Valentine's Day at Hogwarts

Part 3

Sarah sat down on the Gryffindor bench next to Rowan and Ben with a small moan, rubbing her bruised left arm. "Is it just me, or does Rakepick pick on me in class?" she asked.

"I thought she was picking on me," said Ben. "All her lessons seem specially designed to terrify me."

Sarah was about to respond that every lesson in every class ever terrified Ben, but knew that would not help matters. She wondered why she was so much more cross lately. Was the extra stress making her  grouchy?

"I think Rakepick sees a lot of potential in you," said Rowan, helping herself to steak and kidney pie. "She knows you have a natural talent, so she pushes you hard. All the same, showing the class roughly how many jinxes a person can block before tiring out by repeatedly jinxing you seems a bit harsh."

"You're telling me," said Sarah. "It'll be great explaining to Orion that I can't score any goals because my professor thinks I have potential." She pushed her pie around on her plate, not feeling hungry at all. She felt like a comet 260 tied to the ground, like she had all this pent up energy, but nowhere to go. She needed a calming, confident presence. Someone who made everything seem natural and easy. She glanced over her shoulder. "Neither of you have seen Barnaby lately, have you?"

Rowan peered over at the Slytherin table. "He's not at lunch. Why?"

"I just realized I haven't seen him in a while," she said. Rowan gave a big, knowing smile, which Sarah didn't understand, but also didn't enjoy very much.

"I overheard Merula and Ismelda saying something about him staying after Transfiguration to try to figure out the owl to opera glasses spell," said Ben. "They were laughing about it." His eyes became sad. "Merula called him a dumb troll.".

Sarah felt her cheeks go red. "Did you stop her?"

Ben blanched at the very thought. "Whenever Merula's around, I'm quick to take my exit. Standing up to bullies is your thing. Running away from bullies is my thing." Rowan patted his arm, and Sarah wondered again how Ben had been sorted into Gryffindor.

As she noted his concerned features, though, her expression softened. Why was she so quick to get angry at her friends? She didn't like the person she seemed to be becoming. Maybe she should give up one of her activities to ease her mind. The problem was, which could she possibly give up? Quidditch was out of the question; it had quickly become one of her greatest pleasures and quitting would mean letting her team, all of Gryffindor even, down. She simply couldn't give up on her search for the cursed vaults, although she had precious little to show for it these days. The hope of finding Jacob was all that kept her going at times. If she could find him, she could bring her family back together and restore their reputation.

Could she hand her prefect badge in? This would probably help get back into Tulip's good graces. She was also likely to lose her badge anyway, as she wasn't exactly one to follow the rules. Still, Dumbledore had obviously felt she could be trusted with the job. After everything, she didn't want to let him down.

She pushed her plate away as she pushed all her worries to the back of her mind. "I'll go see if I can help him," she told them, standing up. "I'm not hungry anyway. See you in Transfiguration."

As she walked toward the great oak doors, she noticed two people sitting away from everyone else at the table across from each other, their heads bent low. Tonks was talking animatedly to Charlie, who seemed apprehensive.

"Hullo, you two," she said as she approached. Both jumped. Tonks knocked over the jar of pumpkin juice, causing it to spill all over the table.