Libra Xena Black: Second Year at Hogwarts

1. What the hell is a Dobby?

Not for the first time, an argument had broken out at Hopeless Cases Orphanage. And not for the first time, the argument was centered around Libra. Libra's cat, to be more specific.

"If you don't learn to control that bloody cat of yours, we're tossing it outside." Mallory, the cruel and awful guardian of H.C.O, told her as Libra walked into the kitchen with her cat. Libra glared at her venomously, cradling her kitten to her chest as she snarled at the young lady.

"I'd like to see you try, and it's not my fault Nox has a good judge of character. If I were a cat, I would have scratched up your face too."

Mallory had made the mistake of trying to pick Nox up, but Nox seemed to remember Mallory chasing her around the orphanage last year, and held a grudge. As soon as Mallory got within arms reach, Nox struck, scratching the Grease Buster's face in the process.

This seemed to be the last straw for Mallory, who could not get over the fact that Libra still had a cat, and she now seemed determined to rid the orphanage of any animals.

Nox, while often full of energy and very rambunctious, was really a sweet cat. A sweet, spoiled cat, who wouldn't last more than five minutes on her own.

"When I get back, I want that cat gone." Mallory glared as she poured herself a drink of whatever was in the dusty bottle she had. "I've already told Sam to make sure she's not here when I get back."

Libra fought the urge to snort, while she and Sam weren't buddies, he wouldn't make her get rid of her cat. For fear of her killing him with some spell she had learned, or just because he wanted to go against Mallory's wishes, she didn't care. Libra just wanted to keep her cat.

There was a sense of gloom settled over Libra, and there had been for a good amount of the summer. Ever since Libra realized that her so-called friends had no interest in writing to her as they had promised, she had been a little depressed.

Libra had told them the orphanages address, seeing as there was no way she could contact them first. She had a cat, not an owl. And she had waited and waited, but after two weeks of no letters, she gave up hope.

Libra cursed herself for letting in the group of people so easily, what good came from it? All that came from it was getting herself hurt.

And after snapping at the other occupants in the orphanage one to many times, Sam had asked her what was wrong. He had made the mistake of asking her if her new friends were the cause of her attitude. Libra had snapped again, and said she didn't have any friends, and liked it that way.

Sam had known she was lying, of course. He had seen Libra hug them all goodbye at the train station, and Libra never hugged people. Libra had hugged Sam maybe twice in her eleven (almost twelve, now) years at the orphanage, and that was within the first two or three weeks of her arriving there.

But Libra wasn't exactly fond of getting smacked when she showed affection, like Mallory had to her when she went looking for comfort. So she tended not to show it much, hiding behind cruel words and an icy exterior instead.

Another thing to damper Libra's mood, the fact that Mallory was leaving for her trip thing she went on every year, and that was good and all. But she wasn't staying for as long this year, the story of someone coming in and telling one of the kids she was supposed to keep an eye on she was a witch had scared her a bit. So, this year she was only staying for a week, which meant she left a week later than usual.

But she was leaving now, thankfully. And she would be gone for Libra's birthday, which was honestly a relief. Although nothing good would happen, Libra still didn't want Mallory to be there.