There is a world, beyond what you know. It's more than the misty mornings from the castle windows, or the lingering smell of dinner leaking through the kitchen and into the common room in the evenings. It's more than the room of requirement's shapeshifting abilities and deeper than what can be described in all the pages of the books in the library. I have looked for solace in all of these, hoping for a taste of the childhood spent in movie theatres, arcades, and road trips to nans up north for Christmas holiday.
There is a world beyond that of magic, and it calls for me to return to them.
The last night of my stay in the muggle world for summers is spent memorizing the mundane power of the muggles. I memorize the sound of my parent's voices, their never-ending concerns for me while I'm away. I sit across from them at the Kent's dinner table, and I watch them take in the seamless blend of muggle and wizard that happens before their eyes. I don't think they ever get less surprised.
Nicole Kent, my very best friend in the world and host of said dinner, sits beside me. Her family takes me in the night before every term begins to make it easier on my parents. They only live a town over, and my dad would deny it if I said it out loud but he's grateful he never has to run through that bloody wall again. Nic's mum is a muggle which makes it easier for my parents to ask them questions, really really stupid questions. Mum is grateful she has someone else she can rely on while I'm away.
The conversation between our families flowed easily enough, with Mr. Kent asking about my brother's new job in London, and Mum boasting about her newfound bond with my 'letter bird' (a bond that is only slightly above the bird pecking so furiously at the treats in her hand she bleeds). I'm wildly content to listen to the sounds of a life unburdened by school, or crisis, or magic.
It's not that I don't like magic, not at all, I love the sheer majesty that runs through my blood at the drop of a phrase. I love the satisfaction that rips through my ribcage when I brew a potion just right or even the feeling of my wand in the palm of my hand. It's easier than the breath that draws from my lungs. I just feel the light ignorance of the muggle world keeping me tethered to the earth. So, I relish the time I spend just between the two families in simple bliss.
As I thought in depth about the places, I would be missing in less than a days' time Nicole nudged me out of my mind. When I looked at her she gave me a look telling me to join us in the present once again. When I returned back to the conversation I listened once more to Nicole's brother, Seamus, lamenting about how he wishes to go to school with us.
"Why couldn't I have been born just a year earlier?" He asked indignantly, "This term everyone's going to be talking about the World cup and I'll be stuck here with you lot!" He sat back in his chair defeated.
"Oi!" Mr. Kent objected, "What's all this 'you lot' last I checked I'm your dad?" Seamus just rolled his eyes and took an overwhelmingly large bite of his mashed potatoes. "'Sides, you'll be starting your quidditch lessons this term, so you'll have mates in no time." At the sound of that, it was Mrs. Kent's turn to roll her eyes in disagreement.
"I still think he's much too young," she explained to my mum who looked confused, "It's just bloody dangerous is what it is." My dad murmured an agreement but shot Seamus a well-mannered wink.
"I'm just glad our Meelie never took up the sport!" Mum cried in relief. At which I felt my chest constrict at the thought of being so high in the air. At the mere mention of the sport my hands clammed up, and my stomach dropped.
"Yeah, no thanks to Nic." I retorted at mum. Nicole makes a quick move to jab me with her elbow for throwing her under the bus, "Ow! Nic, you monster" I screeched sarcastically as the table chuckled.
"'s not my fault you're a weak little Hufflepuff!" She joked back at me.
"There are plenty of dangers in the castle without Quidditch, I'm sure." My dad added looking pointedly at Nicole, before chuckling at us both.
Dinner continued on like this until the sun dipped too far beneath the horizon to be seen anymore. Then my parents gave me the same look they always did before leaving. They looked so scared like they would never see me again as if they didn't hug me tight enough, I would never come back. And with the world's tightest hugs, the promise of writing at least a thousand letters, and a rushed checklist to make sure I had packed everything, they left. I never watched long enough to see their car disappear, I knew I would cry if I did.
Nic, having done this every term since the first year, knew the hour after my family left is best spent thinking about anything but family. So, in classic Nic fashion, we talked. I may be a muggle-born with an over-attached view of the muggle world, but nothing in the wizarding world ever captured my teenage heart like humdrum gossip with my best friend.
