Ehwaz

:teamwork, or lack thereof:

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A POPPER exploded in front of Blue's face, rainbow-colored streamers raining down on her lap.

Rose stood over her, giddily hopping from one foot to the other. "You did it!"

Though they were in the common room and other witches and wizards were hunched over parchments and pouring over their textbooks, Rose couldn't help but scream in delight. It earned her some very pointed scowls and deep frowns. Blue would have told her friend to keep her voice down if it would have done any good. But once Rose had reached a certain volume, there was no dialing it back, not until the witch wore herself out.

"Well done! Malfoy said it burned a hole through the table?"

Cheeks warm, and not from the constantly burning fire in the fireplace, Blue glanced at her hands. She wrapped a streamer around her finger. "Yep."

Rose clapped her hands. "Bloody magnificent!" She plopped herself on the sofa, propped against Blue's shoulder. "Come on, you should be celebrating. This is a rite of passage for any witch or wizard worth their wand."

Blue scowled. "I'm not a witch. I don't have a wand. I'm just a Muggle."

"Who--" Rose threw her weight against Blue's side. "Melted a freaking cauldron."

"And a table, and part of a floor," added Blue, flicking her gaze to meet Rose's. "One of Professor Dirk's locs got fried while he was putting out the fire." The pair sat in silence for a bit, much to the relief of the other Gryffindors sweating over their next big exam. Then, Rose grinned, and Blue's wasn't far behind, and together they started giggling. A pair of small, ginger-haired Gryffindors scuttled away from them, afraid their madness might be contagious.

"And what has you two in such riotous spirits tonight?" James sauntered down the stairwell to the boy's dorm. Classes had long since ended, and dinner would be served soon in the Great Hall, and so James had abandoned his Hogwart's robes and tie in favor of something more casual - a thick cable-knit sweater, wide at the neck, and baggy, with straight-legged jeans. Though the sweater was oversized, Blue could make out the lines of his muscles, well-sculpted from hours spent practicing Quidditch.

Rose clapped Blue on the back, pushing her forward. "This is the face of a victor. She has braved the dungeons of that tyrant Dirk, and slain her foes."

Smirking, James leaned against the wall next to Blue. She fidgeted, as she was prone to do in his presence, ever since their journey into Hogsmeade. She had to remind herself he had been teasing her, and considering how lasting the affects had been, he'd done a great job of it.

One eyebrow raised, his dark eyes glittering behind he glasses, he addressed her. "Blew up a cauldron, did you?"

"Blew up a cauldron!" Rose said, excitedly. "Her first of many--"

"I wouldn't say that." Blue shook her head. "I'd rather not blow up anything else."

It had been a frightful affair. First, the potion had bubbled, which Blue knew would happen after adding the necessary heaped scoop of powdered newt. After stirring thirty-five ways counterclockwise, the potion began to gurgle. Little waves of the purplish mixture sloshed against the cauldron's sides. This too was expected. And then, Blue had sprinkled moonwort over the potion, and the cauldron hissed, wheezed, and burped - in that order. It should have burped, hissed and then wheezed. By the time Scorpius had caught her mistake, it was too late. The cauldron was smoking, their potion was frothing, and then fireballs were hurtling through the air, every which way.

Thankfully, Scorpius had the mind to grab Blue and take shelter behind a bookshelf before a rogue fireball scorched the spot where Blue had been cowering.

"Come on, Turner." James unstuck from the wall, and forced his way onto the couch, settling on the other side of Blue. Blue often found herself sandwiched between the cousins, who still hadn't learned much about personal space and the many ways to respect it. But their intentions were good, mostly, save for when mischief glinted in their eyes, and Blue rather liked being surrounded by friends again. Sophie and her had always cuddled - while watching movies, or tucked under a mountain of blankets sipping cocoa. It was comforting, knowing you had someone next to you, someone whose presence reminded you you weren't alone. "No need to be modest. Bask in your success."

"Revel in your destruction!" Rose pumped a fist into the air.

Blue chuckled. "I guess," she looked between the two - their eyes hopeful she'd come to see the situation as they had, their joy infectious, "it was a pretty great explosion."

