The Prince's Secret

Red Wood

In the morning, Aunt Isabel found Leilla asleep on the couch in front of the still warm fireplace. Leilla woke up at the sound of her footsteps, and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

'Why aren't you in bed?' she heard Aunt Isabel's voice from the kitchen.

'Severus was here,' she answered vaguely. The memory of their last night's talk stung like a paper cut.

Aunt Isabel got busy working in the kitchen, and Leilla sat on the couch in her pyjamas, watching through the window as snowflakes covered the vegetable garden with a thick layer of powder.

'Severus missed Christmas,' Aunt Isabel remarked. 'As usual...'

Leilla stretched with a yawn and lay back on the couch. She had no intention of doing anything today.

'Did he mention why he wouldn't stay?' asked Aunt Isabel.

Leilla shrugged. 'He said he had something to do for Professor Dumbledore.'

Aunt Isabel was rolling out dough on the kitchen counter. She shook her head disapprovingly. 'Of course – Dumbledore,' she muttered. 'It's always Dumbledore.'

Leilla looked at her from the couch. 'Always?'

Aunt Isabel glanced at her and rolled the dough more energetically. 'He's always got something to do for that Dumbledore man,' she answered grumpily.

'Well, he's a teacher,' said Leilla. 'No wonder he's got things to do at school.'

'It's not just school,' said Aunt Isabel, and Leilla looked at her quizzically.

'Not just school?'

Aunt Isabel proceeded to cut out star-shaped biscuits with a metal cutter.

'Not just school?' Leilla repeated.

'Why don't you go play in the snow outside,' said Aunt Isabel evasively. Leilla shifted in her seat.

'I'm not a dog,' she said reproachfully.

Aunt Isabel shot her a quick glance. 'Well, then – go read a book. Find yourself something to do, don't just sit here all day!'

Leilla didn't move.

'Why won't you tell me more about Professor Dumbledore?' she persisted.

'Because it's none of your business,' Aunt Isabel snapped. She turned on the radio, which drowned the kitchen in a static, crackling sound of cheap Christmas tunes.

'Why did you mention him in the first place then?' Leilla had no intention of giving up, but Aunt Isabel pretended that she couldn't hear her. Leilla scowled at her from the couch, but eventually got dressed, and went outside to play with Uncle Oliver's Border Collies.

She couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts, she thought, tossing a snowball into the nearest tree. Life without magic was extremely dull, and she couldn't understand how Aunt Isabel managed to do without it. She wished she could get away from Honington for a while – after two weeks in the cottage, she was already starting to get bored. She thought about the Diagon Alley – she'd love to go at least there. She would go to Flourish and Blott and get that book Ernie Macmillan had recommended – Magical Modern History.

Only two days to go, she thought. Two more days and she'd be back at Hogwarts – back with her friends. After all this time in Honington, she'd read every textbook she had in her school trunk back-to-back, and it seemed like there was nothing left for her to do.

In the evening, Aunt Isabel and Uncle Oliver had gone to visit their family in Chipping Norton, and Leilla was alone in the house for the night. At first, she tried to read some of Aunt Isabel's Muggle books. Crime stories were her favourite, and she had a large collection of those in the living room. Leilla tried to give them a chance but didn't find them interesting at all.

It was starting to get dark, and Leilla walked back upstairs to her bedroom. She thought she could use this time to finish her Herbology essay for next week.

On the way to her room, she walked by her aunt and uncle's bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. She hesitated for a moment, listening to the quiet sounds of the snow falling outside the windows. The house was empty, she was alone. She pushed the door open.

There was something strangely inappropriate about walking into someone else's bedroom. It was a place she hardly ever visited. She stood in the middle of the quiet room, looking around. There wasn't much furniture inside – a large bed, two bedside tables and a closet. Next to it stood Aunt Isabel's vanity. Leilla walked up to it haphazardly and sat on a tufted ottoman. She looked in the mirror at her own face.

She could tell she'd grown up since the start of term. She looked into her own eyes and saw a glimmer of something that wasn't there before she got her Hogwarts letter. She felt different – more knowledgeable. Only a few months ago, she hadn't met many other wizards, and she hadn't known half the things she found out during her first term at the school.

She swept her gaze across the vanity, and – purely out of boredom – started opening the small drawers with bejewelled plastic knobs. Inside, she found oldfashioned powder boxes, buttons, matchboxes, needles, thread, and other miscellanea. Everything had a distinct smell of old makeup to it.

She opened the first drawer to the left and poked through it. For some reason, it was filled to the brim with handkerchiefs of various colours. Leilla closed it, but when she did, she heard something rattle on the bottom of the drawer. She slid it out again – the soft handkerchiefs couldn't have been behind the strange noise. She took them all out, but the bottom was empty. She shook the drawer slightly, causing the whole vanity to wobble back and forth. The rattling sound was still there, very obviously coming from the top left drawer.

She opened it back up and noticed a small hole in the back. She slid her finger inside and immediately realised it was a false bottom. She managed to pull it up, and when she looked inside, her heart stopped.

On a silk purple handkerchief lay a wand.

Leilla froze for a moment, gaping at what she had discovered. Carefully she took it out of the drawer and examined it closely. It wasn't Snape's wand – his was black and sturdy. This one was made of burgundy coloured wood. It was slightly thicker than Leilla's own wand, and there were runes inscribed on its handle.

Leilla was breathing heavily. Whose wand was she looking at? Aunt Isabel's? No way; she couldn't do magic. Uncle Oliver's? Impossible! She held the wand tight in her hand, feeling her palm become sweaty, and then hastily put it back where she found it.

୨♡୧

'Leilla, hurry up!' Uncle Oliver yelled from the living room. 'We're going to miss the train if you don't get a move on!'

It was the day of the Hogwarts Express departure. Leilla stuffed the rest of her books into the trunk, put on her thick sweater, made sure she'd packed everything, and ran downstairs, dragging the trunk behind her.

'Isabel's waiting in the car,' said Uncle Oliver, taking the heavy luggage from her. 'Quick!'

Leilla finished tying her shoelaces, while Uncle Oliver held the door open for her, letting cold gusts of wind blow swarms of snowflakes into the living room.

'Wait,' said Leilla, before she put on her hat. 'I forgot something upstairs.'

'Quickly then,' grunted Uncle Oliver, shivering in the cold wind. 'You have one minute!'

Leilla ran back upstairs but didn't go to her room. Instead, she quietly opened the door to Aunt Isabel's bedroom, tiptoed to the vanity – careful not to leave any footprints on the carpet – and without thinking took out the wand from the drawer. She placed the false bottom back in its place, covered it with the handkerchiefs, and ran back outside. 'Coming!'