Bast sat beside Evalynn eating her breakfast slowly.
So Rei had the same dream as she did the previous night. The veil, the voices . . . had she heard what they were saying when she walked forward? Someone had been talking to her. Someone whose voice she couldn’t recognize. It was a man's; weird and scratchy and almost mournful.
“Somfing wrong, Sanuwa?” Millicent Bulstrode asked through a mouthful of eggs.
“Millicent, how many times must I remind you to keep your mouth shut after you’ve stuffed it full?” Draco asked in a mock sweet tone.
Millicent swallowed her food to stuck her tongue out at him. He simply smiled and nodded. “That’s better. Now answer her question, Sanura.”
Bast shrugged. “Nothing, really. Just an odd dream.”
Draco’s eyes seemed to light for a second, but he turned away. “Care to tell?” he asked, sounding far too casual.
Bast looked at her plate of food. “Nope. Can’t really remember most of it.”
Draco stared at her for a couple of moments, making her feel awkward, but then turned his attention to Millicent and began discussing quidditch.
“First match is in October,” Millicent said, very excited. “Us against the Hufflepuffs.”
“Are you going to watch, Bast?” Blaise asked curiously. “Draco is the team seeker, and the best by far. He’s also Team Captain this year.”
“Isn’t Potter the Gryffindor seeker and captain?” Evalynn asked, sneering slightly. Bast bit her lip and Draco nodded, a disgusted grimace flitting across his face.
“Potter hasn’t a chance this year,” he said, “because Blaise is replacing Warrington, and he may not be able to finish out a match.”
“Not if he gets in my way,” she confirmed. “Because I’ll knock him right off his broom. I have no qualms about a foul or two if it means that the Gryffindors lose their good luck charm.”
Bast couldn’t help but snicker. Blaise seemed like a perfect lady upon first sight; she held herself proudly and had very soft, kindly looking green eyes. To hear her speak so brutally was amusing.
“So how about it, Bast?” Alexandra asked, across from Evalynn. “You coming?”
Bast nodded. “Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun. I’d love to try out, actually, but I have no broom . . . .”
“First years aren’t allowed, anyway,” Millicent explained, waving her hand dismissively. “Unfair rule, really, but there you have it.”
“Unless you’re famous for an ugly scar on your forehead,” Draco muttered, making Bast smirk.
The bell rang for first period. Bast stood up and nodded at the sixth years, then followed the first year girls out of the Great Hall.
She was chatting idly with Evalynn when she accidentally ran into somebody.
“Omph, sorry,” Bast said, looking up and seeing Cain Mast standing there.
He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it,” he said in a blasé sort of way, then walked off.
Bast watched him. He was sort of handsome, but other than that, she really couldn’t see right away why Rei had become so taken with him so suddenly. He certainly was no Draco. Draco had class, Draco had charm, Draco had charisma . . . .
. . . Draco had an annoying habit for pressing information from her. She supposed it would just continue to be a game they would play, and truthfully, it would be a good challenge to see how long until he gave up.
“’Scuse me,” an Irish boy said from behind her. She turned to see that he was a Slytherin first year as well, with spiky black hair and very round, chestnut brown eyes. He was very skinny and very pale, and stood about an inch above her.
“Er . . . yes?” she asked curiously. He looked around and then to the ground.
“I was wondering if you knew what our first class is. I’m really forgetful, and I can’t seem to jog my memory any.”
“Oh, yes,” Bast said. “It’s Charms.”
He looked up at her and smiled. “Thanks. I’m Ailin Douglas, by the way.”
Bast shook his hand. “I’m Bast Sanura.”
He smiled a little and was about to say something when another boy with flaming red hair and icy coloured eyes walked up to him and glared.
“Ailin, we’re going to be late,” he said, and dragged Ailin off, muttering an ‘excuse me’ to Bast.
“Who was that other boy,” Bast asked Evalynn curiously. Evalynn sighed.
“His name is Andrew Marx. He’s got a serious attitude problem, too. I hear Ailin is a genius, though somewhat absent-minded. Andrew usually wants him around to tell him what’s going on, because he owns no brains of his own. If it weren’t for Ailin’s intelligence, he wouldn’t even give him the time of day. The Marx family is filthy rich, whereas the Douglas family is dirt poor.”
