Fairy Tales Solo Closed

WINONA KRISTIANSEN Second year ❀ Slytherin Interacting With: - Date: 10th Sep. 2023 Word count: 806

Just another day of browsing through shelves full of books for the young bookworm Slytherin. That was certainly one way to end a Sunday. A certain old book, a collection of fairy tales, caught her attention. Initially, she thought it was about fairies. All she knew about them was that they kind of resembled pixies and doxies, so learning more about them could not hurt, especially when she had time to kill. With the book in her hand, she sat down in front of a long library table and started reading.

Just a few pages in, Winona quickly realized that she had misunderstood the book's contents. The stories looked more like muggles' experiences of witnessing magic or magical beasts. Why was this book in the Hogwarts library in the first place? Maybe for Muggle Studies? Winona had no idea, but as she kept reading the first tale, she found it hard to put the book down. It was the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the tale of a little girl being sent alone into the woods... Who lets a young child wander alone through the woods anyway?

What she read next caused her hazel eyes to widen. There was a mention of a big and scary wolf. She placed her journal beside the book on the table and quickly opened an empty page, just in case she wanted to take some notes.

...the wolf in the woods asks her: 'What road are you taking, the path of needles or the path of pins?'
'The path of needles,' said the little girl.
'Well, I shall take the path of pins.'
The little girl enjoyed herself picking up needles. Meanwhile, the wolf arrived at her Grandmother's house...

Paths full of pins and needles? That sounds downright weird; these must be metaphors in some way, Winona thought. She tried her best to come up with ideas to figure out what they could mean. It was a fun process, similar to solving a murder mystery in a detective novel.

Hmm, so... Pins can be used to hold two pieces of fabric together in a makeshift, unskilled way. They're versatile but not efficient. One could possibly prick themselves when wearing a dress held together by pins. On the other hand, needles are meant to be used for sewing. By sewing fabric, one could make a perfectly good piece of clothing, but it would take time, patience, skill, and experience. That was the reasoning Winona came up with, and she was so far pleased with the meaning she was able to interpret.

If she was correct so far, it would be safe to assume that Little Red Riding Hood wanted to improve herself or grow up in some sense. But why was the wolf asking that to her? It was hard to figure out, and she made a note on her journal that could possibly stay as a reminder of the confusion she had while reading this strange tale.

'Wolves are just dogs. Untame, wild, aggressive dogs. But werewolves are like people. Untame, wild, aggressive, scary, uncivilized, monstrous, cruel, inhumane...' Winona soon noticed herself writing down every negative thought she had on her mind in the journal. She sighed and scribbled over the words she wrote; the words were not something she wanted to see when she browses through her journal in the future.

Going back to reading, the young Slytherin quickly finished the tale. It was eye-opening in some way. Even people, as helpless and ignorant as muggles, were able to understand how cruel monsters werewolves were. They probably did not know what a werewolf was and called it a 'big, scary wolf' instead. Nevertheless, the said werewolf was a horrible enough monster to hurt a little girl and her grandmother.

Winona started to feel her eyes tearing up and closed the book. She was not in the mood to keep reading that strange book written from a muggle's perspective. The only thing she could think about was her younger brother. He was still a naive, innocent child. It was painful to think that he could end up becoming such a monster, the kind that had traumatized him. Sitting alone in the library, she made a promise to herself and noted it in her journal, just under the scribbled words.

'I am going to become a great witch and find a cure for that curse. I will dedicate my entire life to researching if I have to.'

She took her glasses off for a moment and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. It would be horribly embarrassing to be seen crying for no reason. Trying her best to keep her composure, she got up and returned the book to the shelf she took it from and left the library with her journal held close to her chest.