Stolen Wands

Kai and Alduin were arguing again.

“He never!”

“I heard he did.”

“I'm getting sick of hearing about what you've heard, mate!”

“Shut it, both of you!” Dewey said wearily.

They were in the dungeons, serving out their last evening of detention. The ancient Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch, who'd been insisting that each year was his last and he was going to retire, for as long as any of the current students could remember, had put them to work cleaning, oiling, and polishing a room full of horrendous medieval devices. There were whips, chains, manacles, stockades, thumbscrews, iron maidens, a rack, and even a chair bristling with sharp, rusty iron spikes. It was all ancient and disused, but Filch sighed wistfully whenever he looked at it. Then he'd size up the three boys with a disturbing gleam in his eyes, as if he were mentally fitting them for the devices.

“Hogwarts didn't use to be so enlightened,” Alduin went on, ignoring both Kai and Dewey. “Used to be, you'd spend detention in these bloody things, not cleaning them. You just know that old Squib is longing for the good old days.”

“Don't call him a Squib,” Dewey said, frowning. Nobody liked Filch, but it still wasn't a nice thing to point out about someone.

“Well, he is a Squib!” Alduin said.

Kai said, “And you're a horse's –”

“It's just one more bloody night!” Dewey yelled, causing them both to fall silent in surprise. “Can you two just hate each other silently for a few more hours?”

Although Alduin seemed to hold himself a bit aloofly even back in Hufflepuff House, he wasn't really a bad chap, or so Dewey told himself, and likewise, Kai was normally gregarious and cheerful, if a bit sharp at times. But the two of them together were a train wreck. Kai was never going to forgive Alduin's comments about his sister, and Alduin was convinced that Kai went out of his way to embarrass everyone he thought inferior to himself, which according to Alduin, was everyone not in Ravenclaw.

They were sorely testing Dewey's patience.

“What's all this yelling?” growled Filch. The old caretaker came shuffling through the doorway and looked around at the dreadful room's contents, and for a moment got that dreamy look on his face again. Then he focused his rheumy old eyes on the boys. “It doesn't take any talking to clean equipment!”

The three boys frowned and turned their attention towards their work.

“Since you can't seem to manage without talking, you can stay here,” he said, pointing to Dewey, “you can start polishing the stonework,” he said to Alduin, “and you, come with me,” he finished, gesturing at Kai.

“Polish the stonework?” Alduin asked.

“Yes! The dungeon corridors are all lined with stones, aren't they? Start polishing!” Filch barked.

Alduin and Dewey exchanged a look, as Kai followed the caretaker down the corridor and around a corner, to a small alcove not far from Filch's office.

“You take care cleaning up this spot!” snapped Filch. “I don't want to see a speck of dust or cobwebs when you're done, I want every surface nice and clean, and I want that marble and bronze gleaming!” He looked in the shadowy alcove, and brought a hand to his cheek, and Kai felt an equal mixture of shock and disgust when he realized that Filch was wiping away a tear. “This is Mrs. Norris's final resting place,” he said softly.

Kai stared at Filch, and then at the alcove. He could see some sort of marble bust inside, and a metal plaque embedded in the wall.

“You... you entombed your missus... here in the dungeons?” Kai asked, appalled.

“Of course I did! It was her home! She knew these corridors better than I did. Sometimes I... I can almost hear her still walking about on her nightly patrols... or see her out of the corner of my eye...” Filch's voice trailed off, and then he started and stared at Kai. “Well? What are you waiting for? Get to work!” He turned and shuffled off.

Kai stared after him, then lit his wand and stepped into the alcove. And looking down, he exclaimed, “Oh, you've got to be kidding me!” as the light from his wand fell upon the marble likeness of a large, mean-looking cat.

Kai had finished cleaning up Filch's shrine to Mrs. Norris, and Dewey had finally removed the last of the rust from the iron maiden. They met outside the “torture room,” waiting for Alduin so they could go report to Filch and be released for the night.

