Perthro

:mystery:

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GRYFFINDOR TOWER was a mashup of reds, golds and lion head motifs. The common room was a wide, circular space, with a fireplace and several comfortable looking chairs. There were desks for studying, which, at the moment, held all sorts of cauldrons, pointy hats, and red and gold scarves.

The stairs to the girls dorm was to her right; the boys her left. James took his leave, apologizing to Blue for 'business' taking him elsewhere. The business in question happened to be two girls seated under a window in the common room. Rose, sticking her tongue out at her cousin, led Blue the rest of the way to the girl's dorm.

It was mostly empty, Blue's things laid on a bed in the corner of the dormitory. Rose waved her wand over the bag, and it glimmered before dulling. She'd lifted the charm that had kept James from snooping and then excused herself, saying she'd be back after checking on a few things. Blue got the idea Rose was being kind, giving Blue some privacy after everything that happened, and she couldn't have been more grateful.

Taking her bag in her arms, Blue plopped down on the bed, and suddenly her head felt heavy enough to roll off her shoulders. So much had happened. She'd flown across the Atlantic, discovered magic was real, and ended up in a school where the wizards and witches of tomorrow were trained.

But despite all of the day's revelations, one thing remained constant: Blue was alone. Sure, her surroundings were new, and, albeit, strange (like the portrait of the robust woman barring them passage to the tower without the proper password) but the fact was she was by herself.

At least, she had her things. A phone, with half it's charge. Enough clothes to last a week or two before they needed washed (which, brought up the question: did Hogwarts have a laundry room?) Socks and underwear. Deodorant. A travel-sized toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner she'd picked up at the airport convenience store. A credit card, for emergency use only.

Landing oneself in a magic school certainly counted as an emergency, though Blue didn't think ATMs were common in Hogwarts' halls. She had a few sets of pjs, ripped, oversized t-shirts mostly, and a flannel overcoat for when the weather cooled. It was enough to last her until Aunt Thea picked her up.

Glancing at her phone, she swiped through her apps, checking and double-checking to be sure she hadn't missed a text or call from Thea. But there was nothing to overlook. Thea hadn't tried to contact her.

Where were the bombardment of texts? The frantic voicemails? The threats to go to the police if Blue didn't resurface on her own?

Blue didn't want to think what next popped into her head, but she couldn't help it - Had Thea cared? It was a valid question, much as Blue didn't want to consider its answer. She hadn't seen her aunt in years, and suddenly, her dad had sent her packing and overseas to her Aunt's doorstep.

What if instead of welcoming Blue with open arms, like Blue imagined, Thea would have preferred to slam the door in Blue's face? She'd never had any kids of her own and taking in a teen was no small feat, especially someone like Blue. Her dad had probably told Thea the whole thing - that Blue was hearing songs; that she needed help, and he couldn't, what with a new gig lined up on an oil rig three thousand miles offshore. Thea had been his last recourse, and maybe she didn't want to be.

Thea and Blue's mom rarely talked. They got together for family reunions, and smiled in pictures together enough, but Thea always tensed when Blue's mom opened her mouth, as if pre-emptively offended by words yet to be said.

Why so glum, baby girl? She remembered her mom asking whenever Blue moped around the house.

Because, she thought miserably, tapping her finger to her phone screen, nobody wants me.

Her phone light up with the text Blue had written to her aunt, explaining as much as she could while leaving out the more unbelievable parts of her story.

She'd ended up with something like this: Aunt T, I'm safe. Quit freaking out (she didn't know if Aunt Thea was freaking out, but she added it anyway because she wanted to believe her Aunt would be worrying). I boarded the wrong train (which didn't make sense at all, she now realized, because she wasn't supposed to have boarded any train. King's Cross station had been a meeting point, halfway between the airport and Aunt Thea's country cottage). Ended up going to a boarding school (she omitted the tiny part about it being a magical school because Thea probably wouldn't believe the specifics). Hogwarts. Principal McGonagall is watching over me until you pick me up. The address is...The address is... (the address was what? At the edge of crazy and off your rocker? Where people dressed in robes and platforms came in fractions?) I'll send the address later.

She typed out the word, love, her finger hovering over the word. Was it too much? Too lame? After chewing on her lip with indecision, Blue erased the word, settling instead on see you soon.

