~Wren~

One thing hadn't changed about prefect duties. I was still dreading when Eris and Emanuel released the prefect patrol schedule for the next term. Now that Ciara and I were finally getting along, and we'd humiliated Eris, I was sure she'd put both of us with the worst partners she possibly could. We'd been speculating about it on our last patrol. Most likely, it would be Ciara and Tommy Ortega, me and Marcus Dillam (though he'd become such a joke that I had to admit it would be more boring than anything else).

Albus suggested we not worry about it. After all, Eris had been leaving all of us alone lately. Which... I guess that made sense. I was trying to see it all from her perspective, at least. If a rumored international terrorist in the grade below me teamed up with the girl she seemed to hate most to humiliate me just because I made them work together, I suppose I'd leave her alone too, even if I was head girl. I guess I was mainly dreading it for Ciara's sake, then, because Eris didn't have a reason to be afraid of her.

The day that they posted the new pairings, Albus and I were waiting downstairs for Emanuel Beck to post the list. Albus had gotten the insane idea that one of us might have been paired up with Eris, the ultimate torture. No amount of me pointing out that that would be torture for her, too, would make him feel better. It wasn't until Emanuel tacked the list to the notice board and stepped back to let us crowd it that Albus calmed down.

"See? Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy. That's not bad at all."

Albus narrowed his eyes. "That's got to be a trick. That's too good."

Emanuel gave us a confused smile. "I'm sorry?"

"Is this the real list?" Albus demanded.

"Of course it is!" Emanuel's grin widened. He launched into an explanation of each pairing, and I tuned him out as I looked for my own name.

Poppy Stevens and Aron Horn

Lillie Collins and Tommy Ortega

Elias Brown and Celia Rowe

Wren Predatel and Ciara Malfoy

I blinked. I couldn't have read that correctly. But there it was, Ciara and I paired again. I turned to Emanuel, who was talking about why Marcus Dillam and Cedric Rogers were paired together, and interrupted. "This is actually the real list? You're not kidding?"

Emanuel turned to me now, the confused smile back. "No, I'm not. Why? Is there a problem with it?"

"No, not at all. I just..." I glanced back at the list one more time, just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. "Ciara Malfoy and I are paired together again."

Emanuel glanced behind me, then shrugged. "Yeah. You are."

"Why?"

"Oh, I don't really know. Eris insisted on it." He shrugged again, then flashed me a smile. "I'm afraid the list is final, too. We can't change it."

"No, I know. I don't want you too." I frowned. She'd insisted on it? After what we did last time? I mean, I knew most people were aware that we didn't hate each other anymore, but I was shocked Eris would take the risk that we might retaliate on principle. It honestly made me a little nervous. Was there something we didn't know? Was Eris planning something?

Someone nudged me, and I glanced over to see Ciara standing at my shoulder, squinting at the list incredulously. "I don't suppose this is some joke, hmm?"

"Beck says it's real. And as much as he smiles, I don't think I've ever heard him actually crack a joke."

Ciara nodded, now frowning at the notice board. "Do you feel worried?"

"A little."

"Well..." She trailed off, then glanced at me. "I guess we'll just have to be prepared."

We had a prefect meeting that night. Against Albus's advice, I'd decided to just ask Eris why she'd paired us again. The worst that could happen, if I asked her while we were still upstairs in Kimmel's office, was that she could be rude, and I felt more than capable of handling rude.

I didn't tell Ciara, of course, because I didn't think she'd want me to do it, either.

Emanuel spent most of the meeting reminding us about the procedure for running detentions (specifically that it was not allowed to organize a paper football tournament with all the students in detention, Collins) and that we needed to keep in the mind the new patrolling schedule and remember which days we had now, because it had changed for most of us. It hadn't changed for Ciara and I, of course, and we'd never organized a paper football tournament during detention, so I have to admit I didn't pay a lot of attention during the meeting.

