Charley watched, her eyes narrowed until they were mere dots, the older girl approach. The angry part of her, still alive, wanted desperately to kick at the girl's shins. She resisted, if only to keep her own desperation from her enemy. It would earn her another attack, no doubt, and brand the urchin as truly unremarkable. Even on the lips of the horsefaced girl, that felt too heavy to handle tonight.

She pulled herself to ungainly feet, taking another step until they were steady underneath her. Charley tipped her chin up, not caring how wet it was, or how her clothes clung to her body. There was nothing she had to prove anymore to this git. "Yer the one with my wand," she pointed out shortly, and held out her hand, "An' if ya think I'm givin' up my whole tale, yer dead wrong."

They were hollow words, echoing in an otherwise-empty alley, but they still felt good to say.

"How'd ya think I got a wand? I got magic, like everyone in this bleedin' town." Charley folded her arms, thinking a bit too bitterly about it. Hogsmeade wasn't a bad town, she had seen worse. Far worse. Being reminded by someone snobbier and better off wasn't exactly the best way to cheer her up, though. "En't rich 'nuff for bein' here by choice, an' not to leave neither."

Or make her talk.

"You work out the rest."

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