Her chest ached at the last three words. See you soon. Her mother had said them to Blue before she'd left that day. And then the storm came, and with it, rain that made the roads slick, and wind that made it hard to see. Her mother had been driving a car that should have been in the shop after it started handling poorly.

Blue had been mad at her mom for not coming home when she'd promised, the cups of vanilla-chocolate swirl ice creams she had hoped they'd eat together on the back porch, melting in her hands while she waited.

Laying back in the bed, she propped herself up on a few stripped pillows, and did what she often did when alone - she started doom-scrolling.

Certain the castle didn't come equipped with an internet connection, she turned off her cell's Wi-Fi, using up whatever was left on her data plan.

Tentatively, she typed the words Hogwarts and Magic School into a browser. The search engine immediately tried to correct her words. Did you mean "Hog's warts?" Blue accidentally made the correction stick, and several pictures of sickly pigs showed up in the image section, along with articles on how to diagnose sick livestock.

She backed out, and continued her search, trying Wizards and Witches instead. Pictures of Halloween costumes filled the browser. Men and women with thick green makeup and fake warts. Black robes, plastic cauldrons, pointy hats and broomsticks. Not unlike what she'd seen in the Principal's office, but it didn't feel authentic. Just an imitation of the real thing.

"Ah," came a voice. Blue glanced up from her phone. Rose was rushing into the room, two bottles in her hand. She held one out to Blue. "Here," she said, plopping down on the bed beside Blue.

Blue eyed the bottle, and it's orange contents while Rose undid the cap and took a swig. "Pumpkin juice," she said, after swiping her arm over her mouth to wipe off any excess.

Blue slowly undid the cap. She sniffed the contents. It smelled faintly sweet before taking a sip. A refreshing trickle slid down her throat. "Oh," she said, surprised. "That's not bad."

Rose playfully slapped Blue's shoulder. "Did you think I'd feed you poison?"

Blue shook her head. "No but-" she placed the bottle between her legs. "Maybe inadvertently?"

Rose snorted, and then a moment of silence precipitated between them. It only ended, when Rose pointed at Blue's lap. "That's your-" her face scrunched, as she fumbled for words.

"Phone," added Blue. Rose nodded. "Grandad would lose his mind if you brought one of those to him. He loves Muggle things. Enchanted a Muggle car once. Dad and my Uncles flew it around. Got in loads of trouble."

Blue gasped. First hungry rugs, now this? Flying cars? And Rose talked about it all like it was nothing. Blue hadn't even gotten her hand wrapped around the basics, magic existing for example, but already Rose was committed to steam-rolling ahead, with more absurd facts about the Wizarding World. "So what's it do?" Rose jutted her chin.

"What's what do?"

"Your phone?"

Blue picked it up, noticing the way Rose's eyes widened. Maybe her granddad wasn't the only one with an interest in Muggle things. "I can make call people. Or text them," she opened her messenger and held it up to Rose. With a tentative finger, Rose poked at the screen. She squeaked when all her messing with it prompted a dog emoji to appear. "And what's that?" She looked eagerly down at the cutely, colored dog and its heart-shaped eyes.

"An emoji." Rose nodded, enthusiastically. "You can use them in place of words. Unless its your parents, or relatives, or anyone older, because they will not get it, no matter how many times you explain it." Blue thought about the she'd sent her father, all of which needed follow-up texts, explaining the prior text in easy-to-read-for-parents speech.

Rose furrowed her brow. "So like sending an owl, but strange."

"Wait." Blue sat up straighter. McGonagall had mentioned something about an owl earlier. "You use owls to send messages? Like the animal?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Owl Post, to send letters and parcels. Most wizarding families have one, though there's posts all over the world. School has their own too. Students too. My family's got Pigwidgeon, though he's old, and so small he's practically useless." Rose blew out her cheeks, and a mound of her hair slid in front of her eyes. She grumbled something about needing it thinned out again, before locking the pieces behind her ears. "My Uncle Percy's got a screeching owl, but he's so haughty he refuses to carry any letters he deems beneath him. Malfoy's got his own personal owl. An eagle owl, named Grus. Hates me, it does - terrible judge of character. Flaps its wings whenever I try to tie a package to its leg. Scratched me dozens of times." She sighed, and ran a finger along the mouth of her glass. "The little prat lets Albus do whatever to it. Personally, I think the owl only likes Slytherins."