"That's it! You ask me," said Rose, leaning back, her skirt lifting above her knees. "Should have earned ten points for Gryffindor."

"Oh!" Blue's face fell. She had forgotten about the point system and the House rivalries. Good deeds - like exceptional test scores, or acts of courage or kindness, were awarded points. At the same time, bad deeds, lost points. James was considered Gryffindor's own point blackhole, as his mischief was always losing them points. The cost, he claimed, of his particular brand of genius. "Did I lose points for Gryffindor?"

"Godric, no," came James. "If we lost points for every melted cauldron, we'd have negative points by now, thanks to a certain someone."

Rose huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "At least when I lose us points, it's because I'm protesting something."

"And what are you protesting when one of your cauldrons goes up in flames? Do you protest the way the metal is mined, or perhaps how the cauldron is forged? Maybe you believe the metal-workers not compensated enough? Or maybe," James leaned across Blue. His attention was on Rose, but his fingers had grazed Blue's, and she couldn't figure out if it had been intentional or not. She'd assume it was accidental, as that was better for her heart. "It's because you hate cauldrons. They are, after all, wide-bottomed, and you never liked sharing the spotlight with anyone. Why Miss Granger-Weasley, are you angered you're not the only wide-bottomed thing at this school?"

A roar broke over the room. For a second, Blue thought it was Curtis, signaling dinner was ready. But the clock hanging over the wall hadn't struck six, and the roar wasn't like Curtis's at all - it was far more feral. She glanced at Rose, who loomed over them, wand raised, her face as red, no redder, than her hair. "James Sirius--" She snarled, her red nails, suddenly looked like blood-tipped talons. "Get up."

James sank back into the couch. He pressed his body against Blue's, as if using her as a shield would do him any good. "Protect me, Turner." His gaze was on her face, his voice very near her ear, his hand squeezing her arm.

"What am I supposed to do?"

James smirked. "You exploded a cauldron. Time for you to graduate and move on to exploding bigger, angrier things."

Blue suppressed the smile she felt curling her lips. "I'm not going to explode my friend because you brought up her--" Blue's eyes flicked to Rose's face. Her face was almost purple, her eyes so narrowed they almost disappeared into her cheeks. She pointed her wand at James, a viper ready to strike, "--wide bottom." Rose flinched, her wand hand shaking. "Which is not wide at all," added Blue quickly.

A sigh squeezed between Rose's glossy lips. She dropped her wand, reluctantly. "See?" She nodded at Blue. "My bottom's perfectly normal."

James, shoulder still tucked behind Blue's, his breath tousling the ends of her curls, and tickling her cheek, gave a snort. "Then why is it you're always toppling from your broom?"

Rose puffed her cheeks, and thrust out her chin. "I have poor balance."

"You're bottom heavy, that's the real problem." Amused laughter spilled from his lips. He prodded Blue in the elbow, trying to goad her into joining him.

Blue wouldn't dare laugh now. Not when her friend was so close to breathing fire and going on a bloody rampage. Instead, she got up. It was a small action, but enough to draw Rose's attention away from her smirking, laughing cousin. "It's almost dinnertime." Blue glanced at her phone. She was never without it, and she was always hopeful when she looked at the screen - that her aunt would respond, that her dad would call. That someone, anyone, in the Muggle world still cared. But every time her screen was dark, her spirit darkened too.

Nobody from her old life, she'd decided, had wanted to deal with the girl who heard songs. It was just too much of a hassle.

Her phone flashed 5:58.

"It's almost time for dinner. I'm pretty hungry after today." She glanced at Rose. "You promised me a celebratory feast right?"

"Ye-yeah," said Rose, whose hands were smoothing down her hair, only for her hair to revolt and spring back up the moment it was released.

"And James." Her eyes went to his face. He stopped laughing long enough to flash her a coy grin, one that was sweet enough to make her teeth sting. "You must be starved from practice, right?"

He leaned forward. "It's not practice that leaves me exhausted, Turner."

"Right." I'll just ignore that. She whipped away from him, and started toward the portrait. "I'm heading to the Great Hall. You both can join me, or you can stay here, hexing each other until morning."