Afterward, as my friends started chattering about their new partners, I slipped away and up to the front where Eris was collecting the notes from the meeting into a folder. She didn't look up as a approached, and I wasn't sure she knew who I was as she sighed and said, "Listen, the schedule is final and it's not going to change, so please don't ask."

"I'm not going to," I said, stopping a few feet away.

Eris glanced up at the sound of my voice and glared at me. "What do you want, then?"

I shrugged, suddenly a little hesitant. "I... I was just wondering why you paired Malfoy and I together again. Beck said you insisted on it, and... I don't know. I assumed you'd want us with anyone but each other."

"Why? Because you're both hypocritical prats? What more could you even do to me?" Her tone sounded bitter and angry, but her eyes had a defeated, almost frightened look that I hadn't expected. Like she was suddenly worried that maybe there was something worse we could do. Maybe there really wasn't a reason to worry.

"You know we didn't mean for that to get as big as it did," I said softly. "I'm so sorry all that happened."

"I don't bloody care if you're sorry," Eris muttered, shaking her head and looking back down at the notes in her hand. After a moment, she sighed and glanced up at me. She still seemed angry. "Honestly, Predatel, do you want to know why I paired you two together last term?"

I nodded, though I wasn't sure that I did.

Eris pursed her lips. "Only part of it was about making you two miserable. The other part... I thought... If Nico Jasper is afraid of anyone at this school, it's Ciara Malfoy. I thought he might be more likely to leave you alone."

I stared at her. It took a moment to remember that for all intents and purposes, Magnus Caldwell didn't exist outside of my group of friends. Nico was the bad guy in most people's heads. Had Eris Prince actually done something to try to help me? To keep me safe?

"I don't know why I bothered, honestly. You two reacted by humiliating me and almost getting me kicked out of my house. So. Yeah. Thanks for that." She shook her head, rolling her eyes.

I opened my mouth to apologize again, then closed it. That wouldn't help. I didn't know what would, but that wouldn't. Instead, I nodded a little. "I... Thank you. Really."

She shrugged, shifting uncomfortably. "It wasn't personal, this time or last time."

"Still." I smiled just a little. "Thank you."

"Go away." I hesitated, but she was avoiding eye contact and seemed very uncomfortable, so I turned and left.

I walked straight over to Ciara, who was standing near Poppy and Albus and Scorpius and giving me a death glare. I suppose Albus had told her what I wanted to do. Before I could even say anything, she demanded, "What were you thinking?"

"Don't you want to know why she's been doing this?"

"I mean, obviously, yes." Ciara rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be so stupid about it, though. That git could've reacted a thousand different ways."

"Did she tell you?" Albus asked.

"Yeah, actually." I frowned. "Apparently, she paired us together last term because she thought Nico Jasper would be more afraid of Ciara than anyone else. And he might leave me alone that way."

Ciara's eyes widened. "Really?"

"That's what she told me."

"Why would Nico Jasper matter?" Albus asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him as Ciara, Poppy, and Scorpius all shot him a confused look. "Mate, don't you remember what happened in December?" Scorpius asked slowly.

Albus's eyes widened. "Oh. Yes. That. Nico Jasper. That's right."

"You forgot?" Ciara frowned at him, then at me. "How?"

"I didn't," Albus said, pursing his lips. "I'm sorry. Just tired. We had a hard practice today."

Ciara was still frowning, and I couldn't tell what she was thinking, which was slightly unnerving. I knew she was already hyper-suspicious of anything having to do with Nico Jasper. Though she hadn't explicitly told me anything, I got the feeling she'd been keeping tabs on him and trying get more evidence. Mr. Potter's assurances that he had everything under control hadn't been enough. I hoped this slip-up wasn't going to add to that, somehow.

Scorpius had started talking about Quidditch, a conversation in which Ciara, Poppy, and Albus were very interested and I was not at all. I let my mind wander, and it wandered back to Eris. She was across the room, still. I watched her glance wistfully around at all the little groups of us talking, then purse her lips and slip over to the door. As if she was aware that most of the people in this room couldn't stand her, or thought she was a joke. I felt kind of bad for her, really. More now than before. She'd been trying to... I don't know, help me, I suppose, in her own way. And in return Ciara and I had ruined her family name, destroyed any credibility she'd had, and almost gotten her disowned.

