Selina had sad something wrong. Kurumi had gone from smiles and a twinkle of a laugh in her eye to completely the opposite. Whatever Selina had said was very, very wrong. If she could swallow whatever it was that she had just said and start over again, she would. But the redhead did not understand what she had exactly said wrong. Kurumi was Head Girl, wasn't she? I mean, her friend had been prefect for Merlin knows how many terms, she had been the top house point earner since her first year, she was the epitome of a student leader. All of that compiled sort of made for Head Girl, didn't it? So why was she wearing her prefect badge. And why did her friend look so bloody upset?

Maybe Selina was just over thinking this. The face could have been for any number of reasons. Perhaps she had smelt something funny. Or she was just looking at a really ugly person. That face could be for any number of reasons. But as much as Selina told herself that, the more sick to her stomach she became. She had a hunch that she was wrong...

Wasn't good enough for it.

Selina very nearly cried for her friend right then and there when she uttered that. Kurumi was a great many things, but she was not a failure. And the fact that Kurumi had worded it that way lead Selina to believe that Kurumi thought she was one. Her eyes softened a great deal at her friend's upset. The sixth year had always been the one who could always say something to cheer her friend up, except for a small period of time last year, but what could she say to this? Selina knew, hell EVERYONE knew, how brilliant Kurumi was. But she could tell her friend that a hundred times and getting her to BELIEVE it would be the problem. Kurumi couldn't see just how great she was... which was sad.

However, Selina was also having a slightly hard time processing this- Kurumi wasn't Head Girl. That was about the stupidest thing she had ever heard. Not that whoever had gotten it wasn't qualified, but Kurumi had worked for that badge forever. And it was just sad. Really, really sad.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, Selina turned Kurumi to look at her dead in the eye, "Hey, you look at me, okay? You are good enough for anything you put your mind to Kurumi Hollingberry. Don't you think for a minute that you've failed. Okay, so you didn't get the badge, but you are brilliant and a great person. You haven't failed anyone. They've failed you." And she meant that.

A familiar floating man made his way over to the Gryffindor table, which meritted a smile from the sixth year. Nearly Headless Nick was the best of ghosts, much better than all of the other houses and she had no issues in verbalizing that. So when he was making his rounds at the Gryffindor table, she waved to him, "Evening Sir Nicholas. Enjoy your summer?"



The fear in this young girl's eyes made Selina feel sort of proud of herself. At least if the girl learned anything on that platform, where she stupidly scaled a train, it was that Selina did not tolerate dangerous activity. Which would come in handy later on in the term if Selina needed to enforce any of the school rules OR if the girl tried out and made the team. Oh Merlin, if she made the team heaven help her. Because the pitch was Selina's juristiction and there were NO if ands or buts when they were there. It was Selina's rules or the bench.

But the girl, who seemed to have the attention span of a nat, completely changed the subject and went back to the bat. And of course, because she STILL hadn't learned, she was being slightly rude about the way she breached the topic with the older girl. This was her bloody bat for Merlin's sake. Have some humanity.

"Yes," she snapped, "Of course I am still looking for him. He's my bat!" Duh.



So Selina knew that bringing up Mortimer right out of the box would probably not be the wisest of decisions, but at least they were talking now. When they were in private later she would apologize about ignoring him during this whole ordeal. The redhead was not ignoring him with any malice, she was just easily distracted when it came to her bat. It didn't mean that she cared for him any less. At that thought she impulsively played with her bracelet that she had never taken off, keeping her arms still wrapped around his waist. She didn't want to let him go because she liked being close to him she wanted to show him that she was sorry. So to get a little more comfortable, she rested her chin on his shoulder so she could look at his face better.

His words made her slightly more guilty, but she supposed that she had earned that in a way. When the train had gone astray a lot of people had gotten hurt and there was no way of him knowing that she was okay. Of course he was worried, but she was preoccupied with Mortimer. Silly, silly Selina.

She squeezed him a little and replied, "Right, about that. I'm sure that your girlfriend is very sorry about her disappearing act. And she would like to know if you could forgive her? Because she is sorry that she was being a little oblivious today." Just for good merit, she sent him a cute face too.



Get a replacement? WAS SHE MAD? All of the smiles and everything that were once sent in Alice's direction turned sour very quickly. Mortimer was not just some floosey bat that could be easily replaced at the drop of a hat. He was special. There was nothing that could be done in the terms of a replacement. To even suggest such a horrific thing made Selina's blood curtle.

"A replacement?" She said very slowly and punctuated, "There are no replacements for a bat as spectacular as Mortimer! He isn't some cheep bat! No! No! He's grade A and I have some self respect for his memory, THANK YOU VERY MUCH." Realizing how crazed she must have sounded she cleared her throat and reigned her emotions back in, "I'm sorry about that... just a little on edge is all."