Miranda had chosen to sit at the Hufflepuff
table this noon, instead of disappearing for meals. She was some
company for Wren as she sat beside them – but Wren did not seem
comforted, for the seat on their other side, so often filled by a
lavender-clad lad, was empty. Cleo Sassoon had asked if anyone was
sitting there, to be met with a snappy bark from Wren that
startled her into moving swiftly away down the table.
"Good heavens," said Jocasta, sitting
shoulder-to shoulder with Sparrow and Jill, "my good fellow,
what on earth has gotten into you?"
Wren looked at the empty space beside them,
then back at Jocasta, and raised their eyebrows without saying a
word.
"Yes I understand that part." Jocasta
rolled her eyes. "And I can’t complain about you two being
sappy without being an utter hypocrite. But I’ve never seen you
like this even when Iffy is away. Where did my jolly old fellow go?
What’s the matter?"
"Where did he go?" growled
Wren, giving Jocasta a significant look, at which she narrowed her
eyes. Wren hunched over their food, eyes downcast. "Iphis will
tell you when he gets here. It’s something really stupid."
Iphis appeared in the entrance to the hall,
with eyes glowing so brightly
ultraviolet that Sparrow could see their light from where she sat.
Silence fell about the hall as he marched down the aisle between the
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw table, as people began to catch sight of his
eyes. Only when he reached the open seat beside Wren and sat down
roughly, and Wren laid a hand on his shoulder, did the glow from his
eyes begin to fade.
Conversation resumed, more hushed this time.
"You’ve made a spectacle of yourself,"
muttered Sparrow.
"Har har har," murmured Jocasta.
"I’m really not in the mood,"
growled Iphis. "Do you want to guess what Longbottom told me
when I spoke to him alone?"
Miranda rested her hand on her chin, rolling
her eyes left and right, in a mocking pose of thinking. "Hmmmm.
I bet I can guess."
Iphis looked suspicious. "What do you
know then?"
"What do you think I wouldn’t know?"
said Miranda. "Do you think you’re the first person to be
informed of such a thing? Do you think my dear mentor, from whom I
withhold nothing, would withhold this information from me?"
"I hate it when we get all cryptic like
this," grumbled Sparrow. "What’s the actual deal here?
Out with it, come on. Wait, hang on a sec." She picked up her
goblet of pumpkin juice. "Okay, go." She started drinking.
"Longbottom told me the Ministry would
never allow the school to pay for any sort of hormone-replacement
potions, and also come down hard on any sort of transition I make,
because it wants to be certain I am fit for procreation, so that
there can be as many Wizarding children as possible."
Sparrow paused, her goblet still held to her
lips. She lowered it slowly, letting it rest on the table with barely
a sound. She had hoped to make a messy pratfall of the matter to
lighten the mood, but she found, as she stared unblinking into Iphis’
eyes, that she could think of nothing to do, nor anything to say. All
she could do, as she met those eyes, was listen to the faint sound of
a solo violin playing wildly admist rumbles of thunder.
The sound disappeared as Jill shook her
shoulder. "Don’t let that go too far, dear."
"Right right," murmured Sparrow,
"sorry, it’s just – the implications are – I mean, I
thought what I had heard in the Slug Club was just a Slytherin thing.
Or even just a Slug Club thing. But it’s the whole government."
"Which is largely run by Slytherins,"
said Jocasta, "who arranged things between them via the Slug
Club."
"It’s utterly horrid," said Jill.
"I shudder to think of what this prohibition will do to you."
Iphis sighed. "I didn’t get to the
second part of what Longbottom said. He said that he would continue
to look the other way as Miranda appropriates more
ingredients for the hormonal potions, and that he could ask Madame
Abbot to discreetly offer advice about making them."
Sparrow blinked. "Not even hesitating,
huh? But he was hemming and hawing about our political plans."
"Clearly he’d been fudging the law for
years," said Jocasta, "and we were piling a bunch more on
his plate all at once. You can’t compare giving a couple kids
medical assistance with overturning the shape of society.
Although...the Ministry probably could, now that I think of it."
Sparrow grimaced. "Has anyone told Honorius?"
"I don’t want to see how that would go,"
said Wren.
"I nominate Jocasta to tell," said
Iphis.
Jocasta rolled her eyes. "The Heaumonts
are a pureblood family. He has to know already."
Suddenly there was a bright-eyed green-clad
curly-haired lad sitting in the empty spot next to Miranda, eyes
twinkling. "Tell me what?"
