'Andra will stay, don't you think?'

'I think so. And Marty, of course.'

'Naturally. He's a machine, there's no way the department would survive without him.'

'But Winston? I'd be worried about my job, if I were him.'

'He's more reactive, instead of proactive. And that's been fine, for a time. But what with the merger — I'm sorry, are we boring you?'

Todd's mouth snapped shut. The conversation had been so dull that he hadn't even realised he was yawning, and he was now faced with the annoyed looks of three people: two up-and-coming employees with the Department of Magical Catastrophes plus Deirdre, who was trying to get in their good graces. If it weren't for Deirdre, he would've replied with something cheerfully sarcastic. But she was the whole reason he was at this dumb Slug Club party in the first place.

'Sorry, it's not you. I've, er, had some late nights.' He took another sip from his drink, but found it completely empty. 'Care for another one?' he said, pointing at Deirdre's glass.

She shot him a subtle annoyed look.

If poetry and love songs were to be believed, the best couples could read each other's thoughts with the briefest of eye contact. Was Todd simply not cut out to be that kind of boyfriend? Because Deirdre's thoughts were a mystery to him on a good day.

Todd cleared his throat to fill the awkward silence before he finally extricated himself from the group and ducked toward the drinks. He'd usually be happy to grab something at random, but the endless Ministry chatter was beginning to drive him mad. So he took his time looking over the bottles. They were old, intriguing, and appropriately expensive for Slughorn's taste. He picked up one, examining the intricate silver dragon that its maker had shaped around the bottle's neck.

'Excellent eye, Todd, excellent eye!' Todd nearly dropped the bottle as Slughorn seemingly appeared out of thin air to clap him on the shoulder. 'Somewhither Firewhisky. The pyromancy that its makers performed was so powerful that it burnt down the distillery. It was a nasty business, nasty business. Killed three of the workers inside, if I recall. But! The silver lining is that it did result in some truly spectacular Scotch whisky that, by nature of the unfortunate situation, is incredibly rare,' Slughorn added, beaming. 'I was quite pleased to get my hands on this one. Shall we break into it?'

'Er…' Todd glanced at the bottle, more than a little deterred by the story, not to mention Slughorn's cheerful telling of it, but the professor was already conjuring him a glass.

'Here's to you, m'boy: a young man with a bright future, even in the face of troubled times,' Slughorn said, after he'd handed off a glass to Todd and raised his own. 'Most people here can only hope to carve out a life as safe and secure as yours is.'

'Too bad he never appreciates it,' said a familiar voice.

'Ah, Miss Gibson!' Slughorn said. Todd turned around, surprised to see Maggie smiling behind him and clutching a glass herself. 'Wonderful that you could come! You see, Todd, this is precisely why I wanted to hold this party in Hogsmeade: Let the Hogwarts students mingle with the successful and talented professionals. Of course,' he added to Maggie with a wink, 'not that you'd need the foot in the door, my dear. In most respects, you're already one of the young professionals here.'

'Professor Slughorn said he wanted another Ollivander's employee to "round out the guest list",' Maggie said. 'I told him I've no idea what that means, but I'm happy to take a break from revising regardless.'

'Todd, you really ought to speak to your father about occasionally attending one of my parties. I can never coax him out of his shop. I always tell Garrick what they say about all work and no play, but he's always busy with one thing or another. It's an open invitation as well — the Slug Club is sorely lacking in Ollivander's employees. Jack Coakley is always welcome. I'd even be happy to take Haeyoun Kim.'

'How hospitable of you.'

'Well,' Slughorn said cheerfully, 'I'll let you two catch up. Merlin's beard, two Ollivander's employees at a Slug Club party! I'd never thought I'd live to see the day!'

Todd frowned at the back of Slughorn's robes as he left to schmooze with someone else. 'It makes me irrationally angry that he's so chuffed to have us here,' he muttered.

'I can't believe he wore you down.'

'He didn't, really. Deirdre's looking for a job, and so she thought it'd be a good idea to come here. She's not wrong, probably,' he said, glancing back at the group he'd just left. Deirdre seemed to be charming them all. She said something that made the two Ministry people launch into animated chatter. Deirdre caught Todd's eye and shot him another indecipherable look that Todd couldn't make heads or tails of.

'If I drop dead today,' he said, taking a sip of his drink, 'I'm pretty sure it's because this firewhisky is cursed.'

'Er, okay.' Maggie grinned, puzzled, as she turned her attention to her own drink. She was wearing the same burgundy robes that she'd worn to the Christmas party, and Todd was trying to dismiss thoughts of Christmas, of hot chocolate and a movie playing softly on a television set.

And a sense of overwhelming hopelessness on the roof of the wand shop.

Todd gave an inadvertent sigh, his left hand automatically touching the outline of the vine wood wand, which he'd lately taken to carrying with him in the inside pocket of his outer robes since Coakley had given it back to him.

'What's the matter?'

'Oh… it's… I just hate that this firewhisky tastes so good.'

