Love and Black Magic

Chapter thirteen: Hogwarts

Lily stopped dead while her friend collided with her and fell to the floor. The redhead told Calynn to be quiet.

"Don't even think about moving," Lily whispered, turning to sneak up on her friend, then turn her face forward.

At that moment Calynn's mother passed by the house, Lily greeted her politely and the woman did the same while trying to look back at Lily, although the girl did not allow it. They did not move from there until the mother turned the corner and disappeared.

"That has been very close," Lily said, "you can get up now." She turned back to help her friend get up.

Her friend just sighed because of what had happened and followed the redhead with great care while looking back and sideways. She knew it was not safe to leave, but she wanted to tell Severus the news and show him the letter.

They came to the tree running and there was the boy sitting playing with the grass, he spent so much time there that it seemed that he really lived there.

"Hello," the boy greeted as he rose. He gave Lily a hug while Calynn gave him a smile. They sat down as usual and Calynn took out an envelope from her pocket without being able to wait any longer and showed it to Severus enthusiastically.

"Happy birthday," said Severus. The boy smiled with greater happiness.

"Thank you," said the little girl.

"How are we going to celebrate your birthday?" Asked Lily suddenly. Both children were scared because of Lily's voice so sudden.

"Celebrate it?" Calynn asked in a depressing and at the same time worried tone, she didn't want to cause a scandal that caused her mother to try to kidnap her, she didn't want her to know that she was really having a great time on her birthday without their help, even better than her last birthdays, or at least much better than her tenth birthday.

"Of course! Besides, it will be better now that there are not your..." Lily said, but it did not end for fear of hurting her friend's feelings.

"Parents," Calynn finished. "I know, but I'm afraid to celebrate without them, what if that makes them angrier and try to do something strange."

"Your mother just saw us and didn't kill us, believe me, nothing bad will happen to you when you celebrate your birthday," said the redhead, laughing. Calynn wasn't really sure about what Lily said.

Calynn was going to answer, but was interrupted by Severus.

"Did you just say your mother saw you?" Said the boy, quite worried and with wide eyes.

"Yes, but she has not done anything to us, she has even greeted me," Lily replied without giving any importance, the reality is that she had not even frightened her much, they just had to be careful, but she knew that this was a good time to try to take Calynn by force, but they hadn't.

Severus was not totally convinced; he was sure they were up to something. He preferred not to mention anything else, he didn't want to go against Lily, he just hoped they were really careful.

"Can you tell me what Hogwarts is like?" Asked the future Death Eater with hope in her voice.

Both girls turned to see Severus and he nodded.

"There are four houses in Hogwarts; Slytherin," Severus said as a smile lit his face, "Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor," He grimaced in disgust as he paused, it was obvious he had something against that house. "The sorting hat chooses which house you will go with respect to your personality." He mentioned. "For example, in Slytherin there are those who seek power, in Ravenclaw those who have intelligence, Hufflepuff those who have loyalty and in Gryffindor" he paused a little, searching for the words," the brave ones.

"Does that hat speak?" Asked Calynn, surprised and about to laugh out loud at just imagining a chattering hat.

"Yes, they put it on your head on your first day at Hogwarts," Severus explained naturally, apparently, he was already very accustomed to all that.

"How fantastic!" Said the girl, she had not felt so happy since the day she discovered she was a witch. "I want it to be September!" She added. "Because the best of all is that we will be in the same school all three, we can even stay in the same house," she finished while Severus looked down.

"Maybe tomorrow they'll let us go to Diagon Alley to celebrate your birthday and buy the things we need," the boy proposed.

"Diagon Alley? Where is it?" Calynn asked with great curiosity, she would love to know any place with magic.

"It's a place to buy all the magic materials. You get there from a pub called The Leaky Cauldron," explained Severus.

Calynn was thoughtful, remembered hearing that name before. To her surprise, a memory, quite old, from her childhood came to mind just by hearing the name of that place.

Calynn was about seven years old, she was walking with her parents on a street full of tall shops and incredible decorations. She was guided by her parents with peace of mind.

"It's here?" Asked her mother impatiently, pointing to the only store that looked abandoned and looked completely empty out the window. "Apparently I haven't been here for a long time", the woman justified herself. They entered through a wooden door and a bell rang, Calynn and her mother sat at the first table they saw while her father went to the back of the store with his wand in his hand and greeted the owner of the bar with a nod.

"My father was going to Diagon Alley," Calynn said suddenly.

"It's normal for many wizards to go to the alley to do their shopping," Severus said without giving it any importance. However, Calynn was thoughtful about how she could remember that specific moment.

During the day, the weather had suddenly changed and it had started to rain. The children turned sad looks as they would have to return home. The girls said goodbye to Severus who left them alone in the rain.

They were so focused on avoiding the drops that they didn't realize that the parents of the future Death Eater watched them from the threshold of the little girl's old home. They were so scared that they ran, slipped and fell while the water soaked their clothes and hair, got up quickly, entered the house and Lily immediately locked it while the girls dropped and stabilized the agitated breathing because of the scare.

"We must be more careful," Calynn said, "I don't know what they are up to, but we can't take risks like that."

"I know, but the rain stole our attention," he said. "Let's go upstairs to change, my mother will scold me for coming like this." She finished while she was teasing and trying to squeeze it hard so her mother wouldn't scold her so much.

The girls went up and gave explanations to Lily's mother about what they had done to be soaked, the woman was a bit annoyed, but she calmed down knowing that they were well. They took a shower and changed their clothes.

While Calynn was taking a bath, she couldn't stop thinking that she would have a wand the next day and know a place full of magic with her friends and without her parents, that last sentence generated some nostalgia.