marmalade → g. weasley

sixteen

With all the students leaving for Christmas, Diego was the only Gryffindor left in his dormitory. However, due to his innate inability to be alone for even an hour - he asked Zach if he could bunk with him in the Hufflepuff common room on one of the empty beds until term started again. Zach happily obliged and Marigold was glad to see them getting along.

This worked out for almost everyone because the arrangement allowed her and Elin a few minutes of girl-time in the evenings before bed.

It was one such evening, a week before Christmas while Marigold was buried comfortably under the mountain of blankets on her bed, flipping lazily through one of the books she'd picked up in the library, and Elin was sitting perched up on her own bed, using a tiny brush to paint her face with what she called a "white charcoal clay skin rejuvenator".

The clock against their wall chimed jovially, it was one o' clock in the morning.

Loud rapping against Marigold's window made her jump and the book slid out of her grip, hitting the floor with a thud. Elin looked up from the tiny little tub in her hands, "You've got mail."

With her hand against her chest, Marigold could hear the thumping of her heart against her rib cage. She took a deep calming breath, reaching over to pull the latch open.

Cold, winter air struck her in the face and the owl hopped onto Marigold's outstretched arm. She quickly shut the window behind him. The owl was the smallest one Marigold had ever seen and was staring up at her with wide, shining eyes.

"Is that owl wearing ... a collar?" Elin chuckled from across the room, setting her pot of face mask aside and crossing the room to Marigold's bed.

Marigold glanced down, Elin was right. He was wearing a bright red collar with a dog tag at the end. She lifted the bronze coin between her fingers. "Pigwidgeon?"

Elin frowned, "What a strange name."

At the end of it's short leg, a yellowish envelope was tied securely. Marigold undid the ties and the second Pigwidgeon was free of the letter, he flew noisily up to the top of their shared clothing cupboard, perching himself there.

Marigold and Elin both watched him, frowning in confusion. They swapped glances, "What a strange bird." Elin commented.

Spider's eyes remained transfixed on the bird and for a moment Marigold became concerned for the tiny owl's safety. "We'll have to put him in a cage, Spider's gonna snatch him up the second we fall asleep."

Elin nodded, "He can share with Avalanche." Elin's snowy owl looked up at the mention of her name from her spot in the cage across the room. She ruffled her feathers unappreciatively.

For the first time, Marigold looked down at the letter. "Marigold" was scrawled across the front in messy writing. Her heart skipped two beats, she could recognize that handwriting anywhere. It was the same writing that scribbled crypt notes down the side of their ingredient lists and wrote out the method section of their potions write-ups.