Maggie snorted. 'I really shouldn't be here,' she muttered to him. 'I should be revising. I'm really worried about my Potions N.E.W.T. … Coakley told me they don't even care about potions at Ollivander's! You should've been clearer about which N.E.W.T.s I'd need, when I asked you about it two years ago.'

'Sorry.' Todd smiled apologetically. 'A Potions N.E.W.T. certainly doesn't hurt. We could use that kind of knowledge at the shop, honestly.'

'I don't think it would be such a good idea for anyone to rely on my potions knowledge. I'll just have to get through this; it'll all be over soon. So, er… ' Maggie said. Todd waited, but she seemed to be at a loss for words. 'So…you're…'

It had been a long time since things had been awkward between them, and Todd was surprised to see Maggie on inexplicably unsure footing. He wondered, not for the first time, whether he and she were actually close friends or not. He'd lately felt, after some of the conversations they'd had, that she knew him better than even Derek. But, the more he thought about it, he could count on two hands the number of times he had actually hung out with her.

It felt very odd for Todd to be the person who was at ease, watching someone else who seemed uneasy. Usually it was the other way round.

He cleared his throat and came to her rescue. 'Things at the shop have been —'

'So you're with Deirdre now?'

They had spoken at the same time, and it took Todd a second to register what Maggie had said. He was confused by the question; she knew they were together, after all. So, was she just prompting him to talk about it?

'Oh, yeah,' he said. 'Well, you know. We're meant for each other, according to… pretty much everyone. I think, when we first got together, we were a bit too young. But this time round, things feel... right. I think.'

'Mm.' Maggie was looking off into the distance.

'Yeah. I went round to the Fortescues' flat one night, and Deirdre was there. Just Deirdre. And when I went over there, I… I think I knew why I was there, but it just seemed like she knew why I was there more than I did. And I never even needed to say anything, she just — she just knew. Knew what to say, knew what to… do…'

Maggie sighed and swayed slightly on the spot.

'Are you all right?' he asked.

'Oh yeah. I'm fantastic. Er, sorry. I drank a bit before coming to this party.'

'Oh. Oh!' Todd said, brightening. 'Brilliant. So you're already drunk, then!'

'I wouldn't say I'm drunk. I would say that I arrived here tipsy, and I've since had another glass of wine.'

Todd knocked back his drink in one swig. 'This is great news.'

'Is it?'

'Yes. I'm going to get to the place where you're at, which is the place I want to be, anyway,' he said, pouring himself another glass of Somewhither Firewhisky. 'Let's make sure these poor blokes who made this firewhisky didn't die in vain.'

'So. Look what I brought today.' He reached into his robes and pulled out the vine wood wand, twiddling it in his fingers so that golden sparks shot out of it. He adjusted his grip on it and tapped the bottom of Maggie's wine glass, turning it into a mouse that fell to the ground with a squeak.

'Oi! Did it look like I was done with that?'

'Ooh, your accent comes out when you're tipsy.'

'Talk about my accent one more time, Ollivander,' Maggie said, poking him with her own wand in mock annoyance.

'Very irresponsible, Gibson. Hasn't anyone ever told you it's dangerous to perform magic under the influence?'

'And I see you think you're above the rules, as usual,' Maggie said, reaching for the vine wood wand in his hand.

'How dare you accuse me of being too pissed to do magic!' he said, gesturing with it to keep it out of her reach.

She jumped up, finally succeeding in snatching the wand out of his hand. 'Ha!' She tried to twiddle it between her fingers the way Todd had, but only managed in dropping it.

'Careful there.'

'So,' she said, stooping to pick it up, 'have you become more optimistic about this wand, then?'

'Not really.'

'Why not? It's clearly functioning.' She moved towards his whisky glass, tapping it just before he tried to wrench it out of reach. He groaned as she transfigured it into a dragonfly that flitted away.

'You couldn't reliably conjure a Patronus with it,' he said. 'So why should I trust it?'

'If you don't think it's worth its weight, then why are you carrying it around with you everywhere you go?'

He didn't seem to have an answer to that. He shook his head and changed the subject, frowning around the room. 'Now, where has she gotten off to?'

'I could be getting off with Slughorn, and you wouldn't know it,' Deirdre said archly, sidling up beside him, before adding, 'Todd dear, you must introduce me to your date.'

Todd coughed awkwardly. 'Sorry. Really, I am. I think I was annoying the crowd you were with. I wasn't nearly as entranced by their gripping conversation as they wanted me to be,' he said, lowering his voice and rolling his eyes in the direction of the Ministry employees.

'Yes Todd,' Deirdre said, 'this is not going to be the most captivating night of your life. I know it's such torture for you. But —'

'That's for sure.'

'But maybe you can at least pretend to be a polite person for a couple of hours for my sake?' she hissed.

Todd opened his mouth, but then shut it, looking abashed.

'Er, Deirdre, how is your new place in Hogsmeade?' Maggie said, trying to ease the tension. 'Is it a lot different than living in London?'

