Sarah poked at her treacle tart absentmindedly while she stared over at the Slytherin table. They'd had the sorting Ceremony, a brief welcome-back speech from the headmaster, and nearly finished the start of term feast, but Merula was nowhere to be found.
She swept her eyes over to Barnaby and Ismelda, but neither of them seemed worried. Barnaby was tearing through his second piece of tart and Ismelda was talking animatedly to a boy next to her. The boy seemed very uncomfortable. Sarah glanced at Snape, who regarded the hall with his usual cool disdain. If he noticed one of his house member's absence, he didn't seem bothered.
"I'm worried about our chances in the cup this year, if you catch snitches as well as you catch your dessert," said Charlie.
Sarah looked down at her food; she'd been poking the golden plate for the last few minutes, missing the tart entirely.
"Merula's gone," said Sarah, setting down her fork. "Don't you think that's odd?"
Charlie glanced over at the Slytherin table and shrugged. "Not really. She's skipped the welcome feast before. There's probably more happiness in the room than she can handle."
Sarah looked to her left to find Corey eagerly staring at the far table as well. "The plot thickens," he mused.
The sound of a spoon tapping on a goblet rang throughout the hall, and all eyes turned to the Headmaster.
"Now that we've had our bellies filled by our delicious feast, I have a few start of term notices to announce before we turn in for the night," he said. "First, I have exciting news to share with our seventh years: this year Hogwarts has partnered with several organizations to provide field experiences for those about to graduate and join the wizarding workforce. This provides our seventh years the opportunity to leave school grounds and learn about many wizarding careers."
Excited whispers broke out across the hall, only partially silenced by Dumbledore's next words. "Letters will arrive to selected students when it is time for them to depart to their field experiences. This does not exempt students from their NEWTs, so I urge you all to use your time wisely."
Dumbledore gave several more announcements, but Sarah didn't really hear them. Her brain was distracted by Charlie wishing, "Dragon sanctuary, dragon sanctuary, dragon sanctuary," over and over under his breath, and the arrival of Merula at last. She took her place beside Ismelda and looked up at the Headmaster, as though it was perfectly normal to arrive an hour and a half later than the rest of the students.
"Corey, there she is," muttered Sarah, elbowing him to get his attention.
"Interesting," he said, rubbing his chin. "What's she been up to?"
"That's what I need to find out."
"I'll send out my contacts to gather what information they can," he said as Dumbledore dismissed them.
"You have contacts?" she asked, rising from her seat with the others.
"The Slytherin prefects," he said. "Come on, we've got Head Boy and Girl duties to perform."
***
Corey had little to report as they met for breakfast the next morning before their first lesson, History of Magic.
"Apparently, she's been keeping to herself," he said as he piled scrambled egg onto his plate. "But, the Slytherins did say she doesn't seem to be as...abrasive as usual."
"Abrasive?"
"I believe the actual phrase they used was, 'completely-expletive-mental.'"
Sarah smiled at the Corey's use of the word "expletive" and looked over at Merula. She did seem to be in a good mood. She didn't wear so much as a scowl as she buttered her toast.
"I guess I'll try talking with her at History of Magic," she muttered.
"An interview with the main suspect. Good idea," said Corey, diving into his eggs.
Corey stuck close to Sarah's side on the walk to History of Magic and took a the seat next to her at the front table, the place usually occupied by Barnaby.
Barnaby raised a questioning eyebrow when he saw his seat taken, but merely shrugged and sat down with Charlie instead. Sarah kept an eye on the door. Merula was the last to enter. She rose to speak to her, but Professor Binns took that moment to drift in through the blackboard and begin the lesson on Emeric the Evil.
He droned on, nearly boring himself to sleep as well as his students, and Sarah found herself tuning out as usual. She glanced over and noticed that Corey wasn't bothering to take notes. This was by no means unusual for students in this class, but Sarah would've assumed Corey to be the exception, as studious as he seemed to be.
He caught her curious glance and whispered, "I already know everything there is to know about Emeric the Evil. I'm something of a wizarding history and pop culture connoisseur."
"Good," said Sarah, "you can help me study later, because I won't be able to stay awake much longer."
Corey chuckled.
When the bell rang, Sarah jumped up to catch Merula before she left, Corey hot on her heels. To her surprise, Merula was waiting for her in the back of the room, her arms folded.
"You wanted to talk to me, Spellman?" she asked. "Or did you just want to hear about me from your spies?"
Sarah glanced at Corey, who smiled guiltily. He must've forgotten to remind his "contacts" to be subtle.
"I've hardly seen you since we got back," Sarah explained. "Not on the train or at the feast. I was worried about you."
"Careful, or I'll think you actually missed me over the summer."
"What did you do over the summer?"
Merula unfolded her arms. "And what business is it of yours?"
