Crystal didn't know how to react to the confirmations for the rumored death a first year Gryfindor. Should she cry? Or should she make a silent vow to never, if it was in her powers, let such a thing happen again? The blonde would probably – or most defiantly – do the second, if she could. But the first? That was still up for debate.

She remembered when her younger brother died, right in front of her and Acacia, but that was her brother. It wasn't her twin. It hurt still, yes, and it left a gap in her heart still, but... She hadn't spent eleven, or twelve , years growing up at the same time – experiencing the same things at almost the same time. It wasn't the same, and she couldn't fathom the pain Miss Bénet must be in.

The Slyterin shivered – though it was nowhere near cold enough for her body to react such a way – and was surprised to feel tears in her eyes.

It had been a boring year; nothing had happened. No ban, no prank on a bracelet that she didn't want to wear anyway, no lockdowns. She should have known the year wouldn't end peacefully.

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MJ made the pretties

Settling in for dinner, Cane was reading a book as he waited for it to begin in earnest. He hadn't heard about anything out of the ordinary happening though he had thought there to be a peculiar sort of tension among his fellow students.

He looked up respectfully as the deputy headmaster addressed them. He listened as they were told about the passing of Miss Benet. He thought on his own experimental forays whenever a spell or potion caught his eye no matter the year it was meant for. Perhaps he would need to reign that in a little lest he end up a victim of his own curiosity.

  

May 29th, 1889; Dinner — Hogwarts Great Hall

The deep tenor of Professor Darrow's voice caused a swirl of mauve to dance solemnly throughout the Great Hall. They had been anticipating this speech. What with the news spreading like wildfire about the recent incident involving Miss Benet, it would have been idiotic of them to be surprised by such a display. Cora, like many students, had her head bowed in solemnity. She felt for Miss Benet's twin; losing a sibling - a twin no less - must be such a painful experience. Glancing at her own twin siblings, Cora withheld a grimace of pain. The thought of losing any one of them was too great to bear. The only comfort she had was knowing that neither of them would be as reckless and stupid as the late Gryffindor student. A bitter tang filled her senses as the student next to Cora dissolved into tears. She cast a sympathetic glance towards them and reached out to pat them comfortingly on the back.

Honestly, what was that child thinking? Attempting to pull a prank on people. What a sad way to go; and not in a heroic way, Cora thought as her gaze left her Claus and Cassia and moved back to Professor Darrow. He had been warning the students of the consequences of messing with magic that was beyond one's skill level. The price of overconfidence. The Fawley students had already gotten letters that morning from their mother and father warning them not to commit such an act of heinous carelessness. Though Claus and Cassia could goof around quite a bit - in addition to not underestimating their intelligence -, neither was so idiotic enough to do what Miss Benet had done.

How unfortunate, the raven haired Gryffindor mused as she continued to comfort the student beside her, that such potential and gall – for what Miss Benet had lacked in sense, she had certainly compensated for it in nerve! – had perished in such a tragic fashion.

  

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