Wednesday, late afternoon.


Fauna sat curled up on one half of the couch in the Hufflepuff common room, her books and other materials spread out over the rest of the seat. Quill in hand, she sketched a drawing for Herbology, trying to get a head start on the work she knew she'd be missing tomorrow. Tomorrow was when she'd go to the Ministry at noon for the testing process. Fauna half-suspected Bagnold had picked noon just to spite her, since it seemed unreasonably early before sundown.

She let out a sigh and bent her head over her work. One of the SAWS members had recently pointed out that at least she'd get to see how werewolves were actually treated during the full moon, but Fauna would have liked that to have been on her own terms. Like interviewing the Hogsmeade businesses had been. Maybe she'd see the silver lining later, but right now, stewing in her misery sounded like a good plan.

A shadow fell across the parchment on her lap. Fauna glanced up and noticed Winnie standing there. Without a word, she simply moved her materials on the couch to the floor, assuming the third-year needed a place to sit. She didn't smile, or ask how the girl was, or really even look at her. She was too wrapped up in her work and her stewing.

Winnie had heard all about the fact that Fauna Blake had to go to the ministry and stay there because they thought she was a werewolf. It had made Winifred feel awful about everything, and she felt like she just needed to talk to her and tell her that she was sorry for ever thinking it was true and for not stopping everyone from gossiping (like Sophie had told her).

So she went to find her, and didn't have to go far- locating the seventh year in their own common room. She stood there, fidgeting awkwardly, and without her having to say anything Fauna moved her stuff to give Winifred a place to sit. So she sat- and cleared her throat quietly, looking at Fauna with wide eyes.

"Fauna, I really need to talk to you about something very important and I know you're busy and that you have a lot of stuff to do but it would only take just a few minutes I swear!" Winifred already sounded strained with her first few sentences. It wouldn't be long before she was crying if Winnie didn't manage to get a handle on her emotions. (Unlikely, Winnie was never good at that.)

Winne cleared her throat, and just as Fauna thought that maybe Winne didn't only need a place to sit, the third-year started babbling in a strained voice that hinted at tears to come.

Fauna bit back a groan and glanced up from her work with an exasperated expression. She was used to Winnie's frequent emotional outbursts, and normally she tolerated them and even found the girl endearing in a 'gotta stick by the Hufflepuffs' kind of way. Right now, however, Fauna assumed that Winne wanted to talk to her about something silly and inconsequential, and she wished Winnie would go find Ayla or someone her own age to hear her out.

"What do you need?" She said warily, holding her quill a few inches above the parchment as if she were ready to start sketching and ignore her again.

Fauna looked around the common room none too discreetly, hoping she might be able to point her towards another third-year as soon as she could get away with it.

Winifred couldn't help it anymore. She just had to let it all out! (And let it all out very loudly and in the most dramatic fashion available, of course.) "IT'S ALL MY FAULT THAT EVERYONE THINKS YOU ARE A WEREWOLF AND THAT YOU HAVE TO GO SIT IN A CAGE TO PROVE TO THEM THAT YOU AREN'T!" she wailed loudly, throwing herself onto the older student- clinging tightly.

"I'M SO SORRY FAUNA! I DIDN'T MEAN TO GET YOU INTO TROUBLE. I HEARD THE OTHER THIRD YEARS TALKING ABOUT IT AND I DIDN'T TELL THEM TO SHUT UP ABOUT IT LIKE I SHOULD HAVE! PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOREVERRRRRRRR!" Winifred let go of her then, and scooted as far as away as she could, curling up into the opposite corner of the couch, chewing the bottom of her lip, tears streaming down her face.

"I- I- I- I- didn't kn-kn-know that you would g-g-g-get put in werewolf jail because of it!" she added, much quieter this time. "I swear I didn't tell anyone other than Soph-Sophie." She hiccuped. "At your party. And she told me not to tell anyone else and I swear I didn't! But I should have hit Bah-Bah-Baxter Fox in the head with a broom when he kept telling people ab-b-bout it!"

Oh Merlin, no. Make it stop. Now she knew how Figaro and Fergie had felt when she'd bawled on them. Winnie was like a muggle alarm that kept blaring... one of those that had rolled off on the floor so you'd have to jump up and chase it. As the girl hugged her, Fauna froze and glanced around the common room for help.

Her face turned beet red as she processed what Winnie was saying. It was an awfully confusing ramble, first Winnie saying it was all her fault, and then saying that she hadn't spread the rumor at all and wanted to hit Baxter. The last part Fauna could relate to.

