Can’t Wait to Grow

Skylar cleared her throat, pulling herself back, focusing on Aisling again.

“Yeah. I’m alright,”she said quickly.

The truth was, she was just nervous about what people might think when she was being herself too much, but Aisling seemed cool with her. So, it surprised her a little, and she tried to steady herself again.

“It was just... funny. I guess”

Skylar softened her tone. “Toads reminded me of something like the mud, the smell of wet soil, the plants that came alive after rain.”

She gave a gentle smile and a genuine look toward Aisling.

“I think... I never knew how much I missed my home.”

Despite being a black sheep in her family and how lonely she was, talking with Aisling really made her feel comfortable enough to notice herself.

She lowered her eyes. “It always felt… peaceful like I have someone listening to my amusement.”

Her eyes lifted again, and her tone was warm.

“And you’re right. People overlook toads. But maybe that’s what makes them special.”

Skylar tilted her head slightly, curiosity shining through her eyebrow.

“Do you miss home?” she asked.

Even though she dwells on the thought of herself so often, she actually can be very observant at the same time.

Aisling frowned a bit. Of course, she missed home! Sure, her parents were often busy when it came to their museum curator jobs, but it was a nurturing home nonetheless. But home and Hogwarts were just so different, too different to be compared. She nodded. "Yeah," she said, "I ... I do miss home sometimes. I miss my mum and dad." She paused for a moment. "But home and here, it's just ... it's just not at all alike. It's hard to compare it. Especially since Limerick ... it's kinda like a city. I mean, yeah, there's an outskirt that's kinda suburban, but it's mostly a city. Here, it's just about all nature, besides the castle." Aisling smiled. "That's what I like about here." She chuckled. "Plus the food here's savage compared to what my dad makes," she added, "I doubt my dad knows how to cook. He's got this bad habit of always burning it. Mum's been able to fix it many times, but sometimes it's banjaxed!" She paused, realizing that Skylar might not know what she meant. Considering how her peers at Hogwarts reacted the other times she used Irish slang around them, she knew she would have to explain it, at least from time to time. "Ruined, really," Aisling clarified. She shrugged before turning back to Skylar. "How about you?" she asked, "what's home like for you? Do you miss it?"

Skylar listened quietly, her lips grinning when she was watching Aisling think back over her slang. It was kinda adorable that a girl looked so careful about what she was going to say. Skylar enjoyed listening, but a part of her felt something like... envy at the same time. She wondered what it might be like to be that close to family, or if she’d ever get to feel that again.

Skylar shook a bit after realizing she drown deep to her thought again. She cleared her mind and rested her chin on her hand.

“Home…”

She gazed somewhere distant for a moment. She knew what “Home” meant for a girl, but for her...

“It’s… complicated, I guess. It’s full of green everywhere in and out. But, sometimes it still felt… empty.”

Fingers traced small circles on the pot near her.

“My parents work a lot, so it was just me and my gardens, and Baxter.”

She looked at Aisling's frowning eyebrow.

“My house elf.” She answered gently.

“He was a bit rude, but I think he just pretended to be. He was the one who kept me fed most of the time, and he was really good at taking care of everything.”

Skylar let out a little laugh.

“One time, I was hiding from him and tried to skip my dinner, but Baxter only snapped his fingers and then I just…”

She gestures with her hands in excitement.

“Poof! I was here... the dinner table in a second.”

Her gaze lowered after her smile faded again.

“I missed my aunt’s bedtime stories, too. She used to tell me a lot of strange things.”

Her gaze returned to Aisling.

“I guess I do miss home… Hogwarts feels like a new place, but maybe it will take some time to fit in.”

After a moment, Skylar thought about what Aisling said to Hogwarts foods, her stomach growling.

Skylar gathered her thoughts for a moment.

“Well, house elves... umm... they serve wizarding families.” she began to tap her finger on her face.

“They cook, clean, and do everything around the house, I think. Baxter always said it was his ‘duty,’ but I think he just liked to complain.”

She chuckled softly.

“He was shorter than me, but he had large ears and big green eyes. And,...” she paused.

“Honestly, he can do magic. more than I can,”

She smiled at the memory, she remembered. Her voice took on a quiet tone despite her guilt beneath it.

“He used to scold me whenever I messed up the garden. He said I treated plants like friends, not food. But he still managed to fix whatever I ruined.”

When Aisling asked about her aunt, she hesitated. The stun came before opening a door she wasn’t sure she should, but she was gladly to share some of her story anyway.

“My aunt used to tell me about creatures no one else believed in.” Skylar said with a voice full of color.

“Some could dance in the moonlight when everyone else was asleep. Some odd birds could disappear when frightened and leaving only feathers behind.”

Her eyes open wide with a glowing spark reflect to the light.

