Callisto

7

Callisto took off her wig on the third day of November. Her natural hair was curly, but to match the wig she straightened it with some Sleakeazy's. It reached her shoulders and she brushed it out carefully. When she sat down at the Slytherin table Adele plonked down beside her and talked about the first task until she cut off abruptly.

"And they still won't tell anyone what it is, but I bet – you've done something with your hair!"

Callisto smiled as she poured some cereal. "Good of you to notice."

"It's shorter. Did you cut it?"

Callisto shook her head and lowered her voice. "The other one was a wig."

"Get out! What? Really?"

She nodded. "It's my mother's."

"It looked so real. Why the hell did you wear a wig?"

She shrugged, looking down into her bowl. "My hair was shorter, so I just waited until it grew."

Adele nodded, and then they both looked up as Sarafina and Louisa came towards Callisto, saw Adele, then turned around.

That night, they were informed that the password had been changed. When Callisto found out what it was, she turned bright beetroot red and hoped to Merlin nobody noticed. A lot of people were mumbling outside, and the perfect, Montague, had obviously been the one to make it up. Nobody else would have picked Orson Malfoy is a cock sucking faggot as the password. She felt tears rise in her eyes. Even when she thought she had left Orson behind, he was still dragged up, and even when she thought Montague couldn't get to her anymore, he still made her cry. Adele got into an argument with him.

"Let's just say it," Callisto mumbled. "It doesn't matter."

"It does fucking matter! I'm not saying that to get in."

There was a commotion at the back of the crowd, and Draco popped into view, pink in the face. "What are you saying about my brother?"

Montague righted himself. It was clear he had thought he was being hilarious and was surprised nobody else was finding it funny. "That he's a faggot," he sneered. "He is, isn't he? Hiding from us all even now. What a pussy."

"You don't know shit about my brother," Draco spat, and to Callisto's shock he actually swung a punch at Montague. He wasn't successful, missing the target, but the crowd erupted and Montague punched him right into the nose.

"Draco!" Callisto screamed, but it was lost over the sound of the crowd. "Draco, stop! It doesn't matter, it –"

Silence fell on the dungeon like a heavy blanket, and a voice spat, "Expelliarmus!" with enough force to knock both boys to the ground. Severus Snape walked through the crowd of students, who all cleared a path for him.

"What," he said coldly, each syllable carefully dripping with venom, "is the meaning of the this?"

Montague wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Malfoy attacked me, Sir! Unprovoked!"

"Bullshit!" Adele yelled, but Snape gave her an icy look and she shut up.

"Is this true, Malfoy?"

Draco's nose was bleeding. "No, Sir," he said thickly. "He said stuff about m'brother, Sir. And he changed the password to something horrible."

Snape made Montague tell him, the boy muttering it, and then the teacher said, "Is that all?"

They looked at him in amazement. "Hardly enough to beat a boy over, Malfoy," he said, and pulled him up. "Hospital Wing. Now. Both of you."

"Yes Sir," they said, and left.

He told the others to go to bed. But when he had gone, Adele announced that she was not going in while that disgusting password was still in place, and to Callisto's surprise, almost all of the others agreed. They camped out by the door instead, somebody's sister in Hufflepuff bringing them blankets, but then it was decided that they might as well all go and stay in the Hufflepuff Common Room, in the warm.

They all trooped off, but first, Callisto snuck down to the Hospital Wing, where Draco was holding a wet cloth to his nose.

Madam Pomfrey saw her, but she gave her a severe look and nothing more, striding off towards Montague.

"You didn't need to do that, Draco," Callisto whispered.

"I did," he said. "I did, Callisto."

It was turning out to be a very strange night. When Draco and Callisto went to the Hufflepuff Common Room, they were received with open arms. Some of the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were there, even Sarafina.

"I thought I might as well," she said in explanation, shrugging. She was toasting marshmallows.

"But Dumbledore....?"

"He probably knows," Adele said, joining the conversation.

Louisa gave her an uncomfortable look.

"What, you think I'm a whore too?" She said bitterly. "For the record, I'm a virgin, and I've only ever had one boyfriend. Happy?"

Louisa turned pink, and Sarafina shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry for believing all that crap about you," she said at last.

"Yeah," Adele said. "Me too."

"It wasn't us who wrote that stuff."

"I know," she sniffed, and the fire crackled.

"It was cool of you to stick up for Orson."

Adele looked uncomfortable, and shrugged. "It wasn't anything special. Poor kid was traumatised by that prick for years."

Callisto shifted uncomfortably, sliding another marshmallow onto the fork.

"Montague bullied him?" Sarafina asked, her marshmallow forgotten so it burned brown.

"Way worse. Snape never did anything about it. The other teachers did their best, but they didn't see it all," Adele coughed.

"Did he go to Durmstrang, Callisto?" Sarafina asked, rescuing her marshmallow at last.

Callisto shrugged. "Yes," she said quietly.

"I never stuck up for him then," Adele continued, looking into the flames. "Even though I knew what was happening."

"Me too," Louisa whispered. "Everyone in Slytherin knew, but we didn't say anything. Could you tell him we're sorry, Callisto? He must have been miserable."

Callisto's throat felt unexpectedly lumpy. "Well," she said, clearing her throat. "He's happier now."