"That's what friends do after they come back from the summer, Merula. Talk about each other's holidays."
Merula grinned. "Oh, you wanna try the whole 'friendship' thing again? You know, that's always gone so brilliantly in the past." She chuckled as Sarah rolled her eyes. "My summer was pretty boring, actually. I just studied and trained up. Oh, and ignored invitations from Barnaby's gran to his and my engagement party."
Corey gasped, but Sarah ignored the bait. Merula was keeping her cool, and so would she.
"Studied and trained? What for?"
"Continuing to prove I'm the most powerful witch at Hogwarts, what else? I mean, it's obvious to everyone by now, but I can always improve."
"I guess some things never change," Sarah muttered. This conversation was getting her nowhere. She decided to press Merula, just a bit. "So, I was talking to the others in the Circle about R, and--"
"R? Aren't we done with that?" she asked.
Sarah stared at her. "How can we be done? They're still out there!"
"Yeah, but they're not bothering us anymore. Rakepick's rotting in Azkaban. My revenge is complete. Time to move on."
Sarah folded her arms. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was Merula trying to throw her off the scent?
Merula smiled again. "Alright, Spellman. If you wanna know exactly what I've been up to all summer, meet me on the training grounds during free period. I'm happy to show you."
"Why don't you just tell me now?"
"Showing is better than telling," she said, turning away. "Hurry up now, wouldn't want the Head Girl to be late to her next class."
"Crikey, what was all that about?" muttered Corey, as the two of them hurried down the corridor towards Transfiguration.
"I don't know," said Sarah. "She did seem to be in a pretty good mood though, didn't she?"
Merula hadn't even stamped her foot once during the whole interaction.
"Because she joined R and finally has access to the power she's always wanted?"
Sarah nodded. "Exactly. We've gotta figure out what she's up to. In my experience, it's never a good thing when Merula's happy."
Sarah found it difficult to concentrate in Transfiguration, which made her feel guilty, as McGonagall spent the first ten minutes lecturing them about how important it was that they focus hard for their NEWTs. Still, she kept replaying the conversation she'd had with Merula in her head, trying to piece together the puzzle. What was she up to? She'd promised to bring Sarah into the fold, to convince her to join R as well. What were her plans?
Corey had a meeting with the gobstones club over free period, so Sarah walked to the training grounds alone. There were several people already out and practicing on the training dummies, most of them seventh years scared into studying early for their upcoming exams. Merula awaited her in the middle of the lawn.
"Alright, let's hear what you've been training so hard for," she said.
"I'll gladly demonstrate with a friendly duel."
Sarah frowned at her. "Since when have we ever had a friendly duel?"
"This time's different, I promise."
"Alright," said Sarah, suspiciously. She supposed she had little to worry about. She'd never lost to Merula before. She stepped back a few paces and pointed her wand at Merula's chest. "You ready?"
"Yep."
Sarah's frown deepened. Merula hadn't even taken out her wand. "Okay, then. One, two, three!"
Sarah brandished her wand, but not before Merula thrust her palm out and shouted, "Depulso!"
Sarah was blasted off her feet, landing on her back a few yards behind her on the grass. Her bones aching, she scrambled to get Merula back in her sights, but not before Merula yelled, "Expelliarmus!"
Sarah's wand flew from her hand, landing in the grass several feet away.
"What the--?"
She stood up the face Merula, who was watching her with her right hand held out, a satisfied smirk on her face.
"Looks like this victory goes to me, Spellman."
"What in the name of Merlin was that?" she asked, breathing heavy.
"That," she said, "was wandless magic. I suggest you learn it if you want to keep up with me."
Sarah walked over and snatched up her wand. When she looked up again, Merula was headed toward the castle.
"Hang on!" Sarah grabbed her arm. "How did you learn wandless magic? Why did you learn wandless magic?"
"Ask the grass stain on your arse why I learned wandless magic." She tore her arm from Sarah's grip. "I'm more powerful now than you've ever been Spellman, and I'm only growing stronger."
"I want a rematch!" Sarah spat, attracting the attention of several students nearby.
Merula was still smiling, which grated on Sarah's nerves more than she wanted to admit. "Sure, Spellman. Anytime. I'll give you a chance to brush up on your skills, though. You obviously need it."
She left Sarah alone, swaggering back into the castle. Sarah stared after, then stamped her foot in frustration before stomping off toward the library for the remainder of free period.
***
"Sarah, what did you put for question twenty-three?" asked Penny. "Um, Sarah? Sarah!"
"Hmm?" she answered, looking up from her book. "Sorry, what did you say, Pen?"
She and her friends were studying in the library on that evening, somehow already behind on their homework load. The teachers obviously hadn't been joking about how hard they'd have to work this year to get their NEWTs.
"I wanted to know what you thought about question twenty-three, 'Would the impervious charm work if you were already underwater?'"
