#sethel

"Hello, my dear brother," putting on an obliviousness, Winona sat up properly to face Glenn.

"I'm not in the mood to play games, dear sister," he scolded. "I know it was you who told Hexley and Fraser where my soap was placed."

Oh dear, Winona had really gotten herself in a pit of trouble this time. Putting on her best act, she batted her eyelashes innocently, "I have no idea what you are referring to, Glenn—telling Ethel and Selene where your bar of soap was? Preposterous! I did no such thing!"

Glenn's stiffened his face, letting no emotion revealed upon his sister. He didn't buy the act. In fact, she instead admitted her guilt. The crime, simply answering a harmless question by Selene and Ethel, led to the most extraordinary transformation that Winona had ever witnessed in her fifteen years of living. The Gryffindor prefect walked in and sported bright, magnolia pink hair. He was made the laughing stock for days amongst everyone while simultaneously Selene and Ethel were the talk at Hogwarts to pull off such a defeat though their glory was short-lived. Glenn seemed to take this a little more personal this time, tracking all culprits one by one directly involved and indirectly through the past couple of weeks with detention.

"I'm telling mother about this, and we shall see how she responds," Glenn threatened.

"Fine, I did tell them where your soap was. Is this what you want me to say? However, don't tell mama that." Winona stood up, holding firmly onto Emma, ready to storm off and whine to her closest friend, Victoria, how unfair and ridiculous Glenn was.

"Your detention is to polish the silver for two weeks alongside Hexley and Fraser starting tomorrow. Consider this me being generous." With a tall stride, he walked away from Winona while he fixed the tie of a first year with the flick of his wand. She stuck out her tongue behind his back. Emma seemed tired of being held in Winona's arms and jumped to follow Selene's ferret Alan to play with him.

"Come on, Emma. Now you?"

-oOo-

Winona avoided Glenn at dinner, who was with Oliver Gerard, his closet and probably only male companionship. She was thankful for it; otherwise, she would have argued with him. A lot.

"Can you believe the audacity of my brother!" Winona started, taking a deep and dramatic sigh. " Giving me detention, his dear little sister!"

Her best friend, Victoria Summer, who was graced with patience, had to endure the dramatic retelling of how Winona got punished by her brother. However, Victoria knew that Winona had a tendency to go big and over-exaggerate the details.

"You know, Winona...I don't blame Glenn for reacting the way he is." Her tone her soft but firm. Victoria had this way of making one feel guilty without raising her voice in anger within mere seconds. "If I were him, I too would be upset to find out that my own sister would assist in such a horrendous prank. Poor Professor Herron, Professor Figgs and the grounds keeper had to clean up the mess and it took two weeks for the pink colour to be removed from Glenn's hair."

"Come on, Vicky. You are meant to be on my side." Winona played with her food, still angry about her brother. She looked behind Victoria and made the unfortunate mistake of catching the eye of a Nolan Miller at the Ravenclaw table. In the most unladylike behaviour, she stuck her tongue out. Nolan pulled a face back, being very gentlemen like of him. She couldn't stand Nolan and found he was as much of an arrogant composition of flesh and bones as her brother. Nolan would always try and beat Winona's test grades, using her to get back at Glenn due to the year gap between the two boys. So in Glenn's stead, she usually studied harder to beat Nolan's grades. Unfortunately, they mainly even out their grade averages, but Glenn would consistently rank higher than the two combined. Most of the time, anyhow.

The thought of Glenn alone seemed to rise anger in her, though another thought intruded. It was devious but Winona held onto the thought a little longer. She almost laughed at how ridiculous it was, but it would be insane enough to pull it off. The only and most genuine way to get back at her dear brother. But she would need Nolan for it to work.

Victoria turned to see who Winona was staring at. "Oh, Winona. You have got to stop this frivolous rivalry with Nolan."

"Actually, I was thinking of making amends with Nolan."

"Really?! It didn't look like that from my view."

"Well, I've decided that I'm going to make amends and end this pointless feud." Victoria was surprised but was happy nevertheless by Winona's decision.

