," Calista said, irritation creeping into her voice, "Kim's nice, the one who was drinking firewhiskey, and the other seventh years, most of them are decent. And Marcus Flint, Gemma Farley, and some of the first years, Sofia and Eva and Alex… even Emily Yaxley's not bad, once you get her away from Olivia. Anyway, you lot have got Elyse Briggs, and she's a right pain in the arse."
"Yeah, well," Amelia made a sour face. "At least Elyse has never-" she stopped, pressed her mouth into a thin line, and shook her head. "Never mind, okay, Calista? I was just saying, I'd like to learn some curses, just in case."
"Well, I would too," Calista said, "But I don't want to practise them on each other, not without someone around to do the countercurses if we muck it up - hey, what about a Dueling Club? Sofia Lima mentioned that her dad was in one here, once - Flitwick ran it. Maybe we can get him to start one up again."
"Yeah," Amelia said, with growing enthusiasm. "He might do that - especially if I can get Penny to as him, she's one of his favourites."
"Uhm," Calista said, a bit awkwardly, "I could… I could probably go with her to ask him. I think he kind of… I think he likes me, too. He always tells my dad I should've been in Ravenclaw."
"I wish you were," Amelia said, "Then we'd have the same room, and stuff. We could nick food from the kitchens and hang out in the common room until really late."
"Well, you could be in Slytherin," Calista countered, "And then we could hex Portia when she sleeps - there's loads of curses we could use, look…" She grinned, and pulled another volume from the shelves.
Calista leafed through it, and showed a page to Amelia. "Look, 'Entrail-Expelling Curse'. Conor or Peter told me about this one, once. And - ooh, 'Expulso', Kim cast that on a turkey once and got stuffing in Elyse Briggs' ears -"
Amelia giggled. "Really? I want to learn it. Hey - what's that one?"
Calista huddled close to her, and they pored over the book, until Penelope dragged them away.
"I should have known I'd find you two here," she said, radiating disapproval. "Come on, we're going to Dervish and Banges next, before we have to go back to school for dinner."
"I'd rather go to Zonko's," Amelia put in.
"Yeah, me too," Calista said, even though she actually would have rather gone to Dervish and Banges, or perhaps Potage's Cauldron Shop. She was having fun with Amelia, and it made her feel generous towards the other girl's whims.
Penelope huffed; Percy caught up to them. Oliver Wood was nowhere in sight. Calist supposed he must have slunk off to the Quidditch shop after all.
"Fine," Penelope said, "You two go to the joke store, and Percy and I will go on without you."
"Sounds good to me," Amelia said brightly, looping her arm through Calista's. They separated, Percy and Penelope going up the street one way, and Amelia and Calista continuing on in the other direction.
Soon enough, Calista wished they had just gone with Penelope and Percy, though; on their way, they nearly ran right into Olivia, Emily, and Portia. Calista tried to steer Amelia around them, but Portia noticed them, and sneered.
"Oh, look," she said loudly, causing Olivia and Emily to turn their heads, "The freak's found a new friend, another freak just like her."
"Oh, wow, Portia, that was original," Calista shot back, rolling her eyes. Her arm was still linked with Amelia's, and she felt her friend's pace slow. "Been waiting all year to use that one, have you?"
Portia opened her mouth, but Olivia cut her off. "Let it go, Portia," she said, firmly and coldly, "It's not worth it."
It would have mercifully ended there, with Calista and Amelia picking up their pace again and striding past, but then Olivia called after them, cruelly.
"You should wash your arm, Calista. You're touching filth."
Calista was the one who slowed, this time.
"Forget it," Amelia muttered, her round face reddening. "Let's just keep going-"
But Calista could see a cluster of teachers approaching; it looked like Professor McGonagall and Professor Vector, and another one, a man Calista didn't know; she thought he might be the Muggle Studies professor. She waited a few seconds, until they had drawn closer. Emily's words replayed, suddenly, in her mind.
You don't have to fit in, because your dad's a professor, and Head of House besides, and if anyone gives you too much trouble, they know who's going to come 'round demanding answers, don't they?
She didn't know if it was true; didn't think it was, but if she was wrong? Well, getting her housemate in trouble with the head of Gryffindor house would certainly irk the Slytherins enough to provoke some of them to say something about it, and if they did, then she'd be proving Emily wrong, wouldn't she? And if it was true, if she had her father's position as an unwanted shield… well, then, it really wouldn't matter if she pissed her housemates off, would it?
Calista turned to the trio, just as the professors were walking by.
"What was that, Olivia?" she said, quite loudly, "Did you say something about my friend that you want to repeat?"
The professors glanced over, McGonagall slowing her pace slightly. Olivia flushed pink, widened eyes landing on the cluster of teachers.
"No," she said, "I didn't say anything."
"Good," Calista said, in the same loud tone; once the teachers had moved on, McGonagall casting them a wary glance behind her, Olivia's eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth, but Calista cut her off, lowering her own voice.
"Make sure you don't," she warned, "Because one way or another, I'm not letting you get away with it."
"Oh, are you threatening me, now?"
"I guess I am," Calista said, baldly.
Olivia forced a derisive little laugh through her nose. "That's the worst mistake you've ever made, right there."
"No" Calista said, "My worst mistake was wasting my time ever trying to be friends with a snotty li-"
She was interrupted, by a pair of arms weighing heavily on her shoulders; she would have started, if she hadn't been suddenly bogged down.
She heard a hiccup, and then felt warm breath by her ear.
