Pink Envelopes
Friday was a free day for almost all of the Sixth and Seventh Years. A few had O.W.L. Condensed classes, popularly known by their nickname, “Grangers.” Liam, Lara and Sadie, for instance, took Magical Creatures as their Granger. Philip and Stacy took Muggle Studies. The rest had free time, at least until there were projects to do later in the term.
Gillian spent her Friday morning with Liam and Sadie, even though she had taken the main class. Greenleaf let her sit in so long as she didn’t distract her friends. “You got credit for this class already,” said Greenleaf. “They haven’t. So long as they are learning the material, we are fine. If this becomes a problem, I will ask you to leave.” Gillian kept her thoughts to herself, and everyone enjoyed the lesson.
Back in the castle, Philip and Stacy were waiting for their Muggle Studies class to start. Stacy asked Philip, “Do you think you’ll have much interactions with Muggles as an adult?”
“I hope to go into Muggle Relations,” said Philip, “so this class is bound to help me.”
“It may help you with a certain beautiful girl, too,” said Stacy, knowingly.
“Well, in that regard, I feel like I could use all the help I can get. It seems so easy for Liam to go from girl to girl. When I’m in front of Pauline, I can hardly get a word out my mouth. My mind goes completely blank!”
“It’s hard for most people, honestly,” said Stacy. “Look at Mike and Fortney. They haven’t had girls on their arms this whole time. Neither have Reuel or Dawes. I was lonely for a long time before Q basically fell into my lap.”
“I remember when she slipped and fell,” said Philip. “I felt terrible for her. I could see how much pain she was in, and how embarrassed she was.”
Stacy smiled and set her hand on Philip’s arm. “You’ve got a good heart. Once Pauline sees that, she’s bound to fall for you.”
“Liam says I ought to get a move on. He thinks another boy will cut in front of me.”
“I doubt anyone in our year could win her heart,” said Stacy.
“But a Seventh Year boy might,” said Philip.
Philip’s fears were well-founded. As he and Stacy were speaking, in another part of the castle, two Seventh Year boys were making plans to court the Sixth Year Slytherin witches. One of them had his eyes on Pauline.
That evening, Morwena, Pauline, Rhiannon and Tess sat in their new favourite lounge. It was a small alcove downstairs in the Halls of the Serpent, in the common area but close to the girls’ dormitory. Two plush sofas covered in chocolate brown microfiber sat in front of a hearth with a brassy gold grate. Between the sofas was a low wooden coffee table. In the hearth, a fire was burning merrily.
“I discovered this lounge in the summer when I was here doing a job for Professor Gregor,” said Morwena. “I thought we simply must take it over. The Seventh Year girls have another lounge, slightly larger than this one, but I like this room. It’s cozy.”
The girls were talking for about an hour when another girl appeared at the edge of the alcove. It was Frederica Dernholme, a Fifth Year like Claire Quillan. She gazed nervously at the other girls without saying anything. In her hand were two pink envelopes.
Morwena noticed her first and asked, “Did you need something?”
Frederica flushed and held out the envelopes. “Who are those for?” asked Tess.
“They’re for you,” said Frederica.
“Are those Favour invites?” asked Morwena.
“Yes,” said Tess. “I’m Favour Coordinator this year. All requests are supposed to go through me. No one should be filling out invitations without me being there, knowing about it.” Tess leaned forward and took the envelopes from Frederica. One envelope was addressed to her, the other to Pauline.
“Whose writing is this?” asked Tess. “Is it yours?” Frederica nodded. “Who asked you to do this?”
“The boys,” said Frederica.
Tess handed Pauline her envelope. “I’m not in this program,” said Pauline. “I don’t do favours.”
Tess broke the envelope’s seal. Inside, was a heavy, bright white card. In silver foil cursive were the words, “You are cordially invited.” Inside, was more writing in Frederica’s hand. Tess read it aloud. “Your presence is requested, Saturday night at eight o’clock. Your secret admirer is expecting you.” To Frederica, she asked, “Does Pauline’s say the same thing?”
“Yes, we used the same verbiage for each card,” said Frederica.