"I-" Blue paused as she tried to make heads or tails of the information flowing from Rose's mouth. A million questions swam in and out of her head, but the one that rose above the rest was, "what's a Slytherin?"

"Oh?" Rose jumped up, enthusiastically. Blue thought the other girl liable of bumping her head on the ceiling. "Oh! You don't know?" Blue shook her head. "Of course you don't. You wouldn't. Being a Muggle." Blue frowned. "There're four houses in Hogwarts. Every first year gets sorted according to this hat-"

"A hat? Like a wide brim?"

Rose tilted her head. "Not sure. But the thing's dingy, and definitely has a few stitches loose. When it sorted James into Gryffindor, I thought it'd gone completely daffy, and needed to be retired, but then I got sorted into Gryffindor -- obvious choice -- so," she shrugged, "maybe it's not so terrible."

Though Rose had been talking for a while now, Blue was still wrestling with the idea of a sorting hat. There were baseball hats and cowboy hats, fedoras and fez caps, but no hats with jobs, unless you counted their sole purpose of keeping the sun out of one's eyes.

"Al chose Slytherin. Scorpius is Slytherin through and through. The hat was barely on his head before it was announcing his house. Bet young master Malfoy," she added sarcastically, "bleeds green and silver. Hugo's Gryffindor too."

"Hugo?"

Rose slapped her forehead. "Yeah, you wouldn't know him, he's out sick. My little brother. Him and Lily, that's Al and James's little sister, came down with Spattergroit. Bad cases, too. Hugo's face looks like a bruised turnip. Our Uncle George sends us updates. James got a pretty gnarly photo of Hugo vomiting through his nose... Anyway, it's super contagious, so they can't come to school. Lucky prats. I'd give anything to miss out on a year."

Even though Rose was easy to talk to, and didn't mind answering Blue's questions, unlike Mrs. McGonagall, who asking questions to was about as fruitful as trying to pry answers from a statue, it seemed that no matter how much she knew about Hogwarts, about this Wizarding World, it only prompted more questions. And headaches, lots and lots of headaches.

"I wish you'd be staying longer," said Rose, snapping Blue out of her thoughts. Blue stared at the girl, at her earnest brown eyes, her reddened cheeks, her tilted smile, and seemingly untamable amount of hair. She seemed to mean what she said, despite knowing Blue heard songs. Despite Blue being a Muggle, a person without magic. Despite her not belonging in this place.

A small, faint warmth flickered inside of Blue's chest. "Really?" she said, glancing down. She tugged on one of her curls. When straightened, her hair fell well below her shoulder, but when it sprang back, it barely grazed her collarbone.

"Of course! I've never been friends with a Muggle. Though Mum is Muggle-born, I," Blue flicked her eyes back to the other girl on the bed, and saw that a shadow had fallen across Rose's face. Her mouth tensed, "I never knew her parents. The war forced her to-" She gulped, and Blue knew if not for McGonagall's wards, she would have heard Rose's song, and somehow, she got the feeling it'd be different, sadder. "Well, it forced a lot of people to make sacrifices."

"What war?" she asked.

At this, the darkness shading Rose's features was banished, and her face was bright and dewy again. "The Wizarding War. Against Voldemort and his followers, Death Eaters. Because of my Mum and Dad and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, he was defeated and a lot of people were saved," her gaze skimmed a row of windows on the far side of the room. Orange-tinted light from the setting sun, poured over unused beds, and empty bedside tables. Blue wondered where everyone else was. "A lot of people were lost too." Blue felt like she shouldn't have asked about the war. "But," Rose got to her feet, swept the hair from her eyes, and stretched. She wore a cropped t-shirt that exposed her stomach whenever her arms went anywhere above shoulder-height. "I don't want to talk about that. Makes everyone blue. Hey-" she rounded on Blue, and reached for her, taking both hands in hers, "is that why you're called Blue? You a sad kid or something?"

"The doctor did remark I was a sullen baby," Rose chuckled, "or so I was told. But my mom," Blue's fingers twitched as she ran them over the bottle of her Pumpkin juice, "she loved the color blue. And technically, my First name's Ocean."

"Why's that? You love beaches or something? Were you born covered in sand?"

She chuckled and shook her head, her curls brushing softly against her cheeks. "No. My grandma, she, she got sick when she got older. Had a hard time moving, harder time remembering faces. She always told my mom she wanted to see the ocean before she...before she was gone completely.  When I was born, my mom put me in my grandma's arms, and told her my name was Ocean. In a roundabout way, my grandma got to see an ocean, and my mom got to see her smile, one last time."

