The Winterwell Manor Closed

She giggled. “The alley cats are much, much worse. I had to plant an entire garden full of catnip a block away from here just so they would leave my birds alone!” She shuddered as flashbacks of The Nomming of ‘10 came back to her. “...okay, fine. Back to birds. The chickens could just chase and swarm around the student in a frenzy of feathers and rage instead of exploding. There’s only one thing. She paused, partially for dramatic effect. There is no way you’re getting Marigold or any of my chickens in on this. It’s dangerous! A student could fight back, or a teacher could step in and hex them! I think we would need to have an older student help us with transfiguration or conjuring the birds. I mean, unless your parents are willing to conjure up tons of chickens for the sake of scaring a few students.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m guessing that this’ll have to happen a bit later in the year so we can find an older student that seems like they would enjoy this sort of thing. If we went up to every student telling them about our plan, it would ruin the moment.” She gasped. “Or maybe even... no, it would never work.” She paused for a moment. “What was it I was doing before this...?” Another pause. “Oh yeah, sandwiches! Wait here, I’ll only be a moment!” As she left the room, a rather chubby pigeon landed on her head.

Amaya laughed. “Alright, alright... I’m sorry... and I’m pretty sure my parents wouldn’t do that. Yeah, maybe a older student... Besides, we still have time to plan it all out first! Maybe we could try and learn how to do it on our own time... it’ll be hard, but school hasn’t started yet!”

Amaya watched as Birdie disappeared to retrieve their food, pondering whether or not she should follow, before carefully going up to Marigold, in hopes of building a better relationship with her, one that wasn’t built entirely on her chicks. Grabbing a sunflower seed, she slowly coaxed Marigold into taking it. Marigold merely passed it on to one of her chicks, Scraps. Amaya gave two more sunflower seeds to Marigold, and she gave them to the rest of her chicks, Sunfloweer and Lemonade, before finally taking one for herself. Marigold seemed to trust Amaya a bit more, though she was still keeping her chicks behind her, watching Amaya warily. Amaya backed off, humming in disappointment. She’d hoped that the protective mother hen would immediately let her guard down, but... That was not the case.

Amaya turned her attention to the songbirds, humming to them as she eagerly awaited Birdie’s return.

After a few moments, Birdie returned to the garden with three sandwiches and two beautifully decorated porcelain teacups full of warm, pale tea. They matched the fairytale-esque elegance of the Winterwell manor. The garden was pleasantly noisy, with the gentle rush of water from the fountain and the quiet chirps of the birds. The kind of place where you could just relax with a nice cup of tea. "I didn't know if you were allergic to peanuts so I brought a ham and cheese sandwich too. And the tea is white tea. My personal favorite."
She smiled, gently sat down on one of the ornate benches, and placed Amaya's food on a side table that seemed to match with the benches and the fountain.
The chubby pigeon that had nested on her head contentedly fluttered up to the rafters.
"You're right, we could learn how to do transfiguration and conjuring ourselves. I don't think I have a book on that stuff in my room though. So..."
She paused, partially to eat her sandwich and sip some tea.
"Oh! My parents have this HUGE library! There's got to be something about advanced magic there! If you want, we could go check after tea. Although it could take a while. But I'm pretty confident in my knowledge of how books are sorted in there, so I'm sure it'll be fine."
Birdie sipped her tea and sighed.
"There's nothing quite like enjoying a warm cup of tea in the sun, don't you agree? The breeze in my hair, the song of the birds... there's just something so relaxing about it all."
She took another long sip of tea.

“Thanks!”, Amaya grinned, going after the peanut butter sandwich and digging in - of course, while trying to eat it in a more “polite” manner. She took a couple sips from the tea, enjoying the warmth that spread through her while settling into the calm atmosphere. The soft chirps, light sunlight, and occasional breeze really was nice. Just basking in that warmth, enveloped by breeze, felt great. Now, the background noise - no, music - was calming in itself, listening to the combined, different tones chirps bouncing around the garden.