"Honorius!" said Sparrow.
"It is an honor," said Wren, reaching
over Miranda to shake Honorius’ hand. "Har har har."
"It is my pleasure to have more of a
chance to speak with our school’s fabled pirate
crew," said Honorius. "I heard my name, and I thought, oh,
I must take this opportunity! But tell me, what did you
want to tell me?"
Everyone around the table besides Jocasta
looked nervous. Sparrow cleared her throat. "It’s, uh, a topic
that sounds really skeevy –"
"For God’s sake," said Jocasta, "I
told you, Honorius knows."
Honorius lost the bright gleam in his eye, his
face growing grim and grey. "I do indeed. I might like to
express my frustration, and I’d love to get some more practice with
the repairing charm, but I’m not sure what in this castle I’m
permitted to smash."
"Let me handle that for you," said
Jocasta. Her eyes briefly flashed green. "Perchance, does anyone
have a short and thin length of wood I might hold?" She looked
around at everyone’s intrigued expressions, then cleared her throat
as she saw Wren shaking their wand out of their sleeve. "I mean
besides a wand. Something not magical."
Sparrow frowned as she waved her wand at a
napkin, transfiguring it into a pencil. Jocasta clapped her hands in
glee. "Splendid, love, splendid! You’ve come so far." She
snatched up the pencil. "Not that I know what this is, but it
will do nicely." Grinning evilly, wild-eyed, she strained to
bend the pencil further and further, until it snapped audibly. Once
more her eyes flashed green. She placed the halves of the pencil on
the table in front of Honorius. "There, my lad, remember that."
Honorius raised an eyebrow. "I would have just used a severing charm."
"Ha," said Wren. "Wizards. Use
some proper muggle practicality for once in your life, lad!"
Honorius gave Wren an odd look as he picked up
the pencil halves. But instead of replying, he only waved his wand
over the pencil halves and muttered, "Reparo." The pencil
knitted itself back together with but a few splinters missing. His
eyes flicked to Jocasta for a moment – then he gripped either end
of the pencil, and, visibly straining, bent the wood until it
snapped.
As Jocasta clapped, Honorius once more waved
his wand over the wood and knitted it back together. Then he placed
it in his pocket, a satisfied expression on his face. "There,"
he said, "I think that will be a lovely toy to visit my fury on, thank you
very much all. And...thank you for feeling as strongly about this
matter as I do. I had hoped that this school would be a place to
escape the Procreation Pressure, but I have to deal with the
Slytherin common room every evening."
Sparrow looked down at her plate and was glad
she hadn’t eaten much yet. What she had downed was threatening to
come back up.
Jocasta thumped her fist on the table, rattling
the forks on their plates. "Anyone who gets in the way of
allowing anyone to transfigure themselves is my opponent. Anyone who
lays chains upon one of my friends is my enemy." She put a
finger in Honorius’ face. "Remember that, lad. Slytherin must stand for the breaking of chains.
Tell them that."
Honorius looked nonplussed. "Coming from
you, they might take it seriously."
"Talking of which," said Iphis,
"Jocasta, do you want to help me with more transfiguration
experiments tonight?"
"Oh, you’re
so good to me." Jocasta beamed.
"I just don’t get it," said
Sparrow, as she tentatively speared a bit of potato. "Nobody in
this entire school has batted an eye about – about the fact that
I’m dating two girls, I mean, there’s no prospective procreation
there unless we get real creative with magic –"
"The Ministry might expect you to do it
the normal way then," grumbled Iphis.
"Oh boy!" said Sparrow. "All of
a sudden, I feel like I’m getting chains laid all over me! I think
someone might just take offense to that!" She turned to
Jocasta. "Why, I think I might have recently heard someone
saying something about that!"
Jocasta snorted. "Bluff called already,
alright. But I’m good to my word. Anyone who tries to get you
pregnant besides me will feel my wrath."
"Thank you," said Sparrow. She
frowned. "Wait. Besides you?"
Jocasta bore a toothy grin, looming over
Sparrow, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
Sparrow shuddered. "Is this an advanced
part of your curriculum?"
"Sounds more like an optional post-NEWT
study," said Jill.
"Jill could get me pregnant," said
Wren. "I mean look at her, god damn."
Sparrow clung to Jill’s arm. "My
girlfriend. Get your own."
"You’ve got two!" said Wren, looking
indignant. "You can spare one! Don’t be greedy!"
