LUNAR (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

Thirty One. The Decision.

When the mail arrived, Caiti glanced up at the owls, but only for a moment. She had an exam in charms that morning that she had barely studied for and she had gotten a letter from Marlowe the day before so it was unlikely there would be anything arriving for her today. They were on a pretty predictable schedule. He sent a letter one day. She sent one back the next.

It was, therefore, a bit surprising when a very distinguished looking barn owl soared down and landed beside Caiti at the table, an unusually large envelope clutched in its beak.

Caiti frowned at first, and then she caught sight of the crest on the seal and her heart started pounding. LBP. Libatius Borage Prize.

She stared at the envelope. The owl hooted at her impatiently, ruffling its feathers, but Caiti couldn't bring herself to touch it.

It was a big envelope. She didn't want to let herself hope that meant she was a finalist, but her heart was already fluttering at the thought. The owl snapped its beak, stomped its little feet, and fixed her with a look that could only be described as a glare. Finally, it just dropped the envelope beside her and circled upward again.

Tentatively, Caiti reached out and took the envelope. She put her finger under the flap to open it, but she froze again. It was too much to hope she had even been in consideration. She was easily the youngest person to send in a proposal. Her work was almost entirely theoretical. It had been a long shot from the beginning.

Caiti took a few deep breaths and tried to talk herself down. When she was marginally convinced her expectations were lowered, she shut her eyes and ripped open the seal. Slowly, very slowly, she slid out the first piece of parchment inside, and only when it was out and clutched in both hands did she open her eyes again.

She looked deliberately at the very top edge of the parchment, letting her eyes trail over the letterhead and the formal address.

And then there was the word congratulations and Caiti's heart started pounding again.

Miss Caitlyn O'Connell,

It is with great pleasure and many congratulations that we write to you today as the winner of the 2019 Libatius Borage Prize.

There were many other words after that, but Caiti couldn't read them, because her eyes had welled up with tears. She clapped a hand over her mouth in disbelief.

"Oh my god," she choked out.

Amelia was sitting nearby and she looked up at these words. "Are you okay?" she asked. When Caiti didn't answer, she slid over and looked at the letter Caiti still held in her other hand.

"Did you get bad news?" she asked, but then she read the same first sentence as Caiti and looked up at her.

"You entered this?"

Caiti nodded. She drew her hand up her cheek and pushed back her hair.

You won?" Amelia asked.

Caiti couldn't answer that.

But Amelia didn't really need her to. She'd read the beginning of the letter. The other girls had grown curious now and since Caiti didn't seem able to answer anyone's questions, Amelia took it upon herself to tell everyone what had happened.

"She won the Libatius Borage Prize," Amelia said loudly. Almost everything Amelia said was loud.

"No way," said Miriam with a skeptic frown. "Hogwarts students don't win stuff like that."

"Well Caiti did," said Amelia. "She's got the letter right there. Has her name on it."

Miriam and Lila got up and gathered behind Caiti to look at the letter too.