Teen Wolf at Hogwarts

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***

Scott awoke to feel a sharp pain in the area of his abdomen. With a muffled groan, the boy tried to roll onto his other side and realised he was pinned on both sides and couldn't move. A hundred thoughts immediately ran through his head as to what could have happened. What if this is how paralysation starts? Would he be able to open his eyes? What if he could no longer react to anything and would soon become a statue? Overpowering himself and his desire to sleep longer, McCall opened his eyes and exhaled a sigh of relief, then, turning his gaze to the thing that was pressing him against the sleeping bag so hard his ribs ached, hissed indignantly.

- Lehi, you moron, get off me now! - McCall hissed, trying to push Isaac off him.

Apparently Lehi had rolled on top of him during the night, as promised, and had decided to kick and kick in the morning, elbowing McCall in the stomach. Sighing irritably, Scott pushed Isaac to the floor between his cot and the bag, sitting up and wrinkling his nose. Apparently he'd had a bunkmate for a long time, for his ribs were aching quite badly, and the arm Isaac had been resting on a few minutes ago was so stiff Scott couldn't feel it at all. He threw off the duvet and Lehi's pillow, then shifted and kicked Isaac, who crashed into the cot and groaned loudly, muttering curses. After a few moments, the clearly irritated Gryffindor sat up, rubbing the bruised back of his head and wrinkling his nose.

- How did you sleep, love? - Scott stretched out sweetly, still unable to feel thirty percent of his body.

- Don't you have anything better to do, McCall? You want to hurt people early in the morning? - he wailed.

- You're the one who decided to hurt me, Lahey,' Scott said, 'I don't elbow myself in the stomach, okay? Next time, lie on your other side so you're on the floor, there's a lot more room between you and Allison.

- Either you two shut up, or I'm going to get up and knock you out myself,' Charlie groaned.

- Actually, it's time to get up,' Tyler's voice came from the doorway, and a few moments later he was there, smiling and fully dressed. He was followed by Chloe, of course, who was also ready, - I'll give the sleepyheads another ten minutes, and then everyone gets up. By the way, this only applies to Gryffindors and Puffenduys, Slytherins are not allowed to get up.

- Brooke, I'm going to stand up and you'll never see any more favours in your life, you'll- - mumbled Cora, lying on the mattress a little further away.

- I love you too, Hale, you don't have to go on,' Tyler said cheerfully and plopped down on his mattress, looking for something in his suitcase and nodding at Scott, who smiled, 'While the professors get the Hall back to normal, we're going back to the Owlery. Then we have breakfast, and then the coolest people stay and the rest of us go,' he snorted contemptuously. His attitude toward the students who had decided to go home had been clear from the start, and Scott understood it.

- You're all so loud,' Allison sighed and stretched out on her mattress and yawned sweetly, spreading her arms out to the sides. When her spine was already crunching, the girl wrinkled her nose and lowered her arms, looking around, 'Good morning. How did you sleep? - The girl smiled at Scott, still sitting on her sleeping bag.

- I slept fine,' McCall sighed and finally stood up, 'But waking up was awful.

- You chose your own bag, McCall, don't grumble. I'm not too pleased to sleep with you in my arms either, okay? I had to,' Isaac was clearly in a bad mood, and it was pretty clear why. Scott mentally ticked himself off for this mini-victory and rolled his eyes.

- Tell that to my numb hand you've been squeezing half the night,' McCall rose to his feet and reached for the black T-shirt sticking out of his suitcase.

For a while the guys gathered in silence, really enjoying the morning. Basically, sleeping together wasn't so bad. It would be even better if a quarter of the guys didn't snore. The thought of a day full of idleness even seemed to lift Scott's spirits, but then he remembered that there was a paralysed Malia lying a few floors up, with Matt beside her, and the mood evaporated. And, of course, it had to get worse. Otherwise it wouldn't be Hogwarts.

- Heath, come on,' Tyler squatted down, coaxing a sniffling Heather to get up. She and a few people from Hufflepuff were the only ones not up yet. The girl only mumbled and stirred, and her actions made Scott tense up.

- Heather,' McCall gingerly stretched out, somehow managing to grab the attention of the entire hall. Squatting down next to Tyler, the boy peered fearfully into his friend's face, 'Heather, get up. Please, come on. This is no time for such jokes,' the boy decided it would be more effective to shake his friend by the shoulder. As soon as she touched him, McCall yanked his arm away and barely held back a cry of frustration. Tyler, apparently understanding without words, nodded to Chloe, who disappeared into the corridor a moment later, and stood up with a stern look on his face.