'Well, I wouldn't know what it's like to live in London,' she said with a raised eyebrow. 'But yes, Hogsmeade is much different than Diagon Alley. There are the obvious things — it's colder, of course, and bigger. You always have to be aware of the Hogwarts weekends and plan around them. And it's nice when everyone in the village doesn't think of you as the little girl who they watched grow up. But the best thing is probably that Hogsmeade is far more distanced from the war than Diagon Alley, which is very nice.'

'Yeah, I'd imagine the absence of a Knockturn Alley has a lot to do with that… Deirdre, do you really not think of Diagon Alley as being in London?' Todd asked. 'Because it is, quite literally, in London.'

'Well,' Deirdre said, baffled, 'it's inside London, but it's not in London.'

Todd laughed. 'Of course it's in London! Inside but not in…? That's anti-Muggle nonsense.'

'Anti-Muggle nonsense? It's not anti-Muggle nonsense to acknowledge the simple fact that we're separate.'

'You and I have ridden the tube together for years,' Todd said, ticking things off his fingers. 'We've gone to the same curry houses, we've spent hours in Charing Cross Library... How, in the name of Merlin, can you not think of yourself as a Londoner?'

'Because we didn't have the foggiest idea what half the things were that we saw when we'd go out to those places. Because those trips were novelties. A novelty,' she added, somewhat to herself, 'that clearly hasn't worn off for you yet.'

'To me,' Todd explained to Maggie, 'what makes Diagon Alley special is that we always have at least a toe in London, because it's just a tap-on-the-bricks away. I mean, for example, we have a greengrocer's in Diagon Alley, but loads of people pop by Tesco's all the time.'

'I wouldn't say loads of people,' Deirdre said.

'And any time my dad wants to have a serious talk with me, we always end up walking through Green Park. And he can flag down a taxi as well as any Londoner can.' Maggie smiled at this thought and, for some reason, began to picture Todd in his green jumper, whistling at a black cab. For so many years, she had been more than happy to leave London behind and explore her newfound hidden, magical wizarding world, but she realised suddenly that she'd been missing her city. And she'd love to see it through Todd's eyes, through the eyes of someone who appreciated it in a way she never had, who thought of Muggle London as… well… magical.

'Now, granted,' Todd continued, 'sometimes Diagon Alley's residents walk through London and conclude that they hate Muggles just because they see some some rough sleepers or because someone tried to mug them. To be quite honest… I think that's why Diagon Alley has a Knockturn Alley and Hogsmeade doesn't. But I do think that so many wizards have come to appreciate Muggles because of Diagon Alley's proximity to London. The wizarding wireless, magical photography, wizarding rock bands — those all came out of Diagon Alley, and you'd be daft to deny that London wasn't a direct influence on… I'm sorry, are you rolling your eyes?' Todd said incredulously to Deirdre.

'You fancy yourself such a Muggle sympathizer,' Deirdre said, 'but you're just as baffled by them as I am. Go fly in an aeroplane, let's see how confident you are with Muggles then.'

'Oh, you mean the method of transport that's vastly less likely than Apparition to result in injury?'

'Fine. Go buy a bloody ticket then,' Deirdre muttered. Maggie, beginning to feel uneasy again, wondered if now might be a good time to refill her drink.

'Is that why you haven't looked into travelling to the States yet?' Todd said. 'You're afraid to take an aeroplane? Because, look, I know it's scary, but it would be far cheaper than the series of Portkeys you'd have to sort to get to all the wizarding ports across the Atlantic, and I bet you already have enough saved up at this point if you were to take a plane instead —'

'I can't believe you!' Deirdre said, her temper and voice rising. Even Maggie had to marvel at Todd's cluelessness. 'I told you I'd scrapped that plan! I want to stay here with you, but clearly I'm an idiot for thinking you wanted the same thing!'

'I-I'm sorry, Deirdre,' Todd said, lowering his voice and leaning in toward his girlfriend, away from Maggie. His gaze kept darting up to meet Deirdre's before he'd look nervously at the ground, then back at Deirdre. 'I just don't think you should assume that we'll… that this is… I-I'm not sure it's wise to base your plans around…'

'You're such a prat, you know that?' Deirdre said, her voice breaking. Maggie, embarrassed, began to back away from them, something she probably should have done a while ago. 'You think that I'm this conniving, manipulative person — don't you dare shake your head at me, Todd Ollivander, the things you and Derek said after we broke up got back to me, you absolute tosser — but you're the one who's using me! I actually like you, you know —'

'Do you, though?' Todd asked, still speaking in that uncomfortable, quiet voice, as if urging her to do the same. 'Do you actually like me? Every time I voice an opinion, you seem to be biting back a retort or an eyeroll, and lately, you only seem to want to hang out with me when we're around other people. Do you really think we're a good match, honestly? Or are you just confused because everyone insists that we are?'

Deirdre was glaring at him, blinking back tears. 'Maybe I have been realising that,' she admitted furiously, 'but you knew it all along, didn't you?'

She turned on her heel and stormed out of the rented-out room of Madam Puddifoot's, in the wake of several nervous giggles and raised eyebrows at the party. Todd was left standing in the middle of the room, looking rattled and ashamed. Maggie stood awkwardly off to the side for a while, unsure what to do until, finally, she took pity on Todd, who had not moved from his spot as people continued to shoot looks at each other. She grabbed a glass of mead off a table and brought it to him.

