Midday, Saturday
Abandoned Classroom

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It had been three days since Lucy had returned to Hogwarts, after the fiasco with Devlin and Marc. She was still readjusting to everything, trying to catch up on the lessons that she had missed. Yes, that was right. Lucy Matthews was concerned with school work. Devlin was proud of her when she did well. She wanted desperately to do better. She wanted to restart the year. She wanted to take back the things she had said. She wanted a do-over. But there were no do-over's in life.

She missed her brother, knowing he was locked away in some cell in Azkaban. The only means of communication being letters. She wanted those letters to be good letters; something that would make him proud of her. Something to make him smile. She had made a mental list of how to make Devlin proud. It included better grades, making friends, and learning to control her temper. No more picking on kids. No more fighting. She didn't want to turn into the terrible man who kept her. She didn't want to become a bad guy. She just wanted to be normal.

Lucy stood in the classroom, tossing her wand between hands, starting to like the feel of it after the long separation from it. Before, she didn't exactly love the concept of magic, mostly because it involved learning a completely new skill. It wasn't that she was lazy. Learning was frustrating. She didn't get it. It was stupid. It made her mad that she couldn't do it when everyone else could. But it was a new year. A new Lucy.

It came down to asking the professor for help, or suffering through it alone. New Lucy or not, she was still afraid from appearing weak in front of anyone for that matter. Weakness wasn't a good thing, and so, she had decided to take the route of suffering. Suffering, in hopes of learning the spells.

"Flippendo!" She called, her wand pointed at the desk. The desk didn't move."Flippendo!" She yelled again. The desk once again didn't move an inch. "Flippendo! Flippendo! FLIPPENDO! FLIPPENDO!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, the desk unmoving. Each time she said it, she yelled louder and louder. Still, the desk stood, unaffected. It was like everything else. She'd try and try and try and nothing would happen. It was frustrating, knowing no matter how hard she wanted it to work, it wouldn't. Lucy swatted at teary eyes, not wanting to cry over this. She yelled again, and again, over and over again, and after several minutes of it, she collapsed to the ground, tears over flowing.

She'd have nothing to tell Devlin. No progress. She'd fail at everything. Forever. And Devlin would be disappointed. And her teachers would give up on her, just like they did in muggle school. They'd stop trying to help her, because each time they'd try, she'd be difficult. She didn't want help. She just needed it. "Dammit. Damn it all to HELL!" She shouted. It felt good to yell, a good expulsion of her anger that had been pent up for so long.

The only thing Kella had known about Lucy Matthews before she was taken out of school was that she wasn't very nice, and that was more than enough information for her. She'd later learned, however, that the reason Lucy had left school in the first place was because she had some kind of disease which, for a moment, had caused the hufflepuff girl to reevaluate what she thought about her. Maybe she'd just been grumpy that whole time? Even the laid back, happy-go-lucky Kella had been known to get a bit grumpy when she was poorly, though she'd never been quite as abrasive as she could remember Lucy Matthews acting. Once the gryffindor girl had been gone for a while, she'd more or less forgotten about her. They weren't in the same house, and they hadn't been friends, so she just never came up in her thoughts at all. All of her previous impressions of that hard-as-nails witch came flooding back once Lucy returned, however, which left Kella feeling unsure of what she really thought about her. Would she be nice now that she was presumably feeling better? She'd been paying her some attention out of the corner of her eye, trying to decide if she might be someone who she'd invite to play around sometime. She still wasn't sure. This study required a bit more careful observation.

Kella hadn't expected that a prime opportunity to figure the other girl out would come up so soon. She'd been hustling down the fourth floor corridor like her whole body was one energetic herd of tiny elephants, pieces of her pinned back fringe falling into her eyes, when she heard what sounded like shouting – and, as a rule, Kella Carmody was attracted to any loud noise that sounded like it could potentially be fun. She'd nearly skidded to a halt in an attempt to change her route at the last moment, breaking into a bouncy little jog as she approached the classroom. She was sort of hoping she might see somebody blowing something up, because there was nothing quite like bugging serious older kids while they were attempting “serious magic,” but she had no such luck. All she'd found when she peeked into the old classroom was a crying, swearing mess of a girl sitting on the ground. Kella took a step back, her eyes growing a bit wide. Did she want to touch that? All of her concern radar was going off, and the bells were ringing in her mind telling her it was up to her to do something. She took a breath and, knowing full well that it might not be beyond this girl to scream her face off at her, she popped her head back into the room. What was the worst that could happen? She was mean? She'd take her chances.

