Announcement
It was early afternoon on the last Sunday of September, and the castle grounds were covered in a warm blanket of leaves. Oliver’s brown skin looked rich and alive, surrounded by the autumnal colour palette, as we strolled towards one of the stone beaches by the black lake. It wasn’t unusual for the two of us to spend time together in silence. It wasn’t the fact that we had nothing to say, because we could just as easily spend several hours talking each others ears off, but some times we were just as happy in our own little worlds. As we reached the water I put my satchel down and started removing my shoes and socks. I then started folding up my trousers as far as I could, before retrieving a jar of fairy eggs from my bag that I had picked up from Hagrid earlier that day. I walked awkwardly atop the stone clad ground towards the water.
“Don’t freeze off your toes now” came from Oliver who was in the process of picking up the flattest stones he could find.
“I’m sure I’ll be alright, besides I need to practice my drying charms” I dipped my left foot into the water and let out a low “Oof” as I realised the water was quite a bit colder than I had expected. I took a deep breath and began my trek into the water. I stepped carefully on the algae covered bottom of the lake, making sure to not slip. My destination was a small island not too far from the shore. The island consisted mainly of one rather large apple tree. The tree itself wasn’t what interested me, it was its inhabitants. Small green twig like creatures became more and more visible the closer to the island I came. There weren’t many branches of Bowtruckles left on the school grounds, and unfortunately for this branch, their tree wasn’t doing so well. This meant that food was scarce, as the insects had left to feed on healthier trees. Normally Hagrid would be the one feeding them, as they were more familiar with him. This was the branch of Bowtruckles that Hagrid would use as an example during his care of magical creatures class held for the fourth years.
I had a particular fondness in the subject and could easily see myself working within the field in the future. So I was very glad whenever I got the opportunity to help Hagrid out with anything creature related. Up until now, I had only helped out with the relatively domestic creatures that lived or were held, for educational purposes, around Hagrids hut or the very outer layer of the forest. I secretly hoped he would take me with him into the forest proper, but my hopes weren’t too high as it was technically forbidden for us students be in there.
Before I started to climb onto the little island, I opened the jar of fairy eggs. Several of the bowtruckles caught the scent and looked expectantly at me. I then stumbled onto the island and got ready to distribute the eggs. Hagrid hoped the regular supply of eggs would help the small creatures survive until the apple tree was back to its normal health again. Luckily, fairy eggs are feast in comparison to tree bugs, so it was easy enough to get the bowtruckles to eat. It was harder to have them share. I distributed the eggs the best I could, and as I was about to lid the jar and put it away as I felt a tugging on the back of my jacket. I fished out an egg from the jar, and held it over my shoulder for the climbing bowtruckle to grab. I sat for a couple of minutes while the little creature sat on my shoulder happily munching away, and watched Oliver, back on the beach, as he skipped stones onto the water. Eventually I lifted the bowtruckle off of my shoulder, and back onto the apple tree.
“I'll see you soon enough” I whispered. In the trees general direction, before starting to climb back into the water. I couldn’t help but make odd faces as the cold seeped back into my bones.
“Next time I'll ask to borrow Hagrid's giant boots, so I don’t have to do this shit again” I half shouted through gritted teeth.
”That I'd like to see” came from Oliver.
Back on the beach I desperately tried to dry and warm my poor little toes. “Sharakus” I whispered to no avail. I exhaled, and visualised my feet dry and warm, and tried again. “Sharakus” a faint gust of wind reached my feet, I'd like to claim it was my own doing, but in all honesty it was likely just the wind. My brow was furrowed by the tension in my face, and a headache was starting to form. I gave it one last try, and definitely felt some warm air breeze past my toes, but not enough to actually affect the temperature or moisture of my feet. So I gave up and simply pulled on my socks and shoes while grimacing.
I said goodbye to Oliver and made my way to the Hufflepuff common room. I continued up the stairs to my dorm, eager to take a piece of chocolate from the box given to me by Remus. Sure, some chocolate wouldn’t fix my headache, but I'd rather have a headache and chocolate than a headache without any chocolate. Upon entering the dorm, I could see Paige sitting on the side of her bed. It looked like someone way laying in her bed.
”Oh Kira, I didn’t want to leave her at the hospital wing” She motioned to the person laying under the covers, the girl twisted in agony and I finally saw who it was. Emilia, Paige’s little sister.
”Wait, what’s wrong?” I asked, had something serious happened? Was she ill?
