Kitty was in a particularly brutal mood that morning. She'd been called into a professor's office for tormenting two first year Hufflepuff girls but had managed to sweet-talk the teacher into believing otherwise.
"Me, professor? Really? I'm flabbergasted, I would never do such a thing!" Oh how she loved playing the innocent model student. With a wicked little grin on her steely face, her black hair was down, falling around her shoulders in a loose curl. A large violet bow was fastened to the side of her ebony-locked head, and as always, her Slytherin uniform was immaculate. With every short-paced step, her ridiculously high black heels gave a menacing click. One could hear the impending doom seconds before they even saw it, giving them plenty of time to hide.

Three younger Ravenclaw girls passed her in the cold, quiet corridor, Kitty's narrow eyes following them immediately. As usual, the terrified students looked down, ending their conversation abruptly as they felt an ice-cold stare bewitch them, daring not even to breathe. Raising an eyebrow in their direction, she continued on her way; one had to lay down the law every second of the day. All good dictators were consistent with their state - a few lapses could mean a revolution, and that was social suicide.

Placing a delicate hand on the bathroom door, she pushed it open, a black quilted clutch bag tucked under her arm. This trip to the girls' toilets was a daily ritual for Kitty. It was that time of the day when a reapplication of make-up was compulsory: she hated looking young and naive, and so she was rather liberal with the scarlet red lipstick and the heavy black mascara. Walking inside, that menacing smirk that Hogwarts knew too well soon reappeared on her face, immediately pressing her back on the toilet door. There was no escape, not for this regular victim. Looking the girl already in the toilets up and down, their eyes met and Kitty gave an overtly false smile, playing with a lock of her jet black hair.
"Fauna, I never realised that your great grandmother donated you her shoes!" she giggled, gazing down at Miss Blake's rather interesting choice of footwear. "Did your chiropodist recommend those god-awful clogs?"

Fauna stood in front of the mirror, frowning at her reflection. She'd been stressed out and especially nervous this week, all because of the midterms they had to suffer through before tasting freedom. Winter break couldn't come fast enough. She finished washing her hands, ran her fingers through her flat, dry hair, and tried to fix her fringe, which was in desperate need of a trim.

Her face was pale from lack of sleep, so she pulled the tried and true 'pinch the apples of your cheeks' trick. She normally didn't spend much time in front of the mirror or worry about the wrinkles in her uniform, but who knew whom she might run into! And by whom, she meant Devlin Matthews. The boy she'd started dating since Sunday.

A silly little smile crept up on her face, then vanished when the door of the loo swung open and revealed the evil (and fashionable) Kitty Li!

Fauna caught her eye in the mirror, then turned away from the sink when the fifth-year leaned against the door and looked her up and down in that overly critical, searching for flaws kind of way.

She started smoothing out her uniform before she even thought about it, and her face flushed when Kitty let out an annoying titter and insulted her footwear.

Fauna glanced down at her shoes. Were they that bad?

She crossed her arms defensively and shrugged. "They're... comfortable," she mumbled, moving towards the exit.

"Are you going to stand there all day? Someone could... you know, come in and knock you over," Fauna stated the obvious, half-hoping that would happen.

"Comfortable? Oh, wow!" Kitty sarcastically replied, her false wide grin full of cruel intentions. "Because we all know that fashion means practicality over style. Good work, Fauna!" Patting her hair elegantly, she leant against the door, ensuring that her bow was in place. She held her clutch bag with both hands in front of her, gazing at Fauna critically, tilting her head in thought.
"Y'know Fauna, you have such pretty eyes, why hide it behind that god awful fringe? You look like an Old English Sheepdog."

As Fauna made a comment about her position in front of the door, Kitty raised an eyebrow, not sure if Fauna was trying to insult her or indeed considering her well-being. Since Miss Li was hardly one of the nice girls, she had to presume it was the latter and shook her head nonchalantly.
"Whatever, Fauna."

She approached the bathroom sinks and looked in the mirror, stood next to Fauna and opening her clutch bag. Taking out some bright red lipstick, she carefully painted them in that sinful hue, glancing at Fauna next to her in the mirror's reflection.
"Why are you so bothered about your appearance anyway? You're not normally," she muttered, almost shuddering at Fauna's disinterest in style and fashion. Pausing for a moment, she twisted her lipstick back into the black holder, and squinted. "Please don't tell me you're trying to impress someone." Kitty almost scoffed.

