"Or not, whatever. It's not required for you."

"I'll think about it."

"Sure."

Well, on to studying then - has Ellie gotten the egg open yet? 

Yes, actually, but all it did was make this godawful wailing noise until she shut it again.

Huh. So there's a further trick...

Anathema's happy to spend the rest of the time until class theorizing about it. 

Sounds like a good use of their time.

Yeah.

And after classes, while Ellie's absorbed in her own projects, Anathema goes to knock on Fay's door alone.

"Come in," she calls.

She walks straight over to flop face down on the couch.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"Or - nothing should be wrong - "

"It's stupid."

...Yeah that's a teenager.

"Being bothered is rarely actually stupid," she says, evenly. "What happened?"

Frustrated noise. She flops onto her back, sprawling dramatically. "So the Champions need dates for the Ball, right - Ellie didn't really want to ask anyone, so I figured I'd ask her since we're friends and all and we know I won't make a stupid big deal of it like it's something serious - "

"But Krum asked her! Yesterday, and she said yes - and it makes sense, he's not gonna make a big deal 'cause it's not like he's sticking around or like they've ever talked, and they're both Seekers so they've got something in common, and Ellie was impressed by Krum's. Moves. And all. In the World Cup. So it's fine, I wasn't gonna bring a date anyways, I'll just hang out by the punch bowl or something for the first dance and then me and Ellie can hang out like we were gonna."

Ah.

"And you're upset about this?"

"Yeah. But I don't know why. Just - I keep having stupid thoughts that don't make any sense."

"I find sometimes that if my brain's having insistent thoughts, it's either spotted something serious, but doesn't know how to communicate that, or the thoughts only seem stupid because I haven't noticed the problem yet. Figuring out what my brain's trying to communicate usually helps the thoughts go away."

Grumble.

"What're the thoughts?"

"Dumb."

"Uh huh."

"What're they saying that's so 'dumb'?"

She flaps a hand.

"Just - probably Ellie's gonna like Krum, 'cause lots of people think he's handsome and charming and talented. Maybe she'll want to dance with him the entire Ball - I bet he's a good dancer. And people are gonna look at them going to the Ball together, and there's gonna be rumors, and the newspaper and everyone will think they're dating, and that'll be annoying, I bet they'll ask me about it a lot. And maybe she'll decide she likes him enough to keep talking to him after the Ball, or even after the Tournament - they could become penpals or something, and Ellie'd wanted to play a game against him but hasn't gotten the chance, so maybe he'll give her - Seeker tips or something. Maybe he actually like likes her and will actually ask her out for real. Which - it'd be great if she had someone who really liked her like that, like - wanting to date and stuff and be really serious, or even just have lots of fun - she's great and amazing and deserves the world, but - "

She trails off, frowning.

"Would you rather she went to the Ball with someone else?"

"Yeah! Me! I - said that, I was gonna ask her - "

Upset confused frown.