Here follows another story in answer to a challenge by my group. The story begins during the summer between Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban. Naturally none of Ms Rowling's characters belong to me and this story is merely speculation for entertainment. I have no affiliation whatsoever with Bloomsbury, Warner Brothers, or Scholastic.

Chapter 1

"You don't have to stay with us after tea if you are uncomfortable, dear. It may seem odd that Celestina is still bringing her son today, since Eldred and Wilfred are at your uncle's house, but since he is going to be here then I would like for you to at least remain through tea, Etheldreda."

Looking at her mother with a disappointed face, the young woman who was seated on a stiff ebony chair and holding a glossy magazine with a picture of a smiling witch on the front answered peevishly, "But I promised Wendelin that I would bring over the latest issue of Young Witch this afternoon. It is the Beautification Potions issue."

Wulfrida Yaxley frowned and made a gesture of annoyance before replying in a distracted voice, "You ought to have told me, Dreda. I am afraid that I have already promised Celestina that you will be there, so I am going to have to ask you to Floo Wendelin and tell her that you will come tomorrow." Turning round and seeing her daughter's unhappy face, Wulfrida added, "I have already spoken with your father about getting you the Kneazle, Dreda, and he has said that he will look about for private breeders, so perhaps that will make you feel more cheerful."

Jumping up from her chair, Etheldreda Yaxley threw her arms round her mother's neck and kissed her heavily powdered cheek. "I just know Daddy will listen to you! And I promise I will be careful, really I will."

Untangling herself from her daughter's arms, Wulfrida patted her carefully coiffed blond hair as she replied, "I'm sure that you will, Dreda, since your father does insist on allowing that nasty Runespoor to roam the ground storey. We don't want a reoccurrence of what happened to your Puffskein."

Dreda shook her head and kissed her mother's cheek again before glancing over at the clock on the mantelpiece. "I had better Floo Wen then and go change. Is Daddy going to come down?"

Wulfrida, who was checking her reflection anxiously in the mirror hanging between two large glass doors that led to the garden outside, answered, "Of course not. You know how he feels about the Flints, Dreda. Why don't you put on the new green robe? I will let you wear my emerald bangle if you want, too."

Dreda stopped on the point of leaving the room and looked back at her mother. "For a tea?"

Wulfrida turned and fixed a quelling eye on her daughter. "Go and change, Etheldreda."

"Yes, Mother." Dreda exited the sitting room and walked down the long corridor to the staircase near the rear of the house. As she trudged up the stairs, Dreda wondered why Celestina Flint could possibly want to drag her son to tea when neither of the twins was home to play Quidditch with him. Dreda was certain that Marcus had been a seventh-year the year before, so at least they couldn't be planning to ask her to tutor him. Therefore, since it was likely to have little to do with her, Dreda turned her mind to what robes she should wear to best please her mother.

When she arrived at the first storey, Dreda knocked on the door to her parents' bedroom and waited. When no one answered, she opened the door and passed through the bedroom into her mother's dressing room. Sitting down at the dressing table, Dreda peered into the sparkling silver mirror that hung in front of her. Seeing nothing more remarkable than a pair of light brown eyes and the dull black of the Yaxley family hair, Dreda shrugged her shoulders and opened up the goblin-wrought silver jewel box that lay in the centre of the table.

It seemed to Dreda that her mother had even more golden trinkets in the multi-tiered jewel case than the last time that Dreda had looked, but it did not take very long for her to find the bangle that her mother had wanted her to wear. Momentarily distracted by the earrings that her father had given Mother after his Augurey had eaten part of Mother's new hat, Dreda held one earring up to her ear and tilted her head as she looked at her reflection. Deciding immediately that she looked ridiculous, Dreda carefully laid the earring back in its place and slipped the emerald bracelet carved with writhing serpents over her small hand and shut the jewel box. Acutely aware that she only had twenty minutes to groom herself to her mother's exacting standards, Dreda hurried from the dressing room past the dark, panelled bed in her parents' room and out into the corridor.

Over an hour later, Dreda was seated in the drawing room, disinterestedly listening to her mother and Celestina Flint talk animatedly about another witch whose husband had been charged with selling a cursed tea kettle to a Muggle. The only other person in the room, Celestina's son Marcus, had for almost twenty minutes been lounged back in his chair nervously fidgeting as he stared morosely at the large tapestry that hung over the cherry wood sideboard behind where Dreda was sitting. Neither she nor Marcus had been an active participant in the conversation for almost thirty minutes. Consequently, it was unfortunate that a large clock with its numerous hands and whirling dials had been placed directly across from Dreda's chair so she could watch the minutes slowly creep along.

