She had the wherewithal to pick up her skirts with her wandhand, if only to keep them from banging against her shins. They would have to be let down again, and her mum had to agree it was time now. Millie was sixteen, today of all days, and the worst part about it might be waiting another two months until her hemlines could show it. The day that her boots would finally start to show some wear around the ankles from the beatings her skirts would give it, and Hogwarts gave her plenty of opportunities, would be a good day.
Today's measure of good, however, had been tempered somewhat by the impending disaster promised by the Gryffindor's hurried summons.
"Melted by what?" she had asked, somewhat insincerely herself, having little sympathy for the castle's gloomy suits of armor. They still sent little chills through her spine when she encountered one in the dark these days. He didn't seem to know either, only that the window had been coincidentally broken as well.
"Broken windows? And none of the house-elves noticed, either?" but the answer was the same as before. Only this time, when another piece of this confounding puzzle was offered, it made the young witch stop in her tracks.
"Mr. Fletcher, are you seriously telling me that a fox broke in through a window and melted a suit of armor?"
It all seemed too farfetched from the known troublemaker of her year, but Jimmy Fletcher was now the Quidditch Captain as well. And they were all under pressure from the looming OWLs that Millie's prefect instinct had been to follow first, and question him along the way. Her feet picked back up, a bit more reluctantly now, yet still following the boy's lead. She had come this far, and as silly as it sounded, at least it offered a momentary distraction from her studies.
"So help me, if this is another one of your pranks, Mr. Fletcher, you're not escaping detention this time." There was no Gryffindor match for weeks now, and tall tales aside, a broken window and loose animal were cause enough to wield the small power her prefect's badge afforded her. She had suffered enough headaches from the Gryffindor boy since winning their dueling match a couple months prior, leaving Millie in no mood to stomach a laugh from the likes of Jimmy.
When they drew near to the classroom, it did seem odd to her that she was gestured in first. He didn't even have the manners to open the door, though it was as much as the young witch could expect from her yearmate. Such a Creature, that one, and one she couldn't see ever amounting to much in the future. Certainly no lady of any repute would suffer his lack of charms, Millie was in strong agreement with Greta on that account.
Millie nearly died of shock as she opened the door, to find herself faced not with disaster in the empty classroom, but a host of decorations and grinning faces shouting merriment and cheer at her. She dropped her skirts and clutched for her necklace, feeling on a thinner knife's edge than even a runaway fox, or a Fletcher prank, could ever muster. "Merlin's pointy hat, I think I need to sit down!"
It was all too much to take in, seeing the faces of her friends like Anne, Greta, Ben, her cat with the silliest little hat on his head, and, with perhaps just a little charm to him after all, Jimmy as well. All there to wish her a happy birthday, and nearly terrifying her in the process. Millie was only glad she didn't faint, that would have put a real damper on the surprise party for her.