'I don't deserve that,' he muttered as she offered him the drink.

'That's fine, that's fine,' she coaxed. 'Let's just get you out of the, er, spotlight here a bit…'

'The what?' he said dully as he let her lead him off to the side of the room.

'You know, Todd, you really are a far cry from a Muggle expert,' Maggie said, trying not to laugh, but her smiled evaporated when she could see just how miserable he looked. Maggie could've sworn that the gramophone that was playing music suddenly grew louder, as if it were charmed specifically to distract party-goers from sudden awkward moments. She wouldn't put it past Slughorn.

She turned to Todd. 'Do you want to leave?'

'Yeah.' He sighed, glancing around at the people who were surreptitiously looking over at the two of them. 'Let's get out of here.'

'Do you want me to walk you back?' Todd said, gazing out at the long path that led to Hogwarts, most of it shrouded in darkness at this point of the night.

'Sure. Thanks.'

In the cold April night air, Maggie pulled a knit cap over her head and Todd shoved his hands deeper into his pockets as they started the trek. They walked in silence for a while, listening to a flurry of soft hoots from the occupants of the Hogwarts and Hogsmeade owleries who had taken flight to hunt.

Darkness settled around them as they left the lanterns of Hogsmeade behind and made their way down the path towards the castle. Though there wasn't enough moonlight to make out Todd's face, there was a heaviness about him, in the way that he walked, the way that he hung his head.

Maggie strained her ears, trying to memorise the nighttime sounds of the Hogwarts grounds that she'd be leaving in just a couple months. The Whomping Willow twitched and swayed slightly as they passed it, its leaves rustling in the windless night.

'Are you okay?' she said softly.

'I'll be fine.' He responded in a quiet, brisk voice that seemed to suggest that she should drop it. So she was surprised, as she was racking her brains for a good Quidditch conversation topic, that he continued a few minutes later.

'I was using her,' he murmured. 'She was right, when I look at it from her perspective… I never meant to hurt her.'

'You know… you could probably… try to go after her,' Maggie said haltingly. 'She might —'

'I don't want to go after her. That's the thing. I never should've started another relationship with her. Not when my very first thought was, "Well… this'll be short-lived". What was I thinking?' He paused. 'I guess I thought I'd be the one to get hurt. Not her.'

'You do always think of yourself as a bit of an underdog.' Maggie worked to bite back a smile, even though she knew Todd couldn't see it. 'And that's not really the reality.'

'Then why does my whole life just feel like a series of fuck-ups?'

Maggie doubted Todd felt like patiently listening as she explained to him why that was ridiculous. Still, as they ascended the stone steps and stopped at the great oak doors of the castle entrance, Maggie knew she couldn't let him leave, not yet. Not on this note.

'I've still got quite a bit further to go. Sure you wouldn't want to walk me up to Ravenclaw Tower?'

'Oh.' He sounded surprised. 'Oh, erm... hm. Sure, it'd be kind of fun to walk through the castle again. Why not?'

'Do you miss it?' Maggie asked as he pulled the door open.

'Miss what?'

'Hogwarts,' she said, chuckling as she walked through.

Todd seemed to ponder this for a bit as he followed her inside, the door closing slowly behind them. He took in the entrance hall, glancing at the suits of armour and the portraits on the wall. 'In my own way, yes. Probably in a different way than most people.'

'How's that?'

'I always just felt like a visitor here,' he said, motioning for her to lead the way up the marble steps. 'It never quite felt like home to me. But it was a nice visit, for the three years I was here. Coming back is like returning somewhere you went on holiday. Or… maybe more like a work trip, actually. It's like, "Oh, this place! I remember this place. I nearly died of sleep deprivation here, but it was still quite nice".'

'Oh dear. Can a person die of sleep deprivation? Oh well, I s'ppose I'll find out this year.'

'N.E.W.T. revision going well?' he asked with a grin.

She sighed. 'I've always been rubbish at revising. I spend far too much time looking over the stuff that's interesting to me — the stuff that, honestly, I already know perfectly well — and I drag my feet when it comes to the dull material.'

'Yeah.' Todd grinned to himself as they made their way up a second staircase. 'I remember one time I found you in the common room in the middle of the night, practising Apparition, spinning on the spot like a deranged top. I was still at school at the time, so I doubt you were anywhere close to taking your test at that point.'

'That's right — I'd completely forgotten about that! Oh god, I was obsessed with Apparition in Fifth Year. Frank and Alice were preparing for their test at the time, and I loved poring over the books they had. There was this really good one — Closing the Distance, I think it was called. It taught me to think about Apparition in a way that was so much better than anything I learnt once I finally had lessons. I even, er —' she said, wincing guiltily '— I even did a bit of Apparition in Hogsmeade in my Fifth Year. I wanted to test out what I'd read, and you know, you can't Apparate inside Hogwarts, so —'

'Jesus, Maggie!' Todd said, laughing so loudly in disbelief that Maggie was worried they'd attract attention from a prefect or a professor patrolling the corridors. 'That's, erm, that's… wow. That's… impressive,' he conceded finally, still grinning. 'And so, so stupid.'

