Dinner was over, and Felicity seemed to barely acknowledge this as she trudged back up to the Castle after spending the evening in the Creatures Barn with Floyd. Floyd, who was grown enough to ride now, even if she hadn't yet tried to: knowing herself, she'd fall off and realise she was crap at that, too, along with everything else she tried. Apart from skipping stones, apparently.

It wasn't like she wanted to see the rest of the school in the Great Hall, anyway, and she probably would have avoided dinner even if she hadn't been distracted. But she was hungry, and so her footsteps seemed to guide her to the basement, and before she'd pulled herself out of her thoughts, she'd tickled the pear and was standing in the kitchen.

Which, thankfully, was as warm as she'd come to expect. Pulling her cloak off and putting it over the back of a nearby chair, Liss wasn't sure where to look next. What even did she want to eat?