- Everyone understood everything, right? - It wasn't even a question, but rather a statement. Sighing briefly, Tyler squeezed Scott's shoulder and headed for the door, leaving the Hall.

The Puffenduys, whose friends also kind of didn't want to get up just yet, rushed to wake them up, but already realised they wouldn't do anything. Scott looked at the peacefully slumbering Heather in horror and mentally hung himself about fifteen times already. Stiles would kill him when he found out. Stilinski had been close to the girl since they were kids. She was Scott's substitute when he went away for a few days to visit his grandmother or something. McCall had loved Heather himself, and now he felt worse than ever.

Allison only sat on her mattress and watched her best friend's actions with a sympathetic tightening of her lips. Lydia's hunch was indeed confirmed. So there would be more victims every day. Allison looked around the girl, trying to find something, some clue, something similar to Malia, but found nothing. Nothing outstanding about her clothes, a simple blue t-shirt, denim shorts and blue socks. Something about behaviour? Tate and Heather weren't just people from different planets, they were from different universes. What other connection could there be between them?

- All those who agreed to be sent home should return there immediately,' said Tyler, who had entered the Hall a moment ago.

The Slytherin didn't even get snarky about how quickly the Gryffindor's opinion had changed. Cora pursed her lips and gave Allison a brief nod as if to express her sympathy, and honestly, Argent had had enough of that.

***

Lydia thought that distraction wasn't such a bad idea when she was going to Ivan's place. She was counting on something to take her mind off of thoughts of Hogwarts and Allison being in danger. Martin knew perfectly well that she wouldn't know anything until lunchtime, so it would be pointless to torture herself now. Especially since there was nothing she could do to help. The redhead had spent the whole night cuddled up with books on rituals, curses, spells and other things. She hadn't picked up anything from Allison's story, and now she hoped that, if her hunch was correct, Argent would be able to pick up on the connection and tell Lydia herself about it.

For now, however, Lydia sat watching Ivan, who was perusing some article on Elemental Magic that Martin had picked up completely by accident in the pile of books she had studied the previous evening. They had been studying for an hour and a half and Martin could say with certainty that the Bulgarian was making progress. He was really listening to Lydia and trying to memorise everything she said. It was not that new for the girl, but still flattering.

- And if a person mastered a certain branch of magic perfectly, he would be able to understand the rest as well? - Lydia looked at Ivan, who was wearing a simple navy blue jumper and black jeans.

- Martin tilted her head to the side and frowned, 'There are not so many branches, but still no one has mastered all of them perfectly. I think it's possible to master ice and water magic, but be less successful in air, fire and earth magic.

- Are you saying that if the branches are similar, it will be easier to master them? - he guessed.

- Exactly,' Lydia smiled and nodded.

- Do you know any of them? - The Bulgarian asked and pushed the book he had been reading earlier away from him. 'Not perfectly, but at least a few spells.

- I know a few spells from each element, but I do best with fire,' Martin shrugged.

- You really associate with fire, - Ivan smiled. Lydia, raising her eyebrows incomprehensibly, just nodded and continued writing her essay, -Don't you need help?

- It's just Potions,' Martin grinned, 'It's taught by the most beautiful woman in the world, so only the most clueless would need help.

- Stiles asked for your help a while ago,' the Bulgarian said casually and hid behind his book again.

- Stiles was just too lazy to write on his own,' Martin waved her hand and went back to her book, 'He's very clever. He has a very well-developed logical thinking, he can do anything if he wants to. But the only thing is that apart from the mental parts of his brain, he has also developed the parts of his brain that are responsible for laziness and constant chattering. It's probably the only thing he can do without stopping.

- Lazy? - Ivan didn't understand.

- Chattering,' Lydia snorted and smiled at her own thoughts, 'I bet he's probably talking Renault up right now, while Will is asking Stef to take them out tonight.

- You're close to him, aren't you? - Ivan tilted his head to the side and squinted.

- Actually, he's my best friend,' the redhead smiled and pulled herself away from the book, 'We have a friend, Scott, who stayed at Hogwarts. I love him very much. And him, and Will, and the other two guys who stayed home, but I love Stiles the most. The only people closer to me than him are probably Allison and Malia,' Lydia felt her heart clench painfully as she finished, and she stopped smiling momentarily and went back to her book. Ivan, shrugging his shoulders, also continued to study.