"Turner--" She caught James rising to his feet. "You wouldn't dare leave me here at the mercy of this--" He nodded at his cousin, whose nostrils were seconds away from snorting smoke. "--dragon. She'll sit on me and that'll be my end."

He couldn't help himself, could he?

With a growl, Rose threw herself at James, knocking him back into the sofa. As quick as lightning, her wand was back out, aimed at his chest.

James's eyes widened with terror. Blue's gaze dropped to his waist. His wand was no where in sight. She shook her head. A fool's mistake, to stoke a dragon's rage, wandless.

Rose shot Blue a grin. "Save me a seat, Blue. I'll be down in a sec." She turned back around to James, who squirmed beneath her. But whatever extra curricular activities he'd indulged in lately had left him sapped of his strength, while anger only made Rose stronger. There would be no escaping her clutches. "This won't take long." She dragged her wand along his cheek.

Led by an empty stomach, Blue exited the common room, and left the two of them to their squabble. Behind her, Rose muttered something about a pig snout and how fetching one would look on James.

*

Students were just starting to file into the Great Hall. Most had swapped their robes for casual clothes - jeans and t-shirts mostly. They sat at tables decorated with pumpkins and black cats, with candelabras covered in fake cobwebs, front and center. Overlapping orange and black streamers coiled around benches, and slithered across portraits. A few suits of armor had cat ear headbands placed on their helmets. Overhead, bats flew among the floating candles. Both were set against a starry backdrop, with a crescent moon and dark, gauzy clouds. Organ music creeped into the room, making Blue's arms tingle.

The room was ready for the Hallowe'en party that Saturday.

Blue found Xen seated at a table in the far back, aptly dressed in all orange and black. A knit witch's hat sat crookedly on her head, while a pumpkin shawl drooped across her back. Her beetle earrings, also adorned in tiny witch's hats, were asleep on her shoulders. From behind her usual glasses, the lens of which had been swapped for orange and black ones, she caught sight of Blue, and threw a hand in the air, waving her over. Blue sidestepped a pumpkin patch near a table of first year Hufflepuffs, and a foggy bog by the third year Ravenclaws, and made her way over.

A fake witch, with a green, plastic face and a wart on her nose the size of Blue's big toe, gave a menacing cackle as Blue sat down opposite Xen.

She smiled. "Excited for the party?"

"Oh, I'm not going," said Xen, dragging her knife across her plate. "I'm going hunting for a Swamphorn that night with my grandpa. They only appear on Hallow's Eve, once every five hundred years. "

"Well, good luck with that."

Xen smiled. Next to her, a ghost, not any of Hogwart's real ghosts, but one in a white sheet with colored-in black eyes gave a mournful wail.

"Speaking of searches, how's the current one going?" asked Blue.

Xen hadn't been around much, save for showing up regularly to their shared Herbology class. But it's not like she could skip it, considering her father taught it. Blue had seen her around, wandering the grounds, or snooping around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, or feeding baby carrots to her pockets, or conversing with Winnie and Constance.

She liked to search Hogwarts for any signs of the magical creatures her grandfather talked about. Creatures that weren't found in any Hogwarts textbook. Recently she'd been on the hunt for something called the Curnblat, a winged, pixie-like creature known for stealing laundry left to dry on a line. Apparently a well-worn pair of knickers would lure it into the open.

She blinked slowly, her eyes magnified by her glasses. "I've lost three pairs of knickers so far. They don't touch my skirts or trousers though. Grandpa was right."

"It's admirable," said Blue, "you sacrificing that much underwear for the cause."

A smile rose on Xen's face, slowly appearing like the morning sun rising into the sky over Hogwarts. "I think so too."

"You think you'll nab one?"

Xen nodded. "It'll happen. I just hope I have enough knickers."

A laugh shot out of Blue's mouth. "I hope so too."

"Ah," said Xen, raising her head, and her gaze. Her smile widened. The fake witch rattled off another diabolical cackle. "Albus and Scorpius. Good to see you again."