“Yeah, it is quite relaxing... And yeah, we can definitely go to the library! Assuming your bookish, as well, I don’t know if we would even be able to get out of the library though! I can even bring some books the next time we meet up, depending on what which place we’re going to, but... I’m just going to warn you now, some of the books I bring may or may not be in mandarin.”

Amaya sighed blissfully. It was calming, merely sitting in silence, listening and watching the birds go about their normal routine. The silence wasn’t a tense, awkward silence, but rather, a peaceful silence that Amaya enjoyed. After all, it was a far cry from the normal awkwardness Amaya managed to bring about, and that was probably why she enjoyed it so much.

Once the two had finished their sandwiches and tea (and let some of the birds nibble on the ham and cheese sandwich), Birdie started leading Amaya to the library.
This time, they went through the center door into a hall filled with more giant suits of armor. Birdie briskly walked through it, not batting an eye, while the armor loomed over the two. Birdie always thought the room was unsettling, which is why she was so happy to reach the foyer.
The foyer was huge, with staircases leading every which way and doors to who-knows-where. Another shining diamond chandelier dangled over an elegant fountain decorated with a statue of a regal-looking woman, presumably Luminescent Winterwell, the most successful of the Winterwell line of successful women. At least, that's what the polished golden plaque at the statue's base said. Expensive-looking vases were scattered about alongside white and golden chaises. Birdie walked up to a large golden-brown door and shoved it open with a tremendous effort to reveal the library.
"And here we are!" She panted, trying to make the library seem exciting. She supposed it was, to a newcomer.
Bookshelves filled with hundreds, thousands of books lined the walls, to the point where the only place you could see the wall was above the warm crackling fireplace, where it was partially concealed by a family portrait of the Winterwells, including a young boy that Birdie knew all too well. That portrait was the reason Birdie tended to stay away from the library.
She darted her eyes away to one of the ornate armchairs placed around the fireplace, the kind that one sinks into. They were accompanied by golden-brown end tables, the same color as the door. The entire room had a warm glow, due to the candles enchanted to float in the air, like at Hogwarts. On the balcony that wrapped around the walls of the library, a house-elf was rearranging books. "Hey, Fabry!" She called up to him. Fabry let out a long groan.
"What is it?" He muttered, clearly none too pleased to have to answer her questions.
"Where can we find books on transfiguration and conjuring?"
He rolled his eyes and gave his monotone answer. "You can see the labels on the side. Both should be relatively close to the middle of the bookcases. Goodbye." The house-elf, who had finished his work, stomped off, muttering.

Amaya frowned, glaring at the now-closing doors. “You let them treat you like that?”

Amaya wasn’t one to talk, being stuck behind the walls of her parents, but she wanted to help her newly required friend. “They’re your house elves. I know there are certain things about house elf rights, but this is too far.”

Amaya wanted to call the elf back, but she knew it wouldn’t work. She wasn’t a member of the household, nor was she their “master”. She could feel a spark of guilt growing, because she already knew that what she was about to say might be insulting to Birdie and the rest of the Winterwells.

She thought back to the house elves in her home. Ever-so-obedient, so apologetic and tearful at every little thing out of place.

“You should go talk to them. It’s not right, for them to treat you like that. Even if you are both different species, he should treat you no less then a person, and you, who I assume have taken it this whole time, for eleven full years, should treat him as a person as well,” Amaya sighed. “This is seriously taking elf rights too far. Now I’m sorry if I just majorly insulted you and your family, but do they know how the elves are treating you?”