Fauna's face flushed a brighter pink. She liked her fringe. It just needed a trim, that was all. There was nothing wrong with her hair, except that winter made it a bit dry. And static-y. And flat.

But that was what hats were for!

Despite Kitty's insults, Fauna could pick out a compliment hidden somewhere, and that was the comment about her pretty eyes. Those pretty eyes gave Kitty a wary look. What was this? The girl was acting like Neely, throwing insults at her and sprinkling it with confusing praise.

It must be some new tactic from the fifth-years to make her life miserable. That had to be it.

When Kitty finally moved away from the door and towards the mirror to reapply her lipstick, Fauna eagerly stepped towards the exit, only to pause when Kitty addressed her again.

She stared at her a moment. Perhaps Kitty hadn't heard who Fauna was dating, which made things easier. Fauna just needed to deny, deny, deny.

"I'm not...  bothered," she insisted, self-consciously tucking her hair behind her ears. "I'm... there's no reason for me to want to impress anyone," she continued nervously, glancing at the door. "Some boys, some people like me for who I am..." she trailed off, reminded of the mortifying encounter she'd had with Vienna and Gavin earlier in the year, when Vienna had criticised her appearance and clothes and told her that Devlin wasn't going to stick around unless she changed.

Well, Fauna thought, it was December now, and not only had Devlin stuck around, he'd asked her out! That had to count for something.

Wednesdays were rather light days for for Maeve Whitman. Typically, because of the way that her schedule was set up, she didn't roll out of bed before the sun shined. This was helped tremendously by the big, thick emerald colored drapes that covered the many windows of her dorm room. The other Seventh Year girls who roomed with her knew better than to draw them before she had risen of her own volition. To do so would be to risk the wrath of the Wicked Witch of Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, someone must not have informed some of the younger Slytherin girls of this one crucial unspoken decree. Shortly after breakfast, Maeve's Ravenclaw sister, Carys, had requested that a note be left for the oldest Whitman. The unsuspecting third year, believing that Maeve would want her message immediately, had scampered off to deliver it.

Upon waking the sleeping blonde beauty, the younger Slytherin was scolded so severely that she didn't think she would ever complain again about the harshness of any professors at the school. This premature wake up call and her subsequent simmering temper had spoiled Maeve's ability to return to sleep so she had thrown off her covers and set about getting dressed.

After what seemed like hours, Maeve was finally ready to leave the Slytherin dorms, even though she knew there were several hours until her first class was scheduled to begin.

Eventually, Maeve had decided to head to the Library, in the off chance that she might see Callum or maybe even Ava. She could even stomach the idea of being there on her own to maybe work on some midterm studying.

En route to the House of Books, Maeve decided to stop off in the lavatory, only for once she wasn't interested freshening up. She legitimately had to go.

Perhaps it was from being woken at such an awful hour or perhaps it was because she just did not care much about the outside world, but it took Maeve a moment to realize what exactly she was walking into as soon as she passed through the doors of the girls lavatory.

She had been wearing sunglasses, even though it was in the dead of winter, mainly to conceal how tired she was, despite all of the makeup she wore to help in that endeavor. Maeve pushed the glasses up so that they essentially served as headband, keeping her bevy of blond hair out of her eyes, and glanced from one girl to the other.

Her eyes settled first on the young Kitty Li, a Slytherin girl whom Maeve had become quite fond of over the years, since they had quite a bit in common. Then Maeve's eyes shifted to regard the dubious Hufflepuff, Fauna Blake. Maeve wanted to believe that thing she and Fauna had in common was that they were Seventh Years. Nothing more, nothing less.

Regardless, her head hurt just looking at the girl and the elder Slytherin brought the tips of her fingers up to graze her temple. Was she still asleep? Surely she was and this was a nightmare.
Apparently, Maeve had walked in amidst a little scuffle between the two girls, catching Fauna's last comments about not wanting to impress anyone and how boys liked her for who she was.