Blue stiffened. It had only been a few hours since she'd absolutely botched their potions practical and though Scorpius hadn't appeared bothered by their failing marks, she still felt bad. She couldn't stop thinking that she was making his life worse, when she was supposed to be doing the opposite.

"Xen." Albus sat beside her, a rolled newspaper tucked under his arm. He wasn't wearing his robes, but he might as well have been, what with how very Slytherin he still looked. His sweater was green and grey striped, his jeans dark black. "It's good to see you, too." He flashed a quick smile before rolling out that day's issue of The Daily Prophet.

"Oh, mum's article should be in there." Xen drew closer to Albus. "She's reporting on the vampire uprising in Bulgaria." Her eyes flitted to Al's. "Your dad's over there, yes?"

"Yeah," Albus ran a hand threw his hair. There were few similarities between him and James, but this was one of them, Blue noticed. Only Albus ran his hand through his hair when he was nervous, and James did it to, well, to attract even more attention. "All the senior aurors were dispatched to the Ministry's outpost in Sofia, to coordinate efforts. The vampires are refusing to go back to their coffins peacefully." He unleashed a sigh so deep, Blue thought he might rid his body of all its oxygen.

Xen nodded. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Albus shifted in his seat. "You're right. Dad would curse a vampire before it could bare its fangs."

"You want to read it together?" Xen's eyes dropped to the paper.

Nodding, Albus, turned to the section following current wizard affairs. Blue knew whenever his head was in a book, or a newspaper, the rest of the world seemed to fade away. And Xen was never the most observant to begin with. With the two of them focused on the article, Blue would be left to deal with Scorpius without any backup, at least, until Rose arrived. And who knew when that would be? Depending on how much hexing she thought James deserved she could be in the common room for a few minutes or -- Blue shuddered -- hours.

Please be quick about it.

The bench creaked underneath Blue, Scorpius taking a seat on her left. She rubbed her hands together, eyes focused on the gold plate in front of her. Like she could conjure her meal before Gobs had finished it.

"Blue--"

She jumped, her hands smacking the underside of the table, her fork sent flying. It careened off the table and clattered on the floor.

Scorpius leaned over, and picked it up. "Here."

"Th-thanks." She took it, careful to avoid his fingers, and placed it back in its place on her tray. She rested her gaze on the candles on their table, their flames burning an eerie purple.

"Blue--" Scorpius tried again. "Hey--"

She whipped around to face him. Get it over with. Just get it over with. "I'm sorry about your robe sleeve. And the cauldron. The table. The floor. I didn't mean to screw up that much--"

"Blue--" His eyes, a dazzling, almost metallic grey, canvassed her face. She gulped, took a breath. "Listen to me. I'm not mad."

She tsked. "How could you not be? You got failing marks--"

"Technically," a sly grin spread across his face, "we both did."

"But I'm not here to graduate and become a productive member of wizarding society. I--"

He raised his arm, his fingers twitching as his hand hovered over Blue's. But he set it back down on his thighs, without making contact. "Listen to me."

"I know you said you're not mad but--"

"No, listen to me."

Realization finally washed over Blue. "You want me to--"

Her eyes dropped to the table. After he'd told her how unnerving it was to have her listen to his song, to sense some things he might not want her to know, she had made it a point to avoid hearing people's songs. She couldn't always control it, but with McGonagall's enchanted headphones, and a bit of concentration, she could manage for the most part. But now Scorpius wanted her to hear his magic.

"Why?"

"Because," he said. "You won't believe me otherwise."

She nodded, and slowly peeled back one of her headphones. A cacophony of songs rose to her ears, but they were soft and gentle. It no longer felt like needles were being jammed into her skull. She closed her eyes and focused on the boy before her. She waded through the songs, blocking out the ones that weren't his, the ones sung in keys that weren't his, the ones whose melodies didn't fit what she'd come to know about Scorpius.

It wasn't hard to hone in on his song. It was louder than the rest, but not grating. And it swelled the more she listened to it. The music was rhythmic and calming, like the gentle rise and fall and of waves. There weren't any angry refrains, or out of key notes. Everything flowed beautifully, and honestly.