Bast thought for a moment. “Where have I heard of the Marx family before? Is his mother Marie Marx? The one who took Lucius Malfoy’s place when he was demoted?”
Evalynn scoffed. “If you could call Lucius’s placement being ‘demoted’, rather than simply ‘changed’,” she said as they walked into the classroom. “And I hear the only reason Marie took the job is because she’s making sure no replacement can get too comfortable. She wants him back there as badly as any of Lucius’s circle of . . . .” she stopped for a moment. “What would be a proper substitute if one did not want to use the word ‘friend’?” she pondered.
“Would ‘esteemed acquaintances’ work?” Bast asked.
“Esteemed acquaintances,” Evalynn repeated thoughtfully. She nodded. “Yes, it works quite nicely. Anyway, they say she’s just as dangerous as Lucius. It’s a pretty scary combination.”
“Agreed,” Bast sighed and sat down at the desk in between Evalynn and Antigone as tiny Professor Flitwick walked around the classroom, giving each student a feather. He then climbed up on his chair stacked with multiple, thick bound books and called attendance. After he was done, he motioned towards the feathers in front of them.
“Today we will begin attempting a Levitation Charm. Now, remember the swish wrist movement, and keep in mind pronunciation is everything. Begin.”
“How are you doing in your other classes, Bast?” Alexandra asked from in front of her as she took out her want and examined her feather closely through thickly lined eyes.
Bast flipped through her Charms book momentarily, and then looked up. “Excellent in everything except for Transfiguration. I almost had my match into a needle, but the little eye lit fire and McGonagall took off points.”
She flicked her wand and said “Wingardium Leviosa,” in a very clear voice and her feather lifted off of her desk and hovered about a foot from it.
“Nicely done, Miss Sanura,” Flitwick praised. “Keep it up.”
“And what about Potions?” Francine asked coldly. “I was watching you. You let the mudblood do all of the work.”
Bast’s first instincts were to lunge at the blonde girl’s throat. Being that there would only be trouble in that, however, she contained herself and settled for plotting subtle vengeance, hoping that her cheeks did not appear to be as flushed as they felt.
“Why do all of the work when you can simply relax and get the credit, Walsh?” she asked, through steadily gritted teeth. Francine simply shrugged and turned back to her feather. Beside Evalynn, Antigone caught Bast’s eye and gave her a small smile and directed an eye roll at Francine.
Just then, a feather zoomed from the back, circled Bast, and smacked her on the forehead. She turned to see Ailin smiling playfully at her from beside Andrew.
She checked to see that Flitwick wasn’t watching, then levitated her feather again, this time much lower. She sent it back to Ailin and made it tickle him under the nose. He sniffed and stifled a sneeze, making a face at Bast. She giggled slightly and he smiled at her.
His feather came to life again and it flew to her hair, standing straight up. He patted his mouth a couple of times like the Indians in the old American movies. She tried to keep a straight face, and sent her feather over, writing ‘STOP IT’ gently on the back of his palm with its tip.
He dipped his feather in ink quickly and zoomed it back to Bast, writing “WHERE WOULD THE ENTERTAINMENT IN THAT BE” on her arm. Bast tried to look affronted that he had actually used ink when she hadn’t, but as she looked down to her arm and tapped it with her wand, muttering ‘scourgify’, she grinned a little.
The bell rang just then. Flitwick announced that their homework was a parchment long list of contributing factors to producing a Levitation Charm and to practise for the next day.
Bast gathered her things, gave a quick smile to Ailin, and went to find the Slytherin girls. As she turned around, however, she ran straight into Andrew Marx.
“Watch it, you stupid bint,” he growled. Bast had never been called something so insulting.
“You could do with some manners,” she snapped. “It’s hardly demonstrating any amount of class to call a lady that when you’ve never even met her before!”
“Andrew, leave her be,” Ailin called from behind her. “Bast is really . . . .”
“Bast?” Andrew asked, his eyes shining at Ailin momentarily, then looking toward the girl. “As in Amun Sanura’s daughter?”
Bast nodded, clenching her fists.
Andrew smiled, though there was no amount of friendliness to it. His eyes continued to light in a malicious manner. “You’ll want to watch your step, little Sanura. You don’t know who will take greater offense to you being in their way than most people.”
