The Novelle Diaries & The Wampus Cub

Chapter 16: Solo

Wren kicked her boot into a snow drift, hearing the satisfying crunch of snow on impact then turned to Chirrup and asked, 'Would you mind being my first audience member. The nerves might go a little if I can sing in front of you.'

Chirrup cocked his head to one side then planted his fluffy backside into the snow and waited expectantly for her to start. As he had grown, Wren had quickly realised that he was a lot more intelligent than the average house cat and could understand a lot of what you said.

She took a deep breath to steady her hammering heart and then, after a moment, began to sing, her voice drifting over the empty landscape, touching the mountains to create a sound produced by many voices working together. At first Wren was nervous but as she heard the mountains singing back to her, the muscles in her chest relaxed and her voice flew unhindered. The nerves had left and only joy that came with sound remained. It wasn't long before chirrup had joined in, harmonising beautifully with his whistling tones.

By the time Wren had finished her cheeks were flushed and her smile was untamable and suddenly, she felt ready for the performance. If she could perform for the whole world, she could definitely perform for one hall full of people.

She bent down and scratched Chirrup behind the ears. 'I knew you were a churpy boy but I never realised how musically gifted you were. I wish I could bring you up there with me tonight. I think we would make a great duet but I'm afraid that I will have to do this one alone.'

Chirrup nuzzled his broad head into her stomach lovingly, then with a flick of his tail, he turned and began to scamper around in the snow, throwing his head back and chirping excitedly. And with that, the game of tag had commenced. The girl and cat began chasing after each other laughing and chirping in the sleeping expanse.

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Rosewaine sat on her bed with Zodiac, her rabbit, sat in her lap nibbling a piece of celery. She had been packing most of the day and she had found it to be quite the laborious task.

'Do you need your charms book for the charms essay we have to do?' Wren asked.

'Yep, though only a monster sets work over christmas.' Rosewaine huffed, then threw another couple of textbooks into her trunk.

'And you have packed my Christmas present to you?' Wren checked.

'I wouldn't dream of leaving that,' Rosewaine said with a grin then she became a little sombre, 'I'm going to miss you.' she said.

'And I, you. This dorm is going to feel very empty.' Wren said, looking around at the large room. 'But it is only two weeks and we will write plenty of letters.'

'Are you going to have time to write more letters? I swear you write to your pen pal every day.' Rosewaine pointed out.

'I will write letters until my hand falls off.' Wren replied with a grin.

It was true, since her first correspondence with Clara Balnior, they had been writing to each other most days. Though Rosewaine had exaggerated a little. It took an owl around two days to travel such a distance. But during their correspondence they had become quite friendly and had found more and more interests that aligned such as history and literature, botany and most excitingly, animal care, though Clara's interests were limited to horses and pegasus. She volunteered at the pegasus stables at Beauxbatons so there had been several letters dedicated to that topic as Wren wanted to know everything about them.
But Rosewaine was right. Between the letters that she would be writing to her family, her pen pal and her friends, alongside the mountain of homework and caring for Chirrup, it didn't look like there was going to be all that much free time over the holidays.