“Glad that's over with,” Kai grimaced.

“Me too,” said Dewey. “Let's not do that again, all right?”

Kai nodded, ignoring Dewey's pointed look. He knew Dewey wasn't just talking about the detention.

“Chang!” screamed Alduin from down the corridor. Dewey and Kai both jumped.

Alduin was charging towards them, looking furious. “Give it back! Now!” he snarled.

“Give what back? What are you on about now?” Kai demanded, but Dewey could see that Alduin wasn't just angry, he was enraged, and if not stopped, was going to barrel right into Kai and probably repeat exactly the scene that had landed them here in the dungeons in the first place. He jumped in front of the other Hufflepuff and caught him, almost body-blocking him to prevent him from tackling the smaller Ravenclaw.

“Alduin! Calm down! What are you talking about?” Dewey asked.

“My wand! Your bloody stinking Ravenclaw toerag of a friend stole my wand!”

“I what?” exclaimed Kai. “You're barking!”

“It got snatched out of my pocket when my back was turned! You're the only other person around, or do you want me to believe that Filch snuck up on me and stole my wand without me noticing?”

“You probably dropped it somewhere because you're a careless idiot!” Kai retorted. Dewey was once more trying to hold the two boys apart.

“You think I'd just drop my wand somewhere and not notice?”

“Well apparently you wouldn't notice if someone just walked up behind you and snatched it out of your pocket!”

“Ha! You're admitting it, then!”

“ENOUGH!” Dewey roared, shoving them both backwards as hard as he could. He knew Filch would have heard that, but he didn't care. He glared at the two boys.

“Kai didn't steal your wand!” he barked at Alduin. “Now let's retrace your steps and look for it!” He turned to glare at Kai, as if daring him to refuse.

“Fine,” Kai grumbled.

Alduin gritted his teeth, but nodded.

Filch found them as they reached the end of the corridor which Alduin had been working in.

“What's all this racket?” he demanded. “I think they heard you all the way upstairs!”

“Chang stole my wand!” Alduin said.

“I didn't touch your bloody wand you bloody liar!” Kai made to lunge at Alduin, and Dewey grabbed him again. Filch stared at the boys.

“Lost your wand, did you?” he chortled. “Oh, that's very careless of you, very careless indeed! Well, it might show up again someday. We find all sorts of odd things turning up in these dungeons.”

“I didn't lose it, it was stolen!” Alduin insisted.

“Not by me!” Kai yelled.

“All right, here's what we'll do,” Dewey said. “Alduin, I'll go fetch all the Hufflepuffs I can find, and we'll search the dungeons until we find your wand. All right?”

“And when you find it, maybe it would be a good idea to tie it to his hand so he doesn't lose it again,” Kai said.

“You're not helping!” Dewey whispered to Kai as he dragged him away.

The two of them headed up the stairs from the dungeon, while Alduin remained below with Filch. As Dewey turned to head for the stairs to the Hufflepuff dorms, while Kai made to proceed up the stairs towards Ravenclaw Tower, Dewey cleared his throat.

“Look... Kai...”

“Don't you dare ask me, mate,” Kai growled threateningly.

Dewey looked at him a moment, and then nodded. “All right. Just... stay away from him, okay?”

“With pleasure!” Kai snapped, and continued upstairs.

“So you didn't find it, then?” Teddy asked, the next day in Charms.

Dewey shook his head. “We combed the dungeons, with Filch following after and sniping at us the whole way. Then some Slytherins poked their noses in, and, well, we gave it up after that. I don't know what happened. I'm sure Kai didn't take it, but I really doubt Alduin would be careless enough to just let it fall out of his pocket.”

Two rows behind them, Alduin was sitting sullenly at his table. With no wand, he wasn't able to follow along with the classroom exercises and could only read what Professor Flitwick was putting on the board.

“What will he do if it doesn't turn up?”

“He'll have to order a new wand, I reckon. But he said his wand was an old family heirloom, so...”