But here Lydia could no longer concentrate. Yesterday, after talking to Marzia with a glance, she had realised that Stiles didn't need to go to the library with her, and soon she realised why. He wouldn't be able to sit still knowing that Scott was in danger. They'd already, you could say, lost Malia for a while, and she, Lydia was sure, was one of the closest people to Stilinski at Hogwarts, on par with Heather, probably. She wasn't even thinking about how close she herself was to her friend anymore. It was really hard on her, and Lydia couldn't imagine what Allison was going through. By the way, to say that Martin was worried about her best friend was an understatement. If she could have, she would have been there for her. She would have rushed to her, hiding her, Scott, Stiles, Will and Isaac from everyone and taking her, Scott, Stiles, Will and Isaac to safety, bringing Malia and Matt with her. If Stiles had been in the library with them, he would have wanted that too. Which was why he hadn't been around the previous evening. He was smart, but reckless in such matters. He lacked coldness, a sense of the greater good. He might have rushed straight to England. And Lydia was sure he would have found a way.

Though, to be honest, she'd feel better if he was around. He could always comfort and make her laugh. Or start to annoy, at the very least. And that was better than dealing with it alone anyway. Marzia was worried, of course, about those left behind in England, but she had the Tournament to look forward to. Sonia was naturally worried about Tyler and texted him every few hours. Everyone had friends left behind in England, and everyone has at least one paralysed friend. For Kyle, Lydia hardly worried at all. No, sure, he pissed her off and annoyed her, but he was, after all, her half-brother, and therefore part of the family. A family that no one expected Lydia to be a part of. Therefore, there wasn't much excitement. Her thoughts returned to Stiles, and as soon as she thought about what her friend was doing now, the frowning and smiling whirlwind that had been Stiles Stilinski for nearly twelve years appeared on the library's doorstep.

- Remember the sun,' Lydia grinned at her friend and waved her hand in greeting. Stiles quickly spotted her among the other students and moved forward. Not paying any attention to Ivan, who was distracted from reading, the boy plumped down heavily on the chair next to the redhead and leaned his head back, covering his eyes.

- I'm tired,' he said without opening his eyes. Lydia tilted her head to the side with a smile.

- Why is our handsome, restless prince so tired when it's not even dinner time yet? - Martin arched an eyebrow and grinned when Stiles sighed doomfully - he really did that when he was tired. Well, or when he wanted something from Lydia.

- Will winded me up,' Stilinski sighed heavily and finally opened his eyes. The boy just nodded briefly and looked at his friend, 'He says he wants to play Quidditch, but he can't because we're not home. They've also, as luck would have it, cancelled the Quidditch Tournament this year. What kind of injustice is that? - the boy looked at his friend indignantly.

- Yes, Stiles, I think Madame Maxime just thought the Tri-Wizard Tournament was a bit more important than Quidditch,' Lydia nodded, barely containing her laughter.

- Well, you could combine the two,' the boy whimpered.

Smiling, Martin shook her head and casually glanced at the book she had been reading before she remembered Malia. It was lying right in front of Stiles, and if he showed a drop of attentiveness now, he would notice it. Frowning, Martin reached for the book, and of course Stilinski saw this and grabbed it before she did. Lydia didn't even bother to argue, knowing full well she couldn't do it. Sighing heavily, Martin simply threw back her head like Stiles had a few minutes ago and stared at the ceiling, waiting for her friend's reaction. There it was laid out as simply as it could be. Sonia and Marzia made a bunch of notes in the margins, and then wrote out the main information on a piece of paper that was right now in Stiles' hands. Thinking that the atmosphere probably wasn't the best, Lydia rubbed her temples and shifted her slightly tired gaze to Ivan, forcing out a smile.

- Do you mind if we call it a night? - she asked and smiled a little wider, watching as the Bulgarian nodded and stood up.

- 'Of course not,' Ivan smiled, 'Thank you for everything, you've really helped me a lot. You're a great teacher.

- And you are a student,' Martin replied politely and nodded again. Already out of habit, the girl extended her palm to the Bulgarian, which he instantly kissed and then left. Lydia smiled weakly and looked at Stiles, who was already looking back at her with a very angry look. Frowning, Martin leaned over to Stiles, 'Are you okay? If you're like that about what you've written, it's inaccurate information. None of us can figure out what's going on. Allison's going to email me at lunchtime and tell me how they're doing, and if our hunch is right, she'll be looking for leads and stuff. Stiles, are you listening to me? - The girl noticed that Stilinski was still looking at her angrily and frowned harder, -What's wrong with you?