“What's the matter?” Kella asked her, getting straight to the point as she held onto the door jamb, half in the room and half outside of it. “Did you get hurt? I thought I heard somebody screaming or something, but I wasn't sure.” She really hadn't the first clue what she was walking in on, but she hated seeing people upset, especially when they were by themselves. It just seemed lonely. “Want me to do something?”

Sophia was in the next room reading when she heard the horrid cussing of one of her classmates. The nerve of it all was enough to make her entire body shiver with disgust, but she did her best to compose herself upon entering the room. As always she walked with as much grace and dignity that had been given to her since birth, but her eyes were full of concern. Even on Sundays she dressed her best, and every hair was in it's place. Her rose colored cheeks were a beautiful contrast to her ivory skin, and with her mother's dark hair Sophia Knight tethered very close to perfection. And though her 'mediocre' grade in Defense earned her much more study time than she wished, she found it easier to learn herself when she helped her fellow class mates.

"Ladies," She greeted them curtly and narrowed in on the voice she figured to belong to the curse words, giving Kella a severe look in comparison to Lucy as if reprimanding her on the spot, "Miss Carmody, there isn't anything you can help her with, Miss Matthews needs to learn to do this on her own, and being that angry will not get you anywhere, Lucy. Remember what Professor Kesali always says about being calm and collected, especially at first."

Sophia made the gesture of breathing in and out with her hands and suggested Lucy do the same.

Lucy looked up when she hard the other girl's voice, and quickly batted at the tears with the back of her hand. Lucy didn't want to be found. She wanted to sob away every last tear she had so she could buck up and hide behind the walls. She wanted to feel normal again, but normal made her feel guilty and nasty. She didn't want to be mean anymore. She didn't want to be friendless anymore. She wanted to be a different Lucy.

“What's the matter?...Did you get hurt? I thought I heard somebody screaming or something, but I wasn't sure....Want me to do something?”


She stood up, and crossed her arms, looking away from Kella. It was nice that she came to check on her. It was nice that Kella didn't jump into a lecture of the dangers of practicing magic alone, or how swearing was a terrible habit to pick up. "I don't need or want your pity. All I want you to do is leave me the hell alone." She said spiteful, then closing her eyes tightly. This was what she didn't want to do anymore. Lucy went to retract her comment when little miss Annoying Knight joined the two first years.

"Ladies,Miss Carmody, there isn't anything you can help her with, Miss Matthews needs to learn to do this on her own, and being that angry will not get you anywhere, Lucy. Remember what Professor Kesali always says about being calm and collected, especially at first."

"Oh, stuff it, Sophia. No one cares about your dumb advice." She shot at the Ravenclaw. It was people like this that really made Lucy angry. She didn't take kindly to being told how to be or how to act. "You little stuck-up git." She said quieter, turning away. "I'll do it however the hell I want to do it."

”I don't need or want your pity. All I want you to do is leave me the hell alone.”

“Okay,” Kella spoke with a shrug, taking her hands off of the door jamb and taking a step back into the hallway. She'd been half-anticipating that kind of reaction, so she wasn't going to pretend to be shocked. As she attempted to back out of the door and go on her merry way, however, that smart girl who talked a lot was pushing her way through. She knew what to expect from Sophia the same way she'd thought that she'd known what to expect from Lucy and, for the second time in a minute, her expectation was right on target with reality. The Ravenclaw just started jabbering away about who knew what, and all Kella could do was suck on her bottom lip and look at her. She understood everything she said (this time), but it still didn't make sense, since Kella had only come running because she'd heard noise, not any sound in particular. She hadn't the first clue what Lucy had been doing in that room besides crying. Oddly, of both of the girls in the room, the teary, abrasive Gryffindor seemed to be the more approachable of the two, so she looked right at her.

“You were learning to do something?” she asked, trying to get the story straight. She'd picked up on the 'Professor Kesali' comment, and when she finally made the connection, her eyes lit up a bit. “Charms?” she asked, “I like doing those. Do you have to make up a lot of homework, though? I'd be crying, too, if I did,” she told her sympathetically, giving an understanding sort of nod as she reached down with one hand to feel for the shape of her wand in her pocket.

”You little stuck-up git. I'll do it however the hell I want to do it."