Throughout September, Winona had made a conscious effort on her appearance and actions around Nolan. While they argued back and forth with witty remarks, she tried to be less harsh. Even though it made her sick to her stomach, she had congratulated him on his better test score in defence against the dark arts. During detention, she had used that time to think of further ideas on how to make advances toward the Ravenclaw. She had even gone as far as to ask Euphemia Macnair for flirting advice which turned out to be a primarily fruitless endeavour from the naturally shy Slytherin. Still, she had been able to provide some helpful books on swooning a man. Winona did as it said; she dropped her handkerchief several times in Nolan's presence and stole more not-so-secret glances. Over time, Nolan's responses softened and were more courteous than previously before.

Finally, Winona snuck off to the astronomy tower in early October at one in the morning. Her favourite place in all of Hogwarts is to observe the stars of Orion, Polaris and her favourite Vega. The tower had a strangely calming effect on Winona. It was a place to gather her thoughts with a quill and parchment, where she wrote her articles for the school newspaper. Still, tonight she would write something different, something she had read but never written. A love letter. The receiver would be Nolan Miller. If things go well and he falls for her, it would mean she has achieved the first part of her plan.

The quill scratched on the parchment. Winona carefully curved the letters and thought of the right words to say. It would be best to come across as a secret admirer, praise him and inflate his ego.

Dear Nolan,

I have a simple confession to make. I have been observing you since the Summer. You may not have realised, but anytime you walked past me, stolen a glance or even merely daydreaming about you, it made my heart leap like a frog hopping on a lily pad. You consume my thoughts day and night, and how I wish I could be nearer to you, of your brilliant mind and extensive knowledge. It took me a lot of courage to finally pour out these deep affections I hold for you. However, I believe a letter would not be enough to describe in every single way how I yearn for you and your affections. I would like to propose that we could arrange a meeting at the beech tree by the Great Lake on the morning of this Saturday. I must confess again that some of me are selfish, and I wish to see if you would reciprocate my sentiments. However, I would still die happy tomorrow if I am able to express to you in person even if you don't share my affections.

Of the deepest of my sincerities,

Your secret admirer

Winona looked out from the open window of the tower and aimed the folded letter shaped like a bird at the Ravenclaw tower. The letter swooped through an open window with a flick of the wand and a gust of wind. She prayed for it to be sent to the right window but wrote To Nolan clearly so it could be sent properly. If someone else found it, then at the very least, she hoped they were kind enough to give it to him. All she can do is wait for him tomorrow.

-oOo-

She was too nervous to the point of regret. Her stomach twisted and churned as time passed slowly. Winona paced up and down from the beech tree to the edges of the lake, allowing the tips of her recently shined boots to touch the body of water. She had contemplated multiple times if she should back down and pretend like it was a horrible joke gone wrong. Though despite the nerves, Winona was not one to easily back down, so she persevered. No, Glenn needed to suffer like he made her suffer by manually cleaning the Prefect bathroom for almost a month.

"Winona Rosewood?" She nearly jumped out of fright. The Gryffindor girl had not paid enough attention to her surroundings and noted the approaching figure. Nolan had arrived with her letter held in hand. "What are you doing here so early?"

She took a deep breath, masking her best shy face. "Well, I was waiting for you, Nolan."

Nolan's eyes squinted before widening as he came to a quick realisation.

"You are my secret admirer?!"

"I am embarrassed to admit it but...yes," Purposefully, she looked away. "It was a painful realisation as I once thought I detested you but only to uncover to my surprise that I actually do harbour tender affections for you."

"Well, this explains a lot. I was wondering why you had such a sudden change in heart towards me." His arms crossed but held on tightly to the letter. He didn't seem angry or upset with her, which was a good sign in her mind but he didn't seem as warm as she had liked.

"I know it must be a surprise to you but..." Winona continued on her best act. "Would you still be interested in courting me despite our past?"

There was a pregnant pause. Winona felt her blood pumping in her ears. Never had she been so nervous, not even during her tests, had she been so scared at this very moment. Nolan contemplated her offer, but some hope bloomed within her when she noticed his mischievous smile.

"Sure."

"Really?!" It came out more eagerly than anticipated as a faint smile widened. While the confession and acceptance weren't precisely what Winona had thought. Her only references were her Jane Austen novels and her half-brother, Colin telling her of his love declaration to Euphemia. It was certainly better than she had thought. "Well, we ought to arrange a meeting soon. To get to know each other better since we are courting now."

