Hidden Secrets ☆ HARRY POTTER UNIVERSE | 1 [BEING EDITED]

24 | heart of a gryffindor

❝ she likes to say 'i am just me', but what else is the sun supposed to say? ❞ — j. iron word

   Time passed. How much? Maybe just a few minutes, maybe an hour, or two, or three. I didn't know. I didn't care. All I cared about was my destiny which was now quite clear and obvious to me.

   My eyes had already run out of tears and were focused on a spot in the horizon, where the glassy lake and the cerulean sky blended with one another. I wished I could just dive in the cold water like a fish and swim away from everyone and everything.

   And to think that just a day ago, I had been thinking that my life was perfect.

   While my eyes were focused on the infinite blueness that had calmed my nerves just the slightest bit, a mass of milky white and bronze feathers swooped down from the sky. I would recognize that bird anywhere — Greg, my barn owl, the best companion to my solitude.

   He stopped once he reached his desired destination, which happened to be my left shoulder, where he landed softly, uttering a small hoot.

   "Hey, Greg," I said, my voice hardly above a whisper.

   I couldn't even believe that was actually my own voice — it sounded hollow, faded . . . downright pathetic. But that's what I was after all, a pathetic girl who was meant to be executed before she could even make sense of her own life.

   I ran my fingers through Greg's soft feathers, gently stroking his small head. Who would take care of him when I died? What would he do without his owner? He'd probably be better off without me, after all. Maybe he'd find a better owner someday, one who didn't happen to be a murderer's daughter.

   My melancholy thoughts came to a sudden halt once I noticed a note tied around Greg's leg with a red ribbon. My heart skipped a beat — was it mom's reply to my letter?

   I hoped not. It would be so tough for mom to lose me now that she had nobody else left. Oh, my dearest, poor mom! I shouldn't have been so harsh with her. If only I had known about all of this back then . . .