Teddy nodded. “Messing with someone's wand is serious business.”

Teddy waited until class ended, and then said, “Remember, you'll find her outside of Rai's classroom.”

Dewey nodded. “Got it.” And they both hurried off to their next classes.

Teddy usually walked with Chloe between classes. He also sat with Chloe at lunch. Chloe was a little nonplussed when Teddy finished eating and rose from the table a few minutes before the bell for their afternoon Herbology class.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I'm going to walk Violet to class,” he said.

Chloe's mouth fell half-open, and her arched eyebrow punctuated the question.

“You can come too,” he offered. “C'mon!”

He didn't notice Chloe's mouth opening further as he turned his back on her, but she hurried after him. They found Violet leaving the Great Hall, once again separated from her fellow Slytherins.

She looked at Teddy as he fell in alongside her.

“You have to stop this,” she said.

“Why?”

“It's embarrassing.”

“More embarrassing than having bigger kids toss your books around and call you 'snakey'?”

Violet closed her mouth and frowned. Chloe was frowning also.

“I told you not to,” Violet said, finally. “But this morning, Kai was waiting to walk me to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and then Dewey escorted me to History of Magic.”

“Good!” Teddy replied cheerfully. “Everything's working according to schedule, then!”

“The three of you can't walk me to every class for the rest of the year.”

“Why not?”

She sighed. “And no offense, but none of you are exactly built like trolls.”

“But bullies are less likely to target you if you're not alone. And most of 'em aren't nearly as tough as a troll, anyway, except maybe that Prefect of yours, whatsisname who always sounds like he's gargling rocks.”

“Maybe she should make friends in her own house so she doesn't need you to look after her,” Chloe whispered, just before they entered Professor Longbottom's greenhouse.

“I'm sure she does have friends in her own house,” Teddy whispered back, trying to keep his voice low. He wasn't sure that Violet hadn't heard Chloe. “She's my cousin, and besides, it's Gryffindors picking on her. We can't let that stand.”

Chloe sniffed, then winced when she saw that they were picking and preparing nettles that day. As the Gryffindor and Slytherin students got to work at their respective tables, Chloe flinched and shied away from the stinging plants.

“Oh, please, Teddy!” she pleaded. “I can't stand it, they keep brushing against me! Please, please do it for me!”

Teddy looked uncomfortable, but while Longbottom was helping Colleen and Judith Woodbury, he picked the leaves from Chloe's plant as well as his own. Violet, across the table, noticed but said nothing.

That evening, she found Teddy in the library. He was working on a two-foot scroll that Slughorn had assigned on the subject of Potions With Non-Lethal But Extremely Undesirable Effects.

Violet sat down next to him and said, “It's very sweet that you want to protect me,” with a grimace. “But it's embarrassing. And it's only going to cause problems with our houses.”

“You don't want to be friends anymore because your fellow Slytherins don't approve?” Teddy asked.

“That's not what I said. But assigning me bodyguards is very Gryffindor.”

“So?”

“So I'm not a Gryffindor.” Teddy looked at her. She looked coolly back at him.

“Are you going to respect my wishes,” she asked, “or are you going to treat me like a baby?”

He sighed. “Why do you have to be so... stubborn?”

“I suppose that's not solely a Gryffindor quality,” she said dryly. She looked at the scroll he was working on. “I thought you finished Professor Slughorn's assignment already.”

“I, er, did,” he admitted. His fingers twitched nervously as he reached for the quill again. “Chloe just needed a little help with hers.”

Violet looked around pointedly.

“I'm just doing a little bit of it for her.”

She looked at the scroll.

“I see,” she said slowly. “That would be the bit that's in your handwriting? So I'm guessing her bit will be copying it over in her own handwriting before she turns it in?”

Teddy frowned. He felt his face turning red.

“There's a word for letting someone else do your work for you and turning it in as your own. I can't seem to recall it.”