"Shhh, it's okay!" Fauna patted Winnie's elbow from the opposite side of the couch, hunching her shoulders to reach her. Her eyes had a panicked look and her head started to pound.

Fauna didn't feel prepared to face this emotional onslaught when she herself felt moody and unhinged. Though she was somewhat sympathetic towards the third-year, she still wished that Winnie would have found someone else to blubber on before trying to apologize. Now, instead of focusing on the apology properly, she needed to calm her down somehow.

Sighing, she scooted slightly closer to her. "Look, it's really okay," Fauna matched Winnie's quieter tone.

"It's only one night. They don't call it a jail, even. They have newer holding cells anyway. They're just cells," Fauna tried her best to sound reassuring.

"There are a lot of, um... reasons that led up to it, and, well, you and me don't have any control over them. Well, I kinda did when Bagnold questioned me. But you didn't. If you didn't help spread the rumor, that's really good, you know?" Fauna told her with a hint of suspicion, assuming that Winnie felt so guilty because she had contributed in some way.

"It isn't jail?" Winifred repeated- feeling at least a little better about that. Winnie had pictured Fauna somewhere like Azkaban with a bunch of scary werewolves. Alone and cold and miserable- and that was an awful thing to think about! But as always, the Hufflepuff had a vivid imagination that likes to run away with her sensibilities. But at least Fauna said that it was going to be okay. She said it wasn't going to be that bad.

But she couldn't understand how there were a lot of reasons that it had happened. Was Fauna really a werewolf? No, she couldn't be. And in Winnie's mind that was the only valid reason that could lead up to her getting questioned and held in a cell throughout the full moon. Poor, poor Fauna!

And Winifred really hadn't told anyone after talking to Sophie. She had heard others talk about it- had participated in the conversations- but hadn't been the one to say GUESS WHO IS A WEREWOLF! Which was big for Winnie. She usually told everyone everything that she thought she knew.

"I wish we could make them leave you alone," Winifred added. "You shouldn't have to go if you aren't a werewolf. It isn't fair!" Maybe... "I could owl my uncle! And make him beat up the entire ministry so that you can stay here at Hogwarts instead of going to werewolf jail!" It might not be jail, but she didn't know what else to call it. In the Hufflepuff's mind if you were in a cell you were in jail. They were one and the same. "He could do it! He's awesome like that."

Fauna's feeling of panic and irritation started to ebb away when it seemed that Winnie had calmed down. Thank Merlin! No more tears, no more taking the blame for this huge mess. Even if Winnie had gossiped a little, this werewolf debacle couldn't be put on her shoulders. That was what Fauna meant by a lot of reasons leading to this. A single person couldn't be blamed... Fauna liked to spread it out a little. Namely on Bagnold, Baxter, and Sasha. Herself sometimes too, as much as she hated to admit it.

Her face softened and she let out a chuckle when Winnie offered to ask Radley to beat up the whole Ministry. Now that would be amusing. She almost wanted to see what Winnie would write.

She shook her head and smiled slightly. "I bet he could, you know. But... it's okay," she nudged Winnie's arm. "I don't think I'll have to stay there the whole night anyway. Well, I'll have to be at the Ministry. But from what I remember from interning, they let you out of the cell if you're not really a werewolf. I'll only have to be in there... fifteen minutes, tops? Easy enough," she nodded, making herself feel better as she tried to make Winnie feel better.

"If I see Bagnold there, though," she trailed off, scowling.

"You could tell Radley to give him a hard time," she said cheerfully, face brightening at the thought. Everybody wins! Winnie would feel helpful, Fauna would be entertained by the idea, Bagnold would be annoyed, Radley would be put in the middle of her problems - ok, so maybe not everyone. Still. Something held her back from telling Winnie that she was mostly joking.

"Are you sure?" Winnie pressed. "My Uncle Archer would do anything that I asked him to," she added. "And I know that he'd probably like to beat up people for being mean to someone who is still in school. Uncle Archer doesn't like people who are mean." Whether Fauna wanted her to do it or not, she was going to write to her uncle and tell him he needed to beat everybody up who had made Fauna go to jail. She bet it would be funny to watch Baxter get beat up by her uncle. But- then again- Baxte'rs dad was an auror too. Not that his dad could beat up her uncle. It was impossible to beat Uncle Archer up.

