"Is she okay?"
Pollux Dio Jones lifted his head from the pages of his book. The Great Hall had been turned into a comingle of students from various houses, all of which were not really sitting at their own tables, as this was a study period, and it was not a requirement for them to be separated. Following Hermione's line of sight, he looked to the very end of the table where his twin sister was seated. Eliza sat across from her, and occasionally their lips would move so subtly that Pollux couldn't even begin to make out what they were saying. Ron looked up as well, sparing only a passing glance at the older girl before he looked down to his notes again. Harry hadn't moved at all.
"She's been a bit off all day." Hermione continued.
"She's been a bit off our whole life." Pollux had to laugh under his breath. Hermione shot him a glare and then looked back to Castor. "Our first lesson with the new Defense teacher was...well, interesting, to say the least. I think it just put her off."
"How is he?" Ron looked up. "Is he as cool as the stories?"
"Moody?" Fred piped up a few seats down.
"I thought he was cool." George added, but Pollux could hear that he was a bit offput by the lesson as well.
"Aww!" Ron had checked his class schedule. "We haven't got him until Thursday!"
"His lessons are...well you can find out for yourself." Pollux finally settled on letting them wait. He looked down the table to his sister again, and then he was back in his own world, scribbling notes across the parchment.
At the end of the table, Castor Jones was not having it today.
"It was a spider." Eliza didn't understand what the problem was.
"It's not about the spider. It's the principle of the lesson." Castor huffed. "There are much better ways of teaching than traumatizing students on the first day."
"Are you sure it's just Professor Moody that's got you down?" Eliza looked at her roommate critically. Castor sighed.
"I think what happened at the Quidditch World Cup affected me more than I thought." She flipped to the next page in her textbook. "I was fine, until we got back to the Burrow, but then...I don't know. Maybe it was the sudden contrast of complete chaos to complete silence, but I couldn't think straight. And then there was this weird man-"
"What man? You didn't tell me there was a man?" Eliza arched one eyebrow at Castor.
"It was after everything. Mr. Crouch found Harry, Pollux, and I in the midst of the rubble, but there was someone else there too." Castor flickered her grey-green eyes to Eliza's soft brown ones.
"Who was he?"
"I don't know. We never saw his face, it was too dark, and he was too far away." She wrote a few more lines of notes before speaking again. "He was the one who cast the Dark Mark. And I remember the feeling I had in my chest."
"I'm sure it was just he adrenaline, Castor." Eliza reached a hand out to place on top of her on the table.
"No." She shook her head. "No, this was different. This was...wrong. Like, he was out of place, and yet he wasn't." Castor wouldn't tell Eliza that she had that same feeling when Professor Moody had placed the spider on her desk that morning. She shook her head again, clearing her mind like and Etch-A-Sketch and fidgeted with her pen. Yes, her pen, because this was the year 1994. Not 1894, and quills were absolutely unnecessary in her opinion. Seriously, who wants to carry around an ink pot and a fancy feather. We go to a magic school, something as simple as a pen shouldn't be such an anomaly. "It doesn't matter."
"Don't write it off so quickly." Eliza continued writing her own notes. "What happened at the Cup was sudden and nobody expected it. You-Know-Who has been gone for over a decade, I don't think anyone knows how to feel quite yet." The pretty brunette looked at her roommate again. "For now, we have to get to potions."
Castor nodded, packing away her books and hitching her bag onto her shoulder as she followed Eliza to Snape's classroom in the dungeons.
~
Remus,
I'm sorry I haven't been able to write to you until now. The last weekend was so chaotic, with what happened at the Quidditch World Cup and then school starting again...
Pollux and I are okay. There's a new DADA professor, obviously, since you're gone. Alastor Moody, yes, the ex-Auror. I know he used to work with my Uncle Nathan back when he had first completed his training at the Ministry, after Voldemort was defeated. He's...uh, he's definitely something. During our first lesson, he actually performed the three Unforgivables on live spiders to show us what they look like. I'm ignoring the pure cruelty towards an innocent creature for now, and I am still trying to wrap my head around how I feel about the whole class.
Is it too much to say I miss you? The class always felt much more welcoming when you were our professor. I looked forward to seeing you in class. There's something about him that's so off-putting to me. I've never wanted to skip class before. It's an odd feeling. I like school, I love participating in class, you know this very well. (Thanks for the 'O' on my O.W.L. by the way) ...
Hogwarts is also hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. The other schools are supposed to arrive by Halloween. I am very intrigued and excited just to be able to witness it. Based on what I've read about past tournaments, it will certainly be a riveting year-long event. The idea of entering my name sounds like it would be exciting, I'm smart and savvy enough that I'm sure I could survive the challenges and show the other schools that Hogwarts is not "Hogwash". If you don't get that joke, it's what us Americans at Ilvermorny called you guys during international competitions. I haven't decided yet if I actually want to enter, though I can't speak for my brother. Still, maybe it's time that Ravenclaw (Or Slytherin) gets some positive light. Gryffindors aren't the only ones who can be brave, you know...
I hope you're taking care of yourself. I hope the full moons haven't been too harsh on you, though I'm sure you can't be having the best time without the wolfsbane. Yes, Pollux told me after that it was kept under control, and to reiterate, I still don't blame you for anything that happened that night.
If there's anything me or my brother can do for you, and I mean ANYTHING, please let us know. Maybe you can meet us in Hogsmeade one of these weekends? I'm sure Harry would like to see you and catch up as well.
- C.M.J.
P.S. If you see Padfoot, make sure he eats a proper meal.
P.P.S. Buckbeak likes ferrets, but I'm sure any furry rodent creature will substitute just fine!
~
Castor gave the school owl a treat before she sent it off out of the window to the owlery. It was late in the evening, and she waited until she couldn't see the bird anymore before she made her way down the steps of the tower. Most people were headed to the Great Hall for dinner, but Castor didn't feel very hungry. Instead, she made her way to the main hall and then navigated up the stairs towards her own house tower. The bronze Eagle's riddle echoed loudly in the stone space.
"I have 13 hearts, but no lungs or stomachs. What am I?"
"A deck of cards." The stone moved aside, and Castor immediately shed her robes, changing into a pair of sleep shorts and her knitted Weasley sweater from the pervious Christmas. Grabbing her latest read, the second book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "The Two Towers", Castor took her resident seat in the window. She settled into the blue cushions, allowing her mind to be put to ease as she followed Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn into Fangorn Forest.
When the first few students trickled in from dinner, she paid them no mind. When someone settled into the cushions across from her, she peaked over the top of her book. Luna Lovegood, platinum blonde hair and a dreamy, faraway look on her face was there. Castor liked the 3rd year girl, and she was full of an odd sense of wisdom that Castor occasionally very much appreciated. Castor admired Luna as she read her upside-down copy of The Quibbler. Once again she felt comforted by the blonde girl, appreciating the fact that there didn't have to be any words said between them. They could just be.
And for Castor, that was enough for her.