Miranda cleared her throat. "You happen to
already have a boyfriend."
"Assuming," said Iphis, "that
you wish to continue having one?" He gave Wren a pointed
look.
"I’ll be good," said Wren.
"Are we good?" said Sparrow, looking
around nervously. Some at the Hufflepuff table were chuckling behind
their hands, having seen the antics of Sparrow and her friends. "It’s
just so confusing, I mean – I’ve been dealing with the sheer
romanticism of this student body for three years, I’ve been putting
up with the Valentine’s Day decorations every year, and this year
there were hearts floating over our heads that showed the various
kinds of love and – and now I hear that everyone cynically arranges procreative marriage? I
don’t get it."
"My fellow Slytherins found the hearts
somewhat confusing," said Honorius. "Not that people didn’t
eventually take to them, only...not all of them took them very
seriously. The business of marriage arrangements among the remaining
Pureblood houses supersedes emotional considerations. But most
everyone besides the Slytherins were taking to the matter much more
quickly. I wound up being propositioned outside my House."
Sparrow perked up. "Oh! How did things go
with you and Kingsley? Did he say anything to you?"
Honorius grinned from ear to ear. "Red heart."
"God damn!" said Wren, reaching over
Miranda again to tap fists with Honorius, eliciting a glare from
Miranda that he didn’t notice. "Lucky dog!"
"I certainly didn’t see anyone scoffing
about those things," said Jill. "Most of them seemed
pleased as punch."
"As I noticed," said Iphis. "So,
consider the implications. Everyone here sincerely believes in love,
nobody dares stand in the way of anyone’s relationship, they value
the sincerity of a match over making sure a match is
heterosexual...and yet, at the same time, they also seem to believe
so strongly in procreation that they, as represented by their
government, demand surety of it. What do you think that means?"
Sparrow’s eyes flew wide. "Jesus Christ,
how many people aren’t having affairs?"
"My Father," sighed Jocasta,
"although that was only because the fellow must have died years
before I was born. I found a picture of him on the desk in Father’s
private study – only portrait in his entire suite. Handsome
mediterranean fellow, quite young – either Father liked them young
or the lad was long gone. But I never once heard of Father
going after anyone else...or touching my Mother at all, after I was
born. She had her own suite at the opposite end of the manor from
his. No, there was no love lost between them, even when she died."
She sighed again. "Growing up, I heard quite a bit of talk from
my elders about my Father needing to make sure I had three or more
children. Ech."
"I got the same from my family," said
Jill. "They keep asking me what boy I’ve picked out."
"They’re demanding a heterosexual
marriage?" said Sparrow, her fist clenching. "They have to
go through me first."
"No, I mean what boy to procreate with.
The marriage, they say that will happen to whomever. They just want
to make sure they get children out of me. So like, what us three have
going, they’d be okay with, as long as we made...let’s see, do
the math on replacement rates...four or five babies."
Sparrow erupted in a wheezing laugh. "Are
you serious?"
Jill nodded solemnly.
"So people can either have a procreation
match and a love affair," said Sparrow, "or a love match
and a procreation affair...wow. Okay. This is not Muggle behavior, let me tell
you."
"More power to them," grumbled
Honorius.
"It sounds grosser the more I think about
it," growled Wren. "To force people to – to mate with
people they wouldn’t be attracted to, outside of their own marriage
– this is what the Ministry is pushing?"
"It’s actually worse than that,"
said Honorius. "I’ve, uh –" He glanced around, then
took the pencil and a scrap of paper out of his pocket. He scrawled a
short message on it and passed it to Sparrow. It read, I’ve been
overhearing conversations between my mother and aunt about how the
Ministry is going to make procreation mandatory. They really want to
get their numbers up. Don’t say anything about this aloud here and
don’t complain about it loudly, just remember it.
Sparrow felt a chill come over her. She did her
best to maintain her composure as she folded the note and calmly
placed it in her pocket, putting a big fake smile on her face. "Now
Honorius, you scamp, you shouldn’t be passing notes in class! You
know I’m thoroughly spoken for anyway!" She shot a wink at
Jocasta as she linked her arm with her big, strong, warm Jill.
"And you’re spoken for too now, you scalawag!" She winked
at Honorius.
Around her friends, her fellow Hufflepuffs
burst out laughing, as Jill’s eyes began to glow red.