- How can you do that? - Stiles exhaled and squinted his eyes. It was obvious that he was trying to hold back, but he was not doing a very good job of it. Pressing her lips together, Lydia leaned even closer.

- How can I do what? - The redhead shook her head incomprehensibly. Had he taken offence about not being taken to the library yesterday? Lydia knew the reaction might be negative, but she hadn't counted on offence,' 'Stiles, I'm sorry. I just know you're not going to be able to sit still now.

- I wasn't talking about that,' Stiles shook his head and looked down at his shoes, "I was talking about him," the boy waved his hand uncertainly, 'You don't think about Allison every minute? Why?

- Stiles, we shouldn't dwell on it,' Lydia sighed, realising what was going on, 'It's a great distraction. Well, it was until I remembered about Malia.

- Oh, I'm glad you're at least thinking about her,' it was clear that Stiles didn't want to say it. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Instantly turning to his friend, Stiles began shaking his head furiously and silently opening and closing his mouth. Finally pulling himself together, he took Lydia's hand, 'That's not what I meant. I meant that,' the boy blanched and looked fearfully straight into Lydia's eyes, who felt like half her world was about to explode.

Wrenching her hand out of Stilinski's grasp, the girl silently got up from the table, taking her book with her, and, pulling on a not too long maroon jumper, headed for the exit of the library, stopping only at the exit. Lydia turned without even looking at her friend, leaning against the wall with her free hand, the other clutching the book to her chest.

- I think about her every day,' she said, and with her lips pressed together, she left the room without looking at Stiles. The boy slapped his forehead with a loud groan and threw his head back, banging the back of his head painfully against the cupboard.

- Merlin, the day can't get any worse,' Stiles whispered, squinting. He didn't know yet that the day could be worse. And it would be.

***

- So there are eleven of us left,' Tyler summarised, looking at the meagre group of Gryffindors sitting in front of him and taking turns writing their names on the list.

The Hogwarts Express had left for London an hour ago. As expected, almost all of Slytherin had gone home, but now Tyler couldn't blame them anymore. After what had happened this morning, it was clear that absolutely everyone was in danger. He was actually pleased and even proud when Cora waved to all her fellow students and walked back to the castle, head held high as always. Chloe, too, had sent home practically half of her charges. The girl was so concerned for the safety of her fellow students that she checked the letter from everyone's parents. She was doing roll call now, too, and judging by the look on her face, she was really relieved that she had been able to save some of her students.

- Charlie's been taken home,' Tyler crossed the boy's name off yesterday's list and put a dash through today's, "Barbara, Eva, Allison are here," the boy ticked a few boxes next to the girls' names and sighed heavily, hiding the list in the folds of his robe and dropping onto the newly installed bench in the Hall, 'It's only fifteen minutes until lunch, and I'm already on pins and needles.

- Do you think Sonya found out something? - Scott looked up.

- I hope so,' Tyler patted the sophomore's shoulder encouragingly, and, giving him a believable smile, got up from the table and walked toward Chloe.

- He won't last,' Isaac shook his head, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

- He will,' Allison argued, 'He can. He's trying for us, and he's good at it. He can do anything. And when this is all over, he'll practically be a hero to everyone.

- He cares about everyone,' Eva sighed, twirling a strand of brown hair around her finger, 'About you and me, about Pete, about Sonia and the rest of the guys in France. He's had so much on his plate,' the girl shook her head.

- We have to do something special for him on Halloween,' Barbara nodded, adjusting the bandana that had slipped over her eyes.

- If we're at Hogwarts at the time,' Cora grinned, sitting next to the Gryffindors, 'Capable of movement, of course.

- Thanks for raising the general spirits, Hale,' Eve grimaced.

- You're welcome,' the girl shrugged, and after a quick glance at each Gryffindor, she stopped her gaze on Allison and waved a finger at her, getting up from the table and heading for the door. Frowning, Argent followed the girl.

- What?' the Gryffindor asked, getting as close to the Slytherin as she could.

- 'You do realise this is very serious, right? - Cora asked. After Allison nodded, Hale folded her arms across her chest and became even more serious,' Listen to me carefully now. Don't tell anyone about our conversation, of course. Well, that much is clear.

