Stargazing

Lacie burrowed into her blankets and only sat up when the sunlight hit her eyelids through the slip in the curtains. She rolled over and stretched her arm out to feel for her wand on her nightstand but came up empty, it was then she pried her eyes open. The cream coloured walls greeted her instead of the curtains around her bed at Hogwarts. Lacie sat up to better shake the remnants of sleep.

It was strange, she loved being here, and yet, over the course of the past few years she’d spent more time at Hogwarts then she had at home. It was, she decided, always difficult to go from the freedom to use magic to being restricted again.

A tapping on her window had her finally getting up to let Flam inside. With her wings to the sun, Flam’s feathers almost glowed a reddish orange.

The small box which contained her ribbons was rather bare; most only lasted a month or two before being lost to wherever lost things go. Despite the choices, Lacie automatically reached for the maroon one and tied her hair up into a messy bun.

With Flam on her shoulder she made their way down the stairs to the kitchen.

“Good morning,” her father greeted while flipping an egg. He gave his wand a swish and a plate flew into the air followed by cutlery.

Lacie was given little warning as a long-haired, light brown Kneazle appeared from under the table and used her lap as a stepping stone to get onto the table. He glanced at the owl who was now perched on the back of the chair. There was a moment of quiet, where the sizzling food could be heard—the two animals tumbled to the ground in a mass of feathers and fur.

“Albany! Flam!” Lacie warned. The two animals barely heard her as they scrambled, claws clacking against the tile floor as they skid across the kitchen. Flam took to the air and made her way into the yard through the cracked window while Albany sat up, groomed one of his paws, before trotting away.

“Really?” Lacie called after the feline. “You two had to start today?”

“They’ll be okay. Edgett will be back soon to keep the peace,” her father added, referring to the family’s tawny owl, as he placed the eggs and toast on her plate.

Lacie raised an eyebrow but her father looked back at her with a smile. She threw her arms up, “You and mum are the ones who are telling me to stop them fighting. I know they are smart and they don’t actually dislike each other.”

“And you know your mother doesn’t like to chance injuries. Now why don’t you tell me about your plans for the summer.”

“Probably just reading and hanging out with Albany and Flam. I’ll invite Alice at some point as well. Oh, by the way, I expect Lily is going to invite me over. Her parents will probably have questions. They are very interested in what magic can do and Lily isn’t able to answer all their questions or show them what she’s learned yet.”

“I’m sure we can manage to answer their questions,” her father agreed.

Lacie brought her cleared plate to the sink and they started to wash themselves. She grabbed a book along with a picnic blanket from her room and made her way outside. It was a muggle fantasy book; she found she quite liked their books, they had such a wide variety of topics and wild imaginations. Perhaps, it was the sheer number of muggle authors, they greatly outnumbered the numbered wizardkind authors, especially for fiction. Or maybe it was their lack of knowledge of magic. They didn’t know what actual magic could do and therefore were able to come up with intricate ideas of what magic could be.

The sun was hot as she picked her way through the long grass. A cluster of trees was the target destination. The grass thinned out and she made a note to see if she could find the hammock to put it back up. In the meantime, she lay the blanket on the ground, mindful of the tree roots and settled into reading her book.

It was a glorious time. A much needed break from the constant to-do list of school work.

And so, the days passed quickly by. The sunlit hours were long and when the weather was nice it was spent outside. The grey or rainy she stayed inside or cozied up with a blanket on the porch to read as the rain drizzled down.

It was one such damp day when a grey owl Lacie had never seen before perched on the porch railing. She took the books it carried and found a letter tucked inside the cover of the first one. It was the book she had lent to Remus. She unfolded the letter and scanned its contents:

Lacie, I hope your summer is going well.

I was finally able to get around to reading the book you lent me. I quite enjoyed it. I thought some of the similarities between the creatures they describe and the magical creatures we know are striking. Coincidence? Maybe, who can say for sure. Either way, I have used the Owl Post to return your book along with the book I was comparing it to. I would have also sent Myths of Magic: Creatures of Unknown Existence but I am currently in the middle of it.

Hopefully, you find this as interesting as I did,
Remus

Lacie lifted her book to reveal the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She had heard of it, but had never gotten around to reading it. She was very interested to see what had piqued Remus’ curiosity.

