"Though it'll be lunchtime, soon, and I believe you all have more classes today..." Professor Reynolds says.

"We've got Flying at one," Lisa says. "With the Slytherins."

And from one of the Hufflepuff boys: "We don't have Herbology until four. But whoever actually writes the complaint should be whoever has the best handwriting with a quill, I reckon, and mine's really good, so I can work on writing everything out really neatly until then. And I think it should be one of us to write it, too, not Professor Reynolds."

Sounds like a good idea to her.

The students agree pretty quickly they probably don't need more than two or three students from each class to write the letter anyways - they all agree on what happened, and they trust the five who end up volunteering to be fair. Professor Reynolds offers to help them with wording and with citing rules about professors' conduct. The rest of the students disperse, muttering among themselves.

Professor Reynolds squeezes Ellie's shoulder before she leaves. "You did well today," she says, softly. "You and Anathema both." Sigh. "I'm very sorry it came to this."

"Yeah."

"Thanks for helping."

"Thank you for letting me help."

Small smile.

She smiles back.

"Why don't you two go relax before your Flying class? I can handle everything from here."

It sounds a lot more sincere coming from her than from Dumbledore.

"Okay."

Another squeeze.

And then she's off to help the other students with their letter draft.

"Want to go find the dragon room?" she asks Anathema.

She bites her lip. "Yeah," she says, softly. (She still seems upset, though it's shading more into 'twitchy' or 'uncomfortable,' as she keeps shuffling from foot to foot, tapping her fingers restlessly against each other.)

Okay, dragon room.

Anathema will lean against Ellie on one of the couches if Ellie lets her.

She seems subdued, still, biting her lip a lot.

"Are you okay?"

Lean.

She seems to be struggling with her words, and she doesn't answer right away. Not for a little while, actually.

Then: "...Lisa said I never lie. She - believed that."

"Yes?"

"...I was lying about where I heard Snape's a Death Eater. So I can't, like, produce another student who'll swear to it. And Susan's aunt might get in trouble if Susan ends up being the witness to that."

"And... I lie about lots of stuff." She curls in on herself a bit. Quietly: "I don't think I like lying."

Ellie tilts her head against Anathema's. "You're not very good at it."

Soft unhappy noise. "I don't - want people to know that I'm lying, though or - what the truth is - not everyone - "

"You don't have to tell. If you don't want to."

She presses her face into Ellie's shoulder.

"You're - a really good friend."

"You're the best person I've met here. -Best person our age."

She giggles a bit. "Who's my competition?"

"Professor Reynolds."

Another giggle. "I guess she's the best competitor I could get."