He pushed past her and walked out of the classroom. Ailin gave her an apologetic smile and followed.
“Something the matter, Miss Sanura?” Professor Flitwick called, noticing that she was still there, and with a very snappish looking glare.
“No, sir.”
“Well, if you’re sure, you’d better get to class then,” he informed her, with a hint in his voice suggesting that he didn’t quite believe her.
She nodded and exited the room, looking for the Slytherin girls.
“Something wrong?”
Bast looked to her left where the voice came from, although she knew right away that it was Antigone. She was watching Bast with her usual blasé _expression.
Bast simply shrugged. “Not really. Just that Andrew Marx boy being an enormous prat.”
“Yeah, he’s an idiot,” she said evenly. “It’s best not to get messed up with him, though. His family has a lot of dangerous contacts.”
Bast looked at Antigone with curiosity, but the redhead simply turned away, looking somewhat misty eyed.
“Erm . . . Sanura?” a voice asked from behind her. She turned to see Hermione Granger standing there with the red-haired girl from the train. Antigone’s cheekbones flushed a bit, but Bast nodded at her and smiled, and she continued on to class.
“I’ll save you a seat,” she said, giving Hermione a very untrusting glare.
After she walked off, Bast looked back.
“Er, yes . . . Hermione and . . . I’m sorry, I forget your name . . . .”
“Ginny,” the girl said quickly. “We wanted to talk to you about Rei,”
Basts eyes widened for a second. “Is she okay?” she asked quickly.
“No, no, she’s fine,” Hermione said, and Bast sighed with relief. “We wanted to say . . . well . . . you two are still friends, right?”
Bast nodded. Ginny and Hermione smiled.
“Finding it hard to find time to talk? Without waking up at unhuman hours, that is.” Ginny asked stealthily.
Bast nodded again, grinning. “Yes. Let me guess . . . you have a plan?”
“Ever hear of Remus Lupin?” Hermione asked.
Bast nodded. “The teacher here for one year. He was a werewolf, I think. He’s been immense help to the fight against the Dark Order.”
“Yes,” Hermione said. “Well when he went to school here, he and his friends made something called the Marauder’s Map. It gives you a perfect layout of the school, along with wherever members of the staff happen to be. Harry Potter owns it now.”
“Hermione was yelling at Ron and Harry about trying to blackmail Rei into not being your friend the other day,” Ginny explained. “I overheard and questioned her about it. She said that you two were going through all kinds of hell . . . .”
“Not in those words, of course,” Hermione said, giving Ginny a sharp look. Ginny ignored her.
“Well I thought on the matter and came up with a plan. I wrote to Lupin about it, and he agreed. He made this for you two.”
Ginny handed over a blank piece of parchment. Bast looked at it skeptically, and was about to reply with sarcasm, when the parchment slowly began to fill with words.
To Bast Sanura and Rei Davidson: this is a Marauder’s Map, the most useful item you can possess when trying to sneak around the school’s corridors at night. An ingenious product of my friends’, mainly the brainchild of one Sirius Black, this will never let you down. Below you will find the instructions to ensure nobody catching on. Try to keep this out of Dumbledore’s sight completely. I normally would not promote this kind of serious rule-breaking, but it is in the name of House Unity.
Underneath, Bast read the instructions. Tap with wand and say “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” tap again and say, “Mischief managed” when done to wipe clean.
Bast memorized everything. After about a minute, the parchment was empty of all words. She looked up smiling at Hermione and Ginny.
“I really don’t think that this is a good idea,” Hermione began nervously.
“Are you kidding?” Ginny asked her incredulously. “It’s a great idea. One of the best I’ve had, actually.”
“I mean,” Hermione retorted sternly, “That they can get into a lot of trouble.”
Bast scowled. “So? What’s life when you can’t cause just the tiniest of trouble?”
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” Ginny said. “And here.”
She handed Bast a large white bag with something inside that smelled very sweet. She looked and saw bunches of tiny little scarlet cakes, each with a minute “WW” written on the side in gold icing.
“My brothers, Fred and George, just perfected these this summer. They’re Fading Pastries. Eat one and you’ll be invisible for half an hour each. There’s two hundred in there. Split them with Rei.”