"Sounds lovely."

Blue agreed. "It was, though it must have been hard for mom. My grandmother was pretty tough in her younger days. Always fighting. Towards the end, well--" She shook her head, her smile wavering. "Anyway, heard a ton of stories about grandma's antics..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Blue shook her head, "But none involving flying cars."

"It'd be a crazy coincidence if they did," said Rose, grinning wildly.

"You seem to be getting along well," said a voice near the door. Blue and Rose turned. James stood in the doorway, his eyes sparkling mischievously. Rose jumped up. "How'd you get in here?"

James smirked. "I have my ways."

"And McGonagall's got her protections. You should have been zapped and turned into a puddle by now."

"A magician never reveals his tricks." To prove Rose wrong, he took another step into the room, assured he would not, as she put it, turn into a puddle. To Rose's dismay, he did, remain intact.

She huffed, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Uncle George told you something."

"He gave me a few ideas, sure," James shrugged, "but ultimately, I was the one who figured out how to get past the wards. You know me, Rosie. Rules have never stopped me before."

"No," With a gleam in her eye, Rose pulled out her wand, "But a good Bat Boogey hex ought to." She raised it in front of her, aimed at James.

He froze on the spot. "Rose-"

"Get out."

"But-" his hands waved in front of himself. "Rose, I-"

"Get. Out."

James glanced at Blue. As if she could do anything to save him.

Rose began muttering a strange word when, "Don't you want to show Blue around Hogwarts?" he sputtered.

Rose glanced at Blue, before returning her attention to her cousin. Her wand was still raised. "McGonagall said we can't."

"McGonagall says a lot of things, and that's never stopped us before."

Rose considered this, then slowly, lowered her wand. "Hogwarts is pretty amazing." She turned to face Blue. "I'm sure you'd love it."

And Blue, gullible to a fault, thought she would, so long as she avoided stepping on any carpets.

*

She'd been wrong. Oh so wrong. Turned out, the carpets weren't the only things potentially dangerous in Hogwarts; pretty much everything was. From staircases, to dungeons, to a giant squid monster in a lake, to actual giants on campus, everything was deadly.

Constantly changing staircases made it near impossible to find the room you were looking for, since the route was never the same. When Blue asked why they'd made steps whose only function seemed to be in creating chaos, James chuckled. And Rose had shrugged. After Blue's foot gotten lodged inside a step, and James had told her to simply stop struggling, she had screamed for a return to normalcy. A circle of students, intrigued by her behavior, had gathered around, blinking in confusion. Some smiled with delight.

Finally, Blue had managed to free her foot, and after being convinced by Rose it wouldn't happen again, Blue allowed the tour to resume, though she never looked at another staircase the same. She was shown to dungeons, and classrooms, the Great Hall, where a creature half her height, with bat-wings for ears, squeaked its introduction. The creature was a house elf named Gobs, and, according to James, the best cook at the school.

She was taken around the grounds, to the lake, which she was warned contained merfolk and a large tentacled monster that liked being fed cookies. When asked if she'd enjoy a demonstration, Blue had stumbled back and tumbled into a bush. She spent the rest of the tour picking leaves from her hair, and brambles off her clothes.

The groundskeeper's hut was next to a forest Blue was told was called the "Forbidden Forest." Apparently, it was where all manner of magical creature lived - a horde of centaurs, not tolerant of humans, called it home, as well as a large horde of giant, man-eating spiders. The groundskeeper's giant half-brother also lived there, and Hagrid - that was the groundskeeper's name - was trying to adapt him to Wizarding society, spent a great deal of time in the woods, teaching him etiquette and proper English. If she saw any fires raging in the forest, she was told to stay away, as Grawp was probably throwing a tantrum at his slow progress.

Next, Blue was shown where the owls lived. The school had its own army of Barn Owls, like Rose had mentioned. But there were others too, students' pet owls, ranging from screeching to snowy. James took pleasure in pointing out the differences between the breeds to Blue, although he did so too close to comfort, his shoulder brushing against Blue's for the duration of the lesson, which did nothing but threaten to ruin Rose's mood. He pointed out a particularly handsome owl, with all white feathers, who slept with its beak nestled comfortably in the crux of its wing. "That's Artemis," he disclosed, proudly. "He's mine. Got him fifth year, for killing it on my OWLs." He smirked, and prodded Blue's shoulder. "Get it? OWLS?"