“She got her first period” Paige stroked her sister’s hair and looked at her sympathetically. “Ah” I felt for Emilia, but was relieved it wasn’t anything dangerous. Paige had been an early bloomer, and it seemed that Emilia was the same. However Paige had been thrilled when her cycle started, and would brag to anyone that would listen that she was finally a woman! It was also quite clear that the younger Tally had the same gut wrenching cramps as the older one. Paige was usually a very chatty person, but on the 1-2 days her uterus decided to fold in on itself every month she was dead quiet, unable to eat much or exit the bed at all. Sometime during our second year, Paige had fainted due to the pain and I ended up carrying her all the way to the infirmary out of worry. I might have almost dropped her several times on the way, and practically dragged her up a set of stairs, before entering the hospital wing with tears in my eyes, scared shitless, holding an unconscious Paige. That day had been a game changer. Madam Pomfrey had provided an elixir for Paige to drink when she woke up, which dulled most of the pain, but left her sleeping for most of the day. I could tell Emilia had already taken the elixir from the empty bottle standing on the nightstand. I quickly shuffled over to my trunk and found the box with gold wrapped chocolate. I moved one of the dark blue potions to the side so I could reach some pieces of chocolate residing beneath it, and walked over to Paige’s four poster bed.
“Some chocolate will help” I smiled at her, and placed the piece on the nightstand, before giving one to Paige “For morale”, she chuckled and accepted it. I then popped one in my mouth and headed back to my trunk. I picked up some dry socks, new underwear and a comfier set of trousers, and headed into the bathroom for a warm shower before dinner. As I undressed I could see parts of the pale scars I knew stretched themselves from my ribs and onto my back. They were itching. I had been aware of them since I got out of the cold water of the black lake. This wasn’t unusual though, the scar tissue had always reacted slightly differently to changes in temperature than the healthy skin around it. Causing the slightest feeling of discomfort. I turned in front of the mirror so I could see the reflection of my back. Three long claw marks. I lightly traced the parts I could reach, it was always strange to not be able to feel my finger touching the skin. I usually covered them up, not necessarily because they were an insecurity. In fact, I thought they looked quite cool, and were definitely the most interesting part about my appearance. But they were a very violent symbol. A symbol of how my world changed so drastically in a single night by a singular man who was either sadistic or plainly an idiot. My parents and I were walking home from a Christmas Eve party at my grandparents home just a few blocks away. There was barely any snow on the ground and it had just started raining. The moon peaked out from behind the clouds and a man who had been walking several paces behind us let out some agonising sounds. And before we could react he leaped towards the three of us. And that’s about the last thing I remember before waking up in St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Some wizards had to be in the vicinity when it all went down, because how else would three muggles - well, two - find themselves at St Mungo’s so shortly after the incident. My father had passed in between my last memory and my awakening, my mother had survived, but barely. After being released from the hospital my mother fell into a drunken state, and I was quickly removed from her care. She hasn’t contacted me in the eight years since, and doesn’t attend the yearly summer parties. I never did find out who the werewolf was, and I still wasn’t sure if I pitied or hated him. Perhaps both. I shook myself from the memory and turned on the shower. Nowadays I mostly cover the scars up to protect Remus. I can only imagine what rumours would spread if people thought Remus had been my attacker. I could imagine the slimy expression on that Rita Skeeters face as she spun more lies for all her thirsty readers. As if her initial article from June wasn’t enough. I scrubbed my face vigorously with the warm water, emptying my mind.
When I came back out into the dorm Emilia was in a deep sleep in her sisters bed, with a half eaten piece of chocolate beside her on the nightstand. Loaf rubbed herself against my legs a few times before hopping onto the end of Paige’s bed and curling into a ball of fur.
“Ready for dinner?” Paige asked me in a soft voice. My hair was still damp, but I nodded. And together we headed downstairs.
”I know we’re technically not allowed to bring people from other houses into our common room … but-“
”Paige, she’s your sister. I’m sure no one would bat an eye” I reassured her “Besides, people have thrown inter house parties in both the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw tower, and have gotten no real consequences.” That seemed to give Paige the reassurance she needed to relax a bit more. Once at the Hufflepuff table we took a seat, and began serving ourselves once the food appeared. I wasn’t really in a talking mood, but luckily Paige has a way with people and is able to converse with anyone. Soon she was chatting away about the latest news in the daily prophet with Cally, muggle football with Martin Benson, who’s two years younger than us, and about how much she missed ballpoint pens with any of the clearly fascinated purebloods.
Eventually the food cleared away and Dimbledore took a stand, spread his hands and waited for the hall’s attention. The students settled, and the headmaster began to speak.
”Now, as I stated during the welcome feast, we will be hosting the Triwizard tournament this year. But we cannot compete alone, so on the 29th of October we will welcome our dear friends from Durmstrang Institute for Magical Learning and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. I expect you all to be on your best behaviour and welcome them all with open arms.” Paige leaned in and whispered “Oh I can’t wait!”, I smiled and nodded in agreement. It was certainly going to be interesting to almost triple the amount of students in the castle. Dumbledore smiled “Oh!” He picked up a piece of bread that was left on his plate and took a bite before carrying on. “Claffef will enf falf hou’ ea’ly on fe fvenfy-ninf” the hall was silent for a few seconds before someone over at the Ravenclaw table called out
”With all due respect sir … Huh?” A brief wave of chuckles followed.
”My apologies Mr. Davis, what I meant to communicate, was that classes will end an half hour early on the 29th so you have time to prepare yourself for our guests arrival. Goodnight” Dumbledore chuckled and waved his arms dismissively.