"How about tomorrow?" Nolan suggested. "We could take a walk around Hogsmeade."

"Sounds like a date then."

It hadn’t taken Ethel longer than a few minutes to come up with a lengthy list of most infallible arguments against a date with Eliot when she had been informed that she and Selene wouldn’t be spending this year’s Valentine’s Day together, but Selene had shrugged off each and every one of them.

After being so rudely disregarded, Ethel had tried to tighten the reins, but neither making Eliot’s laundry disappear from the washing nor sending him an owl telling him Selene had picked up a possibly fatal and definitely highly infectious disease yet unknown to wizardkind had served her purpose.

Unsatisfied with the result of her endeavours, Ethel now sat between two piles of dresses in their dormitory in Gryffindor Tower with a decidedly bad mood, watching Selene twirling in front of a floor length mirror.

Selene had been trying on dresses all morning, and none of them seemed to satisfy her. She was currently wearing a dark red one which made her eyes look even more green than usual. She stopped turning and stepped closer to the mirror, regarding her reflection critically. She then sighed, shook her head and held out her hand.

“Next.”

Ethel frowned as she reached for another dress from the quickly dwindling pile the two girls had compiled from their wardrobes. Selene tossed the red dress onto the pile of discarded clothes and took the navy blue one Ethel was holding out to her.

“Whatever shall I do if none of these dresses fit, Effy?” she called out, her voice muffled as her head vanished inside the dress. “I can’t possibly go wearing anything ordinary.”

“You can’t possibly go at all, if you ask me,” Ethel muttered under her breath, but Selene had heard her regardless. She glowered at Ethel when she emerged from beneath the fabric.

“You certainly aren’t of much help.”

“If I’m so utterly unhelpful, how come you have asked me for assistance instead of the Slytherin witches?” Ethel asked pointedly.

Selene finally decided the blue dress was to her taste and was now busy holding her hair up and away from her face - something Ethel had never seen her do.

“Do you think Eliot would fancy me more with my hair up or down?”

Ethel only snorted in response, which made Selene turn from the mirror and sit down on the bed next to her.

“I know you don’t like him, but do try to be a little bit excited, just for my sake, would you, Effy?” She took Ethel’s hand and looked suddenly worried. “You won’t do anything funny to spoil our date, will you? You have to promise me!”

Ethel was genuinely offended at the idea. “How could you think I would so much as dream of sabotaging you, Selly?” she cried out. “I would never!”

Selene’s face softened and she leaned against her best friend’s shoulder. “I know. Forgive me for saying that. I’m just nervous.”

“If anyone should be nervous, it’s him,” Ethel muttered. “He doesn’t deserve a witch as brilliant as you.”

“Effy…,” Selene said with a warning undertone.

Ethel tried her hardest to not say anything bad about Eliot until it was time for Selene to leave. As soon as she had gone, Ethel looked around the mostly empty common room, undecided on what to do now. Most students had gone to spend Valentine’s Day in Hogsmeade, and thinking about it, there was absolutely no reason for Ethel to not do the same, was there?

Everyone was going, she told herself as she bundled up in her coat, scarf and a woolly hat which covered most of her face; she was just taking out their pet for some fresh air, she reasoned, stowing Alan the ferret inside the pocket of her coat; who knew, she might even find some interesting birds to watch, she thought and grabbed the spyglass Jim had gotten for their last birthday and which had somehow ended up in Ethel’s drawer. Funny how that happened over and over again.

Fully prepped and ready, Ethel set out on her way into Hogsmeade. She walked at a brisk pace and it wasn’t long before she could see Eliot and Selene appear in front of her. Ethel slowed her steps. There was nothing wrong with walking behind them, there was only one way from Hogwarts to the village, after all. She did take care to stay out of sight, however; she didn’t want to disturb the happy couple after all.

Ethel made it into Hogsmeade without either Selene or Eliot noticing her. They really should’ve paid more attention to their surroundings, Ethel thought to herself while hiding behind a stall selling roses. Someone could ambush them at any given moment. Their behaviour was utterly irresponsible. What kind of friend would she be if she didn’t alert them to the possibility of imminent danger?

