Power of Three (Tripletes)

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

"What dessert line?" Bobby asked, frustrated with her sister. At least Linette wasn't hassling her, too. But she was kind of embarassed that this was all happening in front of the boys. She felt like a child being admonished for bad behavior.

"Maybe I will go have dessert with him," she muttered, not meaning it in either the sexual or the innocent way. She was just over the arguement, over the conversation. She wanted to forget that anything had happened at all.

"Finish your macaroni."

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie made a face, glancing down at the macaroni for a moment, then back up at Bobby. "No thanks. Now I've lost my appetite. Something about that guy and his smarmy attitude just makes my stomach churn."

She turned her gaze on Linette, hoping that the "oldest" sister could talk a little sense into Bobby. Clearly Callie's distaste for Rabastan was not going to convince Bobby of anything, but Linny had actually dated the git. Maybe she could reason with Bobby.

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

Linette bit her lip and looked at her sister. She was conflicted. Yes, she wanted to tell Bobby that Rabastan was bad news, but she knew her sister, and Bobby would only do whatever she wanted. On the other hand, Linette did want to scold Callie for the way she was acting, especially in front of a lot of people. Callie was very opinioated, but the three of them were raised to act better then that.

A solution came to mind. "Wait," she turned to Bobby. "We were going to study for Charms after dinner, remember?" she said with a grin. "You're the one who's confident about the test Bobby. I don't know about Callie, but I sure need your help."

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

"Are you kidding me?" Bobby said, looking between Linette and Callisto, disbelief over her face. She sort of forgot the boys were there, or she wouldn't have continued down her train of thought, or followed through on what she did next.

Standing up, she practically hissed, "He said hello. I'm sorry that pisses you both off so much, but shove it, okay? I wasn't even going to go say hi again before we left, but since you two seem to be so dead set against anyone even remotely paying any kind of attention to me, you can just shove off."

With that, she turned on her heel, and where she normally would have just left the Great Hall, she headed in another direction- the direction of the Slytherin table, where Rabastan looked up and promptly made room for her.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

"Bobby!" Callie called after her, a note of desperation in her voice. Why that guy? Of all the single guys in this whole school, why did that one have to take an interest in Bobby? Why did she have to respond to it? Possibly the only two guys in the school who would be worse than Rabastan Lestrange were Rystain Quandry and that creepy Slytherin boy who was always following Samantha Montgomery around (and he was clearly too fixated on Sam to even notice Bobby).

"Son of a Banshee," she hissed as Bobby went over and sat with Rabastan. "Can I hex him, Linny? Please? Or maybe spill a bit of shrinking solution on a certain part of his anatomy?"

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

"Let's..." she paused. Find a good solution. If they went over there, it'd be a huge scene involving the three of them, the Slytherins, teachers would get involved, detentions would be served... "Let's just let her be. We have to trust her for now and we don't want to cause a scene." Linette said.

"We can talk to her back at the common room later." where she'd blow up at them in a still public, but less people, place.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie, on the other hand, had absolutely no problem with causing a scene. She was never one to hold her tongue, especially in situations like this. Her sister was in danger, and if the only way to make her see it was to humiliate her by making a scene in front of the whole bloody school, then Callie would do it.

But one thing she simply couldn't do was sit here at the table and watch her sister flirt with Rabastan Lestrange. And if Linny didn't want her to go over and make a scene, then Callie didn't want to be here at all.

"I can't watch this," she said. "If you're not going to stop her, and you won't let me do it, then I'm going back up to the common room."

She quickly gathered up her things and got up without another word.

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

"Cal!" see, THIS is what Linette meant by making a scene. She watched one sister take a seat with Rabastan and the other storm out of the great hall. She felt torn as to what to do or how to handle this situation.

Linette turned toward Chip and Jonesy. "I'm sorry guys, I'll see you both later," and with her usual smile (though this time it was somewhat forced.) Linette got up and followed Callie out the door. She didn't even bother glancing at the Slytherin table before leaving. She didn't want to give Rabastan the satifaction of knowing that he had caused trouble between the triplets.

"Callie," Linette called as she followed her sister up the stairs. "Cal wait up."

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

But Callie kept moving, ignoring her sister's voice. She couldn't help it; she was frustrated and angry and scared out of her mind. She kept her distance from boys and put out a hostile, unfriendly, militant act for them as a way of keeping them away, because she was secretly afraid. She had seen what heartache could do to a person by watching other girls and reading books, and she was terribly afraid of it. And she was worried for Bobby as well. Bobby was sensitive and sweet and deserved someone who actually liked her for who she was, not for what was underneath her robes. And Callie knew from the whispered rumors she had heard that Rabastan Lestrange was only interested in the latter. He'd make promises and make her feel things and she would give him her hearts--and who knows what else. And then he would move on, leaving her broken. How was Callie supposed to just sit here and let it happen?

Back in the common room, Callie slammed into the room, throwing her backpack down with such ferocity that a few kids sitting nearby got up, looking alarmed. "I swear if if hurts her, I'm going to use an entrail-expelling curse on him," she snarled to no one in particular.

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

Bobby sort of just knew that her sisters were still stewing about this, but she refused to turn around. She refused to even look at them, and it hurt. She hated fighting with the girls because they really knew how to fight. They knew each other so well that they knew what was most effective- and it just felt like there was some kind of tear in the universe when they weren't together. It was that twin (or in this case, triplet) telepathy thing, she guessed.

But she was angry at them, with good reason, she thought. At least, Callie most of all. It wasn't fair. Guys didn't give Bobby attention like this. And it wasn't like she was going to marry the guy. She just wanted to have a little fun with someone who would call her pretty. So Callie could stuff it and deal with it.

She sighed, turning her attention and her smile back to Rabastan and his friends, all of whom seemed corrigible enough.