Hillary Potter stood at the precipice of a precipitous decision.
The Democratic Magical Convention was three weeks away and she still didn’t have a
date. She had options: There was Julian Caster, a fellow Gryffindor,
who certainly had promise. But Caster was only a first-year at Hogwarts, and
Hillary had no idea how he would perform on the magical stage. Elizabeth
Warlock -- an ambitious Ravenclaw prefect -- would turn some heads, but the
two strong-willed wizards found each other unpleasant on a personal level.
That left Hillary with one obvious, safe choice: Timotonous
Kaine from Hufflepuff. Yes, he was dull, and not particularly pleasing to the
eye. But everybody seemed to agree that -- aside from Helga Hufflepuff herself
-- there had never been a Hufflepuff as "Hufflepuff" as Timotonous Kaine. He was loyal
and honest to a fault, and had been a major supporter of Hillary’s since the beginning
of what had turned out to be a particularly tough year for her.
Perhaps Kaine did have a sort of handsomeness to him,
Hillary thought, as she mulled him over in her mind. Yes, she thought, his down-to-earth
way of speaking and easy-going manner had helped him win a lot of friends,
while avoiding ruffling any feathers. Perhaps she would go with the safe choice after all.
Story, calligraphy, and cartoons by Jeremy Pegg.