Not taking her eyes off Eliot, Ethel drew her wand. She just wanted to see if he had what it took to protect Selene. Ethel snorted at the thought; as if Selene needed protection.

When the couple walked past a muddy puddle in the middle of the street, Ethel flicked her wand. Eliot tripped and stumbled, and Ethel was gleefully waiting for him to fall when he suddenly caught his stride with an unnaturally wide step. Selene said something to him, Eliot shrugged, and they continued along their way.

Ethel frowned and weighed her options for a moment. She focused and pointed her wand at Eliot. As she gave it another flick, the tails of his coat started smoking and burst into flame. But before Eliot could notice and show that he would certainly panic at the slightest hint of danger, the fire went out.

How odd; setting people on fire had never failed Ethel before.

They continued like this for a while: Ethel made snow fall off a roof and it fell differently than it should have; she made a bin topple to the ground right before Eliot’s feet and it swerved and tilted to the other side.

With every failed attempt to prove to Selene that Eliot was not a suitable match for her, Ethel grew increasingly vexed. She put her wand away and cracked her knuckles. Something was going on, that much was clear, but it took more than something to stop Ethel Hexley on a mission.

She scooped a handful of snow from the ground which she then formed into a ball, and aimed for the back of Eliot’s head. Before it could hit its goal, however, Ethel’s snowball was shot out of the air by another one, right before a second snowball hit her square in the face.

Outraged at being so rudely attacked, Ethel looked around to see where the snowball had been coming from. On the other side of the street, right across from where Ethel was hiding, she could spot a head peeking out from behind a bush. It was Oliver Gerard, Eliot’s older brother and the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Oliver looked at her with a serious expression and made a shooing motion with both of his hands. Ethel answered him with a not entirely appropriate gesture that made Oliver blush, but what did he expect? No one enjoyed being sabotaged, after all.

To drive her point home, she formed another snowball, this time aimed at the older Gerard brother. Oliver made a muffled sound as he ducked behind his bush, only to emerge with a snowball of his own he sent right back at Ethel.

Before they knew it a heated snowball fight had ensued. Ethel clearly had the upper hand; she was certain it would be only moments before Oliver would acknowledge her triumph and declare his eat. Ethel was in the process of aiming her final shot when the sound of a throat being cleared made her stop dead in her tracks.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Selene asked, her eyebrows raised and her hands stemmed into her hips.

“Showing Oliver how to properly throw a snowball,” Ethel explained, aimed and threw but her snowball never made it past Selene’s hand, which shot forward and intercepted Ethel’s shot.

“I don’t think that’s what you’re doing at all,” she said and gave Ethel a stern look. “On the contrary, I think you are behind all these little accidents we had the whole day.” A look of disappointment crossed Selene’s face. “You promised me not to interfere, Effy!”

“I wasn’t,” Ethel replied stuffily and clapped the snow off her hands. “I could never do anything to hurt you.”

“Isn’t it ever so fortunate that all the bad luck seemed to fall on Eliot then?”

“Here I am, minding my own affairs and showing Alan our most beautiful village, and yet you are accusing me of such vile intentions. We don’t deserve that, do we Alan?” Ethel cried out and looked down at her pocket where she expected to see Alan’s head poke out, but Alan had already freed himself of Ethel’s coat and climbed up Selene’s skirts up to her shoulder. Ethel glared at him. “Traitorous critter.”

“Why would you try to ruin this for me Effy?” Selene sighed and sounded hurt. “Or you, for that matter?” she addressed Oliver, who was now being dragged over to them by Eliot.

“I would never want to ruin your rendez-vous!” Oliver protested. “I’m not here to stand in true love’s way. Only in hers,” he added and nodded into Ethel’s direction.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ethel bristled up.

“I’m sabotaging the saboteur.”

“How utterly rude. I wasn’t sabotaging a soul. My whole purpose was to ensure your brother could protect my dear sister in the face of danger.”

“By flinging him into the mud and setting him on fire?”

“Being on fire is not a suitable excuse.”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Oliver asked and threw his hands in the air.

