George looked as scared as Brennan had, but where Brennan's temper had flared, George just seemed to shrink into himself. It hurt, seeing her best friend like this. After a moment, she realized it was the first time she'd thought of George like that, but it rang true. George and Seine were the closest friends she had here. She missed her girlfriends from home, but they didn't know about this part of her, and it was difficult to feel close to them with such an enormous secret in her heart. But George and Seine always waited for her, always had a joke and a story, and she looked forward to every day they had together.

Still, best friends or not, Sadie couldn't understand why they seemed so [i]bored[/I] by their homework.

"Um, yeah," Sadie laughed a little nervously. "It's not like it was a lot?"

One of the things that had struck her was just how more [I]relaxed[/I] Hogwarts was. She hadn't gone to the world's most prestigious school, but her workload had been ramping up as she had been getting older, and her muggle teachers had assigned far more work than this. Sadie usually found herself going comparatively overboard with her work, but she was used to a far more aggressive pace.

"Ugh," Seine grumbled intelligently. 

"I must once again remind you that you are always welcome to join me in the library after class. We can do our work together," Sadie offered, but Seine pulled a face at her.

"You spend [I]hours[/I] there," He complained. Sadie rolled her eyes.

"We are literally learning magic, breaking the laws of physics and doing impossible things. That should make you want to study nonstop," Sadie reminded Seine. They'd had this argument half a dozen times, and she suspected they would have it until they graduated.

They'd reached the Transfiguration classroom during their bickering. Seine pushed open the door and they filed in, taking their usual spots. The atmosphere in the classroom was like a coiled spring, ready to explode with energy. Other students were shooting George dark looks, whispering, and Sadie simply held her head high. She and Seine sat on either side of George in a show of solidarity. 

The whispers were silenced upon the arrival of Professor Thirmin, and Sadie sank into the rhythm of the lesson.