Book 1: The First Year (ROTBTD Hogwarts AU) (PREQUEL)

22. Rapunzel's POV: Mid February

A/N:

- There was this old anime I remember watching many years ago called Magic User's Club (it was a weird one, ngl), and the only reason I remember that is because it had this little clip of music that would play at the beginning before the actual theme song. That music is what's there for this chapter. I don't know the name of it but it's about 20-ish seconds long and if I could I'd get a 3 minute version of it.

.°○.♡.○°.

In the depths of the Scottish winter there were exactly three known locations that remained forever green and warm and filled with sunlight. They existed thanks to a careful expansion and folding of space, as well as a selection of highly specific magical inhabitants that compelled their environment to remain as such.

One such creature was the species Helianthus terrarum, an incredibly tall, leafy plant that grew a sunflower-shaped flower spanning several meters across. Amongst its other magical properties, the most prominent of them was the fact that its flower produced a brilliant light that, although not as intense as the sun's unfiltered rays, easily encouraged plant growth, and followed an opening and closing cycle that resembled a long summer day.

In a pool of light produced by one such flower laid Rapunzel, deep within the confines of Hogwarts Greenhouse #5. Rapunzel sprawled on her belly, cushioned by a nest of leaves larger than she was tall, humming to herself as she doodled in a much beloved notes-book. Her humming joined the chorus of insects and birdsong, under which flowed the steady, muffled undercurrent of a distant stream.

It was the closest Rapunzel had ever come to living inside the changing pictures of her tower room. Better than that. She hadn't even felt this way about Hogwarts. Hogwarts was a place. This was a whole different world.

Funny thing about her imagination was that it had never included her in it. Yes, it was strong, and it was big. But in all of the realms it had travelled to and all the places she'd dreamed of, she'd never actually considered herself a part of them.

She didn't know this until she stepped into the greenhouse. Suddenly, the world changed to one that was green and humid and bright and she...she was in it. She was very much alive in it, a living, breathing girl, not a drawing from a storybook or a thread of a daydream. The world wrapped around her and sunk its teeth deep into her skin, until it felt like she'd never been anywhere else. It brought forth strange, new sounds and smells and sights and textures and she didn't know what to do.

...A part of her still didn't know what to do. A part of her was still convinced that it was all a very detailed, very vivid dream. It didn't feel enough for her to just sit there for hours and hours and soak it in. For the land within to feel like safety and peace...

Heavy footsteps sounded through the foliage. Rapunzel perked up.

From overhead appeared the greenhouse professor, craning to see into the nest she'd made for herself.

"You alright there, little Lockewood?" Professor Donadieu asked, his face creasing into a lopsided smile. She beamed right back. Ever since that first month she'd made regular visits to the greenhouse and he'd settled on calling her that.

Rapunzel sat upright and hugged her book. "Yes, professor. I feel much better, thank you."

"Then I'd say it's high time you found your friends again."