'Well, that's me, in a nutshell.'

'Yes.' Todd chuckled to himself. 'Yes, it is.'

Maggie moved to climb another staircase, but Todd grabbed her arm gently. 'Wait. Wait, hang on, just… give me a… minute…'

'Out of breath already?'

'So many… bloody… staircases…'

'That is the downside of Apparition. Before you know it, you're completely out of shape,' she teased.

'No reasonable person should be expected to walk this much. This castle's massive, I'd completely forgotten…' He put his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

She grinned down at him from the second step as he straightened up, eyeing her ruefully. There was something about the way that he held her gaze that made her breath catch, and she found herself saying, 'Your life is not a series of fuck-ups.'

'Oh really.'

'Yes, really.' She moved closer to him.

'Then why can't you conjure a Patronus with the wand I made?'

She blinked, then pulled back indignantly, surprised at this response. Todd opened his mouth, then shut it, looking confused at her closeness, but he continued on, determined. 'Can you just…' He took off his glasses and scrubbed his face with his hands, shaking his head as if baffled with every aspect of his life. 'Can you just walk me through exactly what happened when it worked, so I can figure out what was different then and what's different now?'

Maggie shook her head, exasperated. 'It's completely mental that your entire opinion of this wand is hinging on this one spell! I hope this isn't common procedure for Ollivander's, for a wandsmith to determine whether he's made a good wand by having the youngest apprentice try to perform some particularly tricky magic with it!'

'Just explain the situation to me! I'm so confused about all this, I don't understand why you're not as interested as I am to get to the bottom of —'

'Look, I don't like to show people my Patronus, all right?'

Todd stopped talking, then frowned, the word 'what?' playing on his lips. 'I don't — what? You don't like to show people your Patronus? I don't understand.'

'Please, Todd, it'll work if you conjure a Patronus, assuming you can. Go on then, just — you try, all right?'

'I'm sorry, I'm not following… Look,' he said, tentatively reaching into his robes, 'why don't you try again? I'd just like to see you try, I do think it'll help me better understand this wand's tendencies.'

'Please, no, stop,' she said, pushing away the offered wand.

'Maggie,' Todd said, looking completely befuddled, 'what is going on?'

'I just don't like to show people my Patronus,' she repeated.

'Why…?' Todd said, a small smile playing on his face. 'What, you don't like the animal?'

Maggie shook her head at the ceiling, cross and exasperated.

'What, is it a cow, or something?' Todd joked. 'Maggie, come on. I promise I won't laugh. This is silly.'

Maggie wrenched the wand out of his hand, and he took a startled step back.

Some kinds of magic were all about bringing your mind into a white room that could easily erase any sort of chaotic emotions that you were currently feeling, a room that could serve as a container for another emotion that you needed to bring to the forefront. Somewhere where you could temporarily function over the delusion that you had any control over your emotions, your depressions, your frenzied thoughts and fears. The Patronus Charm was hardly the only spell that required this level of focus. And so Maggie pushed out her insecurities and anxieties, her feelings of uselessness and despair, and remembered times in the park with Alice, Frank and Simon. Of Simon reenacting scenes from 'The Blues Brothers' and the three of them idiotically trying to following his lead. Of Frank acting uncharacteristically goofy because they'd all had a bit to drink. Of Alice and Maggie shrieking and laughing as they ran down the street, back to the flat in the East End.

'Expecto Patronum,' she whispered, and her Patronus's wings expanded out of her wand, before the bird burst forth and took flight. Todd, mouth slightly agape, watched it glide swiftly down the Hogwarts corridor, almost out of sight, until it turned and began to fly back towards them. Todd turned to face her with an expression of slight awe.

'Maggie,' he breathed, 'it's an eagle.'

The Patronus vanished instantly as she felt her stomach twist. 'I know what you're thinking, Todd,' she said warningly.

'Well... you must see the significance, right?' he demanded eagerly. 'It's the Ravenclaw mascot!'

She shook her head at him, even though he hadn't said anything that was wrong.

'Do you think… All these rumours, I never put any stock in them, but, Maggie, I really think you might be...' he trailed she shook her head at him miserably, discouraging him from jumping to the conclusion that he was jumping to.

'Oh come on!' he continued enthusiastically. 'Aren't you at least somewhat interested? You could be a descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw! Don't you find that exciting?'

'Exciting? Of course I found it exciting!' Maggie said, and Todd leaned in, concern filling his eyes as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

'Maggie, Maggie,' he coaxed, hesitating before he began to softly rub her arms, shaking his head as he searched her eyes. 'I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I… Blimey, I've made two girls cry in one night, I'm just absolutely useless, aren't I? At least the first time I knew what I'd done...'