And now she'd done it again, even after all that. I didn't really know what to think about that.

"Do you think that's actually the reason?" Ciara asked, startling me out of my thoughts. I turned back to the group to find Poppy and Albus talking to Scorpius about a double-date for the next Hogsmeade trip or something along those lines. Ciara was watching me thoughtfully.

"Honestly? I don't know." I shrugged. "But I can't think of another reason why she would've risked putting us together again."

Ciara sighed. "Honestly makes me feel worse about the whole Snape thing. And I already felt bad. So that's fun."

I nodded in agreement, sighing. Maybe her revenge was just making us feel massive amounts of remorse.

Ciara chuckled. "It's kind of funny, because I don't think Jasper's afraid of me at all, so it's not like us being paired together would even do much."

I frowned at her. "Really?"

"I mean, I don't think you need to be worried," she reassured quickly. "He's a coward in general. I meant I don't think he'd go preying on anyone unless he knew for sure they were alone."

That wasn't what I'd been concerned about, but I smiled like I'd been comforted. "Oh. That makes sense."

"Jasper's not afraid of me, though. I think he just hates me." She shrugged. "Which is fine, of course, since I hate him, too, and want nothing to do with him."

I managed to keep a neutral face. Nico Jasper hating Ciara Malfoy was as far from the truth as you could get. Not that I considered his infatuation with her love, or anything, since it was purely selfish, but it certainly wasn't hate. Of course, I couldn't tell her that. "Right. Of course."

"Honestly, I mean, I know Eris doesn't know, but Jasper's probably not afraid of anyone at this school, except maybe Professor Potter. And he clearly doesn't have a reason to be afraid of Professor Potter, since he's content with just 'keeping an eye on him.'" She rolled her eyes.

"Oh. Yeah."

"I'm getting fed up, to be honest. Did you know I saw him sneaking out last week?"

"Did you?"

"I'm going to see where he goes, sometime."

I furrowed my brow. This was why I hadn't wanted Albus to translate Nico's stupid snakes. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. Sounds kind of dangerous."

"I'd be careful." Ciara's eyes widened as she seemed to get an idea. "You could come too! Maybe James Potter would let us borrow that invisibility cloak I know for a fact he has."

I laughed, aware that it sounded a little nervous and fake but a little too uncomfortable to do anything about it. "I'm not sure he'd be comfortable lending it out to you."

"That's true." She sighed. "Well, we can figure something out."

"Maybe..." I glanced around, trying to find a distraction. Albus was a few yards away, talking to Poppy excitedly about something. "Oh, I just remembered, Albus and I need to work on an Astronomy project." I gave Ciara an apologetic smile. "See you in class." Before she could say anything, I ducked around her, grabbed Albus's arm, and reminded him quietly about our very important and very real Astronomy assignment.

"Oh, yeah, the Astronomy project!" Albus exclaimed loudly. He slapped his forehead in an exaggerated way. "Well, I have to go, Poppy! See you tomorrow!" Trying not to roll my eyes, I dragged him out the door as he blew a kiss in Poppy's direction.

"What was Ciara getting so excited about?" Albus asked once we'd left.

I gave an exasperated sigh. "She wants to follow Nico Jasper next time he sneaks out of the common room. I guess she's been keeping track?"

Albus's eyes widened. "Oh, Merlin. She can't do that! She'll see you."

"Exactly!" I groaned. "Why does she have to be so obsessed with this?"

"Well, when you haven't really got any friends, I suppose you need some sort of outlet," Albus said. I rolled my eyes, not in the mood for joking around. I was frustrated with this situation, and feeling like a horrible person because of the whole Eris thing. Albus seemed to sense that, and grew serious. "Hey, we can talk to my dad about it, if you want?"

"What's he going to do?"