Only fifteen minutes? "Well... that doesn't sound too bad," Winifred conceded. "But still, it's not fair. If you were a werewolf I think that everyone would know that by now. I mean you can't become a werewolf by kissing! Sophie told me so." Well, Sophie had kind of told her so. "I would kiss a werewolf if he was really, very good looking." Probably not helping but... she was trying.

And then Fauna said that she could ask her uncle to give someone a hard time! Baggynold. Winifred would remember that name. "I'll tell him!" she agreed enthusiastically. "I will tell him to give Baggynold a very hard time and tell him to beat him up and make him wish he wasn't so mean to you!" That would at least make Winifred feel a lot better about everything. However mean and selfish that might be of her. "Is there anyone else you want him to beat up?" Winifred asked. "Maybe he could beat up Sasha and Baxter, too?"

Winnie was managing to cheer Fauna up in her own way. Hearing things like 'Uncle Archer doesn't like people who are mean' and that Winnie would kiss a werewolf if he were good-looking made Fauna's shoulders shake with repressed laughter. She hid her mouth with her hand as she listened to Winnie, unable to resist smiling.

But she let out a loud laugh at the name 'Baggynold'. Priceless! Absolutely priceless. She needed to remember that one.

The idea of Radley reading Winnie's next letter was almost too funny to bear. Fauna didn't discourage her. But she did send Radley a silent, mental apology.

"Eh, no, that's okay," Fauna waved her off when she suggested that Radley beat up Sasha and Baxter as well. They were just joking around (even about Bagnold), but Fauna didn't want Winnie to get too enthusiastic about this.

"I mean, I kinda wanted to curse Baxter when he confronted me. But I didn't." She'd just sputtered at him and stormed off. Not very impressive.

"I did kinda curse at Sasha in letters. Oh well," Fauna shrugged, feeling a slight prickle of guilt and discomfort.

"I can handle the students. Radley can handle the whole Ministry," she decided, giving her an amused smile.

Winifred perked up when Fauna finally said that she could let her uncle beat up the whole ministry. "He would!" she assured her friend. "And he'd do a really good job. He's so mean that he can't even talk to me about how mean he can be!" At least that was what Winifred had decided. Archer wouldn't ever talk about work with her- she figured it was because he didn't want her to be afraid of him. At least, that was what she thought now that she was older.

"Well, I guess cursing at Sasha isn't as bad as cursing him. And you know- sometimes people say things when they're mad, that they normally wouldn't say. I don't think you're bad for cursing at Sasha. And... I wouldn't think you were bad, even if you were a werewolf. I'd buy you a pretty collar and a cute werewolf dress," Winnie grinned.

"I think, though, that it says a lot about you, Fauna- that you didn't get mad, and curse people and stuff. People always think bad of Hufflepuffs. But I think you make people like us more," she said quietly. It was odd for Winifred to get overly emotional. But she meant it. "I think a lot of us want to be more like you. You're brave and smart and you're nice. There aren't many nice people when you grow up- at least that's what my family always tells me. It's good, to be nice."

Winnie talking about buying her a pretty collar made her wince and shake her head, but she smiled anyway, understanding that she was young and certainly didn't mean any harm by it. There was a big difference between Winnie joking about 'werewolf dresses' and 'Baggynold' purposefully trying to make people uncomfortable.

Regardless of how she said it, Fauna appreciated that Winnie wouldn't care even if she were a werewolf.

What Winnie told her next caused Fauna to blink at her in surprise, face flushing. She glanced down, mortified but moved. "Um... thanks! Thank you."

That was one of the kindest things anyone had ever said to her. Some people wanted to be like her? Fauna cleared her throat and fiddled with her socks, giving her a shrug and another smile.

"Well, you know, it helps when I've got you lot," she glanced around the room. She now believed that Winnie really hadn't gossiped about her. Even Fig, despite the song, tried to be there in his own way.

"Hufflepuffs are just... we're awesome because we stick together," she mused aloud. "And people see it as weak sometimes, like relying on other people is weak because you're not going it alone, or something. That's bollocks. Us sticking up for each other... that's where the strength comes from."

Fauna fell silent for a moment and then shrugged again, though she'd meant what she'd said.

Winifred smiled. "I think it's good that we stick together, and that we are friends," she agreed. "My daddy- he always taught me that there was nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it. And I think he's right. My dad- he doesn't know much, he's a squib- but I think he knows more than a lot of other people give him credit for."

