Durmstrang hadn't had a nearby village and the only one close enough to consider letting students go to was completely muggle so it was out of the question.

  One Thursday after transfiguration McGonagall called the three girls up to her desk, reminding her slightly of a group of past students.

  The three girls who stood in front of her desk looked lighter and happier than they had that first day in Dumbledore's office, a slight smile crossed her face, Hogwarts had done good on them.

  "Miss. Lewis, Miss. Reed, Miss. Potter." She greeted. "I'm sure you have heard about the village hogsmead and the students opportunity to visit it."

  Estelle nodded, answering for the group.

  "Normally students must have permission from a parent or guardian to visit the village-"

  "We haven't got any." Hazel interrupted. " I mean we really haven't got anyone, you cant just say we aren't allowed to attend because our parents dropped us first chance they got."

  McGonagall held up a hand to silence the girl. Hazel paused for a minute but continued, sick of being treated like she wasn't going to be the one making her decision whether she had a legal guardian or not.

  "No, I'm sick of being treated like I'm not my guardian. No adult has been there for me. I was alone until I was Eleven, then I got Estelle, then Lucia but I never got an adult. We've only had each other for the past four years, we've been raising ourselves our whole lives. Why can't we be in charge of ourselves? We were all dumped, we aren't wanted. Estelle heard it first hand from the woman who gave birth to her, Lu watched her parents leave her, lock her away. My parents didn't even have enough decency to leave anything other than my blanket on me with my name. We were all left out alone to die. Stop trying to find someone who supposedly wants us, no one does."

  Lucia and Estelle made eye contact. Both agreeing with their friends words, but uncomfortable that it was being spewed. Lucia also made a mental note to talk to her friends about her outburst and try to figure out why she was going off so hard on the woman, it was obviously heavy on the girls mind, after all, they were alone, her last name was Potter and Hogwarts students did seem to gossip a lot.

  Hazel had been quiet while she adjusted to Hogwarts but now she was adjusted and back to fighting. Hazel always seemed more comfortable in an move, knowing she was less likely to be moved again while she adjusted however as soon as she woke up, knowing where she was her guard went back up, not knowing when the next change would come. She had finally felt like Durmstrang was a place she'd stay until she graduated and now the little security she had was gone.

  McGonagall shook off the outburst, surprising Lucia who expected a yelling match between the two spitfires.

  "As you currently have no guardian, you all may simply sign the form for yourself as it is easier than getting a worker from the ministry to sign." She explained.

  Hazel nodded, glad to have some control but recognizing the words "worker from the ministry" meant that'd soon disappear again.

  All three girls signed their permission slips, Lucia reading the contract at the top, Hazel skimming it and Estelle just adding her messy scrawl to the bottom, ignoring the words at the top.

§

  For the three, the weekend couldn't come fast enough, that Friday was the longest of their lives. The school was buzzing with talk of the hogsmead trip so they were getting ideas of shops to go into but the trio knew they'd end up just wandering.

  To pass the time the girls finally threw together a letter. A letter to the one person who promised them he'd take them in if he could. Finding out the town had a post office gave the girls a chance to write to their ex-potions teacher who seemed to understand what it was like to not really fit or have a family. He shared how his parents wouldn't accept less than perfection and even then the praise wasn't love, he wasn't loved by them at all.

  The small group had grown close to him during the year that he taught before he took off to raise his daughter but encouraged them to keep in touch as he understood what it was like to be unwanted and float through life.

  Uncle Atticus,

  You promised you'd find a way to try and get custody of us when Ms. Coy gave us up. Well that day has arrived, we are also now in London, attending Hogwarts. How's little Aquila doing? Last you wrote you said you had moved to a cottage in the Scottish countryside, how does she like it?
  I promise I've been working hard however the potions professor here is an a-hole and makes everything harder. Someone said that 2 years ago it was a students boggort and the best part was he put him into the kids grandma's clothes.

  I've found the trouble makers of this school so now I am keeping tabs on them, of course. We haven't wrecked havoc yet on the school, considering we were invited after getting expelled. I can't do that to Lucia again though, I convinced her that we wouldn't get in trouble, her part in our pranks were always well known and that can't happen again, life's already going to be harder for her, hopefully an education will help her go farther, as we all know she can.

  Also don't be mad at us for getting expelled, I know it's bad but it could have been worse, I mean hey now we're at Hogwarts which is larger and you can actually explore outside. I know it looks bad and it was bad but don't worry, it's better now. Besides they have this village called Hogsmead with a post office and that's how we're planning on sending our letters to you.

  They also have a poltergeist, his name is Peeves and I have decided to form an alliance with him. Sometimes I sneak around to find him and give him dung bombs and he always drops them on first years. Lucia is now scolding me but hey, you only live once and why be pranked when you can take part in the pranking.