- Let's get to the point,' Allison sighed, and Cora couldn't help but smile at that.

- I'm glad our little feud is still alive in you,' the Slytherin grinned, 'No matter how I know that tomorrow, if there are more casualties, there will be a general evacuation. Everyone will just be sent to London indiscriminately, and the paralysed ones will be left here for who knows how long.

- Why are you telling me this? - Allison tilted her head to the side.

- I know your friend has probably figured out what's going on ten times over,' Argent opened her mouth at that, but was interrupted by the Slytherin's hand, 'She just doesn't realise she's found a way out. I don't know him personally, don't look at me like that,' the girl grinned again, 'Just, if she told you to do something, tell me about it, okay? And no, I'm telling you right away, I don't want to help. Or rather, it's not for you. My friends got hurt too, if you haven't forgotten, and I'm not a doll, I have feelings too, it's just that all Slytherins hide them a lot better than the rest of us. So did she say anything to you about anything? - Cora stared at the brunette expectantly, and the brunette nodded after thinking for only a moment.

- She said there must be some kind of connection between the paralysed. Something that makes the spell work,' Allison replied.

- What kind of connection could there be between your friend and the blonde? - Cora frowned.

- I can't figure it out either,' Allison sighed, 'And yes, the blonde's name is Heather. You're from the same class, actually.

- I know,' the Slytherin waved her hand, ignoring the Gryffindor's smile, "So, look here," Cora folded her arms across her chest again and looked Argent in the eye, 'If Lydia doesn't text you anything about leads today, we'll look for them ourselves. Observe everyone. Behaviour, words, clothing, creeper habits, and so on. If I get paralysed tomorrow, just remember what I do and say, what I'm wearing, what happens to me and stuff,' the girl said it with such ease that Allison felt respect for the Slytherin and smiled at her, nodding.

- 'I'll tell you tomorrow about anything I can spot. We'll talk it all over in the morning and maybe get some substance out of it. And you won't be paralysed,' Allison said finally and, smiling at the Slytherin again, turned around and headed towards Scott, who was already preparing for lunch, which was going to start in a minute.

- Yeah, you better not be paralysed,' Cora grinned and followed the girl.

***

Allison, of course, didn't have much hope for Lydia's help, but still, when she read that her friend hadn't found anything new, the girl was a little saddened. She missed her best friend. Her coldness in situations like this, her bright mind. Allison was ready to fight to the end, if only for the redhead's sake. And if that required her to survive paralysing herself, Allison was ready, just so long as the others were okay.

***

Stiles felt as if a vital organ had suddenly disappeared. Lydia didn't speak to him all day, until the evening. Stiles apologised many times, but Martin remained silent. She'd only looked at him once since the incident in the library, and honestly, she wished she hadn't. There was so much pain and resentment in her eyes that Stiles felt like the ultimate jerk.

- Merlin, Will, you should know how sorry I am,' Stiles exhaled, sitting in the corner of the living room and glaring at Lydia, who was reading next to Sonia and Reno by the fireplace, 'How could I even say that?

- Mate,' the Slytherin sighed, 'I'm supposed to support you, but what you did was really retarded. You basically called her insensitive and indifferent to everything that's going on at Hogwarts right now. We all know it's not easy to hurt Lydia, but you managed to do it. Especially since you're her best friend, she just didn't expect it from you. So,' the boy spread his hands apart and shrugged, 'I'm sorry, but you deserved it.

- I know,' Stiles pressed his palm into the armrest of the chair and hissed in pain, 'I don't know what to do. I acted like an idiot.

- No argument there,' Will nodded.

- I insulted her,' Stilinski continued to berate himself.

- Yes,' Will agreed.

- She won't forgive me,' Stiles concluded, resting his chin on his knees.

- Yeah,' Will nodded automatically, and then, realising what he'd said, he rounded his eyes and shook his head, 'I mean, no. He'll forgive me, of course. Not today, but tomorrow. You two mean too much to each other.

- I hurt her too much,' Stiles sighed, glancing at his friend, who was so engrossed in her reading that she was oblivious to her surroundings.

She was so absorbed in her reading that she was oblivious to her surroundings. The brow furrowed and the bitten lip were painfully familiar to Stiles, and he realised that he wasn't going to last much longer. Muttering something unintelligible, the boy got out of his chair and walked straight to the fireplace, his back to Will's smile. Walking up behind him to the couch where the girl was sitting, Stiles gently placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in close to her ear so no one else could hear.

