Black Saturday

IV

'It seems this has all been a huge shock to your father.'

'I think he was stunned by you saying you were a follower of Sevedy Mickette.'

Rahal gave a silent gasp. 'Obviously I'm not anymore! If I were, I'd have wasted you and your father and prolly the whole damn school. Malfiore doesn't breed anything resembling tolerance. No, she took elven supremacy and brought it as far as you can take anything. She'd have Moldybutt by his withered bollocks for daring to suggest he and his power-mad droogies were anything more than apes.'

Luna brushed her hair to the side and returned to her painting.

'As long as you dropped those nasty ideas.'

Rahal's chuckles burst into a laugh. 'I dropped those 'nasty ideas' years ago.'

'But aren't you fourteen?'

'Well. I coulda sworn you could see through all my lies. Truth be told, I might as well be fourteen, but I've about thirty years behind me.'

'Thirty!'

'Now before you get your red knickers in a knot, lemme add that these are Navian and elven years. Hence why I say I might as well be fourteen.'

'But you're still thirty.'

'In Earth years. And in Menfolk's years, yes. But by that metric, I should've been a Seventh Year when I was a dauphine myself— high elves don't age like Men, and we're all that much more superior to you.'

'I thought you said you dropped those ideals.'

'It's basic fact, mate. I can't change reality to suit your Menfolk-oriented egalitarianism. You want to know why I'm a Ravenclaw and not a Slytherin? Well to be honest, I'm not sure myself. I was sure that I'd be a natural Slytherin, but that damned hat felt otherwise.'

Luna shuffled herself to turn around and said matter-of-factly, 'You're nothing like the Slytherins.'

Rahal felt a fair blush rush across her cheeks. After a stunned moment of silence, she said, 'W-well, maybe not now. But that's what I was saying, innit? That I used to be a right villicent skinn'ead, all clad in villicent regalia and playing the role of nivvny mollishow. Always tossard with Vayeci and Poxhart.'

Rahal stopped herself when she noticed Luna had paused.

'Gesundheit?'

'That's all HOSS speak, it makes sense you wouldn't get it. I'm trying to defrag my brains from that lifestyle.'

Luna began painting again. 'That's very good.'

'Er, well, you want I should, um...' This hadn't happened to her in years, and her mouth was evidence of it. Everything she said fell over the next word, and she stumbled about trying to make her point. At last, she calmed herself and exhaled. 'I've never had anyone tell me I'm not a Slytherin.'

'But haven't you only recently learned what Slytherin are, if you hail from another world?'

'Well, no. You-you see, your world also exists in Seventh Earth.' Rahal noticed Luna's brow drooped and the blondeball seemed to malfunction as she turned to her.

'But...'

'Yes, well, ah... This is going to sound mental, but your world is considered fiction on Seventh Earth. They already know how this whole Voldemort debacle will end up, hence why I'm not too concerned about your little group. Just don't tell anyone I said such a thing.'

'That sounds so wrong, though. Am I—'

'We should drop the subject. Dimension hopping is BS. Surely you wish to know more about Sevedy Mickette, right?'