A Fresh Start

Rian tucked hirself around Ada, peering out from behind the girl down the hall then up and back down to see if ze could catch a glimpse of the thing. Hir fingers twitched and drummed against hir classmate’s arm. “I dunno, I really don’t? Where are we?” Ze tipped hir chin back and - oh, well that helps. “OH! I got it! Follow me!” And the slight child fell back, dragging Ada down with hir through the mirror.

Ada followed Rian without question, letting hir drag her through the passageways. “Honeydukes?” she asked, furrowing her brow. “Is that some kind of food?”

“Ah. I didn’t realize you were new. That’s gotta be hard coming to a new school at your age. You must be in 6th or 7th year.”

She nodded before clarifying. “I’m a seventh year,” she said. “It’s hard but it’s also been a really good experience so far. Hogwarts is great.”

“That’s really interesting!” Augusta smiled brightly, “I just wrote one on the history of dragons in Eastern Asia! But in all my years, I’ve never head of somebody writing a paper like that.” Augusta herself had helped to de-gnome her family’s garden in the past, but she had never considered the fact that they had colonies and groups of gnomes that might actually travel, “What other research did you do to write the paper?”

Ada smiled shyly at her reaction, glad she didn’t think it was weird. “The history of dragons would be fascinating as well!” She thought about her question, trying to remember what sources she used. “I used a book a person wrote, I can’t quite think of the name right now, but they spent extensive time observing gnomes and their habits. It was a large book of all of the research they found,” she said. “It was really helpful.”

“That sounds pretty legit to me, at least it’s worth a try,” Flenn nodded with a smile. He had his own ways of memorizing things, places especially, but mostly it included getting lost a lot. For all the wonders the castle had to offer, it still felt like a right maze to him. “Ah, I’m er, I’m a fifth year. But I’m already sixteen!” he answered, nearly stumbling over his words, puffing out his chest and all. He didn’t want Ada to take him for a baby, he was already unimpressive enough as it was. Honestly, couldn’t his growth spurt hurry it up?

Lysander let out a small laugh as she told him how awful of a flyer she is. Not that he was a good flyer either but she had the means to become a great flyer. She had a star player under her roof! He would have never imagined that she would be bad at flying since she had to have her dad to couch her. “You can’t be serious.” He exclaimed. “Did your dad just never coach you on flying?” It was a curious question to why she hadn’t inherited her father’s balance and skill. It could be possible that he didn’t want Adaline to have to follow in his footsteps.

She shrugged again at his questioning, it made her rather uncomfortable when people asked her about it. She didn’t like being compared to her dad, because they weren’t the same person. “He did. I learned when I was really young. But I just don’t love it like he does, so I stopped when I got older,” she explained. 

“You should see how your face looks when you get worried.” He was hardly worried about getting detention anymore. In his first years he would get anxiety about the possibility of detention. Detention meant that the one part of the free time that a student was allowed while being taken away. He would have to scrub vials or organize books or write sentences. It was different from being grounded at home because at least then he would get to be in his own room and did whatever he wanted.

She shot him an exasperated look. “I  would assume it looks like I’m worried,” she said with a shake of her head. She knew she was too afraid of getting in trouble, but she didn’t exactly see it as a bad thing. She’d rather follow the rules and not get in trouble. She just didn’t see the benefits of getting in trouble. 

“It’s no problem, at all.” Augusta smiled and looked down at the cover, wondering what she was using the book as a “So….what are you studying for?” Augusta asked, transferring the dropped book to Ada, “That’s a fairly challenging topic to talk about, if I say so myself.” 

Ada smiled back at the other girl as she took it back from her. “It’s this paper I’m writing for History of Magic, about the migratory habits and mating rituals of gnomes,” she explained, cheeks flushing a little. Some people thought it was a silly topic. 

Augusta had been putting away some of her books in the library when she was alert by the sound of an object hitting the floor. Noticing that a person had dropped a book in front of her, Augusta walked quickly towards the item to see if she could locate it’s owner. . The book on the hardwood floor should have alerted it’s temporary owner of it’s displacement, but she picked it up gingerly anyways. Approaching another person walking in the opposite direction, Augusta merely tapped the assumed book dropper on the shoulder, smiled, and asked, “I’m sorry, but did you drop this just recently?”

Ada had just found what she considered to be the perfect book for her paper when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and noticed a girl she was unfamiliar with, who asked if she had dropped a book. In her haste, she must have dropped another one of the books she was carrying and hadn’t noticed. “Yeah, I must have. Thank you for noticing,” she said gratefully.

Ada instantly made him laugh when she turned around and sent him a glare. He playfully pushed her to make the glare disappear. She continued to tell him of the hell she goes through with the maze of the interior of the castle. “You’re supposed to be smart, Adaline. Don’t let them know that the general layout of the castle confuses you.” Another grin followed over his lips and he was quick to dodge if she were to move to hit him. “Please don’t tell me another history book is in your possession.” He groaned, just knowing if she were to read a history book then that will be what he hears until she finishes it. Lysander brought his hand up and rested it across his own stomach. “I can only thank you with my lips.” To which he mouthed ‘thank you. “Only thing worse than Fourth Year Charms–is anything History of Magic.” He grinned briefly when she mentioned she would be scared of his bad side but lowered its severity by comparing it to everyone elses’ bad side. “I bet those gnomes are just so complicated.” Lysander teased, knowing basically nothing regarding Gnomes. Most people weren’t interested in unraveling the mysteries written in books about Gnomes–but not Ada.

She batted at his arm playfully after he shoved her before rolling her eyes at his next statement. “If the layout of the castle was general, I’d be able to find my way around. But the staircases move, Ly,” she whined. “How am I supposed to know where I am when the castle literally shifts places?” She grinned at his reaction to her getting a new book. “As a matter of fact, it is another history book,” she said proudly. “It’s so cool, it really is. It’s about the trials real witches went through during the Salem witch trials.” She shook her head at him. “Both Charms and History of Magic are the best. Although, I don’t think I’d like to tutor in either, so I’ll give you that one,” she added with a shrug. She sniffed dramatically when he teased her about the gnomes. “They are much more complicated than we give them credit for, at least,” she defended them, even though she knew he just said it to get a rise out of her.