At this, Rose had rolled her eyes.

"Handsome bloke though, isn't he?"

Blue nodded. She hadn't seen many owls in her days, but Artemis stood out, even surrounded by so many. The owl beside him did too. It had brown features, and small, pointed eyes. But it was proud, if a bird could be proud, as it set to preening itself.

"Shame," said Rose. "All you do is send Artie to deliver those sappy sonnets you write."

"The recipients of those sonnets," James said, defensively, "happen to love them."

"Ugh, come on." Rose tugged Blue's shirt, and the trio was off again, and the peace at seeing a place on Hogwarts property that wasn't a health hazard all but disappeared. She was introduced to Gryffindor's ghost, Nearly Headless Nick - and almost fainted. She only managed to stay alert because James had threatened to kiss her awake, like the princes did in all the fairytales. While Blue was in the middle of describing that kind of behavior as assault, Nearly Headless Nick had moaned something about being unappreciated, his head had flapped to one side, and he'd trudged morosely through the wall and disappeared from sight.

Blue learned of the other ghosts that haunted Hogwarts's halls, and was given strict instruction by James and Rose to avoid the one called Peeves as best she could. If he found out she was a muggle, they feared, he'd set his ghastly sights on her, and never give her a moment of peace. Blue's no-nonsense promise seemed sufficient for both her tour guides. Blue marveled at the amount of students roaming the halls - all future witches and wizards- with magical abilities. Some wore robes, with, as Rose explained, the colors of the houses they belong too. Red and gold for Gryffindor. Blue and bronze for Ravenclaw. Black and yellow for Hufflepuff. Green and silver for Slytherin, the house that united the others against it with their collective disgust.

Dark wizards and witches often came from Slytherin, amongst them, Voldemort and most of his followers, people called Death Eaters. Albus and Scorpius were Slytherins, and when Blue asked of their whereabouts, Rose remarked about them being in a dungeon as that was where the Slytherin common room was.

The tour ended after two hours, with Mrs. McGonagall storming down the hallway, and practically chasing them back to Gryffindor tower, with promises of detention for both Rose and James flying off her lips at breakneck speeds. Blue was reprimanded in a gentler manner, and told to mind her position here - she was a muggle, someone non-magical in Hogwarts. She was vulnerable to things witches and wizards were not, and Hogwarts presented a surprising amount of danger to someone like her.

She didn't need to have the old woman yelling that in her ears for it was all too apparent. Giants. Forbidden Forests. Ever-changing staircases. A monster in the lake. Yes, for someone like her, Hogwarts was a veritable death trap. She wondered why it was made, as it seemed each piece of it, each stone, and step, constructed from whim, rather than foresight and logic.

None of it made sense. And when she expressed this to Rose, once safely retreated to the dorms, Rose fell back on her back, cackling. By the time they were settled properly in the dorms, Blue's things laid on a bed next to Rose's, evening had fallen over the grounds. When Rose had tried to get Blue to have dinner in the Great Hall, Blue had decided to eat her meal in the dorm.

"It just doesn't make sense to you," said Rose, after her laughing fit had been thoroughly exhausted.

Blue scowled. "This place," her arms flailed over her head, imitating the way the tentacles had shot from the depths of the lake, once James had thrown a peach into it. Apparently, 'to give the good, old boy a snack', "is a death trap!"

"It's a school mostly." Rose batted her eyelashes at a girl who walked in, a trunk floating at her heels. When she caught wind of Rose's glance, she grew sheepish, blushing profusely. She raised a hand, and waved, a smile hidden in her cinnamon-colored eyes.

Satisfied with the girl's reaction, she returned her attention to Blue. "Maybe some parts of it are bad for the health."

"And Quidditch!"

Rose raised an eyebrow, as she took out a wand, and began twirling it on her fingers. "What about it?"

"There's no net!" huffed Blue. "You're telling me students play up there," she pointed at the ceiling, "with no net?"

Rose nodded, eyes half-closed, her interest in the conversation fading fast.

"They could die."

"Anyone gets injured gets sent to the hospital wing. Fixed up in no time. Madame Alphesia's a whiz with medical potions. With her by your bedside, you'll have the easiest time regrowing any bones you might need."

