The Novelle Diaries & The Wampus Cub

Chapter 16: Solo

As November drew to a close the temperature dropped considerably and as the calendars turned to December the snows began to cover the landscape and the lake found itself trapped under a layer of ice.

Wren's boots sunk into the fresh crunchy snow as she took in the early morning winter views. Her breath billowed around her as it condensed on the cold air as she adjusted her woollen scarf to cover more of her face. Behind her, a Saint Bernard sized beast hopped into her footsteps trying desperately to not get its paws wet but was failing miserably. As a tropical species, Chirrup was struggling to enjoy this new season's weather, to the point where Wren had paid an older Ravenclaw student who was rather good with crafting spells to knit her 'large dog' a sweater for christmas. Chirrup now padded about in a plum colloured knitted sweater to match his fur colour which had made him shiver a lot less but had no impact on his feelings towards his paws being in the snow. To get him moving a little faster this morning, Wren had threatened him with making him wear knitted booties as well. It did the trick as he was now exploring the snow with little complaint.

The sun was still rising and many of the winter song birds were yet to start their chorus. Under the blanket of snow the world seemed truly asleep and as Wren walked through the landscape she almost felt like an intruder or that she too should be in hibernation. It was a slightly different feeling than when she was usually out in nature. A little more lonely, as if the spirits she was used to listening to and feeling all around her were absent. Trapped by the cold, resting somewhere deep down in the earth.

Wren sighed heavily. In that moment another pang of homesickness washed over her. The rest of the school were going home today. Rosewaine and Rory were packing their cases and soon the whole castle would be eerily empty but Wren would not be going with them. It had been a hard decision and one that she knew her parents were sad about but she had elected to stay at Hogwarts for christmas.

When the group had been discussing a plan around caring for Chirrup over the Christmas holidays, Erris had readily volunteered himself as he had point blank refused to return home for Christmas but he was the least experienced with Chirrup and now that the cub was getting bigger, accidents were more likely to occur. Besides, Wren hated the idea of leaving the cub or the boy alone over the festive period. The idea of Erris opening his presents alone on Christmas morning broke her heart and so she had told her parents she had to stay for her friend. They understood and even asked if they could send a gift for him after hearing of his family situation but nevertheless, they were sad that they had to wait longer to see her again and Wren felt the same. The home sickness that had followed her decision was the most intense she had had her entire stay at Hogwarts but she dealt with it alone, letting the tears flow on her early morning walks. She didn't want Erris to find out and feel guilty. It had been her decision and she didn't regret it.

However, that wasn't the only thing weighing on her mind this morning. Her stomach churned with nervous butterflies as she thought about the Christmas choir performance that would be performed before the Christmas feast that night.

She would have been nervous enough if she had simply been singing as part of the choir as she had never performed in front of an audience before but her predicament was worse. A few weeks back Professor Flitwick and some of the older girls had heard her sing on her own for the first time during an exercise. Deciding that she was rather good they had practically bullied her into taking one of the solo sections of a song. Wren had wanted to refuse, fearing that the nerves would get the better of her but they had managed to persuade her that she would regret it if she didn't push herself. Now, on the morning of the performance, however, she was definitely regretting her decision to say yes. It didn't help that the song was in gaelic, not english, though Rory had pointed out that it wouldn't matter if she messed up the words because only he would know and he promised not to tell anyone.