“Are these Seventh Years?” asked Tess. Frederica nodded. “Who are they?”
Frederica shook her head. “They told me not to tell you.”
“What do we do?” asked Pauline. “I don’t want this.” She tossed the envelope on the coffee table.
“A request from a Seventh Year boy is difficult to refuse,” said Morwena. “You may need to take some steps to appease him.”
“I’m not going on a blind date!” said Pauline.
“Neither am I,” said Tess. She got to her feet and picked up Pauline’s envelope. “Take me to them,” she said. Looking back at Pauline, she said, “Do you want to come?”
“Sure.”
Frederica led them down the corridor to another room. Three Seventh Year boys were there talking. Blake Ellsworth was on the left, Arnold Brent to the right, and in the center was Pierce Mageford. Their conversation abruptly ceased when they saw the girls approach. Tess glared at the boys, doing her best imitation of Morwena’s glower. Blake and Arnold looked nervous, while Pierce gazed steadily back at Tess. All of a sudden, she knew who had made the request for her.
She proceeded as if she had not yet guessed his identity. “Favour request come through me,” she said, coolly. “No exceptions.”
“Our mistake,” said Pierce.
“I had nothing to do with this,” said Arnold. “I was just going to see Nessa.” He got up and left.
Tess tossed Pauline’s unopened envelope down in front of Blake. He swept it up into his hand. “If you have something to ask me, ask me to my face,” said Pauline. “Don’t send another girl to summon me like I’m your servant!”
Blake, flushing, said, “Relax. It’s just an invitation.”
“We’re big on ritual here at Slytherin House, Langlet,” added Pierce.
Pauline ignored that jab and continued to stare at Blake. Blake shifted nervously in his seat before saying. “Would you like to go out with me on Saturday night, Langlet?”
“Yes, with conditions,” said Pauline. “We’re not going down into one of your secret lounges. We’ll meet in a common area. And only if Tess and Mageford are coming with us.”
Blake looked disappointed at the idea of keeping to the common areas. Tess answered, “I think that can be arranged, but I need to speak to Pierce privately.”
Pauline left. Blake reluctantly got up as well. Tess leaned against the archway. Her smile became sly and mischievous, but her stare was still penetrating. “Aren’t you dating my cousin Zyla?” she asked.
“Oh, we broke up,” said Pierce, blithely.
“Does she know that?” asked Tess. “Because I will never be the other woman.”
“Yeah, I should probably, um, clarify things with her.”
“That would be a good idea. How’s your brother, by the way?”
“Oh, Reid is doing great. They love him at University. Top scores. Bloody genius, he is.” There was a sarcastic edge to his voice as he said this. “Got a girlfriend. Brunette named Jacqueline. Very nice looking. Went to Beauxbatons.”
“I see.” Tess sang the line, “My heart forever longs for the girl from Beauxbatons.”
“Exactly,” said Pierce. “That would be just like Reid to take dating advice from a pop song.”
Tess stepped into the room and sat next to Pierce on the sofa. Holding up her envelope, she said, “Why this? Why now? Why not last year, when I was celebrating my sweet sixteen and I didn’t have a boyfriend?”
“I was dating your cousin Zyla then.”
“So, why aren’t you dating her now? Why the sudden interest in your brother’s old girlfriend?”
A sly grin crept up Pierce’s face. Tess batted her long black eyelashes. “Tell me,” she said.
“Apparently, brother Reid kept a memento of sorts from his relationship with you in his room at the house. Didn’t see it for myself, but Jacqueline did. As smart as he is, Reid is very bad at hiding things. I guess she was snooping around his bedroom while he was in the loo and came across it. She confronted him, and they had quite the row. I was in the next room, and I could hear it all, no magical enhancements necessary.
“I thought, My brother is not clever enough to two-time someone like Jacqueline. But then your name came up and I understood. So, whatever it was, it came from you and he still had it. He hadn’t buried it in a scrapbook or anything. It must have been right there, where he could get at it and look at it when he had a mind to.”
“A place where Jacqueline could find it also.”
“Yes. Quite foolish of him. You’d think, having lived in Slytherin House, that he would have been more careful.”