"I don't know."

I shrugged, shaking my head. "I'll just have to let Nico know to be more careful, I guess."

"What's your goal? To protect Nico?"

"It's part of protecting myself, Al. So, yeah, I guess so."

Albus frowned. "Where does that stop? Like, I get that right now, in this particular situation, it makes sense. But you were trying to protect him way back before any of it could have involved you at all. You were trying to keep Ciara from finding out anything at all."

"Because I knew it would get to this," I said, frowning. "Do you think I wouldn't love it if Nico got caught, and I could get away without being implicated at all?"

Albus stopped walking and tilted his head. "I don't know. Would you?"

I opened my mouth to say yes, of course, but something about the way Albus was looking at me made me pause. "I... I don't know. I mean, he's not that bad. He... He doesn't deserve life in Azkaban, or anything, which is what would happen if it came out that he was a spy. I'm pretty sure he'd seventeen now."

Albus was still frowning at me. "I don't know, Wren. He's done some pretty terrible things."

"So have I!"

"He's chosen to do some pretty terrible things."

"But he's also chosen to do some very good things!"

"When it benefits him!"

I shook my head. "Not just when it benefits him. Everything that happened that night with Magnus? None of that benefitted him at all. It got him beat up, actually, and made his reputation here even worse. I think he knew it would."

"Okay, so maybe you're the exception to his rule." Albus made a face. "That doesn't make him a good person."

"What makes someone a good person? Is it doing more good things than bad things? Or is it about how good or bad the things you do are? Where's the line?" Albus pursed his lips, just staring at me for a moment. I realized I'd raised my voice, and glanced down. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Albus shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know what the line is. I think it's more about what motivates you. So I guess I can't definitively say that Nico's a bad person, because I can't see inside his head. But based on how he's living his life, I'd say there aren't a lot of good motivations in there."

I shrugged, suddenly tired of this conversation. Argument. Whatever it was. "Okay. Sure."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to get you so worked up." Albus smiled a bit. "I mean, it's kind of proof that you're better than the rest of us, if you're fighting to see the good in Nico Jasper of all people."

I smiled. "I've met worse people."

"And I bet if you tried, you could find good in them, too."

I laughed. "Find the good in Magnus Caldwell? Impossible."

"Okay, I meant excluding psychopaths, clearly."

