The British Ministry of Magic claims that magical blood is dwindling in Pureblood families. This puts some students in awkward positions. Kris Averbach finds himself being dangled like a piece of meat in front of eligible Pureblood young ladies, but...
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Calliope Everard made her way into the Great Hall along with all the other students. Lavinia and Ishanvi were chatting about what their year would look like, now that they had their O.W.L.'s to complete at the end of the year, but Calliope wasn't really paying attention. She had just seen Jayla Edris up ahead with Caius Lockridge, laughing as they took their seats at the front of the Ravenclaw table. The candle light gleamed on the blue highlights in Jayla's hair and on the Prefect badge pinned to the front of her robes. Calliope clenched her teeth and her stomach twisted as she remembered the events of the summer.
Her Hogwarts letter had arrived at the end of July, as usual, and her parents had watched her open it, their faces gleaming expectantly. Calliope's sister Atalanta had been made Prefect in her fifth year, and Headgirl in her seventh, and now that she had just graduated from Hogwarts with O's on all her N.E.W.T.'s, Calliope's parents were fully expecting their youngest to do the same. They were holding a large party in a few days to celebrate Atalanta's acceptance into an entry-level position at the Ministry, where, everyone believed, she would quickly rise to the top. Her parents would like to add the celebration of another Prefect to the party, so they watched with bated breath as Calliope opened the envelope.
She unfolded the letter that told her what supplies she would need for the coming year, and that was it. Calliope's cheeks had burned with humiliation when her father had taken the envelope from her and shaken it, expecting the badge to fall out. When he realized there was nothing there, he tried to hide his disappointment, but the air had been thick with it. Even her mother was let down. She didn't understand most of what went on at Hogwarts, but Prefect was something she did understand. The party they threw ended up being for Atalanta only, and Calliope had spent the majority of it in her room, thinking.
She hadn't been as surprised as Lavinia and Ishanvi when they found out Jayla had been made Prefect. Jay was a little on the wild side, but she was also far more popular. The teachers all liked her. She was on the Quidditch team, which was a status symbol all of its own. No doubt other students would listen to her when she gave orders, because they liked and respected her. No one would give Calliope the time of day. So...it made sense. That didn't make it any easier for her.
Calliope sat down next to Lavinia, with Ishanvi on Lavinia's other side. Then, to her surprise, Xander Thorncroft sat down on Calliope's other side. Though he was in her year and House, Calliope hardly knew him. She mostly kept to herself, and he mostly kept to himself. What Calliope knew about him she could count on one hand. He was excessively tall, which anyone knew just by looking at him; in fact, he appeared to have grown several more impossible inches over the summer. He owned a rabbit named Chompsky, which for some reason had a reputation for being extremely vicious, though Calliope had never seen it do more than eat lettuce and wriggle its nose. He was one of the top students of their year, rivaled only, perhaps, by Caius Lockridge. And he had, for some unfathomable reason, attended the party Calliope's parents had thrown that summer. Calliope had spotted him around the dessert table, his gangly wrists and ankles exposed by clothes that he had grown out of. He had given her a peculiar smile, as though they were both in on a secret, but Calliope had only returned it with a puzzled look, and he had turned to talk to someone in Atalanta's year.