"You know, when I got sorted- the hat thought about putting me into Gryffindor. It said that I have courage- or something like that. I sat there, with that stupid hat whispering in my ear, and I asked it to put me into Hufflepuff. My uncle was in Hufflepuff- and so was Earnest. I wanted to be in Hufflepuff. I told my brother that once- my brother Zeke- and he made fun of me. He said that nobody wants to be in Hufflepuff- that it's a stupid house, and it's only for stupid people." Winnie wasn't sure why she was telling Fauna this- but she felt like saying it. It just felt right.

"I cried," she confessed. "I wished that maybe I had told the hat I wanted to be in Gryffindor. But... I'm glad that I'm not. I'm glad that I'm a Hufflepuff, and I'm glad that me and you are friends, Fauna. And I'm glad that you make people like us more. You know- even Professor O Morain likes us because of you, and he's probably the meanest man that I have ever met."

Winifred randomly hugged Fauna again, and pulled away smiling. "I think that we'll all miss you when you graduate, Fauna. And I feel really bad- because we're supposed to stick together- and I didn't stand up for you, like I should have. That's what courage is, you know. Maybe the sorting hat was wrong..."

Fauna tilted her head and listened as Winnie told her how she'd been sorted into Hufflepuff, surprised she was confiding in her, but grateful for it. Lately, she'd felt unable to listen to her friends, to be there for them, because she was so stressed out. So she tried to listen as best she could to Winnie, raising her eyebrows slightly when she said that the hat had considered Gryffindor, and looking sympathetic about Zeke's comment.

She ducked her head when Winnie complimented her again, flattered that Winnie saw her in such a good light.

"He's not--" Fauna cut herself off and accepted the hug, deciding now was not the time to launch into a defense of Professor O Morain.

Her face softened. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's... you didn't participate in the rumor. That's a good thing."

Fauna glanced away, struggling to find the right words.

"Sometimes you have to, well, pick your battles. I don't expect anyone to... yell or hex people when they call me a werewolf. In some cases it makes things worse. I'm proud of you for not saying anything that added to it. For not drawing more attention to it."

This was a really big thing for Winnie, Hufflepuff's resident gossip. And Fauna just wanted people to stop talking about it to other people, whether they were sticking up for her or spreading the news.

"I'm glad you're a Hufflepuff, too. Hufflepuffs can have courage. Maybe not in the 'in your face' way, but... doesn't make it less." Fauna tried to give her a reassuring smile.

Winifred grinned. Fauna was so nice. "After you graduate, I'll probably pelt you with owls asking for advice," she said. "You seem to know a lot about things. I guess that happens whenever you get older and stuff. Maybe when I'm a seventh year I can be friends with the younger kids too, and help them out like you help us out." Wouldn't that be something, to be looked up to? There were definitely worse role models than Fauna Blake.

"Well, Fauna, when you get back everyone will have to shut up. So that at least is good. And people will feel really dumb." She didn't know what else to say about that in general.

In fact, Winnie wasn't sure what to say at all at this point. "I would probably blow myself up if I tried to hex someone anyway. I'm getting a little bit better, though. Joshua Harcroft has been tutoring me some with my wand work. It's gotten a lot better since I started working on it. I'm still not great or anything- but I definitely don't do as poorly as I used to do. It doesn't take me as long to get a spell right and stuff. Which is good."

"Well- I guess, since you're leaving for werewolf jail and stuff tomorrow- I should let you get what you were working on done. I don't want to distract you from what you were doing. Thanks for... talking and being so great, Fauna."

Fauna stifled a laugh when Winnie said that she seemed to know a lot about things, and that she'd write to her once she'd graduated. She remembered feeling that way when she'd been younger - that all the older kids knew everything. It was one of the greatest seventh-year myths. She was glad she'd managed to make her feel better, though.

Winnie went on, confessing that she'd probably blow herself up if she tried a hex, and Fauna gave her a sympathetic look, remembering when she'd felt like that as well.

"That's good of him," Fauna nodded, happy but unsurprised to hear that Joshua had been helping her with her wandwork.

Winnie seemed ready to leave Fauna to her Herbology sketches, and Fauna nodded again, looking distracted.

"Hey, Winnie," she started hesitantly.

"If you... need some extra practice. Or, you know, I happen to be here and Josh is busy or something. Well, you can always come to me if you're having trouble with something," she shrugged, face flushing slightly.

"I mean, I know I'm pretty busy lately. But we could even set aside an hour a week, or something? Or just whenever you need it. Up to you. I used to be terrible at hexes and stuff too. So I kinda understand."