Dollhouse [Rabastan Lestrange]

Chapter 15

"and till the end
you're my very best friend."

Callista dropped her books onto an empty table in the Ancient Runes classroom. Pulling out the chair, she sat down, not at all prepared for the last class of the day. Everyone sat alone due to the fact that there were only 8 seventh years taking Ancient Runes. The class consisted of herself, Severus, Lily Evans, Sidney Hearst, Emmeline Vance, Kai Sun, and two other Ravenclaws that she did not know the names of.

Sidney Hearst was the girlfriend of Anya Chang. She was always in a good mood, and more often than not her hands were covered in paint.

Emmeline Vance, however, was an avid lover of Astronomy, which was emphasised by the star themed necklaces she wore and the constellation chart poking out of her school books. She was a good friend of Dorcas Meadowes, meaning she was friends with Lily too.

Kai Sun was the only Hufflepuff who took Ancient Runes. He sat on her right and had already occupied himself with a book while they waited for the class to begin.

Callista thought back on the night before while they waited. She was grateful for Rabastan's presence and it left her more certain of the path that lay ahead of her regarding her family.

She wanted to believe it would all be okay in the end but that was a foolish hope. With the war brewing outside of Hogwarts' walls, safety was a far away once she graduated. Her parents want someone to be apart of the Dark Lords circle, most likely Stellan. She could not let him take it, but she doubted how much control she would have even if she tried to oppose her parents.

Professor Avis walked in and set her things down on the table in the front of the class. Her dark blonde hair was drawn up into a slick bun, giving Callista a clear view of the glasses she wore.

"Alright class. Group project," she announced, resting her hands on her desk. "I've split the class in two groups and I will assign you to a group in a moment." She moved to the front of her desk, picking up two of the books she had brought with her.

"It's your Seventh Year and time to test your skills. You will have 3 weeks to translate a short book written in a runic alphabet to modern English. This will prepare you for your NEWTs as well as teaching you to work together as some of your translations may differ."

Lily raised her hand. Professor Avis nodded to her. She sat up straighter. "Are we allowed to work on translations in our own time and then fit them in together?"

"Yes, having each person do some pages and then meeting and consulting together is fine. Remember though, this is a group project so most of the work should be done together."

Lily nodded.

"Now for groups. Group 1: Lily Evans, Kai Sun, Emmeline Vance, and Callista Greengrass. That means the rest of you are in Group 2."

Callista felt bad for Severus, he was surrounded by Ravenclaws he did not know. It was better than being in her group, seeing as Lily no longer spoke to him. Her own group was not bad, she enjoyed working with Lily and she knew Emmeline to be focused on her work. Kai was often quite, she had only ever seen him at Slug Club meetings, so she assumed he would not be too hard to work with.

"Bring your tables together and start working. Here are your books." She handed Callista a book, one that looked to be an old folktale as she tried to read the first page. She flipped through it. There were no dates, numbers, lists, or drawings, so she felt confident in her assumption that it was a folktale.

Kai pulled his table and chair closer to hers and sat down. She passed the book to him and let him look through it. "A folklore?"