She opened her eyes and slid the headphone back in place. 

"And?" He quirked his mouth.

"Thank you." She turned away, heat traveling up her neck.

He turned and nodded, a few strands of his hair falling in front of his face. "Dirk's agreed to let us retake the exam."

Blue's eyes bulged. "Really? How? Why? When?"

"You forgot to ask who, what and where." The edge of Scorpius's mouth rolled up like a sheet of parchment.

Blue shook her head, curls bouncing around her face, a laugh tickling the back of her throat. She swallowed it down, refusing to give Scorpius the satisfaction of her finding any humor in such a corny joke. "Seriously, how did you manage that?"

"After you fled the dungeon like you feared for your life--"

"I did fear for my life," she corrected. "Remember? Fireballs, zipping around our heads, going everywhere?"

"Well, after your retreat and all the fires had been extinguished, Dirk pulled me aside and kept me afterward. We got to talking. Well, it was mostly him talking and me holding my tongue."

"That's rather mature of you, Malfoy," she teased.

"Unnatural was what it was. Never again, Turner. Get used to hearing all my thoughts."

She laughed. "I look forward to it." 

The words were out before she could stop them. And then they were replaying in her head, and so much heat flowed through her body, she thought her skin might blister and crack.

Scorpius cleared his throat. "He agreed to let us retake the practical. It wasn't fair to expect you to remember what he taught your first week here. You had so much to adjust to."

"That's an understatement."

"And he knew I'd be no help to you."

"Well, that's true."

Scorpius's head shot up, and he furrowed his brow, feigning hurt.

Blue smiled. "This is great, though. I promise I'll study and take notes, and make sure I do everything perfectly."

Scorpius chuckled. "I'm sure you will." His gaze floated up to her face. "So quit worrying about it. And my robe sleeve, for that matter."

"But--" 

It had been because of her, his sleeve had gotten scorched. Had she not caused the cauldron to erupt, he wouldn't have had to save her from a fireball and his sleeve wouldn't have gotten caught in its path.

"It was a worthy sacrifice, considering."

"Considering?" Blue tilted her head.

"Considering I got to protect something far more important than a piece of fabric, expensive though it was."

At this, Blue's face erupted. She felt like she might start spewing fireballs, what with how hot her body felt.

"And what dark magic have you unleashed here to make Blue look like that?"

Rose was stomping through the pumpkin patch, knocking pumpkins from their vines, and trampling leaves.

Oh thank god. Rescued!

She took a seat on Blue's other side, ignoring the witch as she cackled for the third time. Blue wondered what made the witch cackle - it certainly wasn't any motion sensor, or else it wouldn't stop cackling. It had to be magic, but what kind would be used to control a toy?

Scorpius scowled. He took up his fork and tapped it against his plate. In front of him, the candle flames started burning a bright, venomous green. "I haven't done anything to make Blue look like--" He lifted his head, his eyes a little horrified, his ears a great deal red. He returned his gaze to the table, regretting having taken it off it in the first place. "--like that."

"Mmhmm. Sure."

Rose cast suspicious glances between the both of them. Under her scrutiny, Blue felt she'd confess to all her crimes - ones she'd committed and ones she hadn't. That's just how effective Rose's gaze was. But Blue had nothing to confess, no crimes or surprise revelations. The only thing she'd kept quiet about was her and Scorpius's relationship. It had changed, surely that was obvious, since she'd first arrived at Hogwarts, but she didn't know what it'd changed into. Friends, or close acquaintances. Partners.

Just partners? Really?

Suddenly Scorpius's words from earlier that day invaded her mind and what parts of her hadn't been wrecked by embarrassment and nerves, had succumbed. She was sure she was red from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

"Blue?" asked Rose. Concern made her voice waver. "Are you sick? Do you need to get checked out at the medical wing? I can take you--"

"Food's here!"

A blood-curdling shriek announced the arrival of dinner. Blue's plate filled up with Gob's latest mouth-watering masterpiece. Her dinner had been prepared with an American palate in mind and, continuing the tradition of serving her comfort food, thick slices of glaze meatloaf stacked themselves on one side of her plate, while the other was piled high with buttery mashed potatoes. The gaps were filled in by green beans, heavy with garlic, if the pungent smell was any indication.