“Oh, and I suppose Slytherins don't do that all the time?” he snapped.

She looked at him coldly. “I don't,” she said.

He looked down. “Sorry.” He sighed. “Look, Hogwarts has been kind of overwhelming for her. She didn't grow up with magic like the rest of us, and she's awfully homesick. All the stuff we do here, she said it's completely different from anything she ever did in school back in London.”

“So,” Violet said slowly, “you're saying we shouldn't expect so much from someone who was raised by Muggles.”

He opened his mouth, and flushed. “Darn it, Violet, why do you always have to be so–”

“Right?”

Before he could reply to that, they both heard Chloe say, “Teddy! There you are!” She beamed at him, and paused, her smile freezing slightly when she saw Violet. “Hello, Violet,” she said politely.

“Hello, Chloe,” Violet replied politely.

She looked down at the scroll, and then wrapped her arms around Teddy's shoulders and squeezed him. “Oh, Teddy, you're a lifesaver!” she squealed. “Honestly!” Then she stood up. “But you'll never guess what just happened!”

“What?” Teddy asked, trying not to notice Violet's baleful expression.

“Ellie Cattermole's wand was stolen!”

Ellie had in fact been in the library, not far from Teddy but seated alone at a table near the back wall, when she realized her wand was missing. After looking around frantically and retracing her steps, she had approached the librarian in tears. Now all the students in the library were looking high and low, between shelves and under tables. Several of Ellie's Gryffindor classmates tried using Summoning Charms, over the librarian's strenuous objections, but without success.

“There's no point,” Violet said, though she was assisting Teddy and Chloe in the search. “If her wand can't be retrieved magically, then it's obviously not just rolled off into a corner somewhere.”

“Hmph,” said Chloe. Teddy actually agreed with Violet, but he felt it was important to keep looking, for Ellie's sake.

Eventually, the searchers had to admit failure. Ellie was sobbing inconsolably. A few older Gryffindors, including Roger Drocker, were lurking near the library entrance, and gave Violet baleful looks as she and Teddy and Chloe exited.

“I'd like to shake down every Slytherin in the library and make sure one of them didn't snatch it!” said one of Roger's older friends.

“I'd like to see you try that.” Teddy and Violet turned, to see Ophilia calmly following them with an armful of books. She looked down at Violet. “I'm returning to the common room,” she said. “Coming?”

Violet waved good-bye to Teddy, and then followed her Prefect down the stairs, along with several other Slytherins, past the glowering Gryffindors.

Chloe kept her comments to herself, though what she thought of Violet was clearly written on her face. Ellie's younger brother Alfred, however, was much more verbose that evening.

“Come on, Lupin, you're still going to defend those wand-thieving snakes?” he railed.

“I'm not defending any wand thieves, but we don't know who's responsible!” Teddy replied. “And pranks are one thing, but stealing wands is too much! Even Slytherins wouldn't do that!”

“Like hell they wouldn't! That's exactly what they'd do!” Albus exclaimed. “You'd better keep a close eye on your own wand, Lupin, with that cousin of yours around!”

Teddy glowered at him. “I know for sure Violet didn't steal anyone's wand!”

“Look, mate,” Colin said reasonably, to Alfred. “I know this stinks, but your sister can get another wand from Ollivander's in three days or less by owl post.”

“Ollivander's?” Alfred laughed bitterly. “Do you think we can afford new wands from Ollivander's? Our parents lost almost everything when they fled the country. They're barely able to afford everything the three of us need now!”

“Hogwarts has a fund...” Teddy started to say, and Alfred just glared at him.

“Right, first we were made refugees, now we're to be made charity cases!”

Tensions were just as great in Hufflepuff House. Ellie's older sister Maisie was weeping, and her shoulders shook with fury. Other Hufflepuffs were trying to comfort her, but the loss of her sister's wand had struck her deeply.

“Twelve years gone by, and they still want to take our wands from us!” she cried.

