Junoesque ✿George Weasley✿

28.

It was three weeks into the summer holidays. Blair had successfully been able to avoid any confrontation from the other occupants in the orphanage, as well as Miss Wool. She hadn't uttered a word of magic regardless of the fact that she was now seventeen and allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts. Her wand and textbooks were all buried under her clothes that stayed in her unpacked trunk which itself was hidden under her bed. She only wore her Muggle clothes and did Muggle things. The only times that she'd come out of her tiny room was for meal times and 'playtime'.

The meals weren't pleasant because of the quality of food that they were given and the other children would avoid her as always. They were still under the impression that she was a freak who practiced witchcraft. They had gotten this idea from Miss Wool, the granddaughter of Beatrice Wool. The orphanage had been passed down to the vile woman after the founder's death and she had successfully continued on Beatrice's legacy of being the most dreadful and indifferent lady of all time.

Miss Wool had a special disliking for Blair because of her magical abilities. Beatrice Wool had spoken of a boy years ago who had similar abilities of magic and had warned her granddaughter of such beings. The boy would cause things to catch alight and hurt the other children whenever there would be children teasing him during playtime. Blair knew that this boy was Tom Riddle in his youth, but could do nothing to defend herself and explain that he was an especially dark wizard. She just had to endure Miss Wool's prejudice behaviour and keep her head low, keeping any sign of magic inside of her until she went back to Hogwarts.

Playtime was the hour and a half after lunch that forced all the orphanage's children to go outside and soak up the sun in the courtyard. Not that there was any sun around the building as the sky somehow sensed the depressing and awful aurora that came from its occupants. Most of the children there were too young to understand any different than how they were raised, and continued to tease Blair regardless of her older age. Once the children at the orphanage would turn eighteen, they were kicked out and forced to find another place to stay. Most would dread this time but it couldn't come any slower for Blair. She was ready to be gone from this place forever.

On the Tuesday of the fourth week of holidays, playtime had commenced after a ghastly meal of grey sludge that Blair had forced down. With a full stomach but with a now growing discomfort inside, she stood back against the wall of the building and watched the Muggle children play with what they were given. Miss Wool usually opened a shed that sat against the gate surrounding the courtyard and let the children take the limited amount of sports equipment for playtime. It consisted of run down footballs and broken cricket bats, but the children didn't know any different and played regardless.

While standing to the side, Blair thought about the six weeks that she had to go through before she could leave this place forever. She would finally turn eighteen by the time the next summer holidays came and she could pack everything and move permanently into the magical world. She had plenty of savings in her Gringotts bank to buy an apartment and finally start a career in potioneering. Her final year at Hogwarts would bring her so many opportunities that she could start a life that she had been only dreaming of. She had her friends to keep in touch with and a life time to clear the assumptions around the name Rosier.

Speaking of her friends, Blair had multiple letters come through addressed to her for the first time ever. The only mail she ever received were the book lists for each year and other school related letters that were compulsory in being delivered. Miss Wool despised the owls that delivered her school letters and kept a broom at the administration desk to try and swat them out of the air with. Many owls had gone back to Hogwarts with unexplained injuries and Blair felt immense guilt when she saw patches on their skin that should be covered in feathers.