"Clearly," I repeated, laughing harder. Albus started laughing, too. We joked the rest of the way back to the tower, and I couldn't help thinking how grateful I was for such a good friend.

~~~~

"You weren't followed, were you?" I whispered as we reached the road.

Nico frowned at me. "Followed? By who?"

"I heard Ciara Malfoy talking about how she'd seen you sneak out at odd hours. I think she's starting to suspect something."

"Oh." He put his hands in his pockets, shrugging. "I don't think she followed me. Did you see her?"

"No one's followed us out of the castle. I don't know about before."

"Well, what's she going to do? Who's going to believe Ciara Malfoy over us? Especially if we're telling the same story. Everyone thinks we hate each other."

"That's true," I said, though it wasn't. Ciara already knew that Nico was a spy, and that Mr. Potter was aware of it. If we tried to pull something like that, Ciara would just end up suspicious of us and Mr. Potter, which could only be bad. I guess I just had to pray she wouldn't see me.

"I heard you've found out all about the Quibbler?" Nico said casually.

"Oh, yeah. Luckily, James and Colette are really interested in the process of it all. It's not too hard to ask about where they're at, and who's running it."

"Can't believe it's that Lindsey git," Nico said, shaking his head. "You know, I never liked her. Never thought she might be in the DA or anything, but she was the worst prefect Slytherin's ever had."

I laughed. "You're just mad because she wouldn't let you get away with hexing whoever you wanted. Like me, for instance."

Nico laughed as well. "Maybe that was part of it," he admitted. "To be fair, I thought you were a traitor."

"You used to call me a criminal, not a traitor."

"Well, yeah! If I'd gone around calling you a traitor, people would've started trying to figure out where my loyalties lay. And the key to getting in with your uncle was convincing him no one would actually suspect me. I couldn't have done that if people suspected me of working for him before I even did!"

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Whatever."

We were entering Hogsmeade, now. Once or twice, Nico pulled me into an alley to avoid a group of semi-sober wizards making their stumbling way down the sidewalk. We were both holding the hoods of our cloaks up to cover as much of our faces a possible.

As we approached Zaria's apartment, Nico glanced at me. "You never actually had to work with Welling last year, did you?"

I shook my head. "I didn't even know he worked for my uncle until Astra figured it out." I tilted my head curiously. "Why?"

"Just wondering." Nico shrugged. "Madam Cantha's really annoying, is all. I preferred working on my own."

"What's she doing?" I made an effort to keep my tone casual, though I was paying close attention now. Madam Cantha and Nico's missions were very different from mine, and I'd never been able to find out much about them. But if I could, maybe it would help Astra.

"Treating me like I have no idea what I'm doing! Like I haven't been doing just fine for all this time. She suddenly shows up and tries to take over everything." Nico made a face, and said in a mocking voice, "Just get her to the hospital wing, Jasper, don't bother with all that psychological stuff. Muggle nonsense!" He rolled his eyes. "Like she knows anything about it!"

"Why does she want Astra in the hospital wing?" I asked, frowning.

"I don't know. Probably wants to drug her or something. Or maybe kidnap her. As if she could get away with any of that. No one suspects her now, sure, but if she gave Potter a reason to, he'd jump on it."

"Yeah." I frowned. "What exactly is it that she doesn't trust you to do?"

Nico chuckled. "Oh, you know. Get Astra Lestrange off balance. Isolate her. Give her nowhere else to turn. I feel like I've done a pretty good job on my own, don't you think? I don't really need her help. Let her just keep tabs on the Hogwarts staff, like she was doing before."

That hadn't been what I meant, but I didn't think Nico was going to tell me any more. It was enough to make me uncomfortable, though. Give her nowhere else to turn? Nowhere else besides what?

It was a fairly regular report. I didn't have much to say, since I hadn't been told to do anything in particular last time. I mentioned that Astra was trying to learn how to resist the Imperius Curse, though she still wasn't sure what was going on (and neither was I, honestly, though my uncle didn't seem to care). Mr. Potter had thought it was best I mention that now rather than wait until Nico found out, since it wasn't like his knowing that would change anything. And if I forgot to mention to Astra that I was reporting on that, and therefore managed to avoid her getting angry at me, I didn't see the harm in that.

Nico and I talked about a lot of things on the way back. He ranted more about Madam Cantha, because apparently she'd started going over his head and now Stillens also wanted him to get Astra into the hospital wing. I told him about Eris Prince and the reason Ciara and I had been paired together the past two terms, which he thought was ironic and funny in a dark way, all things considered.

