I

”Papa, what is that?” Little Elvira asked, her bright blue eyes investigating the paper in the older man's hands. It was a letter, she through. Some sort of important letter. Papa's brows always went down like that when the target of his investigation was something curious, interesting or serious.

Propably also because he couldn't see the text, too.

Why could not Papa get one of those miracle glasses that gave one an eyesight? Eyeglasses, those were they, yes. Papa should get eyeglasses. Maybe he was just too stubborn. Mama always said Papa is a stubborn heart. She pulled Lulu, her kitten, closer to her chest. Lulu became part of their family just recently: She had been given to Elvira as her early 11th birthday. Even though only knowing each other for a short time, Elvira and Lulu had become like peas and carrots. It was rare if Elvira was not seen carrying the cat along with her.

Henrik Lake frowned heavily, narrowing his eyes at the paper. One hand, his left one, reached to rub carefully his eyes which were the same shade of gray than the peppering in his otherwise dark bush of hair. He looked over at his daughter, his eyes softening at the huge blue eyes staring back at him. The left hand reached to pat the girl's head, running it through the girl's blonde locks.

”A message for you”, he answered softly, kneeling down and pulling the girl slowly into an embrace, the small smile on his lips widening as he saw his wife entering through the kitchen door. He hoisted the little girl and her cat up, walking over and kissing his wife lovingly on the cheek. Sophia Lake gave out a small chuckle, then pecked her daughter in turn. ”How are my two treasures?” She asked softly, caressing both's cheeks briefly. Her eyes turned a bit at the letter, the bright smile returning to his lips. Elvira looked between her parents in confusion.

Sophia's voice was trembling in excitement and happniess as she spoke: ”My.. my love... is that... is that.. what I think it is!?” Henrik let out a proud laugh, bouncing the little girl in his arms. ”Yes! Our daughter has been accepted into the Hogwards School of Witchcraft and Wizardy!” Sophia let out an excited squee, while their daughter looked around in confusion. What did this mean? Would she have to leave home? What was this school they were talking about? Elvira buried her head into her father's neck, cuddling the purring kitten closer to her body.

What was going to happen?

II

As Elvira sat on the big bed in the Hufflepuff Girls' dorm, she cound not help but miss her Mama and Papa a bit. The bed she was in was huge for someone of her size. She hugged the kitten closer to her chest, a habit she had developed. The cat let out a small mewl, pawing the girl's face before wiggling off to settle next to the pillow behind Elvira's back. A bright smile touched Elvira's lips as she settled down, her head pressing against the pillow as she pulled the blanket over her small body, curling up. Her hand reached to pet the sleeping cat gently, and she closed her eyes, dreaming.

In the dream she was back in home, drawing pictures on a paper with ink and quill. Behind the paper, a stuffed elephant sat in silence, a big smile on it's slate blue face. The tip of Elvira's pink tongue was out from the left corner of her mouth as she took a model from the elephant, drawing on the paper with gentle strokes, changing her hand when the other got tired.

Her attention was shifted into the door of her room as a gentle knock was heard. Without waiting for responce, the knocker opened the door. Elvira smiled as she saw the housekeeper Bonnie enter the room with a tray, going to set it on the nearby table.

”Elvira, come and eat please, we need to get some food stuffed in that small body of yours”, the older woman spoke with French accent, though anyone from the country would have propably recogniced it as a rather fake one. Bonnie often spoke of her ethnical roots to France with pride, or whatever she meant with the phrase. Elvira left her works on the floor as she rushed over to the table, jumping on the chair and folding her legs under her to reach the food better. Before her hand could reach the glass filled with milk, her fingers were moved off by Bonnie's darker ones. The older woman investigated the ink that had smeared the younger girl's fingers, pulling out a wand from her apron's pocket.

It was only a simple flick, and the ink was gone.

Bonnie clicked her tongue once, shaking her head. ”No clean hands, no food little missus!” She loudly announced, then gave out a heartly laugh. ”Enjoy your vegetable soup, dear.” With that, she sat on the chair opposite of Elvira, beginning to read a small book. Elvira looked over, staring the book's cover, tilting her head at the title 'Which was first, milk or shake' before she digged in. Spoonful after spoonful found it's way into Elvira's mouth, and the milk was not spared either.

