𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕡

4- Ramadan

"Standing on the sun and I don't feel a thing
Won't you comfort me?"

December's frost greeted them with promises of glasses of hot chocolate after snowball fights and wind that bit the end of your nose, and the two girls would eventually find themselves outside for a prolonged period of time, but at the moment they were doing something much less enjoyable. Of course, the two could never go a minute without bantering back and forth, however, they had pushed their project to the very last second, and Andromeda was serious about getting it done.

Professor Slughorn had assigned a potions project to them two weeks ago, which was far more time than they needed to complete it, but it had become somewhat of a nuisance to Andromeda and Henri. In their opinion, a potions project ought to include brewing a potion, yet it didn't appear that their professor agreed with them. He assigned them a list of questions of a potion that they hadn't heard of before—Andromeda wondered if this was because they hadn't really been listening recently—and they were to research it in the library.

This was the exact reason that the two girls found themselves under Madam Pince's watch instead of partaking in winter activities outside. Both of them were scanning the shelves for the titles that Madam Pince had written down for them—she heavily favored Andromeda, but Henri wouldn't yet admit to this—and it didn't take long for them to find exactly what they were looking for.

They had situated themselves in a distant corner of the library—Merlin forbid anyone sees them in the library together—when they started to avidly work on the project. Yet, it didn't take them that long to turn to conversation, not for the first time that day.

Previously, Henri had explained to Andromeda that this year, during December, Muslims celebrated the month of Ramadan. She had told her all about the prayers she did throughout the day, and how from dawn to sunset, she would fast.

McGonagall had made accommodations for this, making sure that Henri would be able to spend Ramadan in the castle. The house-elves had even fixed a special plate of food for Henri, charming it so that it was ready when she needed it.

Andromeda was excited that Henri was so open about speaking about her religion, Islam. Having been sheltered from outside beliefs, Andy really didn't know anything about it, but Henri was patient and made sure Andromeda understood how everything worked.

"That hijab is beautiful, Henri," Andromeda gushed. "Did it come embroidered?"

The hijab in question was violet with yellow flowers embroidered at the bottom. Henri's mum had sent it in the mail yesterday, so this was the first time Henri had been able to wear it.

"I think so," Henri bit the tip of her quill. "Mum knows how to embroider, but Mungo's has been packed recently, so I don't know if she could have found the time to do that."

Andromeda hummed in response, nodding in understanding. The great thing about their friendship was that they didn't always need to communicate with words. Often, they found themselves communicating just by looking at each other, or tilting their head a certain way, maybe even making hand gestures.

They got to work seriously after that, the desire to finish the project stronger than the desire to procrastinate. Both of them being smart, Henri and Andie completed the project not long after with a strong wish to call Slughorn a few choice words.

They exited the library with a finished project and more than a few yawns. More than a little tired, the two girls bid each other goodbye as quickly as possible and went their separate ways.