Tess let out a soft laugh. “I didn’t give him much in the way of gifts. I bet it was the card I gave him for Valentine’s Day, when I turned fifteen.”
“Maybe that was it. I always wondered about that, why he was so interested in you, when you were fourteen and fifteen, while there were older girls around who were, you know, good looking, too.”
“I wondered about that too, sometimes. Maybe it was my charming personality.”
“Whereas Tess Covenshire at fourteen and fifteen didn’t interest me much, Tess at sixteen …”
“Sixteen and a half,” prompted Tess.
“Yes, sixteen and a half. That’s another thing.”
“Maybe you were wondering just what Reid was holding on to. Maybe you wanted a little of that for yourself.”
“And perhaps, if you and I went out a few times, had ourselves a good time …”
“… this might get back to Reid, and to Jacqueline, too,” said Tess.
“I think we have a common purpose,” said Pierce.
Tess touched Pierce’s nose with her fingertip. “But first, Mr. Mageford, you are breaking up with my cousin, Zyla.” She got up and left the room.
Zyla Pixieburg spent Friday evening in one of the large study rooms in Ravenclaw tower. It was outside the common room and so, accessible to students from other Houses. On that night, however, there were just Ravenclaw Seventh Years, relaxing, enjoying the first Friday evening of term.
For Zyla, the term had not started well. Much to Zyla’s embarrassment, her ne’er-do-well little sister, Rainey, had gotten herself sorted into Hufflepuff. Worse, Zyla’s boyfriend Pierce was avoiding her. He didn’t sit with her during the ride north or even say hello when she saw him on the platform.
She put her worries aside and chatted with her friends about the start of term, the big Seventh Year projects they were working on, and their plans for next year. A paper aeroplane flew into the room and tucked itself under Zyla’s arm. Her anxieties rushed back as she saw that it was from Pierce.
The note read:
Hey, Zyla
We’ve had a great run, but I think it’s time that we
started seeing other people. Catch you later!
Pierce
“What?” cried Zlya. “He’s breaking up with me via memo?”
All of her friends thought this was highly inappropriate, and they help her craft a Howler to send down to Pierce, adding their voices to hers so that the screaming and yelling would be louder and continue for longer. Once the Howler was launched, they set about finding out who were these “other people” Pierce had been seeing.
At Hogwarts, there is an adage: “For a scholastic problem, see a Ravenclaw. For a gossip problem, see a Sytherin.” The girls immediately reached out to their Slytherin girlfriends. Within a few hours, they had a name: Tess Covenshire.
Zyla confronted Tess outside the Great Hall the next morning before breakfast. “I can’t believe you were cheating with Pierce behind my back!”
“I wasn’t cheating with Pierce!” cried Tess. “He hasn’t as much as held my hand!”
“You were with him last night when he wrote me this pathetic memo breaking up with me!”
“I didn’t have anything to do with that,” said Tess. “He asked me out, and I said not if he was still dating you.”
“He broke up with me because of you!”
“I wasn’t encouraging him! I wasn’t flirting with him. This was all his idea!”
“I can’t believe you could do this to me. We’re family!”
At this, Tess walked past her into the Great Hall. She sat down at the Slytherin table and spooned some scrambled eggs onto her plate. Pierce came and sat next to her. “Sorry about that, sweet,” he said.
“You should have broken up with her to her face, not sent a memo,” said Tess.
“Lesson learned. Believe me, I got all that and more in my Howler last night.”
“Good for you.”
“Are we still on for tonight? The four of us?” asked Pierce, eagerly.
Tess looked to Pauline, who shrugged. “Common areas,” said Tess. “First date, we’re just going to sit and talk.”
“Good. I’ll tell Ellsworth.” Pierce retreated to sit among the Seventh Year boys.
“Breaking up with someone via memo,” remarked Morwena, tartly. “How crass!”
Pierce’s shabby treatment of Zyla should have been a warning to Tess. After all, Reid had unceremoniously dropped her at the end of his Seventh Year. Pierce was likely to do the same, treating her just as he had treated Zyla.
However, it should have occurred to Pierce that Tess might have an agenda of her own, and when that purpose had been achieved, his feelings would be of no account to her.