'The rumours started my Second Year,' she said, struggling and failing to keep her voice even. She sank to sit on stairs, and Todd crouched beside her. 'P-people said I looked just like the Grey Lady, and th-that I-I might… I could be… since I was so good in Charms… And then, in Sixth Year, I taught myself the Patronus Charm, and it just seemed… it seemed so… magical. And loads of people were saying I might be this long lost descendant. Why would so many people come to the same conclusion?

'There are still living descendants,' she continued. 'Did you know that?' Todd simply shook his head, watching her carefully. 'Lots of people don't. B-but Rosaria Ravenclaw lives in Paris, just a short train ride from London. S-so I wrote to her, explaining my thoughts, and — and what everyone was saying. But she never wrote back. So… I went to see her.' A couple of sobs escaped from Maggie's mouth, and Todd, looking unsure what to do, placed one of his hands tentatively on her back as she talked into her hands. 'It was so stupid. I have no earthly idea what I was thinking. It just… it just all made sense in my head. That I was this long lost princess, seeking out her destiny. That it would all be so clear the moment she opened the door. But, instead, I just looked… I must've looked completely mental! This disheveled, teenaged British tourist, showing up at her doorstep. I was so relieved at the time that she spoke English, but looking back I wish she hadn't! I would've had to just turn around and go home. But I explained everything to her, it all tumbled out of my mouth like a babbling idiot, and she invited me in for coffee.

'As I laid everything out, I realized just how thin and stupid all my so-called "evidence" was. I have curly hair? I look like a ghost? I have an eagle Patronus? I must have looked so pathetic… She explained that, if I plucked a strand of my hair, she could perform a charm…'

'The Progeniture Charm,' Todd muttered.

'You're familiar with it? I had never heard of it before.'

'It's fairly common knowledge among people who come from old wizarding lines.' Todd sighed. 'The charm's a bit dated, but it's come back into fashion since the beginning of the war. It's… it's become commonplace for Muggle-borns to say they're descended from certain families, and the worst families… well, they try to immediately prove it or disprove it, unfortunately…

'Back in the twenties,' he continued, 'my grandfather took in a Muggle-born wizard. He lied and said that the Progeniture Charm had proven that he was descended from the Ollivander line, and nobody questioned it. I don't understand why more people don't do that.'

'So it's legitimate?' Maggie asked, soaking up a tear with one of her knuckles. 'She couldn't have falsified the results?'

Todd watched her for a moment before he asked, 'What incantation did she use?'

'Genea,' Maggie whispered.

'And what happened?'

'The strand turned to dust.'

'No,' he said gently. 'No. You couldn't falsify that result.'

Maggie opened her mouth to say something, but her breath caught in her throat and turned to soft sobs.

'Oh Maggie… Maggie… That stuff's not important, you know it's not…'

'It felt just like… it felt just like this day I found my dad and went to see him, a couple of years ago…' she said into her hands. 'I found him, he didn't even live that far from me and Simon… And Simon told me not to, and I should've known better, but I thought… I thought he could've been… a wizard. It was a theory I'd had for years. When Flitwick showed up to speak to me and Simon for the first time, it just all made so much sense, that my dad left us because he was part of some great wizarding world that he couldn't share with us. But I was part of it now! And when I knocked on his door, it all happened so differently from the way I'd played it over and over in my head. I thought he'd be overjoyed and ask me what House I'd been sorted into and ask about all the accidental magic I'd performed that he'd missed and he'd apologise so much… But Todd… oh, I think I violated the Statute of Secrecy so badly… I knocked on his door and I was just babbling and babbling and babbling, but he looked at me like I was mad…. I don't know why I kept going… It just didn't make sense, in my mind, for him to not know about the wizarding world, because I'd imagined that he had for so long… Well, after that disaster, I did what I should've done from the beginning… As soon as term started, I looked up his name in the Hogwarts rolls, and my mum's name, just to be sure. No Gibsons. No Ardells. Not a one. I've looked for the names of aunts and uncles, of distant cousins. Nothing. I thought that, maybe, just maybe I – I could be special. I so badly wanted to be a long-lost descendant of a long line of wizards, like so many people said I might be. People would whisper about it all the time. They'd ask me what I knew about my parents, if I was a "proper" orphan. They really thought I was descended from Rowena Ravenclaw. But I'm not.' Her voice broke. 'I just come from drunks and junkies.'

Maggie crashed her head into Todd's shoulder a little harder than she meant to as she broke down crying.

'I'm s-sorry,' she said. 'I think it's the wine.'

Todd chuckled softly. 'Oh — oh, Maggie,' he said, 'if I told someone to buck up and to stop feeling sorry for themselves, I'd be the biggest bloody hypocrite, and you know that better than anyone. You wallow as much as you need to.'

She felt like an idiot as she shook against him with her eyes closed, getting snot on his robes. A weird undercurrent of shame also rippled through her. She was keenly aware of the situation, that Todd had existed for about 20 minutes without a girlfriend before she'd thrown herself at him like this.

Not like she was throwing herself at him, but it would sort of look like that to an outside observer — such as, say, Deirdre — and that alone was enough to make Maggie feel sort of desperate and pathetic.