Maeves brows shot up skeptically at this line of thinking and it was on her tongue to say something. Debating whether it was worth it to do so, Maeve brushed past her frazzled looking classmate and headed towards a stall. It was her fervent hope that Kitty had more patience to enlighten Fauna on how that was a flawed argument, because after seven years, Maeve's reserves had officially been tapped. But before closing the stall door behind her, Maeve gaily called out, "Why am I not convinced, Fauna Blake?"

"Because she's lying, Maeve," Kitty loudly replied, her eyes still on Fauna, examining and silently judging. She tittered a little, turning back to the mirror and pursing her lips inwards to settle her lipstick. Smoothing her delicate fingers through her hair, she exhaled a long sharp breath of air, checking the ends of her jet black locks. Still perfect. As always. Kitty turned around for a moment, confirming that Maeve was indeed in one of the stalls. She was an older Slytherin, but Kitty admired her superiority complex and the pure terror she struck into student hearts. It was the same personality model that Kitty had purchased since birth.

Something clicked in Kitty's devious little head, and she placed her make-up on the sink counter abruptly, turning to Fauna with an open mouth in shock.
"Devlin Matthews, I completely forgot," Kitty giggled, rolling her eyes. How on earth was someone like Devlin seeing a square like Fauna? He had that sort of rugged, brutish charm that Kitty had always secretly admired, but Fauna? She had boxy shoes and scraggy hair. "I heard a few Ravenclaws talking about. Done the deed yet, or waiting for that perfect moment?" Kitty's voice was purposefully mocking and sarcastic; it was her aim in life to embarrass and belittle those she considered inferior.

"Better do it quick either way, Fauna, with those shoes I'm surprised anyone even wants to talk to you," Kitty muttered, turning back to the mirror and admiring her own reflection. Dabbing some black eyeshadow around her narrow brown eyes, she applied her cosmetics with the utmost precision.

Fauna nearly let out an aggravated groan when Maeve Whitman waltzed in and headed for a toilet stall, calling out her two sickles on the way. Kitty and Maeve had seen right through Fauna's attempts at denial. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

Then Kitty let out a malicious giggle and nailed exactly what Fauna was trying to hide. Her face turned ten shades of scarlet when the Slytherin mentioned 'doing the deed' and went on to insult her.

Heart racing, she gave a fierce shake of her head and glared at Kitty's reflection in the mirror. "I've been dating him for less than-" a week, Fauna started to say, then cut herself off, realizing she was just making it worse. Honestly though, she wasn't about to do more than snog in that short period of time.

She crossed and recrossed her arms, knowing she should just walk out right now, while Maeve was in the toilet stall. But Kitty looked so damn smug! And because of what? Superior footwear?

"Right, because my shoes are so important," she burst out. "I might have split ends and crap shoes and... whatever, but at least I know Devlin actually likes me." It wasn't as if the boy had some scheme up his sleeve. He'd been flirting with her since May!

"I mean, how do you know boys don't just like you for your... dramatic eyeshadow?" Her tone was defensive, annoyed, but not mocking in the same way that Kitty's had been.

Was she even making sense? Fauna wasn't sure. She was just sick of Kitty preening in front of the mirror and sticking her nose up at the mere mortals.

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled the blonde from behind the stall door. Whether Fauna Blake deluded herself really did not occupy too much of her time on a regular basis, but Maeve could hardly deny that the girl's fashion sense and her tendency to be a klutz had been a regularly occurring phenomenon in seven years at the school. Just as bad as that hot-headed Gryffindor mudblood, Grace Eddy. The whole lot of their kind probably sat around thinking of ways  to vandalize Hogwarts with their atrocious ways.

Again, just thinking about them made Maeve's head ache a little more. Instead of using the loo, she had her forehead pressed gently against the stall door, eyes closed as she half listened to the two other girls continue to speak. Her lids only snapped open when Kitty spoke of Devlin Matthew's name, the conversation suddenly becoming more interesting.

Devlin and Fauna? Surely it was a joke, right? What on earth was wrong with him? Had she taught Devlin nothing at all before they had parted ways? Which had really been a shame, but it was a necessary evil seeing as they came from completely different worlds. But still. If he couldn't be with her, couldn't he at least aspire to more than Fauna Blake? Surely there were more suitable girls for the likes of Devlin Matthews, right?

What could the girl possibly offer him?

And then it occurred to her what this must be for him. A conquest! Or a delicious little game.

