Marisol was tired. She had just completed a lot of homework, not learned anything of interest, and with sinkholes and all that, the second year needed a break. But that wasn't going to happen.

Before sending her daughter off to school again, Raquel Martínez had made sure of one thing: that Mari would practice her English during the year. The eleven year-old wasn't the biggest reader anyway, but she spoke with a heavy Spanish accent, and since moving to Scotland a year ago, she had been chatting more than reading. Ask her slang, swears? Sure. But her mother wanted her to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Marisol sighed and leaned across the table. The girl across from her was small-ish and dark-haired. A Ravenclaw. She was also reading some book, but Mari couldn't see the title.

"Whatcha reading?" Marisol asked.