"Have you heard from Fred?" I sat at the foot of her bed placing my cat, Francis, in my lap. Nic turned a flush red and looked down nervously. "My God! You must've heard quite a bit from Fred then?" I joked at her expense. She flushed farther and threw a handful of popcorn at me in retaliation. "Oi! OI! Cat in the lap! Respect the cat you nonce!"
"Well maybe you shouldn't be so vulgar about Fred and I and then I'll respect the cat!" she reached out to pat Francis on the head as an apology. "It was nothing but innocent I swear!" she defended herself as she checked the door to make sure there were no prying ears. "We met for tea last week."
The smirk that stitched itself on my face was knowing and there was no force, short of death, that would be able to take it from me. I knew it. "Oh? And George was there with him I presume?" I added coyly.
"No, not exactly." She tucked her curls behind her ear and continued to shovel popcorn into her mouth as if I wouldn't have been able to interrogate her otherwise.
"No? So, you.... And Fred Weasley?" I goaded, "A boy two years your senior I may add!" she gasped dramatically as if it were the worst sin in the world, barely hiding her laugh directly after, "Went on a date!"
"It was not a date!" She defended, "We talked about Quidditch! And bloody pranks! It's not like he was asking to marry me!" At this, she saw the stack of letters sticking out the side of my satchel. "Besides, it looks like I'm not the only one with a pen pal!"
I couldn't help but laugh, Neville and I always wrote one another during holiday. It was probably the furthest thing from romance as he described how awful his Nan sang at church or how my mum had tried to make bread from scratch but burned it in the oven. Neville was not a romantic person, but he was Neville.
"See! You've got that look on your face again, how long is it going to take you to realize you're both daft as a bag of bones! You clearly like Neville!" She sorted through the different letters at top speed, hoping to find something to support her wild claims.
"You can look all you want, but Neville and I are good friends and just that." Her eyes watched me closely hoping I would break, but she had no such luck today. "Besides, even if I liked Neville, which I do not, he's clear that we're just friends." She gave up on the letters returning them to my satchel. "It's nothing like you and Fred!" I add to change the subject.
"Shut up!" She blushed, "I need to get ready for bed." she murmured quietly as she left the room to presumably brush her teeth. I set up my bed on the floor beside hers and while I waited for her to return to the bathroom, I thought about what she had said.
Neville and I became friends around Halloween in first year. We hadn't shared any classes yet but I had seen him trailing around the other Gryffindor's trying to make friends. One foggy morning the week leading up to the big feast I couldn't sleep, so in an attempt to clear my mind I went for a walk. After getting painfully lost in the castle I ran into a small boy sitting on the steps of the ever-moving stairs crying.
Neville had apologized profusely for blocking the steps and promised he hadn't heard me coming, but to his surprise, I sat with him. He explained that the other classmates had scared him before going to bed as a prank, and he couldn't sleep. From there we talked up until I had to go get dressed for breakfast, and as Neville walked me to my common room, I promised him that he would always be able to talk to me about anything, even if it was scary. It was simple, stupid even, but I'm not sure anyone had been that kind to him until then.
Looking back, I remember all the days spent in the library exchanging notes or checking one another's work. There had always been an ease to both of them, neither one tried to push the bounds of their friendship past just that; friendship. Nicole's prying into our friendship had not been a new thing, I had heard it for years, but something about this summer had changed us. Neville's letters seemed different, and I had been secretly worried all summer that I had done something wrong. I wonder If Nic's words had finally pushed him away.
Before I could wrap my head back around to reality Nic barged back into her room, now dressed in her pajamas and plopped in bed. She made sure that Francis and I were comfortable in our make-shift cot and flipped the light switch.
The last thing I thought of before I fell asleep that night was Neville, driving away so far that I could no longer see him as he slipped past the horizon.
A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading my first chapter of Cat and Mouse! I don't have an upload schedule yet, but my goal is one chapter a week (not sure which day I'll post though.). Sorry, this is kind of short? I'm still figuring out some of the more exciting things to come.
Absolutely welcome to feedback as long as it's constructive! :) Hope you enjoyed!