Moonlark Rising

Sophie is intimidating-why did we ever think she wasn't?

The song above has no relation to the story but it kinda describes anxiety and really resonates with me... not sure if that's bad or not but anyways that's the end of this A/N

Harry

Harry was rather surprised to learn why Draco was so mean to everyone. He relayed what he had learned to Ron and Hermione, who were just as surprised as he was, if not more.

Sophie really was perceptive. She had barely known Draco, and she understood him better than Harry had after four years of going to the same school. He had to start watching people more carefully. Anybody could be anyone. He had so many enemies that he probably needed to get a bit better at reading people.

Idly, he wondered if Sophie could teach him some tricks for recognizing enemies. Although to be honest, he wasn't sure whether her response would be sarcastic, silly or sincere. She was somehow always kind to everyone, even when they were annoying her, so he wouldn't know if his questions were bothering her. 

She was even able to tolerate the constant Apparating and Disapparating of the Weasley twins without batting an eye.

The snack trolley rolled up outside the door and the kind old lady leaned into the doorway and asked, "Anything from the trolley?" Harry bought a few cauldron cakes and chocolate frogs, then the trolley moved on.

Sophie appeared in the doorway, wearing an emerald green skirt-tunic-half cape combo that made her look a bit like a wandering shrub. She walked over to her seat and plopped down, pulling a tupperware container from one of her bags. "Ugh. You're really lucky you get to wear black. I look like I just came from a planting."

Ron spoke exactly what was on Harry's mind. "What do you mean, a planting?"

Sophie also looked confused for a nanosecond, then she laughed. "It's a special tradition," she explained. "Our funerals are more about celebrating life, so we wear green, the color of life. They're called plantings because we plant a tree."

Harry thought that was a good tradition. It made sense to celebrate the great things people did in their lives. Harry found his mind wandering, wondering about the other traditions Sophie's home country had. She unclipped the lid of the container in her lap and pulled out a shiny pink square, holding the container out to Hermione.

"Here, have a ripplefluff. They're really good!" Hermione reached out and took one, biting into it with a noise of surprise.

"Careful! I probably should have mentioned that they're really oozy." Sophie said, stifling a laugh. Harry took one as well. He was almost at Hogwarts, one of the few places that truly felt like home. He had a group of his closest friends, and a new friend who was quickly becoming part of the group. 

Harry now had Sophie's optimistic pessimism, and her way of always doing the right thing, sometimes completely by accident, like when she practically stumbled over the chest full of old cursed artifacts that Sirius had promptly gotten rid of when he saw them.

The sight of the familiar landscape through the window caused a smile to spread over Harry's face. He was going back to Hogwarts.

Keefe

Keefe was sketching Ro, who was leaning up against one of the shelves full of elixirs, picking at her nails in a bored fashion. He heard voices outside the door to the healing center. A few seconds later, Dex, Biana, Tam and Linh had swept into the healing center, with Elwin trailing after them.

Biana could barely contain her excitement as she leaned slightly towards Keefe. "We heard you figured out what your new ability was, but Elwin wouldn't tell us what it was!"