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━━━ FIVElife of the party
There were some days that came with a deep burrow of emptiness. It came more abruptly and violently each time━and always towards the end of the year.
October coloured the landscape a dull orange and dispirit, and the lake surrounding the castle went was silent as a quiet night's sleep.
She sat with a book on her lap, although her focus was entirely on the lake and the moss-shaded rocks that surrounded it. She noticed the bark of the tree adjacent to where she sat, festooned with greying lichen.
Raya liked to read. Maybe she was not as passionate as Aylin and dad were━but she liked it. She preferred fantasy over most genres━a world of kings and queens, heroes and heroines with a bad case of savior complex and where righteousness wins over debauchery. She liked the idea.
It was childish and predictable. The stories would carry her to the edge of the cliff, a different sense of anxiety rising up to meet every turn of the page, and Raya knew that the drop wouldn't come━that's why she liked it. The drop never came.
Seeking realism almost seemed to be a mockery of everything the Vacths faced.
She could barely focus on her reading. The world seemed much more unreal during autumn when everything dried and lifeless had said their goodbyes. Time went slower here but she was aware of each passing second with every subtle ripple in the glassy surface of the lake.
The leaves crushed as footsteps drew nearer.
"Thought I'd find you here." Aylin sat down beside her on the wilting grass, in her warm white sweater and her blue and bronze scarf knotted around her neck.
Raya craned her neck to the side, offering her sister a half-smile.
Aylin was always occupied with something ever since they came to Hogwarts this year━she did every assignment perfectly, spending hours on research and references. She'd always be in the library, with the coffee brew their mother had given her ("For when you get tired," she had gently offered her daughter the jar of brew), and Raya wondered how she made it seem so effortless.
"There's a letter from mum," She brandished the envelope, "It came this morning━Lovie dropped by."
Lovie━the wretched, tawny owl their aunt owned. She pecked a bit too much, occasionally nipping at their hands with every letter she delivered. That explained the crescent-shaped cut on one of Aylin's fingers.