Just as Dreda was rechecking the smallest dial of the clock, which confirmed that there were, as ever, no Muggles within the Yaxley property, Dreda realised that her mother's conversation had stopped. She turned in time to see Celestina Flint speaking with a laugh in her voice that was not matched by the expression in her eyes. "You know Wulfa; I believe that our children are a little bored by us."

Immediately sitting straighter in her chair and looking at her mother in consternation, Dreda noticed her mother nod almost imperceptibly before Celestina continued speaking. "Perhaps Etheldreda could take Marcus out to show him those Serbian Beater's bats that Eldred has been telling him to order for the Slytherin team. I'm sure a nice walk outdoors would be preferable to listening to two old witches nattering away."

Dreda saw out of the corner of her eye that Marcus was now sitting forward in his chair and looking at his mother with a displeased expression on his face. Glancing at her own mother, Dreda could tell that Wulfrida was embarrassed by her friend's blatant ploy, but that Dreda was nevertheless going to be expected to comply. Speaking as politely as possible, Dreda said, "Yes, ma'am."

Dreda turned to Marcus, who had apparently been given similar nonverbal orders by his mother and was now standing up from the table. Dreda followed Marcus to the door and, after he hurriedly pulled it open, she led him down the corridor towards a side door of the house.

As soon as they were outside, however, Marcus spoke gruffly, "You don't have to show me Eldred's bats."

Dreda looked questioningly up at him. "We might as well if you want to see them. Our mothers won't be pleased if we go back too soon will they?"

Marcus, who looked supremely uncomfortable, replied tonelessly, "You are probably right."

Since she was aware that Marcus knew the way to the shed where her brothers kept their Quidditch equipment as well as she did, Dreda began walking in the direction of her brothers' practice pitch with the assumption that Marcus was following. She could feel the unease of the wizard beside her, but could not think of anything to say that might make the situation any less awkward. Although Marcus had frequently played Quidditch with her brothers during the days when Eldred and Wilfred had been home from Durmstrang and Hogwarts was also on holiday, Dreda had rarely ever spoken to Marcus herself.

As Dreda raised her long black wand to release the spell on the door of the shed, she sensed Marcus shifting uneasily as he waited next to her. When the door had flung open, Dreda pointed with her wand towards a shelf near the back of the small building. "I think that the case is up there next to my old training broom."

Marcus reached to pull down the case and asked stiffly, "What sort of broom do you ride now?"

Dreda frowned, "I don't. I used to slip out here and ride Eldred's old Nimbus 1800, but when I fell off and broke both arms and the broom Daddy refused to let me get a new one. Wilfred lets me use his when Eldred isn't home, but Eldred is too afraid that I'll be hurt again so he makes me use the training broom."

Marcus looked at the well-worn training broom and said with a note of pity, "That looks like the one I had, but mine wouldn't go higher than six feet from the ground."

Dreda nodded. "Mine won't either, so it isn't terribly useful."

Marcus opened the case with one hand, but continued looking at Dreda as he said, "I used to try to play games on it with my cousin, but those brooms are pretty useless unless you are playing Shuntbumps."

Dreda shrugged. "Well you know Will and Eldred. They wouldn't let me play Quidditch with them. Will let me play Keeper once, but when a Quaffle left just one little bruise on my face Eldred put an end to that. So I just fly about the garden for fun, which isn't quite as frustrating on a training broom as Quidditch would be."

Marcus nodded and turned his attention to the case and looked at the Beater's bats. He picked one up and took a swipe through the air with it. "Not bad."

"Want to try it? I know the spell combination to Will's Quidditch box. I can take out a training Bludger."

Dreda saw Marcus look at her with surprise before he nodded. "Might as well, yeah. Is it international-standard size?"

Dreda shook her head, "I have no idea. I don't know enough about it." She spent several seconds working her wand over a long blue box with her brother's initials stamped in silver on the top, before she bent down and opened the lid.

Marcus stepped forward brusquely, "You'd better let me take it out. They are hard to manage if you don't know how."

Dreda moved out of the way and watched as Marcus pulled out the training Bludger and wedged it firmly under his arm. He grabbed one of the bats and then nodded to Dreda.