“No, no...” She sighed. “It’s my fault. I’ve always asked them annoying questions. At least he answered this time.” She paused a moment, thinking.
“Look, let’s just... get to searching. Before I forget.” She pulled a step-stool out of a corner and began looking through the bookshelves. As her eyes scanned over every book, she murmured the titles to herself, looking for something that could help.
But her mind kept flickering back to what Amaya said. “I can’t tell her my theory.” She decided. “Oh, crap!”
Birdie had become so lost in thought that she scanned over half of the bookshelf absentmindedly and had to start over again. Sighing, she got back to work.
The books seemed boring, which was an unusual thought for Birdie, considering that she spent so much time reading. A lot of them seemed like long-winded non-fiction textbooks about the most random things or romance novels.
“I hope we don’t have to go into the study for the books we need...” She groaned internally.
As the thought crossed her mind, she spotted something. “Transfiguration and Other Magical Arts!” She called out. “I found something!” Birdie scrambled down the step stool and presented the heavy textbook to Amaya. “I think that this could work. What do you think?”

Amaya furrowed her eyebrows. “Asking someone questions is not your fault. It is natural for one to be inquisitive. Curiosity is often the way one learns things, and is a key trait that can be seen in some of the most famous people in Wizarding history."

Amaya sighed, letting the topic go, before she slowly began browsing the shelves. She ended up getting distracted by the various topics on potions, ever-so-alluring, barely noticing when Birdie had spoke.

"Oh! You're right! Maybe we should search around the area, if we're going to find some more books...," Amaya gave Birdie a small, tentative smile. She had a strange feeling she had scared Birdie off with something she said, but she let it go, thinking of how she was probably just thinking too much about it. After all, she hadn't seen Birdie show any signs or express anything. She found herself skimming the bookshelf once more.

So she completely dropped the topic. "Loo- oh wait. Nope, false lead, sorry."

Amaya was beginning to get uncomfortable with it, and was slightly desperate to leave, beginning to feel as if she couldn't breathe. She didn't know why, it all just felt wrong and off.

"I'm going to go find some parchment, if that's okay. Maybe some ink, if you can direct me there?", Amaya smiled, masking her emotions and feeling slightly guilty for it.

"Oh. I think there might be some in the study." Birdie shoved open the heavy door and lead Amaya up the stairs to another room with golden doors, albeit on a much smaller scale.
She turned to Amaya and whispered "Please get out of the door's way." Once Amaya complied, she knocked on the door.
An adult popped her head out as the golden glow of a fireplace spilled out of the crack.
"What is it? You know I'm busy."
"Hello, Mother. I... I just wanted to ask for some paper, ink, and a quill." Birdie stuttered, seeming much more shy than before.
Mrs. Winterwell rolled her eyes and returned a few moments later with the materials in hand. "Now leave me alone until my work is done." Birdie nervously nodded and took the materials.
"Thank you." The doors slammed shut. "Let's go." She whispered to Amaya.
Once they had gotten down the stairs, she spoke at a normal volume again.
"Now that we have a textbook and something to take notes with, we should go back to the garden. I prefer being out there." She paused for a second. "Unless you want to stay in the library a bit longer. I'd be fine with that too."
No, no she wouldn't, but for her new friend's sake, she could go through with it.

Amaya found herself staring at the study doors with shock. She leaned a little closer to Birdie, as if offering support, before nodding at her.

“...Yeah. Let’s go to the garden...,” Amaya gave Birdie a smile, wisely avoiding the topic on how she was treated in her house. “Besides, if we need to rest a little, we could always play with the birds!”

Amaya offered Birdie another smile. Sure, her parents were strict... but they had never batted her away like that. It was a small wake up call for her, a small wake up call that there were others who’d had it worse. She reminded herself this, and began to make her way back to the garden, balancing some parchment and the book so Birdie wouldn’t have to take it all. She bit her lip. She decided she wouldn’t send Birdie looks of pity and sympathy, because that would be directly insulting her family, and that would likely make the other girl uncomfortable. Amaya merely hummed to herself, eyes downcast as she found herself staring down at her shoes.

Once she reached the garden, she placed teh things down, grabbed her tea, and downed it alll slowly savoring the warmth, before glancing back at Birdie.

“Wow... we really are working hard for a prank, aren’t we?”, Amaya grinned.