“Yes, I am,” Ethel said indignantly, “and obviously I am the only person with so much as a little common sense left if you think -”

“Stop it, both of you!” Selene cut into their bickering. She had raised her voice and glared between Ethel and Oliver. “I appreciate the effort of wanting to keep us safe or wanting to keep us safe from anyone trying to keep us safe. But this is enough. Eliot and I are on a date, whether you like it or not, and we are perfectly capable of protecting ourselves. And we don’t need a matchmaking chaperone either,” she added, which wiped Oliver’s triumphant grin off his face.

This was the first time Ethel had even seen Selene being angry at her. She felt miserable for making her best friend upset.

“Do forgive me for ruining your afternoon,” she said contritely and and meant it. “I really only wanted to -”

“I know,” Selene said, sounding decidedly softer than before. “But I am perfectly fine. Trust me, Effy, will you?”

“Who else would I trust more than you, dear sister?” Ethel smiled.

She turned to Oliver, linked arms with him and pulled him away from Selene and his brother. “I feel generous today, so I will treat the loser of our snowball fight to an invigorating drink.”

“Wait,” Oliver said and gave her a sideways-glance, “what would make you think I was losing?”

Ethel looked at him pityingly. “Of course you were. Pray, do you think Cledwyn might be at The Three Broomsticks?”

Their chatter faded as Selene and Eliot stood watching Ethel and Oliver walk away. When she was sure they were out of earshot, Selene exhaled slowly and turned to Eliot with an apologetic smile.

“Family, huh?”

The door opened, and Glenn immediately went to the bathroom stalls to change into his bathing suit. On the opposite side of the room, he left his washing items by the pool, illuminated by the candle-lit chandelier. The school did supply complimentary bath items for students to wash with. Still, Glenn has always preferred bringing his own supply. He watched the hundred golden taps fill the sunken pool until the foam perfectly touched the pool's edge.

He dipped in slowly, taking his time to unwind. As the only person here, he could play whatever song he liked from his portable gramophone. His annoying little sister couldn't even barge in to complain about how out of date his music taste was. Taking his bar of soap, that looked slightly pink which Glenn doesn't recall it ever being pale pink. Despite his suspicions, he washed his hair before simply relaxing inside the tub. His muscles loosened, and his eyes were slowly shutting from pure bliss. He heard muffled giggles that he assumed came from the mermaid in the stained glass window overlooking the bath. He also hear squeaks followed by tiny footsteps, coming closer to him. Glenn glanced at the marble floor but saw nothing.

However, it only lasted for a few minutes as the water quickly went cold. Glenn's fingertips were wrinkled like a shrivelfig and almost blue. Glenn went to grab for his wand to reheat the water as he accidentally knocked down a soap bar from the supplied bathroom items.

"For Godrick's sake," he muttered as he blindly navigated his hand through the soapy water for the soap bar. Something slipped through his fingers, almost kicking him. Glenn grabbed it again and pulled out the slippery thing, only to be greeted by a loud croak.

"Bloody Merlin!" The frog flew out of his hand. The chorus of croaking frogs started as the music changed to something more upbeat. Exactly what I needed, he thought to himself. Glenn left the pool immediately to search for his wand to try at least to use the freezing charm on the never-ending spawning of frogs. Drenched, water dripped onto the white marble floor.

He lifted his towels and other items that he had brought. "Where are you, wand?"

Glenn raided through every bathroom corner to find his apparently missing wand. The number of frogs grew more and more as they covered more area. Glenn couldn't even hear himself think through the loud croaks and horrific music that seemed to blast through. He sought shelter in the bathroom stalls as that was the least crowded by the amphibians.

"Blasted!" He smacked the sink, "where did my bloody wand go?"

Something looked wrong in the mirror. Glenn looked up and saw his hair but in a bright shade of magnolia pink. Only so many students would prank him this far; Hexley and Fraser. But how did they pull this off, and where were they? No, Glenn had to focus on finding his wand first to stop the frogs, at least the moment he opened that door, it would become a frog plague at Hogwarts. Then he can find the two girls and deal with them accordingly.

A flash of brown and white moved in the mirror. There's only one animal that is nimble and small; a ferret. Glenn turned to look at the bathroom stall behind him. Slowly creeping up before pushing the door open.

"I knew it! It was yous, Fraser and Hexley!"

