Hogwarts (Meg)

Later, Dumbledore is away for a few hours, I did not bother to learn the reason, so I decide to fix the clothes I'm going to wear, and check if I'm running out of cigarettes, I've been smoking a lot of them per day, nevertheless I still have a great stock.

I have no idea why people perceive my clothes as sumptuous and eccentric. Alright, maybe I know, but these are supposed to be the 90's, the society should be evolving, shouldn't it?

Furthermore, this year I don't have the slightest intention of wearing the uniform.

While I'm looking at the green dress that I've previously pulled out of a trunk, on a big bench in Albus's office, I notice that it looks like another dress, in a different colour, that used to be mine, who knows where did it go...how is it possible that even a piece of cloth could make my mind fly?

Back in times, when I had another life.

I put away the green dress, and I proceed to sit on the desk, moving the books aside.

"I would really like to go back in time" I sigh while petting Wendy, who has joined me; she has long white whiskers, a bit dirty of molasses, she must've had popped into the elves'kitchens, or maybe some Hufflepuff student on their way had offered her something.

"If only there was a way to find Sirius".

I jump off the desk and begin to rummage trough the shelves, using the wood ladder, since I have nothing else to do. The clicking of my nails on the rough book covers pricks up Wendy's ears as she stares at me in a focused way. Finally, I discover a discolored dusty album, yet the date is still perfectly legible, '1977'.

It's my fifth year yearbook...Dumbledore must've deliberately kept it.

I come down the ladder and sit on the floor, the yearbook cover is maroon, and a gold ribbon serves as a seal. I undo the little bow and browse trough the pages, watching the picture moving. I happen to see a detached photo: it portrays a group of such young and light-hearted folks, all different from each other, and then there's me , probably just as happy, judging by the smile.

Just the movements of the picture could provoke commotion to me, and yet nothing. Lily's strand of red hair is used as a mustache by a guy, with glasses and dark hair, standing right next to her: James Potter, who is wearing the Quidditch uniform. Standing next to him, there I am, with the same uniform, dangerously clinging to Sirius's shoulders, who is wearing an unbuttoned shirt and his hair in a bun held together by a wand. Right next to Lily, there's a boy with an embarrassed smile and a long scar on his face, Remus, showing the transifiguration book. Sitting on the floor is Peter Pettigrew... a blonde boy, who stares at the camera lens trying to smile.

"How could I not understand straightaway? It's always been you" I watch his little amber eyes.

I put the photo back to its place and take the casket from the trunk, I open it and twist in my hands the engagement ring, with whom Sirius proposed to me.

"We will be a family, I promise you" I whisper, moving aside the blonde hair from my forehead.

Flashback

It's just a dormitory, it's not that important! Sharing the room won't determine friendships. The baldaquin's red drapes in Gryffindor tower's girls dorm were warmly welcoming, aside for the roommates who were glaring, without even introducing themselves. Dorothy Brown and Susie Patil were not even in the slightest nice, and the young girl was always embarrassed, however she got used to it from year to year.

Even though, once, Megan had always had no difficulty in making friends.

But she was in a very different school, Hogwarts, in fact, was the place where most lasting relationships were born.

You just needed to find your own spiritual dimension, compliant with others, and you were done.

Megan had found it.

Maybe it was not what she had imagined, maybe not with the people she used to spend time with, nor with the same spirit.

She attended classes with Pandora, a trusted classmate, even though often busy staring into space and then writing hastily some ideas on an orange notebook. Young Lestrange loved creating machines, potions, everything, even new spells, that didn't work. So, she was often targeted by some bullies, Meg tried to defend her and cheer her up, and she always managed to.

Lily Evans was not afraid of being teased for befriending a younger girl.

However a quite singular guy, very outspoken and with an insufferable sarcasm, had noticed something in Megan, and needed to do everything to gain her attention. Even being unpleasant.

During her third year, Lily had had Megan join her strange friend group.

