Celeste Malfoy set her garbage bag down and looked about her surroundings. Pink. She wrinkled her nose. Pink. She hated pink. It was so...so stereotypical of girls to like pink, and she hated stereotypes. But then she heaved a sigh and sat down on the obnoxiously pink blanket. This had to be better than what she left behind, which was basically the gutter. Flopping onto her back, she reflected. Since she had been about four, she had been thrown around to different foster homes and orphanages, and this one was her recent stay. Celeste grimaced sardonically at the light pink celing. It'll be about two months before they throw good old Celeste Malfoy somewhere else, she thought. About three years ago, she might have felt self-pity for herself, but now she had become rather indifferent to her 'situation', many people would put it. Despite all of her moving around, she was an incredibly intelligent person, shrewd and calculating. Many people would consider these slimy and nasty traits, but they helped Celeste get through her everyday life. She also had a strong affection for music, and whimsey in general, after a day of putting up with people, it was easy to retreat into the wonderful world of music and literature. There was a knock at the door. Celeste rasied her head.
"Yes?" she asked, a bit irratably. She did not like to be intrupted when she was thinking or doing anything pertaining to her private time. The door open, and a short, stout woman came in, looking about thirty. She had short, curly, almost black hair, and deep green eyes. She gave Celeste a warm smile, which Celeste did not return.
"You must be Celeste Malfoy. My name is Cindy Kormic. It's nice to have you here," she smiled again, and Celeste rolled her bright blue eyes back into her head.
"That's me," she said in an absentminded tone, still staring at the celing. Celeste really wasn't that mean or scarcastic of a person, she just didn't know people well enough to be very friendly with them. Cindy didn't seem to mind that much, though.
"It's very nice to have you here, Miss Malfoy. I hope we can become good friends in the time alloted to us," Celeste snorted and sat up. This speech was getting ridiculously corny to listen to. She got off the bed and walked up to Cindy.
"You'll change your mind soon enough," Celeste said coolly. Cindy Kormic blinked as the silver-blonde headed girl walked out the door. Before Celeste left the room totally, she put a hand on the doorframe. "It was nice meeting you too," she left the room. Cindy stood there, not knowing quite what to think of this strange new girl. Most of the other foster children were happy and grateful to be taken out of the orphanedges. Cindy smiled. Even though she seemed a very cold person, she had already taken a certain shine to this Miss Malfoy. She chuckled to herself and went to go make dinner.
# # #
It was not cold out, being the beginning of June, so Celeste didn't need to wear a jacket to walk around the Kormic's farm. Being a city girl at heart, the smell of cow manuer and fresh hay was rather overpoweing, and she missed the gentle hum of the traffic that she had heard all of her life. It had become a rather comforting lullaby that had lulled her to sleep on the roughest nights, and it seemed too quiet without it. She heard a snort behind her. Celeste whirled around to find the prettiest jet-black horse that she had ever seen, and it was watching her from inside a wooden pen. Celeste smiled. She wasn't that fond of people, but she did have a passion for animals, especially for strong, handsome ones like horses. She looked around to make sure nobody was near, and cautiously approached the fence. The horse nickered, but stayed there. Celeste stopped about three feet from the horse and held out her hand. The horse nuzzled it, and Celeste laughed. Stepping closer, she stroked the horses head for a while. The horse whinnied, but Celeste heard words.
Come on in, child. I don't bite.
Celeste had to hold onto the rail to keep from collapsing on the spot. She looked around again to make sure nobody was in earshot."Did-did you just talk to me?" the horse bobbed it's head up and down, as if an effort to nod yes at her. My name is Inca. I assume that you would be Celeste Malfoy? Celeste dumbly nodded, and the horse nickered impatiently. Can you ride? I have a lot to tell you. Celeste was no athlete, but she managed to scrabble over the fence, and clambored clumsily onto Inca's unsaddled back. The horse began to walk through the fields while talking to her. Like I have told you before, the horse began, my name is Inca, and I have lived on this farm for over a hundred years.
Celeste nearly fell off Inca's sleek back.
"A hundred years?! But-but-but horses don't live that long!" she exclaimed, feeling struck by the element of surprise. Inca chuckled in a horse-like way.
That's because, dearie, I'm not a horse. I'm a distant descendant of the so-called mythical horse Pegasus. I'm better known as a Pegasteed.