Wishing hard for a response,
Estelle

Hey Atticus,

  I'm sure you've already read that we're at Hogwarts... It's alright I just  tired of moving around I guess. I miss having tea in your office and learning potions from you. The Professor, Snape, is a nightmare. I'm good at potions but he always acts like I've screwed it up badly.

  I don't know what to write really, I'm just overwhelmed with all the changes and work. You know how bad I am at writing letters... Alright I'm just going to pass the rest of this paper over for Lucia to use, we all know how Estelle writes, she'll write enough for all 3 of us and I don't want to just repeat anything.

-Hazel

Hey Atticus,

  First off, how's Scotland and Aquila? We're at Hogwarts if you haven't heard and Ms. Coy is out of the picture, I'm sure Estelle begged you to take us in, please do, you know we won't be placed together and I probably won't be able to be placed at all.

  A really nice thing about Hogwarts is being treated like a person even with knowledge about my condition. They even have a teacher who has the same condition as I, it gives me hope for my future actually, he seems happy with his life, I always thought after school there wouldn't be much left for me.

  I think Dumbledore is trying to find Hazel's family to help place her, he spends a lot of time studying her, sometimes he gets this look like her recognizes her from a distant past memory. He does this with Estelle too but we of course know a bit about her family but he has a different look on his face. It's the same one you had on your face whenever you saw her, like you had to remind yourself she wasn't someone else, like you knew a different version of her. Who did she remind you of Atticus?

  Anyways, fill us in about your life, how's it going, how's you book coming? What's your current job? Hopefully we'll see you soon,

-Lucia

  The trio finished up their letters and rolled them together, excited for tomorrow.

  "I wonder how much it'll cost to send this..." Hazel wondered aloud, realizing that the post office would come with a price.

  "Probably about a sickle but there's school owls to mail for free, so I'd recommend that." A red headed boy popped up beside Estelle.

"Hello Fred." She greeted as he clumsily jumped over the back of the couch to get into the couch. George and Lee walked around the couch, rolling their eyes at Fred.

  Hazel, who was overwhelmed from the sudden appearance of everyone bid the boys a good night and left for a shower, wanting nothing more than space.

  Estelle checked her watch, wanting to send the letter as soon as possible, she stood. "Alright, one of you boys show me the way to the owlery or tell me it, I have half an hour to get there and back."

  She glanced over at Lucia who was now engrossed in a conversation with Neville about herbology, she turned and saw George and Lee talking to Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson about quidditch.

  Fred stood up from the couch. "Well, let's go then, I have nothing better to do."

  Estelle walked towards the portrait hole, not acknowledging the boy at her heels until they were out.

  "It's quite late, you shouldn't be going out-" the fat lady started to scold them as the pair ran away from her. Estelle had found that running through Hogwarts as fast as one can, for no reason was a lot of fun. So naturally she did it a lot and had gotten Hazel, Lucia, Fred, George, Lee and even Talia in on it.

  She had also found that the fat lady had a special distaste for her, often mumbling under her breath as she entered or left the common room. She didn't know why it was but the just couldn't get on the woman's side, even after watching her try to break a glass with her voice for 3 hours when all she wanted to do was nap to Billy Joel's voice in her ears.

  "So" Fred shouted as they ran. "Who's the letter for?"

  "An old teacher!" She shouted back.

  If Fred was a cartoon after stopping so quickly his knees would be in the floor as he sank from stopping so fast and the ground behind him would be smoking.

  "A teacher? That's really odd..." He trailed, partly concerned for the three girls safety, knowing how creepy and convincing some teachers can be.

  "It's not like that, he gets us, went through similar family experiences and noticed our problems, helped us find ways to get better in such a bad home, said he'd help us out if we ever needed a better home." Estelle explained as she kept walking. "First person to treat us like the kids we were while acknowledging that we were mentally adults. Frankly he's the only adult I'd trust to be alone with. He took time to get to know us and give us advice, not in a creepy way but almost in a fatherly way I guess."

  They started climbing the steps towards the owlery.

  "He introduced us to his wife, she got to know us well too. They took us in whenever things were not great..." She continued, hesitant to add more, not wanting to dig up past memories.

  Fred nodded, not sure how to respond, luckily they reached the top of the steps.

  "Here, use this owl, George and I find her very reliable for all our pranking needs and since it's our last year she needs a reliable group to take letters for. Someone named her Rosemary but we like to just call her Corn Nugget." Fred picked up a barn owl and brought it to the window for Estelle to tie her letter too.

  "Corn Nugget?" She questioned as she gave the owl her letter, along with  informing her of where it goes too.

  "Yeah, or Nugget for short." He replied, letting go of the owl.

  The pair watched her fly off into the setting sun.

  "We should go back... It's nearly curfew." Estelle said, not moving.