Edgar was confused, but had at least enough sense to wait until they were in their room before he asked Dewey. “I know losing your wand is a right spoiler,” he said. “And they are awfully expensive.” He looked at his own thick cherrywood wand. “My parents couldn't believe what it cost for a stick. But, isn't she being a little... dramatic?”

Simon was also looking at Dewey curiously. Alduin was just sitting on his bed, sulking, so Dewey sighed and explained.

“During You-Know-Who's reign –”

“Volde-”

“Yes, him. During his reign, the Ministry of Magic created the Muggle-born Registration Commission. They investigated anyone who wasn't a so-called 'pureblood' wizard, and if you couldn't prove you'd come by your magic 'honestly' – which meant, by having the right lineage – they claimed you'd stolen it, and they took your wand away. There were wandless witches and wizards living on the streets, treated pretty much like animals.”

Edgar and Simon's eyes were both wide. “Blimey!” Edgar said.

“That's horrible,” said Simon. “It's evil!”

“Yeah, it was,” Dewey agreed. “The thing is, it's still a really sore topic. 'Cause there are a lot of folks like, well, the Cattermoles, who suffered because of Voldem –” Dewey stumbled over the name. “Voldemort's policies. Taking someone's wand away is the ultimate humiliation in the wizarding world, and if someone is stealing wands, it's going to open up all kinds of bad stuff.”

“Especially if Slytherins are doing it,” Alduin commented.

Dewey frowned. “If Slytherins are doing it, yeah, it would be really, really bad.” Then he gave Alduin a narrow look. “But if you think Slytherins are responsible, I take it you'll be apologizing to Kai, then?”

Alduin glared at him, and didn't reply. Dewey snorted, and shook his head.

“We ought to take up a collection!” Edgar said. “To buy a new wand for Maisie's sister!”

“That's a nice thought, mate. We may do that.” Dewey sighed. “But this wand-thieving is serious business. Whoever's responsible had better stop.“

But whoever was responsible didn't stop. Over the next two weeks, another Hufflepuff, two more Gryffindors, and a Ravenclaw each had their wands stolen.

“We're getting jumped in the hallways practically every day!” protested Mortimer Thickwaite. “We have to travel in groups for self-defense!”

Hugh and Ophilia had called a Slytherin meeting. Now all the Slytherins were gathered in their common room, and the mood was ugly, but no more ugly than the mood outside the sanctuary of the dungeons. It was true – Slytherins were more unpopular than ever before. Violet had to admit to herself that maybe she shouldn't have demanded that Teddy remove his “protection detail”; she now had to be extremely fast and sneaky to get from class to class without being targeted. Even the first-year girls in other houses were a threat, and some days, Violet would simply give in and walk with Nagaeena, Decima, and Bernice, tolerating Nagaeena's preening and her condescending prattle.

“We're all aware of the problem,” Ophilia said calmly. “I've spoken to Professor Slughorn, and he assures me the other House Heads are putting pressure on their houses.”

There was widespread snorting and sneering at this. Ophilia scowled.

“Listen to me!” she snapped. “This situation is as it is! You all know the stigma we live under, you all know we can't be expected to be treated fairly! You can all snivel and whine about it, or you can behave like Slytherins and prove yourselves better than your detractors!”

“I'd rather behave like Slytherins and put curses on our detractors!” called someone from the back. There were cheers and nods of agreement throughout the room. Standing next to Ophilia, even Hugh seemed to like that idea.

“We are not going to war!” Ophilia said. “Continue to watch each other's backs, but stay your hands! The wand-thieves will be found, they will be proven not to be Slytherin, and we will make all the other houses eat their words!” She looked around.

“And if – if –” she continued. “– it turns out that any Slytherin was involved...” Her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “You'll wish you'd never touched a wand!”

Violet thought that Ophilia was very good at controlling the room. But she wasn't sure how much longer she could control Slytherin House.