Elvira was not a person to pay attention to time, especially when eating, but after she had eaten for a while she began to taste a weird taste in her mouth. She moved her tongue, the tip caressing her teeth, her gums and other parts of the mouth. It tasted.. familiar. Strangely familiar. But it was not vegetable soup. It tasted like.. like when she had hurt her finger on a needle at even younger age, and then licked her finger.

Blood.

It tasted like blood.

Elvira's eyes shoot down on the bowl, only to see how the liquid had turned red. She instinctively shouted out for Bonnie, only to see that the woman was no longer in the room. She stood up, stumbling away from the bowl, and in her eyes the liquid began to pour over the bowl, pouring over until the strength of the flow made the cup bounce off the table, falling on the ground and crashing down, every corner leaking the blood out, the contents rolling around. Elvira's eyes turned into huge plates of horrified amazement as she saw the vegetables she was previously eating; an eye rolled right next to her, an eye she could identify as the same that used to hold the loving gaze of her Mama. A scream erupted from her lips, her hands smacking over her face to cover the sight of her bloody dress and the limbs and arteries filling the room.

Elvira jolted violently on the bed, clutching the kitten in almost a death grip. The kitten protested with a squirm, pawing aggressively on the little girl's face, though the claws did not show themselves. Elvira moaned as she felt a wave of nausea, jumping off the bed and rushing into the bathroom, the cat following right after her. After spending some time emptying the contents of her stomach, she walked tiredly back into her bed, pulling the kitten close to her chest. ”I miss Mama and Papa”, she whispered into the cat's fur softly. ”And French-aunt Bonnie...” she continued quietly, feeling bad for leaving the older woman away from her wishlist. She closed her eyes slowly after giving one last glance around the room, this time dreaming of unicorns and fluffy cloud lands.

III

Bone structure.

Muscles.

Joints.

Veins.

The big book laying on Elvira's bed was so big, and so full of things, many of them something which she never thought she'd become to know. She reached over to the desk, picking up the cup holding her nightime tea. She had picked up the habit while staying at Hogwards. Why, she didn't know. Her other hand gently stroked her cat's fur. The animal was sleeping next to the books, uncaring of the world around her. Soft purring worked like a relaxing piece of music, making the young reader drowsy.

It was only after midnight when Elvira stopped reading. She closed the book, careful not to wake up any of her doormates by making noise. Carefully depositing the book under her bed, the young girl slipped under the covers, taking the cat with her, and pulled the blanket up to her chin. Curious eyes stared up.

So much had happened since she first set her foot inside the castle grounds of Hogwards. She had been taught many things, some of them harder than the others. A boy from her house taught people how to talk to others through Fire. Perhaps now she could contact her home more often.

She had met many new people, of which some seemed really scary, and some of them seemed nice. It was alright, though. If they didn't want to be nice, no one could force them. They had the right to be whatever they wanted. She couldn't make anyone be what they didn't want to be. It wasn't right. So she should just let people be what they wanted to be.

Elvira squeezed her eyes shut. She was again blabbering, even if it was only inside her head.

Suddenly the thoughts she had heard other girls speak before going to sleep invaded her mind. One said she wanted to be an auror. Another wanted to work inside the Ministry of Magic. One spoke of being cook. Another said she wanted to become a singer.

What did she want to do?

Life was full of choices, Elvira had realized. So she would have time. Probably. If time didn't want to give any of itself to her, it would be alright too. She wouldn't force time to anything. It would be selfish, and wrong. It was bad. Probably. But if it didn't want to be bad, it didn't have to. Good would be alright too.

Elvira thought carefully of her options, her answer gently poking at the lines of her conciousness, but not fully daring to enter.

Eventually, she simply turned on her side, the cat shifting slightly to a better position next to the tired girl. The two cuddled up in the dark, one dreaming of her possible future and the other... well, whatever it was that felines dreamed about.

//Psst! Also gave a gentle makeover to the previous posts.