- Lydia, I'm so sorry,' the boy whispered directly into the girl's ear, scorching her neck with his breath, but she remained steadfast and didn't even look away from her reading, 'Can we talk?

- I started thinking about Malia and you want to distract me from that? No, I'm sorry. I'm going to try to help her and maybe change your mind about me. Though I don't even hope to,' Lydia said calmly, as if they were talking about something they didn't have a problem with and that didn't hurt Stiles. Or rather, they didn't hurt him too much.

- Lydia,' Stiles simply said the girl's name in frustration. Finally, pulling himself together, he took a step back and said calmly, 'I've always had a good opinion of you. It was,' the boy stammered, not knowing how to explain. Desperation,' Stiles sighed, 'Lydia, you're too important to me, okay? Just know that,' The boy turned away and was about to walk away, but Lydia called out to him and Stiles felt his heart do a somersault.

- I just wanted to give you this,' Lydia held the scroll in her outstretched hand, and Stiles, realising that she wasn't going to forgive him, sighed again and reached for it.

As soon as the boy's fingers touched his friend's palm, Lydia pulled her hand away and went back to reading. Lips tightening, Stiles unrolled the scroll and began to read. It was Allison's letter, according to the notes all over it, and Lydia was trying to find the same clues that had been mentioned in the scroll in the library. Quickly running his eyes over the lines, Stiles didn't understand at first why Martin had given him the scroll. But then, when his gaze locked on one name, the boy felt his heart drop and his stomach twist.

So Heather had been paralysed too? He'd been abandoned for a while by his three closest friends. How to deal with that, Stiles honestly didn't know. So he waved at Will, who seemed to be dozing off, and walked out of the living room, hoping to distract himself. Heather had been his best friend before Lydia and Malia came along. Of course, he still loved her very much and treasured her dearly. They were childhood friends, Merlin her! Which was why a terrible longing and pain was flooding his heart right now.

With such gloomy thoughts, Stiles didn't notice that he'd reached the top floor and wandered into a corridor with huge full-wall windows. The boy looked around confusedly, trying to figure out where he had turned and how to get back to the living room. Suddenly he heard a low cough and turned round to see a girl about his age with long brown hair and dark green eyes sitting on the window sill. She sat looking straight at him, clutching a book to her chest and her eyes wide open. You couldn't tell from her clothes what school she was from, as she was wearing a plain grey jumper that must have been half her size and tight white jeans. On her feet were black sneakers, and Stiles thought that a more unpleasant encounter could have happened. Smiling, the boy walked over to her and sat down gently beside her, smiling to himself at the expression on her face - her eyes were still wide open and her eyebrows were pushed up to the bridge of her nose, as if she was thinking about something important. With a genuine smile, Stiles held out a hand that no one had shaken yet.

- I'm Stiles,' the Gryffindor introduced himself, still holding out his hand, 'I'm from Hogwarts. And you are?

- I'm from Beauxbaton,' the girl replied in a French accent, and shook Stiles's hand, which was a hand and a half larger than her own, 'And my name is Eleanor Chretien, by the way.

- Nice to meet you,' Stiles replied sincerely, 'What department are you from? - And it will be easier if you name someone who studies there, because I still forget your names,' the girl laughed, covering her mouth with her palm.

- Chantelle is studying with me, if that means anything to you,' Eleanor replied with a smile.

- Oh, I see! You're from the smart department, aren't you? Well, I'm not really surprised,' the boy nodded at the book Eleanor was still holding in one hand.

- It's fiction,' the girl grinned, 'And you don't read anything, so you judge people's intelligence from books?

- You're right, I don't read much,' Stiles shrugged his shoulders, smiling at the girl's surprised eyebrows, "Textbooks aren't exactly in the preference section, you know," he grinned.

- No, that was clear,' Eleanor waved her hand, 'But any books by Muggle authors? Unless you despise them, of course.

- I love one book,' Stilinski shook his head, 'And I respect Muggles as such, so don't worry. It's nice to know that you are too, by the way,' Stiles smiled. The girl returned his smile, 'I love the book The Little Mermaid.

- It's a good book,' Eleanor seemed to look at him with respect, and then held out the book she was holding, 'You should like it. It's a classic, by the way. It's being talked about as much as The Little Mermaid. It's actually a collection, but you can read one or the other,' Eleanor shrugged.

