Violet entered the Potions classroom, her favorite class, feeling in a slightly better mood than usual. At least she could get some work done for a while and try to forget activities at the school. "Professor Varma," she said, nodding at the teacher on her way to her seat.

As she settled in, Violet looked around the room and saw that most of the other students were sitting in front of the pets that had brought to school. Violet looked back in front of her eagerly, but was dismayed to find an unfamiliar brown barn owl sitting there in a cage instead of her magpie, Machiavelli. Her heart sank--what had happened to him? Had he escaped, or was he hurt, or d..... Violet cut off that train of thought sharply; she was not prepared to go there.

"Well, owl," she said to the bird under her breath, "I guess it's just you and me today." The owl looked solemnly back at her with large, golden eyes.