Dark New World || Sebastian Sallow

A year in solitude

Lena pulls out her leather-back sketchbook and quill from her satchel and sits against a rock in the late summer sun. She begins to sketch the hippogriffs who lay under the big twisty tree in front of her.

Such magnificent creatures, really. She studied them and sat in the silence of nature, this silence was her only chance of understanding what happened last year.

It's been a year since the string of events that took place at Hogwarts.
She's spent most of her time since then alone in the wild, collecting alchemy ingredients, studying, sketching, reading and healing.

She received owl letters from her friends who were also in recovery, she was beyond grateful that they understood she needed her space and peace in solitude and that they still reached out. Most of them were with their families and they thought she was too, but, she knew it was best to not tell her friends the truth now.

Professor Weasley and the others who fought by her side that dreadful night offered Lena a place to stay, in Professor Sharps old cottage above Hogsmeade, near the top of the mountains.
She was grateful they were so understanding and helpful in her situation.

Professor Weasley was also kind enough to stop in once every couple weeks to drop her off food and things she needed so that she wouldn't be seen in town. She understood feeling the need to isolate and be alone without her friends or acquaintances for the year before returning to school and supported Lena in her decision 100%.

Lena was grateful to be able to stay near Hogwarts, she felt safer here than she did where she used to live. She belonged here, this was home now, it has been for two years. As the sun began to set she decided it was time to pack up and make her way up the mountain and back to the cottage.

Lena takes a seat on the old wooden stool just inside the doorway and slips off her boots, she threw them away towards the bottom of the stairs that were situated just to the left of where she was sitting. The floorboard creaks ever so slightly as she makes her way towards the old stone fireplace that was tucked into the corner of her living room, right beside the crooked staircase.

"Incendio." She whispers as the logs that still sat there from the night before light up, brightening the space around her. Behind her sat an old couch, and a small wooden coffee table that was littered with papers and journals containing sketches of magical beasts and information on herbs and their properties related to potion making.

It was quiet, except for the crackle of the fire before her. She didn't mind the silence most of the time, but some evenings she really did miss the chatter of the Hufflepuff dorms.

She turned towards the kitchen and decided she fancied some tea. She rummaged through the dark wooden cabinets until she found the mug that Poppy had bought her from the first time they visited Hogsmeade together, it had a badger on it.

When she was done with making her tea she grabbed a book off the bookshelf in the living room and settled into the window nook by the front door, placing her mug onto the old wooden kitchen table beside it.

She fussed with the old arched window until it popped open, she needed fresh air. The last of summer was slowly slipping away into the darkness of autumn and she wanted to get the last of the somewhat warm nights in.

As she read her book in the silence of the old cottage the night continued to seep into the sky, eventually the moons light slipped in through the window and Lena knew it was about time to put aside her book and get ready for bed.