A raspberry tart appeared on her dessert plate, piled high with glazed fruit and pillowy mounds of fresh whipped cream. Her glass fizzed and bubbled with ice-cold soda, condensation streaking down the glass's sides. Blue was thankful the food had appeared when it had, to save her from enduring more questions from Rose, or an unnecessary trek to the medical wing, where Madame Alphesia would diagnose her with a chronic case of embarrassment of which there was no cure, magical or otherwise.

Her appetite ravished by her earlier brush with a fiery death, Blue speared a slice of meatloaf, and shoved it into her mouth, sweet soy sauce and savory spices melting across her tongue.

"So-- --od," she said, between chews.

Rose giggled. "A meal fit for a cauldron destroyer?"

Blue grinned, with a mouth full of mash potatoes. "--uh--huh--"

"Where's Potter?" Scorpius popped a french fry into his mouth, fingers glistening with grease.

Rose's lips pursed together. "Don't tell me you're missing him?"

"No, never. But without him, our meals are rather quiet. It's pretty unsettling."

"I'm sure he'll be down to torment us with his blathering in no time. He just didn't feel like coming down to dinner."

Without looking at her, and without the inflection of a question, he said, "You hexed him."

Rose filled with pride, so much so, Blue thought she might float up to the ceiling and join the bats. She leaned in conspiratorially. "Gave him a snout. That ought to get in the way of all his snogging. And it ought to last through his next match with Hufflepuff. Can you imagine it? Gryffindor's star seeker, oinking away as he chases after the snitch."

Scorpius grinned, and Rose laughed. Blue did both. The plastic witch cackled, and the shoddy ghost shook and gave a wretched howl.

After their plates had been cleaned and Blue was scraping the last of her tart crust off her plate, Rose brought up Saturday. "We'll meet in Gryffindor's common room. 10:00."

Scorpius frowned. "The party starts at 9."

"And I said, we'll meet up at 10:00. I've," she tossed the hair from her shoulders, candlelight dancing in her eyes, " got something else planned."

"It isn't a dangerous something, is it?" Scorpius drawled.

"No." She harrumphed. "And I'm offended you would think that."

He shrugged. "Be offended then."

She turned to Albus and Xen, who had read and reread the article at least three times during dinner. "You heard me too, yeah? Gryffindor common room. 10. Be there."

Albus rolled his eyes. "This isn't some Hallowe'en prank is it? Because I want no part. I'll not jeopardize getting Head Boy for one of your silly tricks."

Rose blushed. "It's not a trick or a prank or anything dangerous. Just be there. We all have to be there." She looked at Blue when she said that last part. "Got it?"

They all agreed, and then sensing their combined lack of enthusiasm, Rose bullied them all into pinkie swearing they would show, under threat of hex. Outside the Great Hall, they separated. Xen had to prepare a fresh pair of knickers for her Curnblat trap and Albus wanted to study more in the library. Scorpius decided to go with him.

That left Rose and Blue to walk back to Gryffindor tower.

Rose looped her arm through Blue's arm and rested her head on Blue's shoulder. "Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

"For defending my perfectly normal bottom." Blue snickered. "For being such a good friend in general."

A pleasant warmth spread throughout Blue's chest. "Any time," she said, and she meant it. 

She would be a friend to Rose, and a stark defender of her bottom, whether she was at Hogwarts or back home. Owls, she knew, could span oceans, and a text could round the globe in milliseconds. So no matter where she was, and where Rose was, they'd always have each other.

A witch and a muggle, friends forever.

"I've been meaning to ask--" Rose raised her head. Mischief, bright and devious, swam in her gaze.

Blue braced.

"What's the deal between you and Malfoy? Got it bad for Slytherin's prince?"

The Fat Lady's portrait in sight, Blue took off, speeding down the hall, running as fast as she could as though her life had been threatened by an exploding cauldron and a horde of fireballs.

She heard Rose's laughter behind her, and the loud echo of footsteps. Escaping, it seemed, would be impossible.