"If I were going to be afraid of anyone at this dumb school, it'd be you," he explained.

"You're not afraid of me?" I asked, mockingly indignant.

"I mean, if I thought you didn't like me, I might still be." He smiled. "But I don't think you have it in you to hurt anyone you don't hate, unless you're told to."

"I guess that's true," I agreed. We were approaching the edge of the grounds, and I lowered my voice. "I'm not afraid of you, either, for about the same reason."

"I can definitely hurt people, even if I don't totally hate them," he said, frowning at me.

"Oh, yeah, I know. But I don't think you'd hurt me, specifically."

Nico just smiled and shook his head, which technically wasn't confirmation, but it wasn't denial, either. I didn't know why I really cared about that, considering we were not on the same side and if he knew the truth he'd have absolutely no problem hating me and hurting me.

It was a step closer to him seeing the light, though, I suppose. And I was finding that the more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to pull Nico Jasper out of this mess that was my family and help him redeem himself, somehow.

The castle was quiet and empty when we snuck back into the entrance hall. I reminded Nico to watch for the prefects patrolling tonight, then headed upstairs on my own.

Mr. Potter was sitting in his classroom when I walked in. He jumped up as I closed the door, startling me, but put his hands up. "Wren, we don't have to tell her anything if you don't want to, but I have no idea how I'm going to spin this otherwise."

"What?" I glanced around the empty room. Her who?

"Did you know Ciara Malfoy has been up to my office every other day for a few weeks now? Trying to convince me to do something about Nico Jasper? But tonight she was following him, and saw him leave the castle with someone who she's afraid was you."

My stomach dropped. She'd seen us. Oh no. That wasn't good. Not good at all. "Oh. Okay."

"We have two choices," Mr. Potter whispered. "Right now, she thinks I'm looking for you in the Gryffindor common room. So we could tell her you were there all evening, get James or Albus to back it up, and tell her we'll look into who this mysterious girl might have been."

I pursed my lips. That wouldn't work. That would just make her suspicious of all of us, I was sure. At the very least, she would stop at nothing to find out who Nico was working with, and I didn't see how that wouldn't get me involved eventually.

"The other option is taking her to Haverna and telling her the truth," Mr. Potter said.

I glanced up at him, trying to figure out what he thought the best option was. Neither seemed great, honestly. Ciara and I weren't that close. I wasn't sure if I could trust her. I mean, I suppose a Fidelius Charm was powerful enough to keep her quiet, but it was a tricky enough bit of magic that I was sure she could find loopholes, if she wanted to. Would she even believe us?

I bit my lip. "What do you think we should do?"

"Do you trust her?"

In general? Probably. But this was a much bigger deal than just in general. "I don't know."

"Do you think you could?"

"I..." Maybe. Astra would have, I think. Was that enough? I guess it had to be.

I nodded, and Mr. Potter gave me a grim smile. "All right, then. Let's get this over with."

Ciara was slumped in one of the chairs by Mr. Potter's office when we opened the door, but jumped up almost immediately. She gave me a relieved glanced. "You found her in the common room?"

Mr. Potter turned to me, and I winced. "Not exactly." Was that all I could say? Nothing to set her mind at ease? I guess so, because no other words could come out, even though I tried. I glanced helplessly at Mr. Potter.

"Let's go talk to Professor Haverna, all right?"

"Why?" Ciara frowned, seeming wary. "What's going on?"

"You'll understand in a few minutes," Mr. Potter said reassuringly, though Ciara didn't seem reassured at all. "We need to talk to Professor Haverna."

We walked to Professor Haverna's suite in silence. I couldn't bring myself to look at her very much, but I knew Ciara kept glancing at me, confused and disappointed and worried all at once. I kept trying to think of something to put her mind at ease, but the only thing I could actually, physically say seemed to be along the lines of, "Don't worry, it's all right," which just sounded trite and fake, I had to admit.

Professor Haverna seemed slightly worried when she opened her door to see us. That worry gave way to confusion, though, when she saw Ciara standing with us. "Is something wrong?"

"Elaine, I need you to tell Ciara about... You know, the things we can't tell her."

"What's going on?" Ciara demanded as we filed into Professor Haverna's front room. She motioned for Ciara and I to sit on the couch, then sat down in an armchair across from us. She gave Mr. Potter a tired, confused frown. "What?"

"She saw Nico Jasper sneaking off tonight, with another girl. Who she thinks may have been Wren. I don't think we have a better option here."

Professor Haverna glanced at me. "You trust her?"

Ciara was staring at me, now. I could see her out of the corner of my eye. I nodded. "I think so."

"Not good enough. Do you trust her?"

