Cynthia Cygnet and the Misplaced Gryffindor

● Chapter 3 ●

"Hey!" Charlotte said as Cynthia opened the door for her.

 It had been the last week before Cynthia was due to leave for Hogwarts and she had wanted to spend all her time left with Charlotte before she went and they'd eventually lose contact for a while. 

 "Charlotte!" Cynthia said, hugging her tightly before leading her into the living room. "Is she yours?" Charlotte said, sitting beside the Siamese cat who crawled on her lap and began to purr loudly, wrapping her tail around her wrist 

"How comes you got a cat?"

 "It was a gift for school" Cynthia explained.

 This made Charlotte confused. Why should she need a cat for boarding school?

 "You're allowed pets at school?" She eventually asked.

 Cynthia felt awkward, how could that be explained?, "Yeah, small pets, I guess" 

 "That's odd" She replied "What's her name? 

 "She doesn't have one yet. I thought we could think of it together" Cynthia smiled which Charlotte returned. Charlotte began to look around the room for ideas. She spotted a heavily battered and well-read book half opened on the coffee table. It was Matilda, a favourite of Cynthia's which she had no doubtedly been read at least 12 times since the book had been published when she was 8. 

 "What about Matilda?" Charlotte suggested. 

 "Could do" Cynthia said, considering it. They called the cat the name a few times and her ears perked up as though she recognised the name. It had been perfect for her.

"Should we put a film on?" Cynthia suggested "Dad's coming back with snacks soon" 

 Charlotte agreed and they sat kneeling on the floor, picking through a collection of VHS. They struggled to agree on what to watch first but soon picked out a whole pile of films to spend the day watching. Fortunately, Rory was out with his friends from school, giving the two as much undisrupted time as possible. Half hour into the film, Charlotte began to ask Cynthia even more questions about her school.

 "Where is your boarding school again?"

 "Scotland" She had said reluctantly, already knowing the response she would get. 

 "Scotland!" Charlotte cried "You won't be coming home for weekends to see us?" 

 "No, only in holidays" Cynthia confessed. It was making her feel awful and almost discouraging her to leave next week.

 "But that's so far apart" She said "We'll never get to see each other. Wouldn't your parents want you closer?"

 Right on cue, Osias came in with shopping bags. He put a bag full of food on the floor inbetween the two girls for them to eat through their movie marathon. 

 "Why is Cyn going so far for school?" Charlotte innocently asked. 

 "Because her school is special and suited for her" Osias said simply while putting away the rest of the shopping. 

 Charlotte leaned close to Cynthia and whispered, "I didn't think you found school that hard"

 Osias choked.

 "Not like that. It's for talented students" 

 "Oh!" Charlotte said and she began to feel embarrassed and hid behind her mass of chestnut brown curls "I understand. Sorry, Cyn" Cynthia gave an awkward smile.

Hours passed and they had watched 3 films and were currently halfway though their 4th film. Cynthia had insisted that they had put Grease on, which had been one of their favourite films. Nearing the end of the film, they had started a huge debate over how cool it would be to own a flying car.

 Osias was beginning to get a headache though as they continuously sung every song off-key and had no choice but to go upstairs to hide in the study to recover. He wouldn't have dared take a potion in their view in case Charlotte got curious again and asked even more questions. He felt sorry for her though, she had just wanted to know more about Cynthia's decision to go to Hogwarts but he didn't want to risk letting her, a muggle, finding out. He could tell that Cynthia had just wanted to spill all details and for them to discuss it and send letters to each other other the years.

 With the fear that You-Know-Who would return eventually and with the prophecies he had seen over the years about the future in his work, he could not risk her knowing details of the wizarding world and ever getting involved.

After dinner, the girls had once again returned to their spot on the sofa, watching yet another film. Although Charlotte soon needed to go home, Cynthia had protested against it to no avail.

 "I'm going to miss you, Cyn" She said sadly "It's going to suck. You being in your fancy, secret Scottish school and me in just the school up the road" 

 "I'm going to miss you too" Cynthia replied, grabbing her best friend's hand as they continued watching their last film. 

 "Do they have phones at your school?" Charlotte asked, "I could always go to the payphone once a week" 

 "No technology" She replied, feeling worse. 

 "Oh" Charlotte let go of her hand and wrapped it around her waist in discomfort, "Never mind then. I'll see you at Christmas then" 

 "Definitely" Cynthia trailed off.

The stark differences in the paths they were both about to lead had only made them realise how hard it would be to remain close but they had faith of course. Being best friends for practically all their lives wouldn't change, would it? Even with the distance and inability to stay in contact much? 

Cynthia's faith remained yet felt the same sense of nervousness for going to Hogwarts as she had in the very beginning begin to grow again. After having someone by her side for all those years, it almost didn't feel normal to suddenly have them disappear when a brand new adventure and challenge was about to begin.

"You won't forget me, will you?" Charlotte had said, just before she had left. 

 "Don't be dramatic. Never!" Cynthia replied but began to feel the same doubt "As long as you don't forget me too though"

 "Of course not" She said with a sad smile. 

 "That's okay then" Cynthia said "I'll see you at Christmas"

 "Definitely. Go and wow your new friends with your magical self" Charlotte said with a beaming smile.

 Her magical self. How right she had been. Cynthia had felt the urged to tell her yet but was painfully aware that there were always things that muggles should never be made aware of.             

𝐀/𝐍 - 𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤!