0.28 - The Big Bad Wolf, or Dog
Celestine enters an empty ladies’ bathroom and heads to the showers, preparing herself for the midnight Astronomy lecture she shared with the other fifth years from Hufflepuff. And as she was about to dry herself off, she hears Hermione’s sniffles. So she quickly dresses up and dries her hair with the towel, heading to the Gryffindor girl.
“Hey, Hermione, what’s wrong?” Celestine asks, worried for her acquaintance, “Did something happen?”
“It’s nothing…” Hermione sniffles, covering her face with her cloak, “I’m fine, I swear.”
Celestine, frowning, pats Hermione’s back, letting her be comfortable.
“Hey, it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, but just admit that you’re not okay.”
“Alright: I’m not fine,” Hermione looks up to Celestine, her eyes puffy and red, “I just…You know how I’m academically good?”
The Ravenclaw nods, curious about where the Gryffindor is heading.
“Well, while I was just walking in the Library, seeing if I could borrow more books, I heard those Slytherin girls in my year talking bad about me: they called me slurs and everything.”
“What kind of slurs?”
“Do you know what ‘mudblood’ means? It’s a slur for Muggle-born: wizards or witches whose parents are Muggles.”
“I assume the girls saying those aren’t Muggle-born?”
“No, they’re not, and I’m frustrated that they can just say what they want, not caring if they hurt the background people have.”
Celestine frowns and embraces Hermione, caressing the girl’s bushy hair, letting her feel safe and calm in her arms.
“I can’t do anything about that, but there are always going to be people who are prejudiced, or discriminate, so ignore them and move forward: be better than them, and be the person they can’t evolve to.”
“That’s one of the best things I’ve heard someone say,” Hermione sniffles in Celestine’s arms.
“Oh, sweetie, that’s a low bar,” The Ravenclaw frowns and continues to embrace the Gryffindor until she calms down.
A path once known will twist and break, as the night devours what fate will take…
It was as though the sun had set and the moon had risen; Hermione finally calmed down while Celestine grew frantic, attempting to disguise her expression as calm and collected, compared to her mind, which was a whirlwind of chaos, repeating the same words over and over again.
The words were practically embedded in her head by now: it was and is destined to happen, so she had to beg, hope that the goddess of witchcraft would be able to help her anytime soon.
A month has passed and nothing of the sort happened, except for the fact that Celestine obtained a constant migraine, her sanity slowly but surely declining with the same words in her head over and over again.
Now it’s midnight and she can’t go to sleep unlike her dormmates, so she leaves the Ravenclaw Tower and heads to the Forbidden Forest, letting her feet and inpulsiveness lead the way, and eventually sees a large black dog, lapping up water from a neaby lake and she stops, hiding behind a tree.
“Why did I have to go here?” Celestine says to herself, gritting her teeth. As she sees the dog stopping in its tracks before lapping up water once more, she turns around and silently walks away.
Fuck, she said in her head, accidentally stepping on a fallen twig, the sound echoing through the woods, and it surely caught the dog’s attention.
As the dog skipped towards her, she shivers and attempts to run as fast as she can while screaming, terrified that it might bite her. But nothing seemed to have stopped the animal as it turned into a human, its voice belonging to a man.
“Woah, woah, I’m not here to kill you!” The man says, appearance unhygienic.
Celestine slowly turns around and eyes the man up and down, with an appalled look on her face, “For a man who can turn into a big black dog, you sure aren’t looking like it in human form, or whatever you are.”
“Amusing, I’ll give you that,” The man smiles, his teeth as yellow as the peel of a banana, “Listen, I might need your help with…something.”
“And why would I help a stranger who can turn into an animal in an abandoned forest?”
“Vengeance.”
“Excuse me, what?”
“You don’t seem to be the kind of person who gets even? Wants it fair?”
“No, no! I’m very much a fair person, but…why are you here? At an institution, no less.”
“So are you going to help me?”
Celestine shakes her head, crossing her arms, nails scratching her fingers, “What would I even benefit from this? And don’t say you getting even.”
The man nods, his hands on his hips, “Because Harry will have a choice, a choice where he can stay.”
“Harry Potter?”
“Are there any other ‘Harry’s in Hogwarts?”
“Yeah, actually-”
“Yes, I meant Harry Potter! Will that shut you up now?”
“Sorry then.”