While they were all distracted, Sparrow
unlinked her arm and furtively signed, "Everybody be cool,
that’s not what the note said." Beside her, Jill visibly
relaxed. Honorius, for his part, had taken the false accusation in
stride, but at the sight of Jill’s eyes he had looked like he was
about to bolt. Iphis and Wren were only looking curious. "Later,"
signed Sparrow, "tell you later." To Honorius she said
aloud, "Let’s let that be water under the bridge, my friend.
How are people reacting to your coming out?"
Honorius shrugged. "No outward hatred. A
fair number of awkward questions about how I’m supposed to produce
children, though, mostly coming from Pureblood families. I don’t
even want to relate out loud what they said to me. "
"Hmph," said Iphis. "Glad I
haven’t come out to everyone else, then, I’m not the sort to be seen until I’m ready to be seen."
"Barring your stormy entrance," said
Wren.
"I wish I had not made such a mistake,"
said Iphis. He hook his head. "No, Sparrow, I am sorry, I do not
think my gender is actually relevant to a student body I have even
less contact with now."
"Gender?" said Honorius. "Wait,
are you –"
"Name’s Iphis. Nice to meet you."
Honorius leant over Miranda and Wren to tap
fists with Iphis. "Congrats."
"But I’m keeping that
all under wraps," said Iphis. "So shush."
Honorius saluted, before Miranda grabbed him
and placed him roughly back down in his seat. He giggled. "Yes
sir!"
"You keep a lot of stuff under wraps,"
muttered Wren.
Iphis looked suddenly very nervous. "What...do
you mean?"
"I mean –" Now Wren looked cagey.
"I mean your actual name. Frikkin’ hate saying your old name
out loud already. And also we forgot to tell Longbottom about the MSL
even though we literally found it in the forbidden section, I think
that might have been worth a mention, hm?"
"Rather keep that under wraps too,"
said Iphis. "Sparrow, why is your eye twitching?"
"No reason." Sparrow’s eye twitched
again.
"You offered to teach
people the MSL," said Honorius. "It’s the latest buzz.
Is it correct?"
Sparrow nodded, her face growing hot.
Iphis and Wren both put their faces in their
palms. "I thought we agreed we weren’t even going to tell
Inigo about this," growled Iphis. "Ugh!" He stood up,
slightly shaking the table in his haste. "Meet you all at the
library." He swept out of the hall without another word.
…
Honorius had been left at the table. The rest
of them had followed Iphis at a distance, but at a certain point he
broke off for a distant set of stairs.
"The library is this way today," said
Sparrow.
"And the Room of Requirement is this way,"
said Wren. "I’m going to be in my workshop."
"But –"
"Today is for studying Ancient Runes
right?" ∫∫∫∫∫ I DO NOT WANT TO BE DEALING WITH
THAT SHIT RIGHT NOW. ∫∫∫∫∫
Sparrow was so startled by this that she didn’t
even think of responding, as Wren departed. She looked to the
remainder of her friends – Jocasta and Jill both looking perplexed
and disturbed, Miranda looking thoughtful. But whatever they thought
of the matter, they weren’t saying anything.
So the children continued on to the library,
Jocasta leading the way, Sparrow hanging back behind, head full of
troubles. On top of everything else, her friends were being told they
could not use their bodies as they saw fit – which was an utterly
useless thing to demand of people like her friends, of course, one
might as well scold the wind, but if it all whipped up into a storm,
that would be dangerous for everyone involved. And one of her friends
had long since proved that pressing too hard on this topic could have
serious magical consequences. Fatal
consequences.
Miranda was hanging back as well, running her
hands over the stonework as she strode slowly, as if pondering.
"Hey," said Sparrow, "I’m
really sorry that you’ve had a big stone wall put in your way."
Miranda regarded Sparrow with a cool
expression, and shrugged. "I think I’ve demonstrated that I
will take my life in the direction I see fit, regardless
of walls."
"But if they, like, try to...actually
force anything? If you have to live with...you know."
°°° THEN I MAY WELL CHILL MANY TO THE
MARROW, ONCE MORE. °°°
Sparrow could only think, as they made their
way forward, that it was going to be very easy for them to reach the
levels of skill the OWLs demanded. The real trouble was going to be
toning it down enough to take the test safely. The
griefs of all her friends demanded answers, demanded expression,
demanded the right of loud indignity, demanded the return of the
dignity that had been lost...and how much it had truly been lost, how
much pain there was, Sparrow had only scratched the surface of.
They needed that blasted counselor. One who
preferably could survive getting blasted. But who?