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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Now that she no longer had to practice Quidditch between classes, Calliope had more time than ever. She finished her Arithmancy homework right after class and then headed down to lunch, where she sat with Lavinia, Ishanvi, Jay, and Ella and had a pleasant conversation. (Normally, Calliope brought her books down with her and studied throughout lunch, not interacting with anyone.) She was in quite a cheerful mood as she made her way to Herbology after lunch. The year so far was going rather smoothly. The weather seemed to reflect her mood, a pleasant September sun warmed her face as she walked to the greenhouses with the girls, her classmates and—she felt she could safely say—her friends.
They were continuing their work on Screechsnaps, though now they were planting the seeds they had collected and carefully raising them to seedlings. When she entered the greenhouse she found herself automatically looking for Kris. She, Kris, Kit, and Xander had continued working together after that first lesson. She smiled when she saw the three of them waiting at their usual table, but then she frowned slightly in concern. There was a cut on Kris's cheek that hadn't been there the night before, and his shoulders seemed tense, not loose and relaxed as he usually was.
Calliope retrieved her tray of seedlings and joined them. Kris looked up and gave her a small smile. "Hey, Ope," he said.
She returned his smile, maybe blushing a little, and then nodded her chin in the direction of the cut on his face. "You okay?"
To her surprise, Kris looked shamefaced as he touched his fingers lightly to the cut. "Yeah, it's nothing. Listen–" But what exactly she was supposed to listen to, she never found out. Professor Folia called the class's attention to give them their instructions. They were to continue fertilizing and watering their smallest seedlings and begin transplanting the larger ones that had already grown several leaves into larger pots. While Calliope worked, she couldn't resist looking up from time to time to try and catch Kris's eye, hoping he would pick up where he left off, but he remained silent, focusing on his own plants. As she turned back to the squirming, squeaking seedlings in front of her, she couldn't help but notice that Kelton Montague, a few tables away, was giving her some rather nasty glares.
"How did you like dueling with Julian?" she asked Xander, to break the silence, as Kit was also working quietly, lost in apparent thought. Her question seemed to shake him out of his reverie, however, and he looked over at Xander.
"It was a singularly unique experience," he said. "None of my opponents up until now have mastered silent spells as he has. A few have tried, but the power behind the spell was always significantly reduced. It's something I shall have to strive toward mastering before next year."
Calliope raised her eyebrows. "Really? You want to start silent spells before sixth year? But we haven't had any instruction on how to do that."
Xander shrugged. "I'm sure I'll figure it out on my own." He said it with an air of complete confidence, as though not succeeding was not even a possibility for him.
