Can’t Wait to Grow

Skylar took a half turn toward the voice.

The Hufflepuff girl stood there with ginger hair glowing like sunlight. Her freckles bright against flushed cheeks. She looked like she’d just fought a battle with her nerves to say that one sentence, and Skylar knew exactly how that felt.

Then, Skylar turned fully toward the girl. There was a small thought crossing her mind. Maybe it was because her family had all been in Hufflepuff, so she felt an odd kind of connection already.

Even though Skylar was never great at small talk, she had to admit. The girl had picked the perfect place to approach her. Whether it was a garden, a greenhouse, or a patch of grass in the woods, Skylar always felt most like herself surrounded by green. Nature gave her courage in ways people never could.

Skylar tilted her head slightly, eyes softening.

“You like nature too?” she asked gently.

She could already see the answer in Aisling’s eyes before the girl even nodded. Skylar’s smile grew small and genuine.

“I like plants,” she said after a pause. “They don’t really talk, but… if you listen, you can understand what they want. You can tell when they’re happy or upset, too, if you pay attention.”

She wiped her hands on her apron, cleaned the soil off a little bit. She added with a nervous laugh.

“Sorry, did that sound too weird?”

She held out her hand in greeting, her voice calm but friendly.

“I’m Skylar, by the way.”

Her gaze flicked briefly toward the fluttering leaves nearby.

“If you ever need help with the plant parts of class, I don’t mind.”

The silence that followed felt a little too still, so Skylar filled it with a small kind smile.

“Actually,” she said softly.

“I like animals too. My aunt used to talk about them a lot, but I’ve never had much experience with real ones.”

It wasn’t loud or pushy. Her tone has a steady warmth. Enough for someone shy to feel welcome without pressure.

Aisling’s mention of Parselmouth made something flicker behind Skylar’s eyes.
Her hands stilled, fingers tightening slightly.

For a heartbeat, she wasn’t standing in the greenhouse anymore. She was back in the garden at home. Her parents’ faces pale with fear, and something close to disgust.

She swallowed, forcing the memory down where it belonged. No one here needed to know about that day. Whatever it had been, accident, or an instinct. She didn’t want the thought of it reminding her of the truth she kept trying to forget that she was the black sheep of her kind.

Skylar blinked, refocusing on Aisling, the faintest tremor still in her voice.

“There wasn’t really a specific way,” she said softly. “I just… grew up in a garden, that’s all.”

Her gaze dropped briefly to her hands, as if only just noticing the roughness Aisling had seen.

“I guess I like to get hands-on, or feel things grow. Books help, but soil teaches differently.”

She brushed her fingers together, soil still clinging to the lines of her skin.

“Taking care of plants needs dedication. It’s slower. Messier. But I like that. It reminds me that everything takes time. Plants. People … maybe even courage.”

Her gaze lifted again, steady warmth.

“You sound like you’ve spent time around animals before,” she said gently. “Do you have any? magical? or non-magical?”

There was no judgment in her tone, only quiet curiosity. The kind that didn’t dig, but invited. The kind that said: I want to understand you, if you’ll let me.

Skylar’s lips curved slightly, the kind of smile that seemed to come from remembering something.

“Magical creatures…” she murmurs, tilting her head as though tasting the words.

“I’ve seen a few. Mostly the ones that wander near my gardens or hide in the trees. They don’t always show themselves, but you can feel when they’re there.”

Her gaze drifted toward the glass roof where the light reflected into her eyes. Her voice softened, almost blending into the hum of the greenhouse.“There was a bowtruckle once,” She then paused with giggled.

“It's a tiny thing, shy and barely the length of my hand. It was like the guardian of the tree in my garden. My mum said they only appeared to people who were gentle enough not to frighten them.”

A faint, faraway look flickered across her face. The memory carried both fondness and something quieter, a shadow that lingered behind her words.
“Sometimes, I think…” she continued, “the magical ones aren’t that different from the normal ones. They just… hide more carefully.”

She looked back at Aisling again.
“They never harmed me, but they didn’t like me either.” She paused, as though the admission cost her something. Then she looked up again, a small smile blooming through the silence. “ You sound like someone they’d trust, though.”

Skylar’s smile deepened as she added,
“I mean..The birds you mentioned...I don’t think they gather around just anyone. Maybe they knew you’d never hurt them. Maybe that’s why they came to you.”

Skylar brushed a leaf off her sleeve, then asked quietly,
“If you could have any magical creature for a companion, any at all, what would you choose?, Aisling.”

The question lingered the air in between, soft as falling pollen, the kind of question that made her seem not just kind, but deeply present.

Skylar shrugged her shoulders, long sigh.

“I’m not sure. Bowtruckles were like a guardian of a tree, as I told you, so when I tried to take care of the plants near their tree, maybe they thought I was going to destroy their home.”

Skylar was scratching her head for a bit.

“I didn't try to connect with them that much. My eyes were always on the plants. The Bowtruckles always gave me a grumpy face, or maybe it was cranky like you said." She giggled.

Skylar listened to Aisling answer, admired how a girl remembers things. Before she began to ask herself the same question as Aisling, she thought for a moment, her eyes drifting toward the wet soil near the flower pots.

“Maybe…a toad.” she said softly.

Skylar gave an embarrassed smile. “They’re not flashy like owls, but they’re really helpful."

Skylar pointed her finger at some leaves that had a small hole in them.

"Toads like to eat bugs, so it really prevents the plants from getting destroyed by many insects."

She thought in silence, digging into her memory about them. Then, she began to laugh.

"I really enjoyed it when I saw them jumping around the pond like they belonged to the earth and water.”

Her laugh was loud, as if someone was tickling her. Then, she realized she was being herself too much. Skylar brushed, embarrassed, and expressed the awkwardness on her face.