My eyes flicked over to her. Ciara was staring at me, a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts playing over her face, replacing each other so quickly that I couldn't tell what any of them were. But as our eyes met, she gave me a small smile. The corner of my mouth went up, briefly, then I nodded more confidently. "I do, yes."

"Okay." Professor Haverna now turned to Ciara. "This is very serious. I need you to understand that. There is a Fidelius charm over what you're about to hear, so you aren't able to share most of it, but it's a bit hazy where the line is. Under no circumstances are you to discuss this with anyone who isn't in this room, understand?"

Ciara nodded, eyes wide and serious.

"Wren Predatel is a double agent," Professor Haverna said slowly. Ciara's mouth dropped open, and somehow her eyes grew wider. She looked at me, something new in her expression. A respect, maybe, or admiration? I didn't know.

The next hour or so was spent with Professor Haverna explaining everything, basically, because you couldn't just leave things at "She's a double agent" with Ciara Malfoy. She had about a thousand questions, most of which Professor Haverna, Mr. Potter and I were able to answer between the three of us. Questions like "How long has this been going on?" and "Wait, you're in the DA?" and "How does occlumency work?" Somehow, the ones about occlumency and legilimency were the most difficult to answer.

Finally, Mr. Potter stood up. "I think we've covered it all, girls," he said, making a point to glance at his watch. "It is far past curfew, and you do both have my class in the morning, so I think going to sleep would be a good idea."

His suite was down the hall. We convinced him that we were more than capable of returning to our common rooms on our own, so he waved us off and let us walk by ourselves.

Ciara glanced at me as we approached the stairs where we would have to part ways. "You know, at the beginning of the year, I thought you were working for your uncle."

"You did?" I stared at her. "Why?"

"I don't know. A couple of things that happened to Astra last year seemed like they would only make sense if someone close to her had been part of it, and you were a kind of obvious choice. And I didn't like you, really. And then Eris Prince caught you out after curfew that time, and you were so evasive about it..." She shrugged. "It made sense."

"That's fair." I tilted my head. "Did you stop suspecting me?"

"Yeah. Sometime last term, actually. After I started actually talking to you, and realized you were being really genuine most of the time. After we started becoming... Well, whatever we are."

"Friends?" I suggested.

Ciara smiled, seeming almost surprised. "Yeah. Friends." She shrugged again. "Anyway. Sorry I suspected you, I guess."

"You weren't wrong, really."

We'd reached the stairs. Ciara glanced down them, then back at me. "I still have a million questions."

"I can probably answer most of them," I said, smiling. "Good thing we're partners again, right?"

"Right." Ciara hesitated, then flashed me a smile. "See you tomorrow, Wren."

She turned down the stairs, and I started up them. This was all strange and new, and I didn't know how I felt, exactly, but it was something good.

It was funny, actually. I'd been thinking so much about who other people might be afraid of, but here I was, somehow connecting with, or at least finding new perspectives on, the people I'd been most afraid of here at the start of the year. Ciara and I were friends. Nico and I were allies. And Eris and I weren't anything at all, exactly, but she'd gone out of her way to do something borderline decent, which meant she didn't hate me completely. I wasn't afraid of any of them anymore.

~~~~

Merry Christmas, everyone! I am publishing this at 12:30 am on Christmas Day, so I feel very accomplished and also a little disappointed that Santa hasn't come yet. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this very important and rather long chapter. Consider it my Christmas gift to you! Praying you all have wonderful time with family today and remember to be grateful for all your blessings!

Question of the Day: Back in the day, when Astra had a crush on him, did you ship Jastra? Why?

Answer: I'm just trying to figure out why everyone always assumes Jastra is endgame in the first few books. I know Astra was crushing hard on him, and I was biased towards it as I was writing that. But... I don't know. They're kids! Astra has a crush! I know I've had that big of a crush on a guy, especially at age 12. Do those things ever go anywhere? And James was literally never into her. I just... Like I understand that I set it up for Jastra to happen in the first two books, but I never got so far as James doing anything remotely hinting at feelings for her (because he didn't ever have any).

I'm getting hung up on this because someone was reading through recently and commented how they didn't like Jastra, because they were kids, but they were clearly endgame. And I'm just confused on the logic there I guess. I know it's a common trope for fanfiction, so maybe it's literally people just assuming this story will take the path every other story does. Who knows! I'm just curious!

Sorry for that mess, just some thoughts!

Vote and comment!

~Elli