They both went out onto her brothers' practice pitch and as Marcus walked out into the centre of the field, Dreda headed for a nearby short stone wall to sit down. She watched as Marcus turned to see where she was before he threw the Bludger into the air. As the bat made contact with the Bludger, Dreda heard a loud thwacking sound and wondered whether it was true that Marcus was such a good player. Wilfred had told her that Marcus was possibly an international-standard Chaser. However what she had heard at school, especially after one particularly unpleasant Ravenclaw-Slytherin game, was that Marcus' play was incredibly dirty, his techniques were underhanded, and that these two characteristics dominated any possible skill he might have had.

She sat watching as Marcus collected the Bludger after hitting it four or five times against the large Beating Wall that Eldred used for practising. She considered whether Wilfred would react poorly to the fact that she opened his trunk to let Marcus use his Bludger, but decided with some feeling of annoyance that there was far more likely to be trouble if Eldred ever heard that she had been on the practice pitch within range of a flying Bludger. As Marcus walked towards her, Dreda stood up from the wall and brushed off her robes.

Marcus was clamping his arm tightly round the Bludger as he said in an uncertain voice, "Probably shouldn't be hitting this about with you sitting so close. If I hit it wrong it might hurt you."

Dreda bit her lip slightly before replying lightly, "And then Eldred would kill you."

Marcus did not smile as he nodded stiffly, "True. Maybe we ought to put this back now."

"Possibly and then it has probably been long enough that we could go back in after we lock the shed."

Marcus did not respond until they had reached the door to the shed. "I am sorry if Mum embarrassed you. I didn't know she was going to do that."

Dreda waited for Marcus to lift the lid of the trunk before she replied, "That's alright. It was nicer not to have to listen to them talk about Polluxa Wargley really."

Marcus did not answer, since he was struggling to force the Bludger into its restraints. Dreda rested against the doorframe and watched a spider crossing the floor as she waited. The summer holiday was almost over. There was only one week left for her to finish up her summer assignments, especially the essay for Professor Snape on the benefits of using the Forgetfulness Potion instead of an Obliviating Charm.

"I've done if you wanted to redo Will's Locking Charm."

Dreda turned her attention back to Marcus, who was standing hunched over as he waited for her to relock the trunk. It occurred to her that she had never seen Marcus looking unconfident about anything before, but that he had looked extremely ill at ease since leaving the house. Surely speaking to the younger sister of wizards he had known for years shouldn't be so arduous for him. Unlike her, Marcus probably didn't have to obey his mother's every wish. Why did he come? Surely a tea with three witches would not appeal to him.

"You're a sixth-year, aren't you?"

Dreda nodded her head. "Yes, I'm only a year younger than Eldred and Will."

"But you're Ravenclaw aren't you?"

Dreda cast a defensive look at Marcus. "Yes. I know you were in Slytherin."

Marcus scowled as he answered in a low voice, "Still will be. I am doing the year again."

Dreda raised her eyebrows in surprise before saying, "So you'll still be Quidditch Captain then. Your house will be happy about that."

Marcus shrugged his shoulders and did not reply. As they walked back to the house, Dreda wondered how poorly Marcus must have done on his NEWTs to have his parents send him for another seventh-year. Roger Davies was going to have fits when he found out that Marcus Flint was returning.

Dreda was surprised to hear Marcus clear his throat slightly and ask, "Do you like Quidditch?"

"I suppose so. I go to the Ravenclaw games, of course, but I don't really follow any teams or anything." Realising that she was talking to someone who was probably as Quidditch obsessed as her brother Eldred, Dreda continued somewhat less dampingly, "Eldred likes the Arrows, of course. Who do you like?"

Marcus' hard face began to look more animated as he said, "I used to support the Magpies, naturally, since they are such a top drawer team. But I have been following the Falcons recently. I really think that they have potential this year. Grant has been training with some new moves, I understand."

"Oh, Will would agree with you, wouldn't he? He has always said that the Falcons play the hardest game."

"Yes, they do. Some teams in the league have really got soft in their play. No reason why the Falcons shouldn't shake things up a bit."

Dreda shook her head, "I don't really know much about them. I've been to several Arrows games with Will and Eldred, because they are our local team of course, but I haven't ever seen the Falcons. Daddy always refused to let Will bring me to those matches."

Marcus nodded and said seriously, "Probably for the best, actually. The games can be a little rough sometimes, especially if there are many Falcons fans in the stands."

As Marcus held open the door to the house with one large, rough hand, Dreda walked through and replied, "That was what Daddy said, but Wilfred thinks that is what makes it fun."

Marcus let out a short bark of laughter and Dreda could see his large jagged teeth sticking out from his mouth. "That I can believe." He opened the door to the drawing room and the amused expression disappeared from Marcus' face as both of them walked inside.