Bravo! she silently intoned with a giddy little smile. What a lovely idea, indeed!

When talk turned to doing the deed, Maeve flung open the stall door and lounged against the door frame, not even minding that it could be quite disgusting. She folded her arms over her chest and watched Fauna's reaction to Kitty's inquisition.

Oh this was rich.

"Dating Devlin Matthews?" It was said innocently enough and surprisingly without a trace of mocking. But that was lurking beneath and it would only be a matter of time before it came out. Maeve smiled cooly at her Hufflepuff classmate. "And shoes and hair are important, Fauna. More than you think. Guys are all about looks. All about this." Maeve quickly indicated to the length of her body. "What we are. Women."

She stepped away from the stall and walked around Fauna where she stood. "And sure....dramatic eyeshadow and clothes and how you do your hair all seem so....trivial. But if guys have to spend all their time chipping away at that--" Now Maeve pointed to Fauna's monstrosity of an outfit. "--They'll lose interest pretty quickly. And Devlin probably quicker than most." Whether that comment was entirely true or not, Maeve didn't care. She simply loved the idea of placing more doubt in Fauna's mind. Then her expression brightened superficially and she exclaimed, "But hey! Since you're going to be doing the deed soon, that should help your chances of keeping his attention longer! And if he comes back for more, then you'll for sure know that he really likes you."

"If Devlin is happy with a country bumpkin square, then who am I to judge?" Kitty laughed, completely ignoring Fauna's remarks. Kitty didn't think she was superior, she knew it, and fashion and appearance obviously cemented her haughty notion. Kitty had never been known to have a large group of friends, quite the opposite in fact. She was comrades with a selective and exclusive group that Kitty considered equals in terms of personality and style; the rest of the Hogwarts masses feared and secretly hated her. Kitty always knew that her popularity at the school would be rooted from her position as a tyrannical despot rather than that of a queen of sunshine and smiles, like Violet. All that cheer and hospitality made her want to vomit.

As Maeve came out the toilet stall, Kitty glanced up at the ceiling, biting her bottom lip in excitement. Miss Whitman had been an inspiration for Kitty ever since she started at Hogwarts, and the cruel seventh year had warmly taken the younger student under her wing. As a fellow Queen Bee, the two were friends, and more importantly, taunted countless people together.

"I mean, think about it, Fauna," Kitty interjected, keen to cultivate the seeds of doubt that Maeve had sown. "He's been with girls like Waker, and Maeve; figures of pure beauty and elegance. I'd say your look is more... dowdy, than anything. Maybe you should be more serious about it, you're obviously not his type."

It had been ages since anyone had made fun of Fauna's West Country 'bumpkin' origins, but she supposed she should have expected it from Kitty. Though she didn't have a posh accent or smart clothes, she certainly didn't say 'ooh arr' or throw around too many North Devon phrases! At least, it had been a very long time!

When Maeve opened the stall door and leaned against the frame, Fauna knew she was in for it. Maeve began her little speech about shoes and hair, then circled around Fauna like a shark, telling her that Devlin was sure to lose interest in her quickly. Fauna's face flushed and she glanced down, a lump forming in her throat. Why did these girls have to ruin it? Why did they care so much that she was dating Devlin?

It must be because of his popularity, because they believed he deserved better, she thought. She shook her head and swallowed as Maeve further embarrassed her, mentioning that if she 'did the deed', he might just come back for more.

"I'm not..." she interrupted heatedly, growing more and more upset. Fauna wished she knew the unspoken rules of this whole dating thing, anyway. Would her new boyfriend want her to... do the deed in a specific amount of time? Why hadn't anyone told her this? She and Devlin had only been dating for a few days, but all this talk made her very worried about future expectations.

Fauna felt like a duffer around these girls. She'd only just begun snogging boys, one boy in particular, and hadn't thought much more beyond that. Clearly, Maeve and Kitty and the rest of the female seventh-year population had more experience than she did, and they weren't shy about it, either.

Then Kitty cut in, criticising Fauna's appearance again, but that wasn't what Fauna focused on. She'd said that Devlin had been with girls like Waker and Maeve. What?! She stared at Maeve in horror, wanting but not wanting to know if 'been with' meant exactly what she thought it did. Obviously, she knew Devlin had dated girls before her, but she preferred to think of them as dust bunnies under her bed, shoved behind her trunk and mostly ignored. Suddenly, this dust bunny had grown to epic proportions and was taking over the loo, Godzilla-style.

