Perhaps it had been better when Carson Arlo had hated her.

When Kitty and Jack studied in the library, she could feel Arlo's eyes on her. When she saw him in the halls, he offered to carry her books for her. At the Great Hall, he personally delivered serving plates to her from down the table, rather than just passing them.

"I think he just wants to make up for how rude he was," Yemi said. Unlike Kitty, Yemi was thrilled by Arlo's attention. Every time he brought a serving plate by, Yemi was the first to grab it. Now, she ripped into a sandwich with excited vigor.

"Maybe, but I think it's creepy," Kitty replied. She picked at her lunch. Everything was delicious, but she really just wanted cherry pie.

Arlo did seem as if he were really sorry. Still, she wasn't ready to become friends, not after the disrespectful things he had said. 

"He's very good at divination," Taya whispered. "Apparently you can ask him to read your future! I really want to."

"Then go ask him," Yemi said. She gestured to Arlo, who sat a couple of seats down the table from Taya.

"Nooo." Taya blushed furiously.

"You don't have a crush on him, do you?" Yemi asked. Taya furiously shook her head, but her cheeks remained rosy. "Fine, I'll go ask him."

Tina, sitting on Kitty's left, laughed. "This should be good."

Yemi returned with Arlo in tow. He sat down next to Taya, who stared straight ahead.

"Hey, Black, DiGievo. You're Tina Kites, right? And... Taya?"
"Yes," Taya squeaked. "Taya McCulloch."

"Ah, yes, I can hear your Scottish accent. So, someone wants their future told?"

"Taya-" Yemi started to say.

"Actually," Kitty interrupted, as not to embarrass Taya, "a couple of us were hoping to see our futures, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," Arlo said. "I love divination and I could always use the practice! What do you all have next?"

***

None of the first-year Hufflepuffs had ever been in the divination room. "Are you sure we're supposed to be here?" Tina asked Arlo.

"It's fine, Professor Barker is new this year and he loves me. I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Arlo began to rummage through a messy cabinet. "I think I'm going to use the Orb, if that's okay with you guys."

"Whatever you feel most comfortable with," Kitty said.

Arlo extracted a large, foggy crystal ball from the mess and sat down at a table. "All right, who's first?"
Kitty pushed Taya forward. She shyly sat down in front of him.

"What do you see in the ball?" Arlo asked her. 

"I see someone running," she said. 

"Through the forest."

"Yes."

"Your sister?"
"Yes, I think so." Taya peered closer at the ball. "She's being followed."

Arlo looked closer too. "Yes, well, it might be a metaphor. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about." 

He watched the ball for some time before looking back up at Taya, something different in his gaze. "I'm afraid that's all the ball is going to show us today," he said. "Who's next?"

Clearly, he had seen something else in the ball that Taya had not. 

Jack sat down next. "What do you see in the ball?" Arlo asked him.

Jack squinted. "Fog."

"Anything else?"
"Nope, just fog."

"I see you flying after something. Planning on trying out for the Quidditch team next year?"
Jack and Kitty exchanged glances. "I was thinking of it."

"We could use a solid seeker. You'd be good." Jack beamed. "All right, Black?"

Kitty sat down across from him. "Can you see anything in the ball?" 

She peered into the swirling orb but couldn't discern any shapes. "Not really."

"I see three stars." Kitty sat perfectly still. "The star in the center is growing brighter and brighter... oh now, the last one is as well..." Carson Arlo turned away. "It's so bright, I can't look at it. Does it mean anything to you?"
"Yes." Kitty stared into the ball. Suddenly, a figure jumped out at her. It was a boy, wearing Gryffindor robes. As she watched, he began to spasm, as if in pain. Suddenly, he began to grow. His nose lengthened and narrowed into a snout. Fur tore through his skin. 

He was a werewolf. 

Kitty shivered, but no one else seemed to have seen.

"All right," said Arlo. "Who's next?"

*** 

"That was strange," Yemi commented. Arlo had seen her dancing with a boy in a wheelchair. Tina and Taya had tried to tease her about it, but Yemi was thrilled to no end. He had also seen her running through the halls crying and wearing the same dress, but no one brought that up. 

"How do we know he wasn't just making it up?" Jack asked. 

"I saw it," Taya said quietly. "Do you think Aludra is in danger?"

"Definitely not," Tina said. "It's like Arlo said, it's probably just a metaphor. Why would Aludra be in the middle of the forest? Kitty's was a metaphor, too." 

Tina had looked into the ball herself and refused to tell anyone what she had seen. Kitty suspected that Arlo had seen as well, but he hadn't said a thing. 

She had no idea what the werewolf meant. The first was obviously just a representation of the Black family prophecy. It seemed as if she, not Narcissa, would be the one to complete it. However, she couldn't see why a werewolf was relevant. 

"We'd better start practicing Quiddich, huh?" Jack said to her. "What position do you think you want?

"I don't know, maybe a chaser or a keeper?" She said. 

"Your brother Sirius is on the Gryffindor team, right? Maybe he would give us some pointers."

"I'm sure he would. He's a beater, though."

"Maybe he'll bring some of his friends. James Potter is a chaser."
"You don't want to ask Arlo for some pointers instead?"

Jack grimaced. "He's growing on me, but I wouldn't say we're chummy just yet."

Kitty laughed ruefully. "All right, I'll ask Sirius when I see him next. Now, hurry up, we'll be late to Charms."