At this, Blue was certain her eyes would tumble from their sockets. "Regrow bones?"

Rose turned over on her bed, propping herself on her elbow. "Yeah, there's not a Muggle equivalent of that?"

Blue shook her head. "Hmm," said Rose, taking a piece of hair and twirling it around her finger, "Mum said Muggles have made astounding steps in scientific discovery, but if you can't even regrow bones," she released her hair, which like Blue's, sprung right back into a untamable curl, "I'm glad I'm a witch."

Blue stabbed a potato balanced dangerously on the edge of her plate, and shuffled a few peas around a pool of gravy, before deciding that she was done, even if her stomach still gurgled.

"Is this what's really bothering you," asked Rose unprompted.

Placing her fork down, she glanced at Rose. "What makes you ask that? This school is a death trap-"

Rose waved her arms, a crease running straight between her eyes. "But, it can't just be it. There feels like there's something more." Warmth swam in her gaze.

Blue sighed, her back smacking the headboard. She rearranged a few of the pillows, placing them around her like a moat. "My aunt," she started, her mouth suddenly feeling as though she'd eaten handfuls of sand, instead of delicious stew. Across the bed, Rose waited patiently. She'd stopped sopping up the last of her gravy with her bread and gazed at Blue with clear, brown eyes. "She hasn't gotten back to me. No messages. No voicemails. When I call, it goes unanswered." She squeezed her hands. "What if she's glad I'm not around?"

"Why'd she be glad if that happened?"

"Because," Blue punched the pillow closest her, "I hear songs."

"Don't all Muggles hear songs?"

She shook her head. "As far as I know, I'm the only one." Blue grabbed a handful of the scarlet comforter and squeezed. "I must be cursed."

Rose gave a knowing shake of her head.

"When I told dad, he shipped me across an ocean just to put some distance between himself and his freak daughter. I was supposed to be looked after by my aunt. But what if she doesn't want me around? What if she was excited about me being gone? I was just a burden for her to shoulder. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm just unwanted and-" Oof.

Slender arms wrapped around Blue's back and a mound of bushy brown hair was brushing her cheek, and trying to worm it's way up her nose. She blew out. "Ro-"

"You looked like you needed it." The arms around Blue tightened.

Had she looked like it? People always thought Blue looked sad and on the verge of tears, but she'd only ever felt that way some of the time. This, had it been one of those times?

"I'm," said Rose, her voice close to Blue's ear, her breath warm and smelling of yeast and spice, tickling Blue's cheek. "Not the greatest at respecting people's personal space. It's something I'm working on, but not right now." She strengthened her hug. Finally, Blue returned it, placing her arms around the other girl.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Rose pulled away. Staring directly into Blue's face, so there could be no misunderstanding, she said, "You'll be okay." Blue shook her head. "McGonagall's going to keep trying to reach your aunt, so you need to do the same." Again, Blue nodded.

"And if-" Rose ran her fingers through her hair. "If you stay a little longer at Hogwarts, well-" her gaze drifted over to the window, before meeting Blue's again. Her cheeks were the slightest bit rosy. "You won't be alone, cuz I'll be here. We can be besties."

Blue chuckled and Rose, cheeks puffed out, playfully threw a pillow at her. "I'll have you know I make a great friend. I'm fun and funny. Reliable. Trustworthy-"

"McGonagall might disagree," pointed out Blue.

"Yeah but," Rose jutted her chin. "I'm not trying to convince McGonagall to be my friend, now am I?" Her eyebrow arched, and Blue laughed. "Besides," continued Rose, "I'll keep that git James away from you."

"That does sound lovely," Blue said, relaxing into the mound of pillows at her back.

"So that's it then?" asked Rose. "Friends? You and me?"

Blue nodded. "Yeah, friends."

A wave of relaxation crested over Rose. "Good," she glanced outside, at the stretch of midnight blue, and stripe of sparkling stars. "We should probably get some sleep." With a creak, she got off Blue's temporary bed, and pulled the covers off the one to Blue's left.

Blue snuggled beneath the red bed cover.

"Goodnight, Blue," said Rose, drawing the covers up to just below her nose. She looked funny like that, just a pile of hair and two eyes.

"Goodnight," said Blue. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and her worries, about Aunt Thea, about Hogwarts, about what tomorrow would bring, seemed a million miles away because no matter what, Blue wouldn't be alone.