She pointed this out to Kai the next afternoon, in Charms class. They didn't normally sit together, but Professor Flitwick had put everyone in pairs to practice basic wand drills, and had insisted that Ravenclaws pair off with Slytherins. They did, sullenly.

“Everyone is blaming us, and throwing hexes at us in the hallways,” Violet said, wiggling her wand.

“Being blamed for something you didn't do is a pisser,” Kai agreed. “No, Violet, hold it like this!”

She frowned at him, but allowed him to adjust her fingers.

“The older kids aren't going to take it much longer.” She wiggled her wand a little more lightly.

“No, not like you're trying to flick bogeys off the tip!” Several kids near them snickered.

Violet glowered at him. “Remind me not to touch your wand, ever.”

“At least you're not as hopeless as Gilbert,” Kai sighed, looking at his fellow Ravenclaw, in the back of the room, trying to cast a basic light charm. His partner, a thoroughly bored Nero Velenos, leaned his head against his fist and looked on contemptuously.

“That's some sort of compliment, I suppose?”

“He's Muggle-born. Not that that explains him being so pants at... well, everything.” Kai frowned. “Dewey and Teddy said I was being arrogant, but I just don't see why the hat would do a silly thing like put him in Ravenclaw.”

“You are arrogant,” Violet replied matter-of-factly. “But we've got one like that in Slytherin.” She looked around. “And it looks like he's gotten lost... again.” Stephen was absent.

Class was almost over when Stephen finally did stumble into the Charms classroom, breathing heavily. Professor Flitwick looked astonished.

“Mr. White! You're so late you practically might as well not even have come! Ten points from Slytherin!”

For once, Stephen didn't hang his head or look like a whipped dog as his fellow Slytherins glared at him. He didn't seem to notice them.

“I'm sorry, Professor,” he said, looking on the verge of tears. “But I was looking for my wand. I... I think someone stole it!”

“Awfully convenient,” sneered Albus that night back in the Gryffindor dorms, after the news of the latest wand-theft had circulated around the school. “Of course everyone has noticed that no Slytherin wands are being stolen. So suddenly one Slytherin gets his wand stolen, the loser that even the other Slytherins pick on.”

“Maybe Slytherins just tend to be more careful, and move in groups so they aren't such easy targets,” Teddy suggested. “Stephen is rather less... cautious.” And privately, he thought that Violet was also pretty vulnerable. Everyone whose wand had been stolen noticed it missing just after they had been someplace alone.

In the Hufflepuff dorms, Alduin was thinking along the same lines. “They must think we're really stupid,” he said. “They aren't even trying very hard. Why doesn't the Headmistress order the Slytherin dorms searched?”

“Because there's no evidence that any Slytherins are actually behind this,” Dewey replied. But it did look pretty bad, he admitted to himself.

In the Ravenclaw dorms, there were a lot of theories about who was stealing wands, how, and why. Peeves the poltergeist, a Slytherin, someone who hated Slytherins, someone who was reselling the wands on the black market, these were all popular theories. The proposed methods ranged from a cunning pickpocket in an invisibility cloak to wordless Summoning Charms. There were also many discussions about how to prevent being victimized.

Kai was rather surprised that Gilbert hadn't been the one whose wand was stolen. “Do us a favor and don't go anywhere alone,” he said to his roommate.

“Uh, sure,” Gilbert replied, frowning.

And in the Slytherin dorms, Ophilia was livid.

“I am only going to say this once!” she hissed at the assembled Slytherins. Stephen had his hands in his pockets and his head bowed. He was trying not to meet anyone's eyes. “We do not steal from each other! You'd better not be stealing from anyone,” she clarified, “but I don't care what your reasoning was, you do not take another Slytherin's wand!” She looked around. “If anyone here is responsible for stealing Stephen's wand, I will give you a twenty-four hour grace period. Roll it under my door or Hugh's, and it will be returned to him, no questions asked, and we'll create a plausible cover story for the benefit of the other houses.” She gave Stephen an annoyed look for a moment, and then looked back at the other Slytherins, who were no longer agitated and defiant, just sullen and anxious. “If it doesn't turn up after that, I will be forced to use whatever measures are necessary to ensure no Slytherin is involved, no matter how... unforgivable.”