"Oh, um...not sure, I haven't got that far yet."
Sarah tried to cover up the pages she was reading as Penny glanced over, but Penny raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.
"That's not our Charms textbook."
"No, I thought I'd work on something else for the time-being."
"Alright, what are you up to now?" asked Charlie from across the table. "Let's see it."
He reached across to pull Sarah's book from her. She clutched at it, but was too slow. Charlie held it up and scanned the first few sentences on the page.
"Wandless magic again?" he asked.
"Wandless magic?!" said Barnaby desperately, looking up form the notes Penny had written for him. "I didn't know we were studying that!"
"We're not," said Andre. "It's not even taught at Hogwarts."
Barnaby sighed in relief.
"Why are you reading about wandless magic?" asked Tonks.
"Merula embarrassed her in a duel this morning, and Sarah's been obsessing over this ever since," Charlie explained.
Tonks winced. "Yeah, I heard about that."
"Everybody did," said Andre.
Sarah glared as she yanked the book back from Charlie. "I'm not embarrassed, I'm curious. Andre just said it isn't even taught here, yet Merula spent all summer learning it. It says here that it's more difficult and volatile than wand-magic, but Merula's already an expert! Don't you think that's suspicious?"
"Honestly, not really," said Tulip. "Learning something dangerous that only skilled witches and wizards can handle sounds exactly like how Merula would want to spend her summer."
Penny nodded. "Merula's always been extremely ambitious, Sarah. Why does that mean she's up to something?"
"How about...because she always is?"
The others didn't seemed convinced.
"She's actually been a lot better, lately," said Barnaby. "I'd almost even say...nice? She hasn't called me any names this year, and has only threatened to curse me once, if I dared to bring up our supposed marriage arrangement."
"Which is the most suspicious part in all of this!" Sarah insisted, earning her a "Shhhhh!" from Madam Pince.
"Cut her some slack," said Tulip. "Remember, by the end of fifth year, she'd really mellowed out. It was just all that stuff with Rakepick that sent her off the rails again."
"And that's over and done with," added Ben.
Sarah huffed in frustration, deciding to go back to her reading rather than argue further.
"Why don't you quit wasting time on that and get to work on homework?" asked Charlie. "You're going to fall behind, what with Head Girl stuff and the field experiences coming up, and our first quidditch match around the corner."
"It's not wasting time," Sarah muttered without looking up from her book. "Merula's up to something, and if wandless magic is important enough for her to learn, then I need to find out why." She gasped. "Unless, she wants me to waste my time in here studying so I can't catch her doing what she's really doing!"
"SHHHHH!" said Madam Pince again.
"Come off it, Spellman. Listen to how mental you sound," said Charlie.
"It's like you and Merula have switched places," added Andre. "She's out there living her best life, and you're obsessing over her."
Ouch.
"Listen," she told them all, letting the sting of Andre's words sink in, "You're my friends. Can't you trust me when I say I know Merula is up to no good?"
The others shared uncomfortable glances, but Penny placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Of course we can," she said, rather too kindly. Sarah felt like a nine-year-old being assured of Father Christmas's existence. "We trust you, but you must admit, you sound a little..."
"Batty?" suggested Charlie.
"Whose side are you on?" Sarah retorted.
"The side that assures my quidditch captain is in a healthy state of mind in time to destroy Ravenclaw!"
"Fat chance--" Andre began, but Penny cut off the impending trash talk.
"Paranoid," she finished.
Sarah didn't respond. She supposed the others were right. They hadn't seen Merula disapparate with the witch from R, didn't hear her swear fealty to the organization responsible for Rowan's death. Without that information, Sarah probably did appear to be paranoid. For the dozenth time, she considered telling them what she knew. Would they even believe her? Would they even care? They'd made it clear they were finished worrying about R. Plus, there was Moody's advice to consider. As long as Merula didn't know that Sarah was onto her, they had the advantage. Sarah loved her friends, Barnaby and Penny most of all, but she had to admit that those two were the worst at keeping secrets. She supposed she'd have to make do with Corey as her only confidant, for now.
"Fine," she said. She closed the book, making a note of what page she'd left on.
Penny smiled. "Great. Now about question twenty-three..."
"What on earth?" they heard Madam Pince fret. "There should be no owls in the library!"
Sarah looked up to see five of the school owls had flown in through the library door, each with an envelope tucked in its beak. They soared over her friends' table and dropped letters in front of herself, Barnaby, Charlie, Ben, and Tonks, then turned in perfect formation to exit the way they came in.
"It's from Dumbledore," said Charlie, the first to tear open his letter, "about our first field assignment!"
"Ooh, where is it?" asked Penny, as Pince shooed them from the table.
They scanned their letters as they gathered up their things. Sarah found her heart rate increase as she answered, "The Ministry of Magic."