Spells in Silence

Chapter 2: Freedom

The poorly lit sidewalks of Privet Drive vanished into darkness, and something came out of nowhere to crash into Hazel's chest and drive her to the ground.

It was only as she lay on a surprisingly carpeted floor trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of her that her eyes adjusted to the lack of light that she realized where her terrified teleportation had taken her. She was back at school, more specifically in the library. That thing that hit her? A table she had run into all on her own.

Why in the world had she come here of all places?

She pushed herself up on her hands and looked around at the bookcases that surrounded her. Maybe it did make a little bit of sense, she decided as she thought over it some more. This was not like the little skip and hop she took to get from her cupboard to the kitchen; it was closer to what happened when she was running away from Dudley and his gang. Once again, she was running away from an angry Dursley, and one again this freakish—

No, she decided as she realized what she was thinking. She was still believing the lies of her aunt and uncle. She was not a freak. She was special. She was a witch, a sorceress, a magician.

Who else could have done something like this?! She had just teleported! It was like having superpowers off the telly.

Hazel climbed to her feet and nodded. She had magic powers, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were scared of her and what she could do. Which was really, really stupid of them. She held no illusions about what they wanted out of life. They wanted to be praised and talked about and envied. If Aunt Petunia had taught Hazel what little she knew about her mother and their shared powers, she could have done all sorts of things for their benefit.

It would serve them right if she came back once she had learned what she was doing and taught them a lesson.

Thinking about that confrontation brought back the recent memory of her uncle chasing her down the street with a cricket bat, and she shuddered. Maybe getting even with the Dursleys was something to put a little farther down on her to-do list.

Anyway, the library. She knew why she showed up here when she was trying to go anywhere to get away from Uncle Vernon. The library had been her safe place more often than not whenever Dudley was after her. The librarian did not approve of ruckus or horseplay, and as long as Hazel was quiet – obviously an uphill battle – when Dudley wanted to start something, it was the boys who would get thrown out and she could be left alone.

Miss Brandine was probably her favorite out of all the staff at school, if only because she was the only one who appreciated Hazel's inability to speak.

She rubbed the lingering ache in her chest and carefully wandered over to where she thought the light switch was. A minute or two of searching finally found it, and she smiled when the library was lit up so she could actually see. That smile faded a moment later.

Yes, she was away from Privet Drive. That just meant she had no clue what to do from here. It was not as if she could stay here at school even if she wanted to. Everyone here ignored her at best, and it was not as if there were any classes here about what to do if someone suddenly learned they had inherited magic powers from the mother their aunt never talked about.

...At least, she did not think there were. Hazel took a moment to imagine that but quickly shook her head. That was silly. The people of this town were too plain, too boring, to be training a coven of witches in secret.

Knowing that she could not stay here did nothing to help her figure out where she did want to go. A yawn caught her by surprise and reinforced the importance of deciding on her next step. She had spent the last week pushing herself every night just to get the one thing she could do working. She needed rest.