“You don't have to be mean about it,” Kella retorted quite mellowly, feeling a bit hurt on Miss Talks-a-Lot's behalf. Everybody in the school already knew Sophia was annoying, and she wasn't going to stop being annoying just because a person called her names, so she really didn't see the point in going out of her way to hurt her feelings. “Everybody does whatever they want anyway,” she announced to neither girl in particular as she rocked back and forth on her toes, swinging her arms back and forth over and over again.

 Even laid back Kella was a little bit taken aback by all of the cussing and fussing, though, and was feeling suffocated by this particular combination of overbearing personalities. She was in the mood to take Lucy's original advice and get the heck out of there. It was the weekend, after all! The only thing that kept her planted outside of the door was her fear that Lucy was - literally - going to murder Sophia. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she did, but she knew she wanted to be there for it if it happened.

If Lucy's words bothered her at all, Sophia certainly didn't show it. Her storm colored eyes simply looked at the girl with a dull interest that she had perfected from Ancient Runes Professor (a relative).

"Oh, stuff it, Sophia. No one cares about your dumb advice." She shot at the Ravenclaw. It was people like this that really made Lucy angry. She didn't take kindly to being told how to be or how to act. "You little stuck-up git." She said quieter, turning away. "I'll do it however the hell I want to do it."


Kella was quick to jump to her defense, but Sophia held up her hand to quiet her. She was very thankful for the Hufflepuff sticking up for her, but it really was a conundrum of it's own violation. She couldn't have that.

"Suit yourself, Lucy. If it's your wish to look like a frazzled frizzy mess, and let your anger get the better of you, well that is your choice. You are not in my house, so it matters very little to me. I was just trying to study when I heard your foul language." With her nose in the air she turned on her very fine shoes to leave, the ribbon in her hair bouncing the whole way. Sophia stopped only long enough to turn in the door way to offer one last insult,

"But someday, when I take my father's place as Chief Witch at Wizengamot, and you are working for me. I do hope that you have a better control of yourself."

Lucy boiled in anger when Sophia seemed unaffected by her insults. She thought she was so much better than Lucy. That she was some princess who sat up on her throne and that Lucy was just some peasant. Sophia would hardly ever live this down, and as much as Lucy wanted to attack Sophia right there and then, she stopped herself. No more violence. She thought to herself. Think about Devlin. Gotta give him good news.

"But someday, when I take my father's place as Chief Witch at Wizengamot, and you are working for me. I do hope that you have a better control of yourself."

"Yeah, well, that'll never happen! They'd never elect someone as pompous as you!" Lucy yelled after her. "Oh, wait. They elected your father!" It was her last attempt at an insult and she wasn't even that sure it was an insult. Was Chief Witch an elected position? Lucy didn't know, and she also didn't care.

She then turned to Kella. "I missed a lot of class, and can't figure out this charm. It's stupid. It's supposed to be basic, and easy. I just can't figure it out." She said, crossing her arms. "I'm sorry for yelling. I'm a little impulsive to say the least."

“She's wrong anyway,” Kella explained once Talks-a-lot was out of earshot, speaking in the most casual manner, as though she were completely unaffected by the peculiar argument she'd just been exposed to. Really, she was just happy she wasn't being put in the awkward position of having to go tattle on a fight – or worse, a murder. “You're not supposed to learn everything by yourself. Otherwise there wouldn't be teachers,” she shrugged. It seemed true enough to Kella, who had come to Hogwarts with very limited understanding of magic and how it really worked and now, only a few months into her magical education, could produce perky, straightforward charms that seemed to compliment her personality. The hufflepuff girl was no scholar, and her grades were, well... less than impressive... but she hadn't gotten as far as she had because she'd sat around trying to pick up difficult skills on her own with no help from anybody!

She turned on her heel and looked down the corridor to be sure that Sophia was actually gone and then, once the coast looked clear, she slipped into the room. “Are you really going to work for... ah... that? Whatever she said?” Kella asked, clearly a bit confused regarding whatever the two girls had been exploding about a moment ago. She may have had a part time witch in the family, but the intricacies of the magical legal system were far beyond her understanding. Actually, most of what Sophia Knight said on a regular basis was far beyond her understanding, and she really didn't feel as though she were worse off for it.

“Anyway, what charm are you doing again?” she asked, which was a far more comfortable subject than the Wizengamot... whatever that was.

“She's wrong anyway...You're not supposed to learn everything by yourself. Otherwise there wouldn't be teachers,”

Lucy nodded. The Hufflepuff was right. "I, I missed the lesson. And I don't want to go for extra help. I don't want to seem weak and defenseless, you know?"  She explained, not even knowing if the Hufflepuff got the whole pride thing. "I'm trying to ask for help more, and I'm trying to be nicer. I'm trying to just be a better person. For my brother's sake." she told Kella. She had to start opening up to people, and Kella was kind. She'd probably understand.

