After The Shadows // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 14

The letters Part 1

Siren huffed as she collapsed lazeley into the grass. She had just finished her training with the joke of the man from the Ministry who was supposed to improve her control of ancient magic, which evidently translated to, he was using her to further his research. Was it too late for her to back out now? She could still start Hogwarts in two weeks. She didn't have to go to the finishing school. They had given her a choice after all, had they not? The whole situation was strange, and she couldn't understand the connection between it all. She felt as though there were invisible strings guiding her along like she was just a marionette on stage in front of a room of shadowed onlookers.

The sun was setting, providing the sky with the pinks, oranges and purples that helped provide a bit of comfort to Siren, although she would much rather return her vivariums... to Hogwarts... to her friends. The shadows began to stretch longer, and she supposed she should head inside for the night. Perhaps she should eat something? Or maybe just go to bed. She stood up, and made her way into the house. Miss Burton had already made her way to her room to get ready for bed. She had only forced food on Siren only once, and when she had, it had nearly all come back up.

Siren stepped into the bathroom long enough to brush her hair and look in the mirror. She couldn't bear to look in it for long. The disfigured snake bite and the burnt tendrils that splayed out from it were an ugly addition to her appearance which she had previously found more or less acceptable. She rotated slightly, allowing the angle to hide the distortion from view, pretending for a moment that this was still reality. She set the brush down, squeezing her eyes shut before she turned around and began toward her room-

"Ow!" she cried aloud as she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her neck. Her hand swung up to touch the scar, feeling around the indents and raised tendrils for anything new but she couldn't find anything. Instead, the world started to spin. Everything became hazy as she stumbled over to her bed.

"Miss Song?" She heard Miss Burton call out to her before the world faded to black.

"I'm sorry, I can't do it. They must have been wrong about me. I'm not a witch and I don't have magic."

"Not with that mindset you won't." Professor Fig smiled at Siren from across the room. Siren rolled her eyes as she slumped down into the couch, her borrowed wand falling out of her hand and clattering on the floor. "I thought you to be more resilient than that but, giving up on your first day?" he shook his head. " I must have been wrong about you." Siren looked back over at the professor, pouting as she took in his smug grin. Sighing, she picked the wand back up, and pushed herself to her feet.

She looked back over at the pot he had placed at the center of his dining table, still standing proudly intact despite her hour worth of attempts to cast a single spell. Siren adjusted her stance, holding the tip of the wand in the direction of the pot as the doubt started to creep back in.

"Why do you think I can do it?"

"Why do you think you can't?" She wanted to be annoyed with his response, but seeing as she didn't have a good answer, she took a deep breath, flicked her wrist, then jumped as a spark flew from the wand and watched as pieces of the vase shattered across the table.

"You got it!" Fig praised, a wide smile plastered across his face. Siren smiled brightly at the man as he gave her shoulder a rewarding squeeze.

"Don't let uncertainty guide you in life. You can do anything you put your mind to, I know you can." Siren nodded proudly at the man in front of her. He had known her for such a short time, and yet the confidence he held in her was almost overwhelming. She looked over his shoulder at a mirror he had next to his fireplace, taking in her new confident appearance, but when her gaze focused back at professor Fig, he was gone. Panic overwhelmed her as she noticed his body crumpled on the floor.