"Hi Glenn, I love the new hairstyle," Ethel grinned mischievously.

"I agree with Ethel. The colour pink suits you, Glenn," Selene matched Ethel's grin. Her pet ferret, Alan, was on her shoulder.

Glenn stood there, not amused by their compliments, cross-armed while frogs hopped at his feet and that annoying music still blasting. "Detention for both of you."

"Not if you can't catch us first." Ethel taunted, undeterred by Glenn's punishment. "Here, catch."

"Wait, what?" Glenn saw a stick fly out of her before grabbing it. It was his wand. Selene threw something to the ground while Glenn was distracted. The bath stalls were covered in smoke; he barely managed to hear their footsteps passing by him.

"So long Glenn!"

"And good luck!"

Glenn ran after as best as he could with the frog-filled floor and was careful to not slip and fall down. The door was open as the frogs jumped at the opportunity outside. The girls and their ferret seemed to have disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.

"Hexley! Fraser! I'll get you for this!" Glenn stood at the prefect bathroom door, soaking in his new bright pink hair and an army of frogs escaping behind him.

“This must be the right way now.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Of course it is. It’s the only way we haven’t tried yet.”

“Really? I think I remember that broken corn stem over there. We must have passed it three times by now.”

Selene sighed. Conversations like this had happened in different variations between her and her best friend Ethel for the last hour or so. At this point, they might as well face reality:

They were lost.

It had started all so well. To celebrate the beginning of autumn, a corn maze had been set up just outside the gates of Hogsmeade; and not any ordinary corn maze, either, of course not.

Like the staircases up at the castle, the narrow, winding paths threading through the field of corn were twisting and turning every now and again, creating new paths and dead-ends, and countless opportunities to get lost.

Selene and Ethel had been burning to go from the first moment they had caught wind of the new attraction. They had positively harassed their Gryffindor friends Oliver Gerard and Victoria Summer to come with them, until they had given up on refusing the two girls and agreed to join them.

Everyone in Gryffindor House agreed that the sweet Victoria and the hopelessly romantic Oliver would make the most wonderful pair; all but themselves apparently. They had been dancing around each other for ages now, and neither Ethel nor Selene could stand Oliver’s whining or Victoria’s dreamy sighs in their dormitory anymore. So, they figured, something had to be done.

Their plan had been infallible; they had ventured deep into the maze with Victoria and Oliver until they had reached a spot they deemed suitable for their endeavours.

When their two friends weren’t looking, Selene slipped Alan, her and Ethel’s adopted pet ferret, out of her bag and set him on the ground.

He looked up at them out of trusty, beady eyes, maybe a little grumpy he had been so rudely awakened from his blissful nap.

“Come on, Alan,” Ethel said and gently nudged him with her foot, “this is your cue.”

As if understanding her, Alan turned around and darted off into the maze.

“Oh NO, Selly! How did Alan get here?” Ethel exclaimed dramatically.

“I don’t know, Effy! He’s gone! Whatever shall we do now?” Selene called out, barely able to contain her laughter.

“We need to get him back,” Oliver said firmly, stepping onto the path Alan had darted along.

“No, no, no,” Ethel and Selene said simultaneously.

“He’s a very sensitive ferret, you know,” Selene explained.

“You might scare him away,” Ethel agreed. “He’s in shock and needs familiar faces now. You two just stay here. Don’t move,” she smiled as she backed away from them, “and don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.”

“Or maybe do exactly that!” Selene called over her shoulder as she and Ethel set off to chase down Alan, leaving a baffled looking Oliver and Victoria behind.

As it turned out, there was one major flaw they hadn’t considered in their wonderful plan to give their friends some time to themselves; Alan was surprisingly good at hiding, and the corn maze offered a little too many opportunities for him to do so.

It had taken them several turns and scratched heads until they had found the fugitive ferret basking on a bench in the golden autumn sunlight. With a triumphant cry, Selene scooped him up and tucked him into her bag again, from which his little head was peaking out curiously.

When they had turned to walk back the way they had come from, they had been forced to realise that the maze had had different ideas. The enchanted paths had shifted again, and the two girls found themselves in front of a solid wall of corn plants.