But maybe he didn't care. Maybe he didn't care for her in that way anymore, even with Deidre out of the picture. He was patting her shoulder the way that a friend would, rather than someone who was feeling the same little jolts that she was as he touched her.

He twisted under her, digging in his right pocket suddenly. Maggie expected him to pull out a handkerchief, but her doubts were underscored when he instead fished out a pocket watch that he seemed to be trying to look at discreetly.

She started crying a little harder. Oh god. Maybe it really was the wine.

'I'm so sorry, Todd, you can go,' she said thickly, wiping her face and trying to regain a shred of her dignity. 'I know you've had a shit day. You've probably been wanting to go to the pub this whole time, but instead I roped you in to listening to my stupid little story, I don't know what I —'

'No no no no no,' he said, shaking his head emphatically, 'I'm just worried about curfew! You'll get into trouble being out of bed this late, won't you?'

'Y-yeah… I guess…'

'C'mon,' he said with a smile, helping her to her feet and leading her up the stairs. 'Let's get you out of these drafty corridors and into a nice, warm bed. You just need a full night's rest. And probably a break from the kinds of people who frequent Slug Club parties…'

He helped her up the stairs, but then dropped his arm as they continued on through the castle. He walked by her side, but neither of them said much, and this time the silence felt much more awkward than when they'd first left Hogsmeade. Todd kept looking at her out of the corner of his eye, and Maggie was calling herself all sorts of names in her head as she kicked herself for breaking down like that.

Todd came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the staircase that led to Ravenclaw Tower, whirling around to face her. Maggie was confused by the sudden intensity of the look on his face.

'Listen. Maggie.' He looked so deadly serious that Maggie didn't know what to make of it. 'I'm sure the last thing you want to hear right now is a lecture from a Pureblood wizard about how blood doesn't matter, about how being descended from an ancient line of renowned wizards isn't all it's cracked up to be,' he said, the words tumbling out in a rush. 'I'm sure you think that I won't understand, that I don't know what it's like. And I don't. But I have to tell you, before I leave, that… that I think… that I bet loads of Rowena Ravenclaw's descendents are as dumb as bricks.'

Maggie blinked. She coughed out a short laugh in surprise and confusion. 'Ah… okay…'

He shook his head, frustrated. 'I'm not making myself clear… Look. The wizarding world has all this respect for the Ollivander family, and we've benefited from that assumption that we're special, make no mistake. But… but people are idiots to assume that! Because that's not how families work! You can pass on characteristics, sure, and your parents might have similar values that their parents did, but to expect that every single person in the family has the same passions, the same work ethic, the same drive, generation after generation? It's absurd! The Ollivanders have had more than our fair share of idiots and… what… oh, Christ, what, in the name of Merlin's leaking, flaccid knob am I trying to say…?'

Maggie was trying, and failing, not to laugh as he bent down and gripped her shoulders. Todd was laughing as well, the serious look on his face cracking.

'You're not a very good speech-maker,' she said.

'No one ever lets me talk for this long,' he said with a grin. 'Right. This is what I'm trying to say: people have likened you to Rowena Ravenclaw because you are like her, and that is higher praise than being related to her. You impressed so many people with your skills and your abilities that when they noticed that you sort of looked like this intelligent witch from ages past, they said, "Well, she's got to be a long-lost Ravenclaw, hasn't she?" You have earned all the esteem surrounding you, and isn't that so much better than inheriting it?

'I mean — take Coakley, for example. Coakley doesn't work at Ollivander's because he was raised to work there, like a knobhead like me. He works there because he's a great wizard, because he walked in our front door, decades ago, and impressed my grandad with his brains and his magic. And isn't that something to be far prouder of, and isn't it… oh, bollocks… and now you're crying again. Let me ask you, Maggie, have you ever met anyone who did a worse job of trying to cheer someone up before? Because if there were some sort of annual Social Idiots awards, I think I'd sweep them every single —'

He broke off mid-sentence because she had laughed wetly, wiped her face, and moved his hands from her shoulders. But she hadn't let go, and now she was holding his hands. He looked confused, and she wasn't even entirely sure herself what she was doing.

'So… er… do you want to watch hours of mindless telly?' he said, cracking a nervous smile as his silver eyes searched her own. Had his breathing quickened just now, or was he still out of breath after walking through the long corridors and winding staircases of the castle?

She laughed again. 'I'm not exactly sure how we'd go about that at Hogwarts.'

'True.'

'And you've done a pretty good job of cheering me up, anyway,' she said softly, and without even thinking, she leaned forward, his hands still in hers, and kissed him — once. Slowly. To Maggie's slight horror, he didn't kiss her back. Worried that she had made a very, very stupid assumption, she sucked in a mortified breath and began to pull back.

But then his hands snaked around her waist, and he pulled her lips back to his with a rough intake of breath, and silver sparks crackled out of the vine wood wand she was still holding as she threw her arms around his neck.

Sweet mother of Merlin.

This was nice.

It didn't make any sense. But it was nice.

