"Uh-huh," says Tony. She's already writing the letter to her mom.
Bella sits by the door to the classroom in the hall, breathing hard.
"You okay? I bet I can get him fired if you want," Tony offers.
"That sounds fantastic. Let me double-check that impulse," mutters Bella, and she puts her notebook on her knees and starts scribbling, pausing occasionally to scrub a tear away from her face. "But he's been doing it for years, I don't know how your mom would do it."
"She's a rich pureblood mom. If she yells loud enough, the school will probably listen. Even though she married a Muggle."
"Maybe. But that just implies that no one else has a rich pureblood parent who chose to yell about it." Bella pauses. "Or that Mr. Phelps has been Memory Charming extra people. But - apparently he can't do it to me - so - will you believe me if he tries to cover it up?" she asks dubiously.
"I'm sending this letter before I go back to class," says Tony. "And if I forget all about it afterward, Mom's going to raise some hell for sure."
Write write write.
"Yeah. I do want him fired. He's been doing this for nine years. He had plenty of time to have an attack of conscience."
"He thinks there's nothing wrong with it," says Tony. "But he's, you know, wrong. I'm gonna run and see if I can find Nike. You coming?"
"He didn't actually do it. But I could feel him trying. I - don't know how I stopped him. And it felt bad."
"Weren't you trying to learn how to do that kind of thing? Maybe it worked," says Tony.
"I didn't even come up with anything good to try. Feral was going to test stuff for me because he didn't mind me trying to break through, but eventually we figured out he wasn't a good subject. I've been working on other stuff. And a little bit of made-up Occlumency practice, here and there, but it's supposed to be really hard to get to be a good Occlumens."
"Maybe. Have you ever heard of someone just doing it automatically?"
It turns out that Nike is in Tony's room.
"Hey, buddy," she says. "I need to send a letter to Mom, you up for it?"
Nike bobs her head regally.
"Cool," says Tony, and she ties the letter gently to Nike's claw with a bit of ribbon.
"My parents couldn't do anything, I guess," Bella says gloomily.
"If there's a lot of people yelling, it might help if yours are too," says Tony. "But if it's just my mom... yeah."
"Honestly, I didn't care that much either," says Tony. "But it is kind of creepy and weird, and I care that you care."
"It would be one thing if he asked for a volunteer and Feral raised his hand and then didn't remember doing it. But he just went and cast it on everybody."