- What's it about? - Stiles asked, leafing through the book, which, by the way, had pictures in it.

- I'm telling you, it's a collection,' she laughed again, 'It's a few short stories by Charles Perot. He's one of the most famous French writers, almost on a par with your Shakespeare. Well, though, I suppose, I'm a bit of a bastard, no one can compare with him. It's a pity, France is good at poetry too.

- What did he write? - Stiles asked, looking at an illustration of a fairy tale. It showed a cat, for some reason, wearing boots. Why would he need boots? - Stiles frowned.

- It's the essence of the story,' Eleanor smiled, "Read it, you'll find out," she shrugged, 'And Shakespeare wrote tragedies. You should know that, you're the Englishman, not me. Perot has children's tales. Well, they're children's tales in this particular book. They've been remodelled. In reality, Cinderella had part of her leg cut off, but here she's just married to a prince. Silly simplification of reality for children, - snorted the girl.

- What did you say Shespikr wrote? - Stiles frowned.

- You're Shespikr,' Eleanor laughed, covering her mouth again with her palm. Stiles, honestly, was really starting to think this was extremely charming, - Shakespeare,' she corrected him with a smile, 'Tragedies. He has a work called Romeo and Juliet. It is considered one of the most famous all over the world. Although, our Cinderella is not far behind.

- Anyway, I get it, you want me to read the whole thing? - Stiles grinned, turning his gaze to the girl, whose dark green eyes seemed to glow from within.

- I want to,' Eleanor nodded, 'And then you can tell me how you like it. I can find Shakespeare for you, too, if you like. His works are adult, but I liked them. 'Hamlet, for example, should be harder to take, but I liked it even better than Romeo and Juliet.

- Will you let me read it later? - Stiles smiled, 'I'm interested in you.

- I know,' Eleanor grinned, 'I will, of course. Just finish this one first,' she tapped her finger on the cover of Pero's collection.

- I'll let you know when I'm done with it,' Stiles smiled, stashing the book in his bag. Before he knew it, all the dark thoughts were gone from his head, replaced by happy and bright ones. The ones that usually filled Stiles' head. He didn't even pay much attention to how or why it happened. He was enjoying it, and he wasn't going to go back to the way it had been a few minutes ago.

He chatted with Eleanor until the evening, sitting in the same corridor. Then the girl reminded him about dinner and they agreed that it would be a good idea to eat and went into the Hall together. Glancing first at Will, who was discussing something with a frowning Derek, and then at Lydia, who didn't even look at him, the boy sighed and, after thinking for a moment, sat down at the table next to his new acquaintance. She didn't even seem to give it much thought, continuing to tell him how much she liked the storyline of one of the characters in the film Real Love. Turns out it's being watched in France too, and Eleanor loves it too. When they had even started talking about films, Stiles didn't know, but how easy he was at this point was definitely making him happy.

Lydia glanced at Stiles, who was walking next to some girl she didn't know, but she was back to the book she'd been reading all day. Stiles had really hurt her, and she would have forgiven him easily if it hadn't been so hurtful. And it didn't offend her that he'd already found someone else to talk to. Not at all. And she wasn't offended that he'd sat at the table with her. What did it matter? What mattered more was that Allison had written that they were doing well so far, and that Cora was co-operating. That way the chances of finding out anything were doubled. And Lydia was still going to help. All that was left was to wait until the next morning and maybe, if Lydia finally got a lead, start looking for information in a more concrete way.

Both Beauxbaton and Hogwarts were quite quiet that night. Nothing much was happening in England, and Allison and Cora were still conspiratorially watching the others as well as themselves. At Beauxbaton, on the other hand, everything was the same as it had been during the day. Lydia hadn't spoken to Stiles, and it had hurt him deeply. But now he was distracted by Eleanor, who was always finding new things to talk about. They didn't break up until about eleven o'clock, after lights out, when her friend Adelaide came to pick up the Frenchwoman and asked Stiles to call her Hell. It sounded strange, but no one seemed to care. If Stiles had been asked what he would have changed about the day, he would have said that he would have kept silent in that moment in the library. But if he had been asked if he would have wanted to change his route then and maybe not wander into the corridor on the top floor, the boy would have answered in the negative without a doubt. Eleanor hugged him goodbye as if it was perfectly normal and they had been in touch for years. Stiles fell asleep with mixed feelings but a slight smile on his lips.