Celeste started."Does Cindy Kormic know about this?" she asked, feeling incredibly stupid and surprised at the same time, making her head feel muddled. Inca sighed.
Yes. So does Martin - that's her husband - and their daughter, Katelin knows too. That's the entire reason for bringing you here, so they could know if you were one of them or not.
"Are all the horses here Pegasteeds? One of whom? Am I one of whomever they were looking for?" Celeste felt totally riddled with questions, and she now went from muddleheaded to dizzy. Inca gave a little horse snort as a robin passed over her head. It chirruped hello to Celeste.
Yes. This is one of the only Pegasteed farms in the entire world. One of the magical beings, whom you might know better as mages or witches and wizards. Yes, you are one of them. You can talk to me. If you weren't, then I'd just appear as a regular horse to you. You happen to have the lucky talent of being able to speak to animals. People that can speak to one animal are very rare, but you can talk to all animals, which makes you even more rare.
"How do you know that I can talk to all animals?" Celeste asked indignantly. Inca shook out her mane and quickened her pace to a quick trot.
You heard the robin, dear. It said hello to you. If that isn't speaking to you, I don't know what is.
Celeste digested this, until something made her brain click."You mean I'm a wizard?!" Inca shook her head.
No, dearest. You're a witch.
Inca chortled while Celeste growled in her throat."A witch? You're pulling my leg. Those things only exist in-in story books!" To her great surprise, Inca gave another one of her motherly chuckles before answering.
And do you not like to pretend you are a witch in a fairy story, Miss Malfoy?
Celeste blushed. It was one of her secret fancies to pretend that she was in the stories that she was reading, particularly the ones about magic. It broke the monotony of life down. Inca shifted Celeste on her back before continuing.I also am prone to assume that you like books about magical things, dragons and such?
Celeste nodded, unaware that the Pegasteed couldn't see her. 'The Hobbit' had always been one of her favorite books.That was your outlet for your unused magic. I do believe that that's why the magic tester didn't pick you out. You spent too much time worrying about where you were going to live next and spending the rest of your time dreaming, so you used all to most of your excess magic up thinking about that.
"Can the Kormic's talk to animals, too?" Celeste asked, still feeling a little wobbly kneed, and was very glad that she needn't walk. Inca shuffled.Sometimes. But they learned how to talk to us out of books, so they aren't very fluentin their speech. You're the only human being I've had a decent conversation with in all my years.
Hearing this, Celeste felt flattered."Wow. That's a lot to absorb for one day," Celeste said, as she noticed that they were nearing the farm house. Inca nodded.
It is. Do you mind being let off here? All this walking with your added weight is too much for these poor old bones,
Inca chuckled. Celeste grinned behind her hand."That's all right, Inca. Thanks for the ride," she slid off the horse's back, and Inca shook out her mane again. My pleasure, sweetheart. It was good talking to you, Celeste. Celeste started towards the white house, but was startled by a sudden pounding of hooves. She turned around in time to see Inca gallop across the lawn. Celeste grinned even wider.
"Over a hundred years old and still kickin," she turned and walked in the house.
# # #
"Now, I'm warning you, she's kind of tart," Cindy Kormic said, ladling out the noodle soup. Martin Kormic snorted a bit.
"Being a Malfoy, it kind of gives you leave to be tart," he responded with a voice that was a tad sour. Katelin smiled at her father. The Kormic's were a family in a long line of Hufflepuffs, and Lucius Malfoy's slacky ways earned no respect from her father.
"Now Daddy, you don't know if her last name makes her sour. The poor girl was tossed around from house to house ever since she was a young girl. That'd give anybody a reason to be sour," Martin Kormic was in the same year as Lucius Malfoy, and they had become fast enemies, since Lucius had bought his way through the school, and from his daughter's reports, the young Draco Malfoy was doing the same thing. When he had heard the new foster child was a Malfoy also, he nearly refused to take her in.
"Well, all right, I'll give her that," Martin admitted reluctantly. He looked up. "'Wonder what she'll say when she finds out that she's the possible heiress to a fourtune of gold and jewels," Cindy winced.
"I'd rather not think about that...Oh, shush, here she comes." Celeste came in, in a considerably better mood than she left with. She surveyed the table.
"Oh, hello there. You must be Martin and Katelin. Nice to meet you. I'll go wash up before I come in for dinner, kay?" she left again. Martin looked at his wife.