"No. No way," there was a catch in Fauna's throat as she glared at the girls. "Devlin would never... not you!" she exclaimed accusingly at Maeve, face flushed with envy and anger.

As Kitty spoke, Maeve did little more than wear a sweet little smile on her lips. Young Kitty would soon learn that there was hardly a need to make waves with what you said when everything you did made it happen anyway. Maeve knew that people hated her; that had been ongoing since first year.

The mention of Waker in the same sentence as her was cause for annoyance. Waker's style was pretty enough, but the Ravenclaw was such a goody-goody. Surely the reason  Waker and Devlin had not worked was because she was too good for the devilish man.

Kitty did have a point. If Waker wasn't his type and in the long run Maeve hadn't been his type because of their differing blood purity, then Fauna had no chance. In the Devil's hell, that was for sure.

And again, the Slytherin blonde concluded that this must be a little game that Devlin was playing on the Hufflepuff before her. He must know everything that Kitty just pointed out.

As all these thoughts crossed her mind, the one thing that didn't was the idea that Fauna might not know about her being with Devlin at one point. Maeve thought back to when that had been....End of fifth year? Early sixth? That must've been when girls like Fauna and Grace Eddy were oblivious to boys or intent on being friends with them.

It was rather pathetic, actually.

And what was equally pathetic was Fauna's reaction now. Maeve was quickly getting bored and she looked down at a splayed hand, admiring her nails and wondering when she should next paint them.

Finally, seeing Fauna so upset, Maeve burst out with obvious condescension, "Of course Devlin has been with me! What did you expect? Boys like him to wait for things like you to learn how to use their breasts and feminine wiles?" Maeve now sent Fauna a look that all but said what she could have said in a disdainful, Puh-lease. "Do yourself a favor, Fauna Blake. You should make yourself a to-do list. In fact, you should make that a Do NOW list. Get yourself a clue about what guys want. Fix your clothes. Fix your hair....fix everything about you and maybe....just maybe....you'll end up being what Devlin wants. "

"Oh Fauna, please don't start crying," Kitty sighed with disgust, rolling her eyes. You can't even tease a seventh year these days without them welling up! Placing both hands on the wash basin counter behind her, she hoisted herself up, crossing one leg over the other as a heeled foot bobbed up and down with anticipation. It was so much more fun harassing nobodies like Fauna Blake then going to lessons; her grades had always been above average, but academia wasn't for Kitty. She wanted her name in lights; famous singer, politician, designer - anything. Kitty wanted fame one way or another. Hogwarts had given her a dose of this; the masses feared her rather than adored her. It was better to be known as a bitch than to not be known at all, right?

"You didn't seriously think that you and Devlin were a perfect match?" she asked, her harsh tone getting more patronising and sarcastic by the second. She opened her mouth and widened her eyes, looking towards Maeve with a face of faux sympathy, a hand clutched to her heart. "Oh Maeve, she thinks Devlin loves her for being so god damn quirky!" Kitty let out a chuckle, rolling her head back, her laughter wicked and torturous. If Kitty had one evening with Fauna she could be one of the greatest looking girls at Hogwarts; she needed her hair cutting and a massive transplant of style, but there was potential. Either way, it wasn't like Fauna would ever accept such an invitation, and Kitty knew it'd be social suicide to start bumping shoulders with somebody like her.

"Devlin is like every other half-decent red-blooded male here," Kitty theorised, acting like an authority when her own experience was actually very limited. "Just because you're too prudish to give in, doesn't mean that other girls aren't willing to. He's a hottie, and I'm still shocked that he'd even go for the likes of you." Kitty was getting carried away with Maeve there, and she saw her friend as a compliment to her own brutality rather than a catalyst. Girls could be so cruel.

Merlin, she hated these girls. She hated them from the tips of their upturned noses down to the ends of those spiked heels. Fauna glared at the two of them, tears brimming in her eyes, as she thought about everything they'd just said. She wanted to wipe away the telltale blush from her cheeks and the tremble to her mouth, and scream at them, hex them even, but the lump in her throat blocked the words.