“Are you really going to work for... ah... that? Whatever she said?”

Lucy laughed. "I don't even know half the words she just used. I'm a muggleborn, no clue about any of the Chief stuff." She admitted. She didn't know the first thing she could do as an adult in the Magical world. There were Aurors, and they were like the cops, and Saint Mungo's was the hospital, but Wizgamot? What the hell was that?

“Anyway, what charm are you doing again?”

"It's Flippendo. I don't remember how to do it, but I think it's supposed to flip stuff over, or something." She shrugged her shoulders. "I might just give up. That's always easier." She said with a laugh. She wasn't actually joking. She could totally just quit now while she was ahead.

Dessa was careening down the hallway as per usual, bouncing off walls with the kind of energy that needed an outlet fast before it found a different sort of outlet to stick a fork in. Not that there were any of those kinds of outlets in Hogwarts, but Dessa was fairly certain that she'd manage to get into some kind of equal trouble if she tried hard enough.

Her thoughts for possible exploits had just begun to concern the Giant Squid when she heard voices coming from a classroom she'd just passed. Back-stepping, Dessa peered through the window in the door and found a sweet looking Hufflepuff girl who she'd seen around but didn't know very well and...oh joy. Lucy Matthews had returned.

Unsure as to why she'd left in the first place, but not exactly having grieved her absence, Dessa felt her stomach turn all icky at the sight of her rather aggressive housemate, recalling their last encounter. However, if the nice Hufflepuff was willing to spend time with her, perhaps Lucy wasn't feeling particularly evil today? Besides, Dessa was bored, and curious as to Lucy's absence, and even if they weren't exactly buddies it still seemed sensible to greet her returning housemate, so she pushed through the door. "Hiya folks, what's going on?"

“It's not extra help if you never learned it in the first place. It's just regular help,” Kella reasoned as Lucy explained her predicament. If you missed the lesson, you missed the lesson. It didn't make you weak! It made you absent! “But I do think trying to be nicer is... ah... a good idea,” she added, trying to sound casual about the suggestion, like it wasn't personal. She wasn't going to go right out and say that people were put off by Lucy, because she was pretty sure the girl already knew that. Why would she go out of her way to make her feel bad about how she'd acted in the past? That would not help!  The gryffindor seemed pretty serious about this, and Kella had to admit she was impressed. Sometimes she really felt like mean people were just going to be mean forever, so she tended to leave them to their own devices. She still had a lot to learn about people and empathy, but observing the beginning of Lucy's earnest transformation was a good start. She certainly wasn't scared of her now.

”I don't even know half the words she just used. I'm a muggleborn, no clue about any of the Chief stuff.”

“Good. Me either,” Kella admitted with a nervous sort of giggle. She couldn't believe some of these Ravenclaws sometimes! She liked them just fine, but she sometimes had to wonder what schools they'd gone to before Hogwarts that had taught them to talk like unabridged encyclopedias. Something she did know something about, however, was charms. She had a little trouble remembering the incantations, and still struggled with figuring out how to pronounce them in the first place, but she tended to have bit more success when the effects of the spells themselves were memorable. She was getting better as time went on. As long as she didn't have to write an essay about them, she was generally fine.

“Oh, Flipendo? That one's, ah... ah...sort of...” she mimed pushing her hands outward and away from her, trying to indicate that it pushed things away, or back. “It only flips things if you do a really good one. Want me to show you? It's easy!” she exclaimed, not waiting for the other girl to respond. The energetic girl pulled her wand out, carried out the wand motion almost like it was part of a fancy routine, and, without so much as pausing to think about it, she sent the desk careening toward the wall with a SLAM! All of that happened a heartbeat after Dessa showed her face in the doorway, and it wasn't until the desk had settled that she looked up and properly acknowledged the other Gryffindor in the room.

“Hey!” she greeted Dessa, looking quite exhilarated after displaying that spontaneous burst of untamed magic. “Flipendo. Remember that one from our Defense class? I'm showing her,” she explained as she jogged across the room to retrieve the desk and tug it back toward the center of the space. It made a loud grinding noise as she tugged it along, setting it right back where it had started. “I didn't know you meant defense charms at first,” she remarked, turning toward Lucy again. “I wouldn't ever ask Professor Storm for help, either.”