***

"Lumos," Kitty whispered, beaming as her wand emitted a soft blue light that was faint, but steady. 

Jack was struggling, as his Irish accent led him to say "Loomis" instead of "Lumos".

"The 'O' is a little bit harder, Jack," Aludra, who had joined them, was saying. "Like 'oh'. LumOHs."

"Loomis."

"No. Let's try again."

Taya had conjured a flickering light and was now watching her twin out of the corner of her eye. Tina, meanwhile, was staring at her desk.

Kitty inched closer to her. "Tina," she whispered, "is everything okay?"

"Just fine," Tina said robotically.

"Are you sure? Are you upset by what you saw in the crystal ball?"

Tina looked up, and Kitty could see the anguish in her dark eyes. "Yes," she whispered, "but I can't talk about it now."

"Tonight?" Tina nodded. Her hair, usually done so neatly in a million little plaits, was beginning to tangle at the ends. Kitty made a mental note to replait it for her that night.

"Hey," whispered Taya from the other side. Kitty turned. "Could you help Jack? I need to talk to Aludra, and it seems like I'm a poor teacher."

"You're a great teacher," Jack said. "It's not your fault I'm pronouncing it wrong."

"Try it," Kitty prompted. 

"Lumis" Jack said. The wand sparked but did not light. One of the sparks landed in Yemi's hair. She squealed, but Aludra turned and calmly beat it out. Jack gulped. "Sorry, Yemi."

Yemi glared at him good-humouredly. 

"You need to work on your English 'O'," Kitty said. "Like in the national anthem. 'God save our nOble Queen'."

"NOble," Jack said obediently.

"Good! Now say LumOs."

"Lumos." A bright light erupted from Jack's wand, almost as bright as the smile on his face. 

***

Kitty sat behind Tina on the bed, carefully replaiting the ends of her hair. Tina's silk pajamas were stark white, making her skin gleam as if it were black tourmaline. Kitty's light green nightgown, on the other hand, made her complexion soapy. 

Green just isn't my color. Kitty thought. She made a mental note to ask the twins where they had gotten their matching Hufflepuff pajamas. 

The twins, along with Yemi, had gone all the way up to the seventh floor for a bath, at Kitty's urging. She had said that it was much nicer than the bathrooms on the lower floors, a small fib as she had never been there. However, it was sure to be less crowded, anyway. 

"So, do you want to talk about what you saw?" Kitty asked.

Tina hesitated. Kitty could feel her shoulders tensing before she whipped around, ripping the plait out of Kitty's hand. "I saw the... the mark. The one that You-Know-Who uses. With the skull and the snake."

"The Dark Mark." Kitty breathed.

"The... the Dark Mark? I guess so. How do you know the name?"
"I, well." Regulus. "I've just heard it."

Her brother admired You-Know-Who. Her mother, too. 

"Kitty, what does it mean?" Tina asked. Her eyes filled with tears. "Does it mean he's coming? Or... that I  would have something to do with him?"

"I wouldn't put too much stock in it," Kitty said firmly. "Divination is never straightforward."

"Yes, but what if there's something I should be doing to prevent it?"

"You can't prevent it," Kitty said. "Just stay on the right path, and everything will be okay."

Tina grasped her hands. "What about our families?"

Kitty's breath hitched. "Do you mean..."

"My mother hates You-Know-Who, but sometimes I wonder about my father. He's never said anything supporting him, but he's never said anything bad about him either. I think if it came down to it, he might join to protect us." Tina shuddered. "I guess I shouldn't tell you that. My parents are good people, really. I've never thought they had any prejudice towards muggleborns."

"Regulus would join," Kitty said softly. "Not to protect anyone. He believes in You-Know-Who's message. My mother does, too."

"Is that why he was kind to me?" Tina asked. Her voice held just a trace of bitterness. "Because I'm a pureblood?"

"I'm sure that's not the only reason," Kitty reassured her. "But... you're right that he would have treated you differently if you weren't... I'm sorry. A couple of months ago, so would have I."

Suddenly, the girls heard a commotion from the common room. They looked at each other, searchingly, before leaping up and running out the door.

The daffodils, usually asleep at night, were screeching. The Hufflepuff prefects were running around. The plant of prophecy was laughing.

"Star child, star child!" The plant hollered. "Moon monster, moon monster! There are two doors! Why are you only watching one?"

"Shut up, plant!" Yelled one of the prefects. "Holly, go watch the door by the quidditch pitch!"

Kitty moved closer to the plant. Star Child? Moon monster?

"Moon monster, with the antlered beast and the little rodent! They're coming through the tree! Don't be fooled, the star is just a distraction!"

Before the plant could give anything away, Kitty scooped it up. It squawked and screeched but could do nothing. Nigel the prefect smiled at her thankfully as she carried the plant off towards her room. 

"Thank goodness, I was getting a headache," another of the prefects commented. None of them seemed to have been paying attention to what the plant had been saying.

Kitty climbed the short staircase, turned into her room, and popped the plant down on the braided rug in the center. The plant huffed, clearly offended.

"I'm sorry," Kitty apologized. "But you were talking about my brother."

"Star child," the plant muttered.

"Yes, what is he doing? Who is he distracting?"

Far above their heads, Kitty could hear distant popping noises. She groaned.

"He's protecting the moon monster," the plant said begrudgingly.

"But why?"

The plant perked up. For once, it had a captive audience. "Stars and moons are friends."

"Are you saying..."

Is Sirius sneaking a werewolf into the castle?