Mentioning: @Elizabeth Isaacs, @Piper Clark, @Cassandra Ironwoods & @Henry Knight

July 31, 2021 | The Kennedy Flat, Edinburgh, Scotland | 2 PM

It had been a long July. Starlee would have never imagined in a million years just how much she missed Hogwarts. She missed the castle, she missed her classes, but most of all, she missed her friends. She had only been away for one month and she missed it all so much.

She was happy she was able to see Cash and Henry just a week earlier, since they wouldn't be attending the Hogwarts summer camp. She would still miss them, but a lot of students had other summer plans, and really, a month out of only two free months was a long time to be away at camp. She wasn't sure originally if she should go, but was glad she signed up, ready to be back in the 'Hogwarts action.'

It wasn't like her home life was terrible. It was perfectly fine; in actuality, probably better than most others. She had a loving mother and father, a kind older brother, and a menace of a little sister. A typical family life. But that was it, she was bored. Sure, she got to help her father out in the rooftop greenhouse most mornings, perhaps even sitting close by as she watched him brew a potion, but after the excitement she had at Hogwarts this past year, it all seemed so dull in comparison.

Currently, Starlee laid face-down diagonally across her twin sized bed, her face shoved in a pillow and her legs half dangling off the edge. She groaned into the pillow, suddenly flipping herself over to look back at the ceiling, her long hair whirling around her and covering most of her face. She almost looked like a relative of Cousin Itt's. She attempted to blow some of the strands out of the way, but they just fell back down to where they were before.

Pulling her hands toward her face, she pushed her hair aside, her mind contemplating the past years events. Well, for starters, she had done well enough in her classes to move up to her second year. Was it all O's like she would have hoped? No, but she had managed to barely scrape by in Charms with an A. She thanked her position on the dueling team for that - it seemed her fellow duelers certainly wanted their team to win, so all the extra practice with spell work was making her much more confident.

Other events over the year had a darker tone to them. The train ambush in January, where she had lost favor with her new pet owl, catapulting him out the window of the overturned train with a poorly cast Wingardium Leviosa, and where she witnessed a strange 'blood' magic. Then in Februrary, she fell into a trap in the dungeons alongside a fellow duellist, resulting in quite a few broken bones. In March, the owlery was ransacked, the boy from the earlier train incident, injured even more so.

Starlee sat up, placing her head in her hands. She had learned a lot this year, but she still felt like the same old Starlee. The same Starlee who was scared of her bullies, Elizabeth and Piper. The same Starlee that couldn't cast a spell correctly, no matter the situation. The same Starlee who was weak. She would have to change that.

Cash appeared in her mind again. Their bright purple hair, a mark of individuality and strength. Cash was someone that Starlee aspired to be like. However, Starlee didn't have any box dye lying around, and there was no way her mother would go for purple hair, so it was time to do the next best thing.

She ran into the kitchen, pulling open the 'junk drawer,' which was filled with a multitude of random items, just as the name implied. Her hands pushed through the unorganized mass, which included batteries, tape, old sauce packets from McDonalds... until she finally found what she was looking for: the scissors.

Turning back toward her bedroom, she gripped the scissors tightly, making her way instead toward the bathroom she shared with her sister at the end of the hall. She pushed the door closed behind her and turned to face the mirror. Her long blond hair had always been one of her favorite things about herself, but maybe, just maybe, a new edge to her look could give her the confidence she needed. It could turn herself into a new and improved Starlee. One that wasn't weak, one that was a master at spells.

She brushed her hair out, letting the hair fall naturally. She was no hairstylist, but she would certainly try. Holding the scissors up to her face, she began cutting away at the long hair right in front of her in swift chops. Snip, snip, snip.

With a clack, she tossed the scissors down on the counter. She peered at her new self in the mirror. Long strands of blond hair were now carelessly strewn on the countertop and the floor around her.

But she had done it. She had given herself bangs. She raised her hand to touch them, raising them up and down as if to give them more volume. She would turn her head ever so slightly in various directions, almost as if she were in a photoshoot, admiring them.

She looked good.

She looked confident.

This was the new and improved Starlee. And when she showed up at summer camp tomorrow, everyone would know it.