"Oh yeah, she's bitter all right," he said, grinning at Cindy, who threw a damp napkin at him.
"She was in a terrible mood when I came in to see her this afternoon. Well, a walk outside can change your mood, I guess," Katelin blinked.
"How did she know our names?" she asked. Cindy dropped the ladle into the pot before answering.
"Hmmm?" she asked her daughter while wiping up a bit of broth she had spilt onto the countertop.
"How did she know our names?" Katelin repeated, still looking thunderstruck. "I never told her my name. I know you introduced yourself, Mommy, but I haven't said anything to her yet, and I don't think that Daddy did either," Cindy thought about that, but didn't have time to answer, since Celeste came back into the room.
"Celeste, dear," Cindy said, taking a slice of bread, "how did you know Martin and Katelin's names?" Celeste reached over for the butter before answering.
"Inca told me," she decided that this was the perfect time to see if she was going crazy or not. The Kormics blinked at her.
"Inca? You mean Inca the horse?" Martin asked, his black eyes shooting over to his wife, as if to say "this is a surprise!"
"No, I mean Inca the Pegasteed," Celeste said, swallowing a spoonful of soup. "You're a really good cook, you know that?"
"Thank you, dear," Cindy said, biting into a slice of buttered bread. "But," she continued after she'd swallowed, "how did you know Inca was a Pegasteed?" Celeste started. So she wasn't going completely mental, after all.
"Err, she...told me?" Celeste guessed, hoping that that was the right answer. Katelin looked over at her with inquistive black eyes.
"You can talk to animals, too?" Celeste shrugged.
"'S far 's I know. She talked to me, and I talked back. Can you pass me the pepper, please?" Martin handed her the pepper shaker.
"So, err, can you talk to any...other animals?" Celeste started to get a bit annoyed with all these questions.
"What is this, the third degree?" she snapped at him, before she was able to restrain herself. She blushed as soon as the words had flown out of her mouth. "Err, sorry. Yes. At least, I think so. A robin told me hello while I was riding on Inca..." Katelin dropped her spoon into her bowl, where it fell with a clatter.
"You can ride Inca?" she asked, obviously flabbergasted. Celeste looked around the table. Three sets of eyes looked back at her with curiousity.
"Well....yes. Isn't that was Pegasteeds are for?" she asked, looking back. Cindy gave a short snort of laughter.
"No no dear. Well, they can be, but these types are specially bred for drawing carrages. Most of the time, they'd be too proud to let a human on their back," she chortled as she scooped up another spoonful of soup. "You, miss, must have a way with animals." Celeste finished her soup and pushed the bowl away from her. Cindy looked like she had just started to snap back to life and pushed herself away from the table. "Well, then, Katelin, why don't you take Celeste out to the barn for chores, hmm?" Katelin groaned and got up out of the chair.
"Come on, Celeste. We'd better go feed the animals before the Queen Mother has a heart attack on us," Cindy groaned and rolled her eyes. She brandished a wooden spoon at the two like a sword, and waved it at them.
"Out with you two! Go on, shoo!" she crowed playfully at the pair, who walked out the screen door. It banged shut. Cindy waited until her daughter and Celeste had rounded the corner of the white farmhouse before taking out a wand. Muttering something to it, the plates floated over to the sink and began cleaning themselves.
"Lo and behold," Martin said, his eyes twinkling at his wife. "I do believe that we have a new wizard at the Kormic residence," Cindy gave a sad smile.
"It all depends on what Lucius Malfoy thinks of it, dear. You know," she said thoughtfully, "I don't believe she's a wizard," Martin blinked at her.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Cindy sighed and leaned against the sink. She flicked her wand again to start some water for tea.
"Honey, she must be at least fifteen," she said patiently. "If she's a wizard, then why wasn't she picked out to go to Hogwarts, or some other school? I believe she's a squib."
"What makes you say that?" Cindy sighed. Her husband was a nice enough man, but he was rather dense. "Why do you think she was turned out, otherwise? Do you think that the Malfoys want to live up to a non-magical daughter, when they've been shunning non-magical people all their shallow lives? I think not." Martin chewed on that for a moment.
"You don't think she's-she's part elemental, do you?" Cindy flicked her wand to dry the dishes.
"I believe that she has Wild Magic, Martin. And I'll be damned if this isn't one of the strongest cases I've ever read about or seen." Martin leaned forward in his chair.