Bast smiled. “Are you sure you aren’t a Slytherin?”
Ginny gave her a grin. “Nope. Just the only sister of the two most mischievous twin brothers in the world.”
The bell for attendance suddenly rang. Bast gasped and put everything in her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder and hurrying off.
“Thanks a bunch,” she called to Ginny. Ginny waved and followed Hermione down the hall.
*******
Rei yawned out of sheer boredom. She was sitting in History of Magic as Professor Binns droned on and on about early Asian wizardry.
She felt a gentle poke at her side and saw Billie holding out a piece of parchment. She took it and unfolded it, reading silently.
Doesn’t it ever end?
Rei sighed and wrote back.
You’d figure it’d be the tiniest bit fun, being that he’s a ruddy ghost! Even a tone change in his voice is welcome, really.
She gave it to Billie, who read it and giggled.
There was a poke in her other side, and she looked to see Sheena hand her something and whisper, “pass it on when you’ve read it.”
Rei looked at her quizzically, but took the paper. She opened it up and saw it was an article from a newspaper for the magic world. Her first thought was of The Quibbler and she began reading.
Early today, a problem arose within the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Investigative Magic and the Department of Mysteries, where last year’s incident involving a group of Death Eaters and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is still fresh in the public’s mind.
As reported by multiple employees, the Department of Mysteries has been breached once again, this time attempting entrance into a room that all workers simply refer to as the “Confined Sector”, famed only to be enterable through a door sealed with multiple amounts of magic discovered through the Department of Investigative Magic, where just today, multiple reports were stolen from within.
Head of the Department of Investigative Magic, Amun Sanura, claims that he arrived for work early this morning and discovered the break in to his Department, alerting the Minister right away.
“We haven’t enough information currently,” explains Sanura. “The only thing I am sure of is that this was carried out by an individual whom knows the inner workings of this department.”
Cornelius Fudge declined any comments about the crime in question. “I must assure everybody that we have this under control.”
The door remains sealed, as crucial pieces of the magic needed to complete the unlocking are kept well hidden by Amun Sanura from any other ministry worker. However, with many of the spells broken, it may only be a matter of time.
Rei gasped. She made a mental note to tell Bast when she saw her next and passed the article on to Billie, instructing her to do the same after she was through.
She thought on this more. There was a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach. Bast’s father had the last of the magic needed well hidden. But what did it mean ‘it may only be a matter of time’? Was Amun Sanura in danger? Was Bast or Reesa?
The bell snapped Rei from her thoughts. She hurried out of the room off to Potions, trying to give Billie a cool smile before doing so.
In the dungeons, she found Bast, already setting up their equipment.
“Oh, Rei,” she said excitedly as Rei sat down beside her, “I have to tell you . . . what’s wrong?” she asked in mid-sentence, upon seeing Rei’s face.
Rei wasted no time. Voice low, she quickly whispered everything to Bast. After she was finished, Bast sat there with her hand over her mouth.
“On the way here . . . .” she said, her voice surprising Rei with its waver, “Draco asked if I had read the Daily Prophet . . . I was in too much of a rush to ask him why . . . .”
Rei could see that Bast, who was usually very good at keeping calm, was far beyond shaken. She simply looked down at the desk, staring at it deeply and blinking often.
Rei wanted to put her arm around her friend’s shoulders, but refrained as the other Slytherins and Gryffindors were filing in. “Look,” she whispered, “Do you know anything about why this happened?”
Bast took some steadying breaths, then looked up, shaking her head. “No. Father really isn’t permitted to talk about everything, and most certainly nothing that he lends to the Department of Mysteries.”
“Cornelius Fudge said that they have it under control . . . .”
“Yeah, well Cornelius Fudge also said that You-Know-Who wasn’t back, and that Cedric Diggory died on his own account. I don’t really believe fully what Cornelius Fudge says,” Bast explained.
“We should discuss all of this later,” Rei said. “Most likely tomorrow morning. Think you’ll be okay until then?”
Bast’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Why not tonight?”
Rei looked at Bast with confusion. “Eh?”
Bast smiled slyly. “Are you going to be up tonight?”
Rei nodded. “Probably. Why?”
Bast reached in and pulled out a white bag from her backpack.
“Like sweets?” she asked with a smirk.
