She stood in front of the mirror, her dirty-blonde hair spilling over her shoulders, her wide blue eyes shimmering with tears. She looked over her faded and patched robes, her carrot-shaped hair clips, and her yellow button earrings.
Her finger stroked the cold surface of the mirror, tracing the outline of her own face. She wanted to closed her eyes, hide her own self, and pretend not to see the fact that she was different from everyone else. Instead, she continued to stare into the mirror.
Suddenly, the dormitory door burst open and a gang of giggling girls poured in, casting her glances of suppressed amusement. She dropped her gaze from the mirror and rushed out the door, tripping over her own robes in the process. Her face burned as she heard the laughter, but she didn't look back.
Alone, she crept down the staircase, trying to suppress the tears. The moment she left the castle, she broke into a sprint, heading directly for a willow tree that sat next to the lake. It was her hiding spot, the place she could sit and cry and think with no interruptions. She wiggled underneath it and sat down, hugging her knees to her chest and blinking away the tears.
She noticed a fluffy white dandelion and plucked it. "What shall I wish for?" she whispered softly. She thought about it for a moment. "I wish I wasn't lonely," she said. "I wish somebody liked me. I wish I had just one friend. I wish I wasn't so different. I wish—
Suddenly, she heard a loud scream coming from the direction of the lake. Quickly, she wiggled out from under the willow tree and stared in horror.
The giant squid had seized a boy with a tentacle and was waving him in the air. His friends, clustered at the edge of lake, were panicking. "What should we do?" shouted one.
"Do a Relashio charm!" shouted another.
"I don't know how!"
She dropped the dandelion and in one swift motion, yanked off her Hogwarts robe and dove into the lake, grateful she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt underneath.
She stroked swiftly out to the giant squid. "Stop screaming!" she called up to the boy. "You're hurting his ears."
The boy, looking surprised, obeyed and ceased his shrill screaming.
"Good boy," she said the squid in her softest, most calming voice. She reached out a gentle hand and stroked his rubbery skin. "Good boy, Inky." She leaned her forehead against his skin, breathing deeply, feeling his heart beat, strong and slow. "Ssh," she whispered. "Good Inky. Now, Inky, I want you to drop the boy."
The squid hesitated.
"Drop him," she said firmly.
With a loud snort, Inky uncurled his tentacle and allowed the boy to flop into the water with a loud splash.
"Good boy, Inky!" she said. "I'll bring you some cake later." She stroked over to the boy and dragged him back onto land.
"Thank you so much," he said earnestly. He had pleasant green eyes and almost-shoulder-length blond hair. "That was amazing."
She smiled. "It was nothing."
He shook his head. "No, it wasn't. What's your name?"
"I'm Minerva Arathinth."
"I'm Xenophilius Lovegood."
They smiled at each other and shook hands.
"Listen," said Xenophilius, "would you like come hang out with me and my friends." He grinned. "We were just talking about this new magical creature that's been discovered recently. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's called a Crumple-Horned—
"Snorkack," finished Minerva. She smiled delightedly. "Of course I've heard of it. And I would love to come hang out with you."
"I mean, unless you were busy with something else," said Xenophilius worriedly.
She shook her head, smiling even bigger. "I was just making a wish on a dandelion." She bent down and picked it up, ready to blow on it and send her wishes into the universe.
But the seeds had already been blown away.