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MORNINGS WERE NOT EASY FOR ALBANY. The girl was anything but a morning person, and the lack of light in the underground Slytherin dormitories did not help the matter. She could never fully wake up until a heavy coffee was running through her system, and even then the effort of removing herself from the warmth and comfort of her bed often made her late. The start of the school year was the most difficult, as she was still adapting to the schedule.

"Al, if you don't get up, I'm gonna put the dungbomb under there with you."

Albany made a face, though the blankets, duvet and quilt she had buried herself beneath hid her expression from Faith.

"Five more minutes," she begged, voice muffled by her bedding. She cried out as the covers were savagely ripped off of her, exposing her to the cold air of the dorm room. She curled into herself further, shooting Faith a glare. "You are a cruel, horrible person and I hate you."

"Yeah, yeah, sure you do," Faith said with a grin. She threw a pillow at the brunette, only to have it fired back at her, which she promptly dodged. "Get up, Al, everyone else has already gone for breakfast."

"I'm actually staying in bed all year," Albany informed her.

Faith raised an eyebrow. "Abandoning that Auror dream already?"

The girl's head popped up, eyes narrowed. "M'not!" she argued indignantly. "I could totally do that from bed."

"Yeah, and I could totally have this dungbomb join you, he's a great guy, really-"

"Fine," Albany whined, and took the utmost effort to roll herself off the side of the bed. She hit the stone floor with a thud, slightly regretting her decision to be so dramatic as she felt the bruises coming on. "I'm up," she grumbled, pushing herself to her feet.

"That's the spirit," Faith encouraged her cheerfully, throwing a pile of clean clothes at the girl. "I picked up your uniform for you this morning, freshly washed, courtesy of the house elves. I think they were a little confused to be doing washing this early in the year, but bless them, they didn't complain, even though I nearly threw up twice bringing it down to them."

Albany grimaced. Courtesy of the Weasley twins, everything and anything that had been in her trunk had been infused with the most vile stink. She was sure that somewhere in the wild dreams she'd had last night, there was plans for revenge against the two, and she fully intended on carrying them out at some point. Just the thought of all her clothes smelling the way they had last night made her fists clench.

"Thanks, Faith," she murmured appreciatively, and left to the bathroom to get changed and dose herself in a generous amount of perfume for good measure.

Once dressed and done with her brief morning routine, the two left through the common room to make their way upstairs. The Slytherin common room, like the rest of the dungeons, was a little bit dark and damp, but Albany didn't mind, as it was kinder on her eyes, which were a little sensitive in the mornings. However, unlike the rest of the dungeons, the common room had the pleasure of looking out into the lake through a huge window. It lit the large room with an eerie green glow as daylight shone down through the murky waters, and Albany distinctly remembered seeing the elusive Giant Squid swimming past as a first year. Whether it had really been the squid or not, she wasn't sure, but she liked to think it had been.

"Morning," Viola Richmond greeted Faith and Albany with a smile as the two slid into place at their table in the Great Hall.

"Good morning," Faith replied cheerily, while Albany simply nodded.

Everyone was still all talk about the tournament, apparently, as every surrounding conversation seemed to be focused on the upcoming competition. No wonder, Albany thought, because as horrible as the words "death toll" had been to hear last night, it was still incredibly exciting, she had to admit. Even if she didn't really intend on entering, more concerned with saving her own skin, the thought of witnessing it all was pretty cool. Vaguely, she wondered what the tasks Dumbledore had mentioned would be like. Hippogriff racing? A treasure hunt in the Forbidden Forest?

"I can't wait to meet the other schools," Faith was saying to Viola, as she sorted through a plate of toast to ensure she was picking the nicest slices. "What do you think they'll be like?"

"I heard Viktor Krum goes to Durmstrang," Viola replied, eyes shining. She was a very narrow girl, with a long face and sharp cheekbones framed by strawberry blonde hair. "Can you imagine? Viktor Krum, here...."

"No way!" Faith gasped, though her face was dreamy. "That has to be a rumour."

"Probably," Albany chimed in quietly, stirring a drop of milk into her coffee. The bags under her eyes still felt heavy, though she was beginning to wake up after getting dressed and moving. "Where are they from again?"

"One of them is from France, for sure," Faith said. "Beauxbatons, did he say? And I think the other one is Scandinavian or something." She shrugged, and began buttering her chosen toast slices meticulously. "I wonder do they have any good-looking students," she wondered, a dreamy smile still on her face after the mention of Krum. "None of the boys here are really worth the effort."

Albany hummed in vague agreement, uninterested in the conversation once again as it had yet to steer from boys. Her attention was dragged elsewhere as a commotion rose up across the hall; a group sitting around the Gryffindor table was roaring with laughter as a panicked younger student was jumping up and down on the benches with actual steam coming out of his ears.

Faith followed her gaze, and chuckled. "No wondering where that came from," she said, amused.