Within the span of about two hours, Todd had gotten mildly pissed, had been dumped, had seen Maggie produce a brilliant Patronus with a wand that he was slowly beginning to understand might actually work perfectly if wielded with the right mindset, had accidentally made Maggie burst into tears, and now… now he was pulling her closer to him while her tiniest, quietest moans reverberated from the nape of her neck all the way up to his lips.

He was having trouble understanding what she could possibly see in him. But critical thinking was not really a priority right now.

As they swayed on the spot at the base of the staircase to Ravenclaw Tower, he wasn't really aware of what he was doing with his lips or his hands, or what she was doing with her arms or her knees or her — well sure, he was aware that she was threading one of her hands through his hair at the base of his neck, and, wow, right, he was aware that her breasts were brushing up against his chest as she breathed. And he was vaguely aware that he was making the occasional soft, rough, inadvertent noise that she seemed to be responding enthusiastically to.

But mostly he was just aware that this was the best day of his stupid life.

They drifted over to one side of the corridor, and as he pressed her softly against the stone wall and his lips had the audacity to begin descending down her neck — god, these soft noises of hers were making him absolutely dizzy — they heard someone clear his throat.

'Professor Slughorn!' Maggie sputtered, automatically pushing Todd back slightly.

Todd loosened his grip but stopped short of pulling away entirely. 'S-sir, I was just… making sure Maggie got back… safely.'

'I can see that, Todd,' Slughorn said, who looked both disapproving and amused, 'but you must realise that this behaviour is entirely inappropriate.'

'Yes… Sorry.'

'Miss Gibson, I'll have to dock twenty points from Ravenclaw for lingering in the corridors after curfew, and Mr Ollivander, I'll escort you out now, if you please.'

Todd nodded as he pulled a flustered hand through his hair and straightened his glasses. 'We should… talk about this,' he muttered to Maggie. 'Yeah? I'll write to you?' A smile crept out through the mortified expression on her face as she nodded, and he found himself unconsciously mirroring her like an idiot.

'Mr Ollivander?'

'Right, lead the way,' he said brusquely. He was unable to keep himself from whispering a soft 'bye' to Maggie as he walked away.

'Bye,' she echoed, looking very happy, very embarrassed, and very much his favourite person.

Slughorn raised his eyebrows and gestured for Todd to hurry along now. Todd tried to straighten the collar of his robes — not to mention his addled brain — as he followed him down the darkened corridor.

'Merlin's beard, Todd,' Slughorn said, once the two of them had descended a couple of staircases. 'Two students messing about in the corridors in the middle of the night is bad enough, but an adult wizard fooling around with a student in the castle is —'

'I know,' he said gruffly. 'I realise that. I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention.'

The two of them walked in silence for a bit, their footsteps echoing down the corridors, until Slughorn spoke up again.

'You do always seem to break hearts at every party you attend,' he said, chuckling.

'Er… hardly.'

'Well, every time I've had the pleasure of your company, you are always the source of one passionate outburst or another,' he said heartily, clapping Todd on the shoulder like they were old school chums. 'It's no surprise; I've heard that no young man from a Sacred 28 family can avoid a little romantic turmoil, regardless of whether he instigates it. And you're still young yet. There's no reason not to, er, shall we say, weigh your options…'

Todd was barely listening to Slughorn's asinine ramblings, his mind still reeling from all the events of the evening. He realised belatedly that he was vaguely nodding along to what Slughorn was saying with a dazed smile on his face, which Slughorn was clearly taking as encouragement.

They made their way through the castle's front doors and out onto the grounds. Todd pulled his cloak tighter around him as they walked in the cold.

'Er, sorry sir, remind me again where the school's boundaries end, so I can Disapparate?'

'Ah, just a bit further. You know, now that you've found time to come to a Slug Club party now and then, I'd love to have you at the next gathering over the summer… I've been mulling the idea of some sort of garden party… '

'Ah… maybe. I'll have to see…'

'TODD!'

The two of them looked up, startled, to see Maggie sprinting across the grass, holding something aloft in her hand.

Todd gave a puzzled smile. 'All right?' he called back.

'Why is she holding her wand up like that?' Slughorn asked, baffled.

'Oh!' Todd said, clapping a hand to his forehead as he realised why she was racing this way. 'Maggie has my vine wood wand!'

'Does she now?'

'Merlin, that would've been bad.' Todd grinned as she made her way across the grounds. 'Stay there! I'll come to you.'

But Slughorn caught Todd's arm as he moved to meet her halfway.

'Er, sir? Seems rude to have her run all the way here, doesn't it?'

'I'm afraid this is too perfect an opportunity to pass up.'

'Sorry?' Todd frowned as he moved to wrench his arm free from Professor Slughorn's grasp, but it only tightened.

Wait.

But Slughorn wasn't a professor anymore.

What had he been doing in the castle?

Todd's eyes widened in fear; the alarm bells in his head were going off far, far too late.

He moved far more forcefully this time to shake off Slughorn's grip. The two of them scuffled for a second, but the older man twisted on the spot, and the last thing Todd heard before they disappeared was Maggie's scream.