"Oi, Snapelet. Whassgoing on?" It was Kim Avery, although it took Calista a moment to place her voice; it sounded a little heavy, oddly slurred. "Is your little…" she lifted one arm off Calista, twirled it in the air illustratively, gesturing with it towards Olivia and her sidekicks. "friend giving you a hard time again?"
Portia stepped forward, addressing Kim eagerly. "Calista's the one causing trouble," she said, "She just tried to get us in trouble with teachers… Us, her own hosuemates."
"Well," Kim drawled, astutely, "Did you deserve it?"
Portia blanched; Olivia elbowed Portia, which caused Kim, inexplicably to laugh; Calista flinched; it was loud in her ear.
"It was nothing," Olivia said sweetly, "We're going, now."
She pulled Portia and Emily aside, brushing past Calista, Kim, and Amelia; but Olivia couldn't resist shooting one more poisonous look at Calista as she went by.
"Hey!" Kim yelled, and Calista winced again. She straightened, lifting her weight off Calista, and facing Olivia again. "I saw that… Ssnapelet'ss my friend, mkay? So you don't… you don't mess with her, unless you want to mess with me."
She grinned, conspiratorially, leaning forward; Calista thought she nearly stumbled. "An' you don't wanna mess with me."
"Oh my god," Olivia said, "Are you drunk?"
Kim considered this. "Maybe." She hiccupped again.
"Then it's awfully rich of you to threaten me with anything, isn't it?" She smirked, so her meaning could be made clear, and then she stalked away, Portia and Emily in tow, and nose in the air. Emily cast one regretful look back, but Calista was too focused on Kim to see it.
"She's going to tell a professor," Calista warned.
Kim shrugged. "I don't give a ssshit. I'm old enough."
"I still don't think -"
Kim interrupted her again, with a hand held up importantly. "Ssnapelet. Shut up."
Calista obeyed, and Kim spoke again.
"What was that little" She twirled her hand again "Blonde bitch doing, anyway? Sshe trying to get you in trouble again?"
Calista became aware of Amelia sidling away; she had been quiet so far, ever since Olivia had insulted her.
"She was giving my friend a hard time," Calista said, nodding to Amelia.
Kim seemed to notice Amelia for the first time. "You're the friend, then?" she deduced, looking speculatively - albeit a bit drunkly - at the Ravenclaw girl.
Amelia nodded, uncomfortably. She looked worried.
"Don't worry," Kim reassured her, "I won't get in trouble. Probably. Much." She chuckled, as if she found this all quite amusing. She looked between Amelia and Calista. "What was she saying, then? Something about Daddy having all kinds of money, I bet? Huh. My dad has money too, but I don't walk around like a bloody simpering snot about it, do I?"
This surprised Calista; it was true that Kim had never seemed to be particularly well-off. She never seemed poor, either; she just didn't seem to care.
"No," Calista said, "That's not what she was saying. She was… she seems to have a problem with the fact that Amelia and I are friends."
"Why? 'Cos it means she can't weasel you back to being her sidekick, hm? Or 'cos you're a Ravenclaw?" She shifted while she was talking, transitioning from addressing Calista to addressing Amelia.
"Uhm," Amelia said, and she was as quiet as Calista had ever seen her; she blushed, and stuttered. "I… it was something like that. I should go now, my other friends…" she glanced at Calista. "Penny and Percy, you know?"
But Kim's face had lit up; she raised a finger. "I know what it iss," she said loudly, "You're a Muggle-born, aren't you?"
Amelia was beet-red now, and she started to back away. Calista reached for her half-heartedly, and missed; but Kim strode forward, and pulled Amelia back by the shoulders.
"Don' go anywhere, s'okay. I'm not gonna hex you, or anything." She looked at Calista. "Ssnaplet, this girl a good friend to you?"
Calista nodded. "Yes, she is. Loads better than that stupid priss-"
"S'what I thought," Kim said, looking back at Amelia. "Sso here's the thing, Ravenclaw girl. I don' like one of your Perfects…" she hiccupped, "Er, I mean Prefects… Elyse. Stupid, stuffed-up prat… but it's not 'cos she's half Muggle, 'cos my boyfriend is too. Her twin. Completely different people. I could say maybe he's got the wizard half and ssshe'ss got the Muggle part… but that's just nasty, yeah? I don't care, it'ss…"
She stopped, and shook her head. "Okay." she said, taking a breath, "Nevermind. It made more ssense in my head. I think… I think that lasst shot juss' hit me. Ugh. What I'm saying is, if you're Sssnapelet's friend, and you're not a prissy little bitch, then I don't have a problem with you." She hiccupped again, and put her hand to her mouth.
"Oh, fuck," she slurred, lowering her hand after a pause of several seconds. "I'm going'ta go vomit, now. 'Bye."
She loped off, in the direction she'd come from. Calista wondered what had happened to her friends, but then she saw her rejoin them, a little way down the road. She had her hand to her mouth again, and they were giving her a wide berth, as they guided her down an alley between shops.
"Wow," Amelia said, and Calista looked at her. "Is she always like that?"
"What, drunk? I've never seen it before."
"Hm." Amelia looked at Calista, up and down, as if measuring something. Calista was just about to snap at her, ask her what she was looking at, but then Amelia smiled, and the scrutiny ceased. "Come on, let's go get another butterbeer. Maybe if we drink it really fast, we can get drunk."
Calista snorted, but followed after Amelia, back towards Honeydukes. "Yeah, that sounds like loads of fun," she said sarcastically, "I haven't vomited in ages, let's get on that."
Amelia laughed, and then glanced sidelong at Calista. "Thanks. For sticking up for me."
"I'm told that's what friends do," Calista said.
Amelia threaded her arm through Calista's again.