“Even a song of some creature that was beautiful could drive people mad for a week.”

Skylar let out her laugh comfortably.

“I don’t know if her stories were true, but I loved them. Who knows? In a world this big, anything’s possible.”

“Do you believe in things like that, Aisling? Magical creatures that most people don’t see?”

Aisling's eyebrows furrowed at what was considered a house elf's duty. "And did ... did Baxter like working for your family?" she asked. She steeled herself. "I ... I mean, house elves, that can't be just what they do. If he likes it, that's grand! But if he's made just to serve wizarding families." She shook her head. "That ... that's not sound." Her heart sank at that possibility. Whoever the house elves are, they are still beings, just as much as humans and bowtruckles were beings; beings who should be able to things for themselves, not under the whim of someone else. "Wait, you said Baxter complains often," she added, "are you sure he's not being made to do the work?" She paused for a moment. Perhaps it wasn't any of her business to poke around in other family's matters. "I ... I'm sorry," she said, her voice stammering, "I don't mean to be rude. I just ... I just hope that Baxter is happy is all. And if he isn't, he should be able to leave or something."

Aisling nodded at what Skylar said about the creatures her aunt told her. "Oh sure," she said, "anything's possible. I mean, if we can cast spells and mandrakes can scream so loudly they can kill, I think that those creatures being real could be true." She smiled at the thought. "And if they are real," she added, "I'd love to see them for myself!"

“You’re kind to think that way,” Skylar said softly with her gentle smile.

“Most wizards don’t even wonder if elves like what they do.”

Skylar’s heart was touched by Aisling’s concern.

“Even I want to free him, but elves are bound by magic to their masters, I think. And, I am not his master. My parents are.”

Her voice dropped with something bitter.

“Baxter may have complained a lot or been a bit cranky, but he did things his own way. I don’t know if he was happy, but my family never hurts him or does something cruel.”

Skylar smiled again, warmer this time, and looked at Aisling with genuine curiosity.

“You know, you sound like you’d start a protest for magical creature rights.” A laugh escaped from her lips, “Baxter would’ve liked you.”

Skylar tilted her head with bright eyes that showed she was interest.

“You said you’d love to see those creatures for yourself… Maybe”

She gazed somewhere far away and imagined.

“One day, we could look for them together. Not in books or classrooms, but out there, where real magic hides.”

Skylar felt something big stir in her chest, a good thing. It was great she could have a daydream that felt real for once.

Aisling noticed the wording of Baxter's existence. Was, were, would've. It was all past tense. She frowned and gulped quietly. "Did ... did Baxter pass?" she asked in a hushed voice. She knew this could be a sensitive topic for Skylar, but she couldn't understand why Baxter would be talked about in past tense if he were still alive. The idea that a house elf could have died with in indentured servitude would be heartbreaking for Aisling. Can one fully live if they only serve? she thought. She decided that no, one couldn't live the best they could if all they did was serve someone, even with the best of intentions.

Aisling smiled at Skylar's suggestion to look for the creatures. "You think so?" Her eyes were wide, lit with energy. She thought for a moment. "I know we're too young to have Care for Magical Creatures," she said, "so where --" And then she saw it in her mind's eye: the Forbidden Forest! Sure, Aisling heard some frightening tales about the place (after all, that was where Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters resided before the Battle of Hogwarts), but there was an allure about it, something so mystifying that it begged to be explored. A smile grew slowly on her face. "Skylar," Aisling said, "what if we took a peek into the Forbidden Forest one of these days?"

Skylar shook, surprised by the sudden question.

“Oh— no, no!” she said quickly, shaking her head and waving her hands as if to clear the thought away.

“Baxter’s alive. Very much alive. Probably still scolding the garden as we speak.”

A small laugh slipped out, and her tone softened.

“It’s just… he’s far away now. And I guess I miss him more than I thought.”

Skylar went to memory lane. Then she smiled at Aisling with a genuine expression.

“He’s not a bad company, really. Just a bit bossy.”

When Aisling mentioned the Forbidden Forest, Skylar froze for a second. Then a familiar spark lit up behind her gray eyes.

“The Forbidden Forest?” she repeated.

It was the first place that she wanted to explore ever since arriving at Hogwarts. However, she never thought that Aisling was the type of girl who would like to break the law, and she clearly seems to have underestimated her.

Skylar looks thrilled to find somebody with a curiosity that matches her own. It had always been a quiet dream of hers to find someone who would want to chase the strange and the unknown beside her. She never thought anyone else could be that curious in the same way she was. But today, Aisling was proving her wrong.

Still, this was only her first year, and she didn’t want to drag another girl into her recklessness.

“Maybe not today,” she said quietly.

“But someday, we’ll see it.”

And for once, Skylar didn’t feel lonely anymore.