Maeve, Kitty, Vienna, and Neely. They'd all told her at some point during the semester that she needed to change who she was to keep Devlin around. That she had to 'fix' things, that she somehow wasn't good enough. Boys like him to wait for things like you... that statement would stick with her for a long, long while.

And Merlin, he'd been with Maeve!  Maeve, the embodiment of sophistication and class. It made her feel sick. She couldn't compete with that, she thought. Kitty had pointed out that she didn't have anything to offer. So why did Devlin like her in the first place, and why would he stay?

A small voice piped up in her head, reminding her that she was a nice person, that she was good at some things, and made him smile. But that little bit of confidence was soon overwhelmed by feelings of doubt and self-pity.

She swallowed and lowered her gaze. "I don't know why you two care so much, anyway," she mumbled, voice thick. "I've only been dating him for... less than a week. He asked me out," Fauna said, looking up again.

But that didn't matter. At some point, she'd have to worry about 'giving in', as Kitty put it, and apparently it would be sooner than she thought.

A crack split through the very thin mask she'd put up, showing just how uncertain and upset she felt, and Fauna turned away quickly, unable to face them. "Just leave me alone," she muttered under her breath, tempted to run out of the loo, but hoping the girls would go first. She planned on hiding in a stall until she could face the rest of the student population again.

Maeve chuckled at Kitty's sarcastic plea that Fauna not cry. The fifth year was well on her way to being deliciously evil, in quite a different way from her classmate, Neely Woolfolk. Both girls were lovely little Queen Bees in the making, meaning that Hogwarts would would in fine hands for years to come.

Maeve was tempted to return to the bathroom stall and allow Kitty to continue her verbal assault on the helpless Hufflepuff. But since she had no plan of actually using the bathroom, she decided to retrieve her bag and at least touch up her make up while the conversation ensued.

She plopped the designer bag down on the counter and went to work, half an ear listening to Kitty continuing to jab at Fauna's looks. Maeve was touching up the rouge on her lips when Kitty spoke about Devlin's tastes. Not that Kitty would know all of his tastes, but what she said wasn't far from the most relevant of it. She paused the lipstick in midair as she waited for a response from Fauna.

For the briefest of moments, Fauna's words melted a bit of the icy-ness that surrounded Maeve Whitman's heart. She actually felt sorry for the dark haired girl and all of her delusions. But then the ice froze even colder.

Biting her lip and fluttering her eyes closed for a beat, Maeve finally looked over to her Hufflepuff classmate with her head bowed. Then the Slytherin intoned, "That's just the thing, Fauna. At the heart of it all, we don't care. We don't care if Devlin uses you as just another girl he may see as a notch in his list of conquests. We don't care if he uses you and tosses you to the side in order to pursue the next one. And no, we certainly don't care if he leaves you an emotional wreck." Finally, in her sweetest, sing-song voice, Maeve told Fauna, "So, of course, we'll be happy to leave you alone for all of that!"

"He asked you out because he's had most other girls, moron," Kitty giggled, rolling her eyes in a way that would suggest she was far wiser than her years. Truth betold, Kitty knew little of relationships, and lust, and teenage emotions and boys, but Kitty had convinced even herself that she was an ultimate master of knowledge. This pretence of Kitty allowed her to bully others like Fauna in such a belittling way - she was a queen, and it was better to run a kingdom with an iron fist. It was always the right tactic.

Kitty admiringly looked at Maeve applying makeup; she was an inspiration. Everything about her reeked of superior iciness. She knew how to handle her enemies, how to quash her foes and how to keep all the good-looking boys on tenterhooks. When Kitty was a doe-eyed first year, Maeve had warmly taken the hatchling bitch under her wing, and taught her the tricks of the trade. She'd moulded Kitty into the future queen bee of Hogwarts.

"Maeve's right," Kitty said, shrugging one shoulder nonchalantly. "We don't care, Fauna. Just don't be surprised when your name is all over Hogwarts for getting with the Ravenclaw lothario and getting all upset over it. Honestly, I can see it now." She looked at Maeve, theatrically widening her eyes and twisting one lock of hair around her finger comically. "He told me he loved me!" She immediately burst into fits of laughter at her own taunting of Fauna, finishing with a snort. "Bleh, you're pathetic."