  Fred looked down at his watch. "Five minutes isn't going to get us far." A secret passage stuck up in the back of his mind but he hadn't made up his mind on Estelle yet and whether or not she could be trusted with knowing certain passages. George and him had made a pact not to share passages with anyine unless they both agreed.

  "Come on." Estelle started heading down the stairs, Corn Nugget now just a splotch in the distance.

  The pair walked slowly down the desolate corridors. No teachers or students to be found.

  "Sooo, you lived in Bulgaria..." Fred brought up, trying to make the silence less awkward.

  "Yeah." Estelle nodded.

  "Did you like it?"

  Estelle shrugged. "Most of the year the days are short so it's dark a lot. Winters were harsh... I think I prefer it here, it's less rainy than I was led to believe. Though at Durmstrang everyone kept to themselves, Hogwarts rumor mill is a 24 hour business and nothing stays private."

  Fred chuckled, "Yeah, word spreads fast, you should try having your brothers best friend be Harry Potter, word spreads fast about Harry and Ron."

Estelle nodded. "We weren't even here 2 hours and everyone thought Hazel was Harry's sister, I mean Potter is even a unique last name. She could be related to anyone, she might be a muggle born for all we know. I mean even for me, I had this strange blonde kid comer up to me and ask about my blood statuse."

  "What'd you say?"

  "Well Durmstrang is more like your Slytherin house so it's safer to just say half so that's what we always say."

  Fred opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted.

  "Oooh wee ickle students out of bed, tut tut tut, curfew was five minutes ago." The poltergeist said from above them.

  "Peeves please-" Estelle started.

  "You think you get a pass because of the dung bombs. Well maybe- nah- STUDENTS OUT OF BED, STUDENTS OUT OF BED!!"

  Fred and Estelle took off running towards the portrait hole, passing Professor Potter and Black, or as Fred knew them, James and Sirius. Then a little further down Lupin watched them run past, noticing Peeves above them, still screaming.

  Estelle followed the man's eyes up and thats when trying to form an alliance with Peeves came back to bite her. All the dung bombs she gave him came pouring down on her and Fred, regret filling her head and a stench filling her nose.

  "Why would you try to form an alliance with Peeves?" Fred shrieked.

  "It seemed like a good idea at the time!" Estelle shouted.

  A large chorus of spells rang out from behind them, managing to send Peeves infront of the pair, swearing as he flew away.

  "I want an explanation as I take you to your common room." Lupin said, trying not to wince at the stench radiating off them.

  Estelle sighed in pain of her plan failing. " I feel like Pig Pen." She said to herself.

  "You feel like a pig pen?" Fred questioned as the pair began to follow Lupin, trudging slowly in defeat.

  "No, uh-"
  "Hem hem" Estelle was interrupted.

  "Lupin, I do believe these students should have received detention for being out after curfew." A sickly sweet voice echoed through the halls.

  "Well Dolores, 5 minutes is hardly too late-"

  "It's still after curfew."

  "They were on their way, Peeves got the off course." Lupin fought back.

  "They shouldn't have stayed out late enough to be late."

  "Professor, I had to send a letter, it was an emergency." Estelle cut in.

  "Well then, I'm sure if it was such a big deal you won't mind sharing what it was and who it was too?" Umbridge smiled.

  "Actually I do, it's quite personal." Estelle hated when other people got into her business.

  "That's because your lying dear. We both know you don't have anyone to send a letter too, considering."

  "Dolores!" An angry Scottish voice came from around the corner.

  Minerva flew around the corner. Estelle, Fred and Lupin shrank in fear as did James and Sirius who followed behind the group. Dolores Umbridge remained standing, fear only seeping thought the cracks.

  "We do not question unsuspicious students about their mail and bring up their families and we certainly don't use the lack of families against them." McGonagall's yells bounced off of the halls of the corridor. Estelle thought for sure someone was going to die.

   Umbridge shriveled at the yells of McGonagall but seemed unable to move until a cat from a painting meowed at her. Then Estelle almost busted a rib laughing, watching her run away.

  "Insult a students situation. I can't believe. I'll have to talk to Albus. I'll have to-" McGonagall muttered furiously to herself.

  "Potter, Black, Lupin, why aren't you taking these students back, they belong in their dorms. And Estelle dear, are you okay after what she said? Weasley, take a shower, everyone in Hogwarts can smell you." McGonagall's tone got faster again.

  Estelle nodded. As the three older men ushered the pair towards the common room and Fred stood offended.

  Potter and Lupin seemed to observe Estelle as they approached the Fat lady's portrait, Estelle felt better that she wasn't thrilled to see Potter, Black and Lupin either.

~Vote~

-3026 words-
July 21, 2024

Any thoughts?

I'm so sorry, I only expected to be gone for 3 weeks, not closer to 6. If you wonder why, you can ask, if you don't care, that's why I didn't put it in.

Anyway, I figured you guys deserved a long one.