"What?" Albany said, still a little distracted.

Faith glanced at her friend, whose eyes hadn't yet strayed from the Gryffindor table. "The Weasley twins, for sure," she said. "You know, they have plans to prank the entire school this year. They got you first," she added with a grin.

Albany frowned, picking the two redheads out of the crowd as soon as Faith had mentioned them. Despite the ever-increasing amount of ginger Weasleys running around the school, she recognised the twins immediately. She wasn't going to be forgetting them anytime soon, after the stunt they'd pulled on her. She narrowed her eyes, and downed the rest of her coffee in one large gulp.

"Ow."

"What?" Faith glanced at her.

Albany turned to her and frowned. "I burnt my tongue."

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Though considerably more awake than she had been, Albany was quick to recall how much she enjoyed classes - which was, to say, she didn't. Perhaps that was a small bit of an exaggeration; she didn't mind most of her practical classes. Charms was tolerable, Potions might have been interesting if their professor wasn't a sour puss, and Defense Against the Dark Arts had actually been kind of fun last year. But the truth was, Albany was no star student and her irritatingly short attention span did not help the fact that she already needed to work hard to keep up her grades. She had nearly passed out during her O.W.L.s after countless all-nighters, and the lengths that she had gone to in order to achieve an O in Potions made her want to cry. Turns out that it wasn't impossible after putting her mind to it, but the stress she had gone through last year had left her feeling unfortunately unmotivated for her sixth year.

Which, somehow, made her fashionably late for the first class of the day. She wasn't sure why she tried anymore; never being on time was just part of the Bronwen package.

She quietly slipped in the door to the Charms classroom, hoping she could slide into her seat beside Faith unnoticed.

"Good morning, Miss Bronwen."

Well, she had tried.

Professor Flitwick raised an eyebrow at the girl from where he was balanced on a tedious tower of old, yellowing books. "Need I remind you again this year that class begins at nine o'clock, and not ten past nine?"

Albany shook her head sheepishly. "No, sir," she mumbled, biting her cheek as the entire class turned to stare at her. Embarrassed, she slipped into her chair beside her friend, hastily opening her books as they began the year with the theory of the Bubblehead Charm.

"Took you long enough," Faith said, poking her in the ribs. She had left the breakfast table early to avoid the exact situation Albany had just put herself in.

Albany grimaced. "One coffee was not enough."

Faith snickered, though the two put their heads down as Flitwick shot them an unimpressed look. The Bubblehead Charm, however interesting, was frighteningly complex. Albany buried her face into her hands as they began studying the intricate wand waving pattern it required, already all too aware of the work she was going to have to put in this year.

"I haven't even conjured the charm yet and I already feel like a bubble head," she whispered to Faith as they practiced the movement repeatedly.

Faith laughed so hard she had to clap a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound.

Flitwick shot the two another glare. Albany bit her cheek and returned her focus to the wand swishing, though she'd already forgotten exactly how it went.

"Excellent, everyone," the small teacher was encouraging the class. "Swish and flick, swish, circle, swish, up, flick-flick and swish."

"Seriously, how are we supposed to remember all that?" Albany groaned, but Faith seemed to be managing it fine.

"Miss Bronwen," Flitwick said suddenly, and his squeaky voice was unusually stern. "I'm aware that you missed my beginning-of-year lecture as you were late to class, but you should know that your N.E.W.T level subjects are all to be taken seriously, and Charms class is no exception. Another interruption and you'll be looking at detention."

Albany shrank back into her seat, cheeks red. "Sorry Professor," she mumbled, but didn't even want to pick up her wand again.

"She's a little bit dim, isn't she?"

Eyes narrowed, Albany whipped around to glare at whoever had decided to talk about her in such a way, but the focused Ravenclaws behind her were both girls and the voice had been quite masculine. In fact, the closest boys to her were fellow Slytherins Cassius Warrington and Adrian Pucey, who were seated down several rows from her, at the very front. She glanced around in an attempt to spot the offender; they had spoken quite loudly, had nobody else noticed?

Faith glanced at her, concerned. "Do you want detention with Flitwick?" she hissed under her breath.

Albany glanced at the professor, who was looking her way again with narrowed eyes, and picked up her wand, jaw set.

"You think she can hear us?"

"I might be getting through to her-"

Completely distracted again, Albany turned around in her seat, desperately searching for whoever was talking. It was becoming increasingly irritating the longer she went without finding the culprit - though she wasn't one for confrontations, she didn't exactly want people talking about her to get away with it without so much as a glare. She huffed, unable to spot anyone who looked even mildly suspicious, and spun around to Faith, prodding her in the side with her wand.

"You heard them that time, right?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed in her frustration.

Faith's pale blue eyes were a little wide as they glanced very briefly to Albany, before returning to her own wand waving without a word. Before Albany could prod the girl again, she realised why she was being ignored.

"Miss Bronwen, speak to me after class."

Damn.