STARLIT SUPERNOVA. h. potter

i. Saving Grace

starlit supernova
❛ i. saving grace ❜

━━━━━ NOVA'S PARENTS CALLED her a saving grace. It was no shock they would. She was their child — adoptive child or not. (But why they didn't just call her Grace instead of Nova, she didn't know.) Her adoptive parents, Lee and Gail Holloway insisted, however, that she did save them.

               She didn't know the story until she was older — around eleven or so. She remembers learning after her eleventh birthday, which was the day Minerva McGonagall appeared at the Holloways' front door, saying that Nova had magical blood (or was a memorable birthday for such a seemingly forgettable age). Nova knew she was adopted — she looked like neither of her parents, and they thought it was best not to lie about everything; however, Nova didn't know that her parents wished upon a star for Nova.

               Lee and Gail started dating ten years before Nova was born, October 9th, 1969; they married three years before she was born, October 9th, 1976; Nova was born on their third anniversary, October 9th, 1979. It was easy to say that October 9th was a special day to the Holloways — only it was a bit more special than Nova ever knew. Her parents — Gail, specifically — struggled with infertility, and so desperately did Lee and Gail want a child. It was something Gail was very honest about with Lee when she first met him; she never hid the truth of her infertility from him, not even on their first date. But Lee was optimistic (something that has stayed with him over the years), and he was determined that they would beat the odds.

               But they didn't — not in the way they expected, at least. A "tradition" of sorts Lee and Gail had created was wishing upon stars (they had also vowed to name their children after stars; so perhaps that's why they called her Nova — from her birth name — rather than something like Grace). They had wished upon stars every year on October 9th for a child — every year until 1979, long after they had lost hope, but continued for the sake of the tradition. For ten years, they had wished, and after ten years, their prayers were answered. Two days after October 9th, 1979, the Holloways received a call from their agency, saying that a child named Caroline had been placed in the adoption system by her nameless mother. Lee and Gail didn't waste a minute before agreeing to take Caroline in; in time, roughly a year later, they would legally adopt Caroline and change her name to Nova Caroline.

               That's how Nova Holloway became a "saving grace". However, don't let that fool you. Nova felt like she was anything but a saving grace. In fact, she felt like she was more likely to follow her namesake and cause a colossal explosion — a supernova.

✴

September 1st meant that Nova's summer was over. It was easy to say she wasn't happy about it, either; however, she wasn't unhappy, either. She enjoyed summer; she liked the freedom that came from no school — but she loved Hogwarts. Hogwarts was a second home, a home away from her parents but with friends who felt like family. She loved talking with her friends, basically living with them in her Hufflepuff dorm room, and she loved learning (if she was interested in the topic; that meant she automatically hated History of Magic), but Nova hated the amount of work her teachers assigned. And just like her older Hufflepuff classmates had promised her, the schoolwork was increasing by dangerous amounts every year.

               Nova wasn't a bad student, by any means. She just found it ... difficult to keep her nose in the books (and you can't blame her, alright? Those dusty books from the Hogwarts library stunk!) And you really can't blame her — so many other important things were going on!