Between the Cracks // 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓵𝓮𝔂

34. Morning Owl

Chapter 34: Morning Owl

After Leigh was awoken in the early AMs, sweaty and gasping for breath from her recurring nightmares, she managed to fall back asleep again, only to be woken up again around 7.30. This time by a familiar tapping and a small silhouette outside her window.

She rubbed her eyes. Nova was still fast asleep.

Leigh shuffled out of her bed and made her way to the window through the darkness. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she opened the old window and let the small owl fly in, parchment again attached to its leg.

Still halfway asleep, Leigh rubbed her eyes and absentmindedly pet the owl, grabbing the note by its foot. She narrowed her eyes, not able to see a single word in the dark. She reached for her wand by her bedside table, mumbling lumos under her breath. Her voice was hoarse but the note was lit up.

Fred's handwriting was suddenly visible, and Leigh let her tired eyes scan over the words.

Morning
You feel any better today?
Hope to see you around - you know I'm more fun than school.
Fred

When she had finished reading the note she realised that a tired smile had grown on her lips. A warmth had spread on her face, and she fiddled with the corner of the parchment as her eyes scanned over the words again, claiming them to her memory. Fred had owled her first thing in the morning.

What was she supposed to answer to that?

She blinked a few times to herself, grabbing her quill and preparing herself to write something back, but her mind stood still. All of a sudden she was nervous to say the wrong thing.

She grabbed a new piece of parchment and started scribbling away.

Morning,
I feel better–

She quickly crumpled the paper. Sounded way too self-centred.

Hi Fred,
Thank you for reaching out–

She sighed, also crumpling that one and throwing it onto the floor. It wasn't a professional letter - why was she making it sound like one?

Weasley,
You are fun but studying is important–

With a sigh she let the quill drop from her hand. Fred was going to have to wait for his letter. None of her words so far were good enough, and she decided to blame it on her tired brain.

She petted the owl again. It seemed to catch on, and let its eyes close halfway, seemingly also tired. Leigh shuffled over to her bed and decided that she could sleep at least another 30 minutes.

-

All throughout the day Leigh's mind drifted back to the note she had received this morning, and every time she did so she felt a warm feeling spread within her.

Strangely enough she was still stuck on what to write. She could write an essay in no time, but when she had to write a response to Fred it felt like no words were ever right.

The day was stressful, and Leigh used every minute she had to spare to focus on her revision for Arithmancy. It was not until her lunch hour that she decided she had to get her shit together and write the few lines she needed for the letter. It had been hours since she received it. Maybe Fred was starting to think that she was ignoring him.

She planted herself on one of the benches outside of the great hall, looking up at the photo wall. Evan smiled back at her.

With a deep breath she took out the note again, quickly preparing to write some words, this time willing herself to not think too much, but just let it come.

Her quill came in contact with the paper and she started writing. Moments later a few lines of text stared back at her.

Hi Fred,
Thanks for checking up on me - my cold symptoms are pretty much gone, courtesy of Madam Pomphrey :)
I do miss spending time at the shop. Hopefully I can come by sometime soon. There is just a lot of tests before Christmas to study for.
In the meantime I believe both of us know you are much more fun than school.
Leigh

She looked at it a second longer, biting her lip, before she quickly rolled it up into a neat scroll.  The small owl, which had followed her throughout the castle in wait, cooed happily as she tied the note to its leg. She quickly walked over to an exit and bid the bird goodbye before she even had the time to change her mind about the note.

Her thoughts lingered on Fred, imagining what he would think, what he would look like when he read the note. She quickly shook her head, ridding herself of her nervous thoughts, before heading into the great hall for lunch. The note wasn't even moderately risky, albeit a bit long, and yet the nervousness bubbled in the pit of her stomach.

-

The following night was spent the same as the others. Leigh woke up with a gasp an hour or two after midnight. Her forehead glistened with sweat, and her hair clung onto the skin of her face. With heavy breaths she looked around the room, desperately trying to distance herself from the view of death and horror which played in her mind. The view of crumbled stone walls, green lightening and greying eyes. With a gulp she disentangled herself from her comforter and moved her legs over the side of her bed.

She leant her head into her hands, trying to catch her breath, before pushing herself off the bed and tiredly making her way to the bathroom, where she immediately started washing her face with cold water. Her heartbeat started to calm down, and Leigh shook her head to herself. "Jesus Christ," she mumbled to herself, letting another handful of freezing water cascade down her face.

She turned off the sink and took a step towards her towel, using it to dry her skin. She clicked the light off in the bathroom before making her way towards her side of the room again, reaching for a cardigan which hung over the side of her bed.

Nova stirred in her bed. "Leigh?"

"Sorry for waking you," Leigh mumbled to her friend, starting to put on her shoes, planning to take a walk around the castle to calm herself down. Her heartbeat was still thumping in her ears.

"I don't want you to wander around," Nova admitted sleepily from under the covers.

Leigh smiled faintly. "It's fine, Nova. Go back to sleep."

"Do you promise you'll be back soon? Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't."

"Okay," Nova shuffled in her bed, eyes still closed. "If you're not back soon I'm getting McGonagall."

Leigh chuckled at Nova's threat. Her friend was already halfway back to sleep, so she really didn't think that would be anything to worry about.

"Okay Nova," Leigh humoured her, and moments later she heard a snore from the other side of the room.

Leigh tiptoed out the dorms and down the stairs to the common room, soon slipping out through the painting. She opted to move through the darkness rather than use lumos – she really didn't need any annoying paintings telling her to put it out. She had travelled through these corridors and down these stairs enough times by now – each of their details were etched into her memory.

She was planning on going down to visit Evan, looking at his photo, but despite the cold weather outside, she found all areas in the castle to be too warm, too stuffy. Instead, she started moving towards an exit, soon feeling herself engulfed in the cold winter air.

It was December. The term had rushed past her.

She pulled the cardigan closer to her body and started encircling the castle, thinking she would enter again from another entrance.

Suddenly she spotted movement from down by Hagrid's hut, and she squinted her eyes trying to see. Furrowing her brows, she changed her destination and slowly started walking down the grass.