Marlene Mckinnon, Lily's roommate, had befriended James Potter, who had a crush on Lily, and his friends. The Gryffindor boy had made it known to everyone at school, but Lily didn't feel the same for him, actually, she joined the group because of Remus Lupin, a very shy boy she got along with, especially to review the lessons, who had also befriended Megan. Marlene was nice to Megan, who, curious since her first year, had observed the girl's dirty blonde mullet, and she had decided that as soon as possible she also would've had more piercings just like Mckinnon: in fact during the holidays she did it.

Just like that, an evening, miss Evans introduced Megan to the four boys: James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

The first and the last one laughed after hearing her name, she thought they were being rude and out of place, famous for their jokes, especially against the Slytherins.

James welcomed Meg with an hug, getting her uniform all dirty of indelible white magi-paint and pulled her copper braid, which became cream white.

All of this made everyone at school laugh, and Remus and Lily -that had been nominated prefect that year- promptly helped her getting clean.

The redhead girl, however, always tried to involve Megan, who declined every invitation, after what had happened...

Remus, though, seemed so kindred to her temper, reserved and not intrusive, yet too introverted for her.

Nevertheless he was the only one who didn't pull pranks on her, nor made fun of her. Sirius Black straight up ignored her when he saw her in the castle's hallways, like he was offended and didn't enjoy bothering her.

She did the same, even though, his intense perfume forced her to slightly turn around and meet his grey eyes when he walked nearby: a cigarettes scent mixed with black orchid.

Megan felt really alone sometimes, just during that summer, she didn't go back home. Even though, Hagrid took her around and made her meet some new niffler pet- furry black magic creatures, that love precious things and are raised by the goblins- that wasn't enough for her.

So she sat under a tree, drawing.

What did she draw? Still life and trees.

Plants, trees, flowers and fruits seemed to keep her company.

She always drew the tulips small, whereas the roses were almost as big as the paper sheet, they were also really detailed, with their thorns and petals that should have been scarlet red.

Her sketches had to be always achromatic, simple, just like her, at least how she had been feeling lately. The school's landscape, surrounded by the green countryside, was a perfect subject.

One afternoon, at the end of June, while she was sitting under an oak and was keeping her sketchbook on her knees, a strange animal approached her.

She almost didn't notice him, because she was focused drawing a tree with different branches, similar to a tree of Life, the specimen that muggles loved and she appreciated too.

The animal took steps towards her, and finally, the girl looked up.

Initially, she gasped, her sketchbook fell on the meadow, and she stepped back.

He was a big black dog, he didn't growl, he simply stared at her and, at some point, he leaned his head in a questioning way.

Megan gulped, touching the oak with her shoulders.

"Oh...it's just a dog, alright, doggie, now leave...I have nothing for you" she nervously stuttered, looking for something to throw at him. The dog didn't want to go away, and with his paw pushed the sketchbook towards her, which Megan took it immediately.

"Thank you..." she whispered weirded out and she sat again.

The dog slowly lay down next to her, relaxing his paws and keeping on observing her.

Megan, in order to disguise her fear, tried to ignore him and went on drawing her tree, but her hand lightly trembled, she feared that the dog could hurt her.

Yet, that was not the case, actually, he stood still, leaving a bunch of minutes before the girl.

That night Meg went to bed with the hope of never being taken by surprise in her favourite place. After receiving the sudden news from her mother that told her to stay at school, due to some problems with her father...Megan bursted into tears, she taught her parents would come pick her up a few days after the end of the school year, but instead...That way Lily didn't even have the opportunity to invite her home.

So, gripped by insomnia, she got out of bed and sat at the desk, and took her sketchbook from her leather purse. She wrote some words to describe how she was feeling in order to draw it. Her heart became definitely lighter and she thought that, the following day, Albus would have invited her to have breakfast with the remaining professors. At least she shouldn't have had to bear her joking companions, or seeing Lucius Malfoy, a Slytherin pureblood boy, who locked her in a dark closet without her wand, then blaming Peter Pettigrew. Malfoy's long platinum hair bothered her, he was such a spoiled dandy, almost worse than James and Sirius.

She brushed her hair, and softly braided it, keeping out some rebel strands, then, she closed her sketchpad and went to bed on her soft mattress, covering herself with a light blanket.

There were some stars that night, and one of them was very bright.