Maglins and the Infinite Quest

46

Pipher Green

After a dreadfully long time of being away from my friends, the day has arrived.

June 26th.

Exactly a week after Anna's fifteenth birthday. Or what would have been her fifteenth birthday.

My dad apparated me to Frankie's house where I received an overwhelming greeting at the door. Frankie gave me a friendly hug followed by Vin, Charlotte, and then Catherine.

"Long time no see," Frankie commented, "Feels like it's been forever,"

"It has," I coughed, "Feels like a lifetime since I've seen you all,"

"We would all love to hear what's went on with you as well as telling you what's happened at Maglins," Catherine commented.

I nodded, "I haven't eaten this morning,"

"Neither have we," Vin responded, "Frankie's mom made pancakes and french toast, it's in the dining room,"

With that, we all rushed inside and to the dining room. Frankie's mom sat at one end of the long table while Frankie sat at the other. If his dad was home, he would be sitting at the other end.

We all filled our plates with food which included pancakes, french toast, sausage, eggs, and fresh fruit.

"So," I commented, "Who wants to start?"

"I will," Vin responded, "Francis got two weeks worth of detention after losing her temper in the middle of a history lesson. She called the teacher some pretty nasty names, but it's nice to see her getting what she deserves,"

"I wish I could say that's surprising," I chuckled, beginning to eat my food.

"Some fifth year student stole a first year students towel from the bathroom so he was in the bathroom yelling for about an hour for someone to bring him a towel," Frankie began, "I was busy, but I couldn't just listen to his yell all bloody night, so I brought him one,"

"Who was it?" I asked, curious to hear more.

"Think his name is Lewis," Frankie answered, "Why?"

"Lewis as in Lewis West?" I exclaimed, "As in the Lewis from our PE class?"

"Yeah!" Frankie answered, "Pretty sure it was him,"

Though I felt absolutely terrible, I don't know what I would have done in that situation either and it was a bit funny.

"So Pipher, why don't you tell us what's happened to you?" Charlotte asked.

"Well," I began to think, "My roommate would snore all night long so most nights I didn't sleep and everybody was asking me for answers as if I just kept a dozen extra copies of each assignment on me at all times,"

"I hope you get accepted back to Maglins soon, that sounds brutal," Catherine chimed in.

"It was brutal, makes Maglins seem like a paradise,"

"Did you hear about Charles's sentencing?" Frankie asked, "Now that's brutal,"

"He deserves it after all the trouble he's caused. Killing an innocent girl, causing harm to not only her but her family and all of us. He did brutal things so he deserves a brutal punishment," I spoke angrily.

I had lost all sympathy for Charles. Odd to think that just a few months ago he was my best friend and now he means nothing to me.

"The ministry told me about his imprisonment as well as my reacceptance to Maglins," I said, calming back down.

That only caused a roar of excitement to fill the room. Even Frankie's mom chimed in and congratulated me.

I didn't really see why a congratulations fit the situation as I never did anything wrong in the first place but I was still very appreciative of the kind words.

"We all need to write to the headmaster to secure our suite for next year," Frankie said, "I can share a room with Charlotte, Vin can share with Catherine, and you can share with yourself,"

"Really nice," I muttered.

"Unless you have somebody in mind?" Vin asked.

The only way to describe his tone was like a twelve year old teasing you about liking a girl. It was humiliating.

"No," I said harshly and abruptly, "I'd rather have the room to myself,"

"If you change your mind, let me know so I can inform the headmaster of needing a six person suit instead of five,"

"No," Charlotte said, "You're putting a lot of pressure on him, just get a sixth to be safe,"

Charlotte had never stuck up for me like that. She had always seemed stuck up around me for some reason, maybe I interpreted her wrong though. She didn't seem so bad.

The rest of the time, we ate and continued our conversations before going to Frankie's library that was on the second floor of his mansion. We talked in the secluded space, the aisles of books allowed for us to pace the room as we talked.

Once that concluded, we went to his indoor pool which sat below ground on the second floor.

It was too hot to swim in the outside one and because Charlotte is a redhead, she burns much faster than the rest of us, though we all look pale from not ever going outside.

The rest of my stay at Frankie's house was really pleasant. Whenever I felt my social battery running low, I could walk around the mansion and find some new room to explore while I waited for it to recharge before meeting them all again to continue where we left off.

They were understanding of me and my feelings which was comforting.

We all spent tons of time together doing random things, playing lawn games, swimming, reading each other books, and playing board games.

Each time we had a bean bag toss game, Vin won and each time we had a chess tournament type thing, Charlotte would win.

I was beginning to feel more like myself than I have for a long period of time and it was pure freedom.