Chapter one ༄ Not Good Enough

Instructions

༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄ C h a p t e r o n e — N o t G o o d E n o u g h Late summer—night—Lara’s bedroom ༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄ Leonora was sitting on her desk, facing the open window, petting her cat Luciana. “Oh Lucie,” she sighed quietly, making sure her parents nor siblings could hear her. “You know, sometimes I just want to…” Lara thought how to word it for a few seconds. “Well, pretty much just leave this place.” As she looked out the window, she thought wistfully about the outside world: Her friends, Hogwarts, her cozy dorm and common room, and this year she would be allowed to go to Hogsmeade if her parents signed the form, which was still to come. Lara looked back at the window, looking for constellations. “Hey,” she said, even slightly happily. “There’s the constellation of Leo.” She pointed at the formation of nine stars. “There’s Algieba, and Regulus, and Chertan….” Lara started to name all the stars, as she knew them all from her love of Astrology and Astronomy. She gazed up at the sky, and looked at the full moon. When she remembered about Professor Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher from last year, she felt a pang of sympathy towards him. “Lucie, I know I have it hard, you may too, but sometimes, you just gotta accept the fact that other people probably have it worse than you do….” Suddenly, a light dot appeared in the sky. “What’s— oh, yeah,” she muttered, realizing what it is. “Hello, pretty,” she whispered softly to the dot, which turned out to be an owl, and it came to her windowsill. “You have a letter for me, sweetie? Lemme guess, Hogwarts?” Leonora took it and it started to fly away, but rubbed a feathered head on Lara’s hand. “Yes, it is. Thank you honey,” she breathed to the owl. ༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄ Late summer—morning—the Diggory family’s kitchen ༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄ “Get the cheese sauce,” her father ordered Lara that morning. “I SAID GET THE CHEESE SAUCE!” he yelled right as Leonora stood up. “Daddy?” Selena said cruelly, looking at Lara for her reaction, though she was far too used to this. “Why is Leonora such a bad girl?” “Because she doesn’t listen to her parents, and she’s also an arrogant Ravenclaw, thinking she’s the smartest person in the world, even though the rest of us are good Hufflepuffs. And Selena, you’ll probably be in Hufflepuff, too,” Mr. Diggory added. “Uh-huh, sí, lo que sea(*),” Lara muttered, hoping they wouldn’t hear her. “What does that mean?” Selena asked, hoping to get Lara in trouble. “It means, that you will most definitely be a Hufflepuff. You have a lot of Hufflepuff traits,” Leonora lied. ༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄ Late summer—morning—Lara’s bedroom ༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄ After dinner, she walked up to her bedroom, to hang out— and cry, frankly— with Lucie. “Oh… my lord…. ¿Por qué me odian, Lucie(**)?” Leonora sobbed, closing the door with her wand. The Ministry of Magic wouldn’t be able to pick up the fact an underage witch used magic, since she lived with overage wizards and a witch. She sighed. “YES!” she heard her father scream. “YEAH!” Selena also yelled. Lara ran down the stairs to see what had happened, something she probably wouldn’t like. ༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