Everyone blanched at that. Even Hugh blinked and looked at Ophilia uneasily.

“She was bluffing, wasn't she?” Decima asked afterwards.

“Probably,” said Violet.

“But how pathetic is that?” grumbled Bernice. “Even our own Prefect thinks it's probably one of us responsible.”

Privately, Violet had to agree. But she also had to agree with the other houses – the Slytherins were the most obvious culprits. Either that, or someone who should have been sorted into Slytherin, because the job the thief was doing of turning the other houses against the Slytherins was masterful.

Stephen's wand didn't turn up, and neither did any of the others. Violet saw Ophilia frequently huddled together with other Slytherin sixth and seventh years, but she didn't resort to interrogating the younger students one by one... yet.

The staff was taking the issue seriously. Professor Llewellyn had mandated that all professors begin patrolling the corridors more vigorously, and reportedly she had questioned Peeves to determine whether the poltergeist might really have had anything to do with the thefts. Students were encouraged to be more vigilant. Teachers were seen taking students aside from time to time to question them about anything they might have seen or heard, trying not to openly accuse any house or individual. Professor Flitwick showed his students how he used to carry his wand in his belt, close at hand, back in his dueling days, and Professor Rai began teaching the Thief's Curse, even to first-years. But none of this turned up the thief or thieves, and none of the missing wands were recovered.

Violet noticed Nagaeena was late to breakfast again, one morning in early October. Normally Decima and Bernice would wait for her, but occasionally they also lost patience with Nagaeena's obsession over her “personal hygiene” rituals, and would follow Violet to breakfast instead.

“She shouldn't be walking alone,” muttered Decima, not actually sounding concerned.

“I told her to brush faster,” Bernice grumbled. “If something happens to her, it's not our fault.”

Nagaeena was being foolish, Violet thought. There was not only the risk of being targeted for wand theft (though by now, most students tended to walk around with their hands on their wands, if not actually holding them), but the fact that lone Slytherins invited abuse by any passing students from other houses – as Violet well knew.

And as if in confirmation, a bloodcurdling shriek echoed through the corridors of the castle and brought every conversation in the Great Hall to a standstill. It was a shriek of such unfathomable rage and despair that some students panicked, while the teachers eating breakfast at the High Table immediately jumped to their feet, their faces pale. It sounded as if someone were being murdered.

Then there was a general surge towards the Entrance Hall, from which the sound was coming. Although the Slytherin table was closest, Violet waited until everyone else had passed her by before getting up, so she wouldn't be trampled. She saw Kai rushing ahead with the other Ravenclaws, but Dewey paused when he saw her, and looked over his shoulder. Teddy came along, and the two of them wordlessly fell in on either side of her. They squeezed into the Entrance Hall at the rear of the mob of students, just in time to hear a continuation of the first scream.

Teachers were trying to push their way through the throng, which was ringed around the opening to the staircase going down to the dungeons. Nagaeena was standing there, shaking with fury, wearing an expression so terrible and fearsome that even Professor Longbottom paused when he reached the front ranks and saw the girl. She threw her head back and shrieked again, a frightening, ear-splitting sound. Peeves had been attracted by the noise and the chaos, of course, and was pointing and laughing, which only enraged her further.

All around Nagaeena were strands of hair. Long, black hair, spilling off her shoulders, clinging to her from neck to toe, drifting through the air, settling to the ground at her feet. Her long, lovely, silky, black hair was everywhere but on her head.

“Blimey!” Teddy exclaimed, in a horrified whisper.

“She got hit by a Hair-Removal Jinx!” Kai muttered in awe, closer to the front.

“That's awful,” said Dewey.

“You have no idea,” said Violet.