“Thank you,” Lacie said to the large owl and offered him a treat from her pocket which she kept around for Flam. The owl took the treat carefully and then took off back to the Owl Post Office.

Lacie skimmed through the new book, before getting up to go inside. There she penned a response to Remus to be sent off with Flam who had been sleeping the day away. Justifiable so for an owl.

“Think you can get this to Remus Lupin, my Gryffindor classmate?”

Flam hooted almost indignantly, as if the idea she couldn’t find and deliver a letter was a personal affront.

“Yes, yes. You are a very good and clever owl,” Lacie mollified.

The barn owl hopped forward on the desk, her claws clicking against the wood. She tilted her head while also looking downwards, in a way only an owl could.

Lacie tied a beige string around the letter to keep it closed, as she didn’t feel like melting wax. She held the letter out towards her owl. “Are you going to carry it with your beak or should I tie it to your leg?”

Flam considered the choices, before carefully plucking the letter from Lacie’s fingers with her beak. She held it by the well tied strands and hopped back to the window. With powerful wing strokes, she took to the air, soaring high into the sky.

As soon as Flam was gone, Lacie went down for tea. She was surprised to find her mother in the kitchen and the kettle beginning to whistle. Tea wasn’t something they did with any regularity, just whenever they felt in the mood for it.

“Tea?” Her mother inquired.

“Yes please,” Lacie got two tea cups from the cupboard, along with the sugar and milk.

“I saw an owl fly by, anything important?”

“Just a classmate writing to me. I lent him a book and he was returning it along with another he’s suggested.” Lacie doctored her tea with a nice helping of milk, turning it a murky golden, followed quickly by a sugar cube.

“I don’t think you’ve mentioned this friend before,” her mother came to sit across from her and waved her wand to fetch a plate of biscuits.

“I only really started speaking to him in the last few months of the year.”

“As long as he is nice. Are you planning to go outside again before dinner?”

“Probably not, I want to start organizing my stuff to see what I need more of before we get my school supplies list.” The school owl wouldn’t come for another few weeks, but Lacie preferred to have a good idea of what she wanted to bring so she could mull it over so as to not forget anything very important. Flam had been rather annoyed during her first year when she had misplaced her cauldron and this past year when she’d forgotten a textbook.

“Do you think you are going to need new robes this year?”

“They are probably okay, but I’ll check again later. Also, I could use more ribbons. I think I lost another one…” Lacie gave a sheepish smile.

“Ask your father,” Anne said to her daughter who would soon be entering her third year of Hogwarts. “He’ll take you to get your school supplies. Are you sure about taking three electives? The workload is already going to be heavier than you are used to.”

“Yes, Mum. I’m sure,” Lacie tightened her grip on her tea cup. “Plus, if it becomes too much I can always drop out of one of them. I talked to Professor McGonagall, she thinks I can do it as long as I keep on top of my work. Besides, this is basically deciding my electives, at least until sixth year.”

“Just be careful and remember it’s not the end of the world if you can’t manage three courses,” her mother rose to clear the table. As Lacie was leaving her mother said, in a quieter tone, “just do your best.”

“Thanks, Mum.” She turned and went up to her room.

Her mother was doing her best, Lacie tried to take it to heart. But sometimes, it still hurt when her mother’s first instinct was to suggest it would be too much for her to manage.

Lacie knew the issue wasn’t truly with her school work, at least not fully. It was because they never found out the source of what caused her illness to rear its head besides stress. Nothing they did fixed the issue, only lessened it marginally. Her mother was very afraid for her health. Her father was too, but it was her mother who had been the one to take her to her appointments at St. Mungo’s and talk to the healers.

Running a hand through her hair, Lacie sighed. It was no use dwelling on the issue. It would be as it always was. Besides, her elective list was already handed in and the worst case scenario was that she would drop one. That wouldn’t be the end of the world.

The mirror showed her reflection along with the tree branches from the window behind her. The Hair-Dyeing Potion had long since run its course leaving behind dark-brown locks with silver strands among them. The time spent in the sun had lightened her hair a bit and the bits of silver melted in more seamlessly.

Lacie, although still apprehensive, decided that she wouldn’t dye her hair when she went to see Lily and Marlene.

Lacie pulled out her trunk from under her bed. It was mostly empty although a few books had remained. She got sidetracked from finding supplies by the books rather quickly and found she had made no progress, save for reading a few chapters before she was called down for dinner.