I've got my hands in my pocket and my head in the clouds.

The second ultimatum of the year had come a week after the last, this time in the form of a Howler. Unlike the attention-seeking Gryffindors that would laugh and open the scarlet envelopes at the breakfast table, Athena had retreated to the dungeons to listen to hers. She’d been given until Christmas to find someone to marry, a timescale set down by Apolline who was now as desperate to be rid of her as Athena’s father was. Christmas was her deadline and the summer was no doubt when she’d be expected to done an ivory coloured dress, a veil and something borrowed, blue and whatever else tradition dictated. Athena truly didn’t want to take part in the whole torrid affair but she knew that her choice would ensure she’d end up with someone she could put up with - at least for a little while.

It was embarrassment, more than anything, that stopped her from making up her mind. She just didn’t know who she was supposed to pick, who would make her father happy, and she had a feeling when it came down to it he would be the one that would end up picking her spouse for her. Neither Apolline nor her father had said exactly what would happen when and if she didn’t make up her mind but Athena was sure that would be it. Until then she had to put on a false pretence that she was trying to decide, hence the reason she found herself out in the entrance courtyard with a piece of parchment, an ink well, a quill and a book to lean on. The air was helping her think but she didn’t know what she was supposed to say. The page before her was blank apart from the customary greeting of ‘Dear Father’ at the top.

Running the quill underneath her chin, Athena continued to plan the words in her head. A sigh passed her lips and she dipped the quill in the ink well. She scraped off the excess ink using the side of the ink well and she brought the quill down onto the parchment. The nib of the quill cut into the surface of the parchment and slowly, beautifully formed calligraphy began to spread across the yellowy page.

The air around Athena was chillier than usual, signalling the coming of winter. Autumn was in full swing with the leaves of the trees curling in on themselves and darkening in colour. Few people ventured out into the grounds now ad that was why Athena had decided upon the courtyard. Secluded though it was, it wasn’t too far away from the main building that if it rained or suddenly the temperature dropped, Athena wouldn’t be out there for a prolonged amount of time trying to get back in. Plus, the chirp of the birds was peaceful and welcomed. It helped her think. It helped her sort out the words she was trying to say and it helped her take off much of the bite that was glaringly obvious in the tone of the letter. Once the letter was finished she hoped to run up to the Owlery and send it off. After that she’d retreat to the library or the dungeons or just...somewhere...somewhere where she could think.

Danielle was mad. No, not mad, she was furious. She had planned to pull a prank on an unsuspecting Hufflepuff who was sitting in the great hall eating breakfast. But of course, her brother had stopped it. He walked up to the hufflepuff girl and took her out of the range of Danny's prank. She stared as he walked off with the girl, his arm around her shoulder. He came back in a few moment's later and walked toward Danny. "What's your problem?!" she had asked her brother angrily. He glared at her with a look that meant that girl was important to him, and that she was not to go near her with bad intentions. Thoughts about how her brother had ever been sorted into Slytherin ran through her mind, as she glared back at him.

"Fine don't answer me." she huffed angrily and she stormed away from the breakfast table. She ran through the corridor, and out to the courtyard. The air that touched her face as she stepped out into the courtyard was immediately welcomed by Danny. She closed her eyes momentarily and felt the anger she had toward her brother disappear. There were plenty of other fish in the sea that she could prank, it didn't have to be that one girl, who was so important to her brother. But it would be more satisfying to prank her than any other. Oh well, she would have to make due with someone else.

As Danny's eyes surveyed her surroundings, she noticed that not many people were out in the courtyard. Only a few students that Danielle didn't care about. She continued to look around until her eyes came upon the one person who caught Danny's attention. Athena Goyle, the queen of the Slytherins, and apparently the new leader of the Dark Followers. Danny always admired her, but she never had the nerve to get very close or even talk to the older girl. Taking a deep breath, Danny walked toward the girl. "Hello Athena." she said softly.

The gentle curve of her handwriting against the coarse parchment would be not only familiar and reassuring but also daunting because the language in which Athena’s letters were composed never allowed a mere glance to give away the tone of the letter. She was always very careful and precise about things like that and so she wasn’t going to stop doing so now. No, she planned on punishing her parents for as long as possible before she finally had no choice but to bow to her father’s wishes. She knew that she had to be swift in making the appropriate choices and that time was quickly being sliced away but she wanted to prolong her decision for as long as humanly possible - as long as magically possible too.

It took a few moments before Athena looked up, and when she did so it was with lazy, lidded eyes that radiated boredom and an air of unimpress. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the corners and she lifted her head higher, her curls slipping off of her shoulders as she did so. They splayed down her back, stealing her back from the view of anyone else in the courtyard that had decided to slide their eyes over towards the two Slytherin girls to watch. It was like a gazelle being thrust into the lion’s den; or, if one was to use a Hogwarts analogy, a Gryffindor lion dropped unceremoniously into the Slytherin snake pit. Athena knew the blonde by surname but not by forename. The girl had done very little to place herself in front of Athena in the years she had been at Hogwarts and so as Athena looked at her she began to size her up.

And it was wholly understandable that at a first inspection, Athena wasn’t entirely content with what she saw in the girl. The promise was there but she seemed flighty and foolish - not tolerably so like Pricilla was (i.e. without a single brain cell) but truly insufferable; and everyone knew what would happen if Athena public displayed her distaste for someone. The key phrase was that there was promise in the girl. There was little Athena could do to help the poor swot at this stage. The desire to ferry her off into the hands of Pricilla or Mira was a great one. The ‘gentlemen’ would eat her alive and then take her to bed for good measure. And though the former would be repeated with the girls, Athena was sure that Danielle would harden up once she learned.

But here was the thing; Athena wasn’t interested in the indoctrination process. She was a Mulciber by trade. If she wasn’t anything like the other Slytherin girls then something had gone very, very wrong during her upbringing. Athena was in no position to comment on that, not really, but she was sure that at some point she would get round to doing so. If the girl wasn’t useful yet, in either the traditional or modern sense, then what was she truly worth? Very little. And though Athena was hypocritical for judging Danielle the same way, you could not blame her, not really, because it is simply the way things work.

“Good morning,” Athena murmured finally, her fingers idly tapping at the quill. “And what do you want?”