“That’s unfortunate,” Selene said.

“Indeed,” Ethel mused, her lips pursed as she was thinking on what to do next. “Let’s try this way.”

One hour and countless wrong decisions later, Selene and Ethel were almost ready to declare defeat.

“Do you think we could just walk straight through?” Selene wondered with a judging look at the dense plants.

“They’re probably hexed to prevent that,” Ethel sighed. As if to prove her point, she picked up a stone from the pathway and flicked it at the corn surrounding them. As expected, it bounced right back off.

“Seems like there’s no shortcut for us this time.”

Selene looked around them. “If there was something to climb on, maybe we could get an overview. “Or should I give you a leg-up?”

Ethel shrugged. “Might as well try that.”

Selene interlaced her fingers to give her friend a foothold, but when Ethel stepped into Selene’s folded hands and was hoisted up, she immediately lost her balance and the two Gryffindors came crashing down to the ground.

“Ouch,” Selene huffed as she got up and dusted off her dress. “What did you eat this morning, rock cakes?”

“Only three,” Ethel sniggered. “That was definitely in need of development.”

She dipped her head back, judging the height of the walls. “Do you think we could use the Spongify charm to jump high enough to see something?”

Selene’s eyes lit up as an idea struck her. “Forget about Spongify. How about the levitation charm?”

Ethel clearly wasn’t convinced. “You were just complaining I was too heavy, and now you want to try levitating?”

“Not you,” Selene laughed. “I was thinking more about him,” she grinned and held up her bag. Alan sniffed her hand curiously.

A broad smile stole onto Ethel’s face. “A splendid idea, as always. We’re here because someone couldn’t stick to the plan,” she said, looking at Alan pointedly, “so it’s poetic justice that the root of our predicament would be the solution to it, too.”

They didn’t waste another moment, and so Alan found himself slowly floating upwards through the air, until he was hovering a good deal above the upper edges of the maze.

“Which way, Alan?” Selene called out from below.

Alan sniffed the air and turned on his axis twice, once horizontally, and then vertically, for good measure. It was delightful how his fluffy tail was swishing behind him, and he tried reaching for it.

“Alan, concentrate!”

Alan chirped indignantly, but concentrated on his task again. When he had decided on a path, he pointed his nose in the direction and went stockstill, like a tiny hound who had found its trail.

Selene and Ethel were surprised to see that Alan seemed to have a better orientation than the two of them, because after only two tries they found themselves almost back at the place where their goose - or rather - ferret chase had begun.

They were just about to round the corner when Ethel’s hand shot out and held Selene back by her sleeve.

“Look,” she whispered with a broad grin.

Carefully, Selene leaned forward until she could see into the small clearing where they had left their friends. Funnily enough, they had actually been waiting for them to return, but they didn’t seem bored by their friends’ prolonged absence in the slightest.

They were sitting on the bench on the edge of the clearing, deeply immersed into their conversation. They were facing each other, mirroring their positions, and Oliver had a dreamy expression on his face as he watched Victoria speak. Victoria’s eyes were sparkling and she laid a hand on his arm when Oliver said something to make her laugh.

Bringing one finger to her lips, Ethel silently retreated backwards the way they had come, Selene tiptoeing behind her; at least this part of their plan seemed to have worked.

When they were out of earshot, Alan was sent on another trip up into the air on a lookout for another way home. The girls linked arms and marched in a perfect lockstep into the direction the floating ferret indicated.

“At least us getting lost worked for Vic and Oli,” Ethel laughed as the exit to the maze came into view.

As far as the professors of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were concerned, detention was a serious business.

It was their last resort when neither stern words, extra homework, or the deductions of house points would do the trick on unruly students; a time of reflection and quiet, tedious work, meant to give insubordinate students a possibility to think about their behaviour.

Unfortunately for them, neither Selene Fraser nor Ethel Hexley had ever cared much for how things were supposed to be handled.

It had all started very innocently, with the two girls practising writing star charts and horoscopes for their Divination class. Selene still didn’t know what exactly had happened, but before long, Ethel and she had found themselves selling custom made horoscopes to anyone who was interested in how gruesome their deaths would be, or which grim fate awaited them in the form of rebellious inanimate objects coming alive and haunting them.