"Wild Magic? But that hasn't been reported anywhere since...since at least a century ago!" he cried. "Why wasn't it picked out before?"
Cindy shrugged and drew out two clean mugs. Placing a teabag in each one, she answered. "I think that they finally got it through their heads at the Ministry of Magic that Wild Magic is so rare, it's almost obsolete. I don't know if they even encourage it anymore. I'm sure it could be coaxed out of a few individuals if they really wanted to, but they don't seem to think it's worth the time or money." Martin shrugged and looked at his evening copy of the Daily Prophet.
"How 'bout those Huntington Highriders?" he remarked to his wife when he had gotten to the Quidditch section of his paper.
# # #
Meanwhile, Celeste and Katelin were feeding and watering the Pegasteeds for the night, and putting them into their stalls. While Katelin was telling her how to do everything, the horses seemed to have a set idea on how they wanted things to go.
The water's not cold enough. Let the hose run for a couple of moments before you even think about giving me any!
No, no, no, stupid. He eats that gross stuff out of the bag! Not I! Only fresh oats and vegtables for me, thank you very much.
Celeste rolled her eyes and reached for the bag where the strawberry's, named Skyflame, food was before pouring it into his bin.
"I told you, they're picky eaters," Katelin grinned when she saw Celeste roll her eyes. Celeste put a hand to her silver-blonde hair and pulled it out of her face, and went to the next horse stall. It was Inca.
Hello there, dearie. And how was your supper?
Celeste looked over to make sure that Katelin was otherwise occupied before whispering back her answer."Fine, thanks. And how was your run?" Inca gave her what looked like a horse's wry wink, almost.
Very refreshing. Now, if you don't mind, I like the food in the swamp-green colored bag, right over there, by that replusive-looking saddle.
She pointed with one hooved foot, to show Celeste. Celeste found the bag and brought it over to Inca's trough. When Inca buried her nose in her food, Celeste turned back to Katelin, who had finished her row already."Come on now," Katelin beckoned. "Let's go feed the ducks."
# # #
It was another half-hour before the twosome finished their chores and went back into the farmhouse, where they were quite relieved had two teacups brimming with amber tea, and a large plate full of chocolate-chip cookies. Celeste tore into a cookie.
"So," she asked, trying to start some conversation. "Where do you go to school at?" Katelin reached for a cookie before answering.
"Hogwarts. It's a school where they teach magic." Celeste's eyes widened and she put her cookie down.
"They teach magic? I thought you had to be born with it! So anybody could just waltz in and say, 'Okay, I'm here, make me a magician'?" Katelin shook her head.
"No, you do have to be born with it. They just sharpen your skills and give you a wand and such. I don't understand why you weren't invited, since you can talk to animals. If you want to know more about it, there's a book in the living room. When we're finished in here, you can go look at it," Celeste nodded and turned back to her cookie.
When they'd finished, Katelin led her into a living room, that was warm and homey looking, with a roaring crimson fire in the fireplace. Katelin showed her the bookcase, and pulled out a leather bound book that said in golden script: 'A History of Hogwarts'. Celeste opened the book to the first page, where there was a picture of a large-castle-type-building. When she squinted at it, she saw that the trees in the picture were moving! She dropped the book and it fell to the floor. Katelin looked up.
"What's the matter?"
"The picture is moving!" Katelin looked at her as if Celeste had been surprised over the sky being blue.
"Err, yeah...Oh, sorry. I forgot. Pictures of people from wizard's camaras move. Don't ask me why." Celeste picked up the book and started reading it again. She lost track of time as she was captured in the realm of Hogwarts, the houses, the people, the founders, even the boring back pages of the book about the enchantments that were placed on the school intrested Celeste. When she finally shut the book, it was eleven-thirty, and Katelin had gone up to her room. She put the book back into the bookcase, and went to the bathroom to freshen up, then slowly, tiredly clambored the steps to her pink room. Not even bothering to put nightclothes on, she just pulled off her pants and slid under the sheets, which was warmed instantly. Before drifting off into sleep entirely, she heard the words to a song, obviously from a radio that Katelin had left on.
"In the arms of the angel...far away from here...from this stark cold hotel room...and the endlessness that you feel...you are pulled from the wreakage...of your silent revelrie...in the arms of the angel...may you find...some comfort...here..."