It had been a lot of fun, and they had earned some good money, before their Head of House had come and shut their business down; apparently some first-years had been so frightened by the prospect of a Transfiguration book biting their noses they had refused to enter the library again.

Selene found the behaviour of their professor rude and unnecessary. It wasn’t like they had made things up, after all; they had just conveyed what the stars had told them, maybe a little bit more colourful than intended, but the signs had been all there.

At least she believed so, Ethel and she still were unsure about which way of their model star chart was up and which way was down, so they had resorted to switching it around at regular intervals.

In any case, their Head of House had not been amused at two supposedly chivalrous Gryffindors scaring little children; she hadn’t even bothered with deducting house points but had sent the two best friends straight to detention.

It could have been worse though, Selene figured, as she worked her way through the clocktower courtyard with a broom in hand. The cobblestones were littered with fallen leaves in every shade of red, yellow and brown imaginable, and while the golden October sun was shining down and warming Selene’s dark hair, a pleasantly cool wind was bringing with it the promise of cooler days to come.

The only downside of the autumn breeze was that the orderly piles of leaves Selene left in her wake were reduced to the same chaotic state they had been in only moments before. Selene turned her head and sighed deeply when another heap of leaves flew into the air with a new gust and came tumbling down around her.

From the other side of the courtyard, Ethel’s frustrated voice could be heard calling her over.

“This is rubbish,” she complained as she and Selene slumped down on the edge of the fountain for a break.

“If you ask me, that old hag picked this day for our detention on purpose. She must have known about this wind, the weather is bound to change, that always brings lots of wind. Making us sweep up leaves, seriously. Next time she can do that herself, that’s what her horoscope predicts.”

Selene nodded in agreement, kicking one of the leaves that had landed onto her shoe up in the air again; she watched as it floated down like a dancer doing slow pirouettes.

“Pity we’re not allowed to use magic to clean the courtyard,” she sighed absentmindedly.

Next to her, Ethel’s head whipped around. “What did you just say?”

“I said, it’s a pity we’re not allowed to use magic to clean up.”

A wide grin spread on Ethel’s freckled face. “You’re a genius, Selly.”

Selene raised an eyebrow at her friend. “No doubt about that, but what made you finally realise that?”

With a laugh, Ethel jumped to her feet and dropped her broom in favour of her wand. “We’re not supposed to use magic to clean the courtyard,” she said pointedly.

Selene started grinning as well as she caught on to Ethel’s meaning. “But no one said anything about gathering the leaves together.”

“It would make disposing of them so much easier.”

“Way more efficient.”

“I can’t see how anyone could complain.”

The two girls looked at each other before simultaneously pointing their wands at the strewn about leaves surrounding them. Blasts of wind burst from the tips of their wands and sent the leaves in their path scurrying up into the air.

Before long, the courtyard was filled with giggles and dancing leaves. Had they not gotten distracted by chasing each other around the perimeter of the yard, it would have taken them only a couple of minutes to finish their work.

But even so, not even an hour later, an impressive pile of leaves could be found in the centre of the courtyard, Selene and Ethel standing next to it looking thoroughly pleased with themselves.

“So, how do we get rid of these now?” Selene asked and tilted her head.

“Well, we obviously can’t use magic to get rid of them now,” Ethel sighed, her lips pursed as she was trying to come up with a more creative solution than carrying the leaves off by hand.

“We can’t,” Selene agreed and furtively edged closer to her friend, “but we could do this.”

She gave the shoulders of an unsuspecting Ethel a push, sending her scurrying forward into the gigantic pile of leaves. Ethel emerged from the heap moments later and spit out a leaf, a handful of them stuck in her hair.

“Traitor!” she shouted accusingly at Selene as she got to her feet again. “Come and face your just punishment!”

She grabbed an armful of the leaves and started throwing them at Selene, who in turn scooped up a load of her own and set to defending herself.

It took them half the time they had needed to gather the leaves to scatter them all over again. Their laughter that was ringing through the air drew the attention of the Head of Gryffindor House as she walked by the courtyard.

When she saw her two charges ducking behind the sculptures of the fountain waiting for a proper opportunity to attack, she sighed deeply, shook her head and continued on her way.