Written for the QLFC Season 6 - Round 1
Chudley Cannons
Prompt: Write a character you've never written before.
Word Count: 2,018
It was the worst day of her young life. She was seven years old and had already known more tragedy than anyone ought to endure. There were more people in their small drawing room than she'd ever seen before. Their expressions were all pained and their thoughts and feelings were sharp and distraught. It was too much for her to bear.
Suddenly, she noticed that the front of her skirts had become unkempt. She smoothed them down as a silent tear for the things she'd lost rolled down her cheek. It was then that she felt it; a new and unexpected feeling had appeared in the room.
Anger.
"Queenie, it's time. Let's go."
She turned to find her sister, Tina, standing in the open doorway with one hand held out towards her. Queenie was now certain where the anger was coming from. It was not directed at her, but this did not mean she could not feel it.
Queenie took her sister's hand and the two of them made their way towards the place they would lay their parents to rest.
~N~
"NO! I WON'T GO! I WON'T, I WON'T!"
Queenie could hear Tina's shouting clearly even though she was currently sitting on her bed three floors above. As soon as she heard her sister's voice, Queenie shot up and sprinted down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Queenie skidded into the kitchen to find Tina sitting hunched over the table, red-faced and tear-stained. Either side of Tina sat two of the maids, one of them with their arm around her, as Ms Stella looked on. Tina was clutching onto a piece of parchment with her left hand, slightly scrunching it up in the process.
"Teenie?" said Queenie timidly.
Tina looked up for the first time since she'd entered the room and immediately rose from the table. She walked towards Queenie and put her arms around her.
"I didn't see you there, Queenie. Come on, let's go and play a game."
"Porpentina Goldstein, you cannot just walk away from this," said Ms Stella.
"Yes I can," said Tina, scowling at Ms Stella in the process.
"Teenie, what's going on?" said Queenie.
"Nothing," said Tina.
"Just tell her, Porpentina," said Ms Stella.
"I will not."
"Fine then, I will. Your sister has received her letter of acceptance to Ilvermorny, Queenie."
It was as though her heart had dropped through her stomach. A lump caught in her throat and tears threatened to spill over. Queenie could sense the anger coursing through Tina's body.
"Is this true, Teenie?" said Queenie.
Tina turned slowly to face her again and paused before answering.
"Yes," said Tina. She paused again as Queenie took in the news. "I'm not going though."
"You most certainly are," said Ms Stella. "You don't have a choice!"
"Oh yes, I do!" Tina fired back.
"Tina, do not be idiotic. You need to get your education."
"I'll do fine on my own, thanks. Queenie and I get by well on our own, we don't need anyone else."
"Do NOT talk back to me, young lady."
"I think you should go," said Queenie quietly.
"I will talk back to you however much I want," yelled Tina.
"You most certainly will not!" said Ms Stella, raising her voice.
"TINA!" Queenie shouted.
The entire room fell silent as everybody turned to look at her. They stared, open-mouthed at her outburst.
"Teenie," said Queenie in a softer tone. "I think you should go to Ilvermorny."
"But I-" said Tina.
"No buts, Teenie. I'll be fine. Don't you worry about me. And I'll meet ya there in two years anyway."
"I know you'll be fine, Queenie. I just don't know if I will be."
"Of course you will, Tina. You're the bestest gal I know. You've taken care of me, now let me take care of you."
Tina stared at Queenie for a moment. Queenie could feel that Tina was softening to the idea and couldn't help but smile at her sister.
"There you go then," said Ms Stella, intruding on the moment. "Tina is going to school and Queenie will be staying here. Now, enough of all this nonsense! Everybody, get back to work."
The maids jumped up immediately and began to point their wands at the tasks they'd abandoned before. Ms Stella stalked past them both out of the kitchen and a few moments later they heard her office door slamming shut. Tina took Queenie's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"I'm gonna miss you, Queenie," said Tina.
"I'll miss you too, Teenie. But I'll see you for Hanukkah, right?"
"Definitely, I wouldn't miss it."
~N~
"Hunter, Sally-Mae," a voice called.
"That's me!" A girl with strawberry-blonde curls said, moving forward.
She looked-on as Sally-Mae took her place on the Gordian knot. Queenie noticed that the girl was slightly nervous. You wouldn't know to look at her but Queenie could sense it.
For a split second, nothing happened. Queenie could tell that Sally-Mae was terrified that none of them would turn around. It was then that the unthinkable happened, an occurrence of the rarest kind. Two of the statues reacted; the Horned Serpent and the Thunderbird.
A collective gasp sounded around the room and one of the older teacher's eyes seemed to almost be popping out of their socket. A sense of relief washed over Sally-Mae as she stepped towards the statue of her choice.
"I choose, Horned Serpent!"
A loud cheer erupted from the third table from the left. Queenie saw a huge grin playing on Sally-Mae's face as she made her way towards the door which led to the wand-ceremony. After a few moments, the room quietened down and a voice called out the next name.
"Goldstein, Queenie."
Queenie felt herself begin to tremble. She made one last attempt to find her sister in the crowd and fortunately was able to catch a glimpse of Tina smiling at her over from the Thunderbird table. Seeing her sister's face helped Queenie to feel more grounded. Taking a deep breath, Queenie stepped forwards to stand on top of the Gordian knot painted onto the floor. She would have been happy for any one of the statues to react to her but knew that she'd only get one compared to Sally-Mae's two.
For a few moments, nothing happened. The room became a little restless and Queenie could hear the murmurings behind her. From the staff, she could sense a wide variety of emotions, ranging from confusion to pity.
Finally, one of the statues began to react and Queenie felt herself sag in relief. It was the Horned Serpent, the one she was facing, and the crystal embedded in its forehead had begun to glow. Suddenly, Queenie realised that the Horned Serpent wasn't the only statue which was reacting. The Wampus had begun to roar, the Thunderbird was flapping its wings, and the Pukwudgie had raised its arrow.
All four were reacting to her, a phenomenon that was truly unheard of. The entire hall was in uproar but Queenie was only interested in one person's reaction; her sister. Queenie quickly located Tina who seemed to be frozen from the shock. As soon as she saw that Queenie was looking at her, Tina flashed a brilliant smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. Knowing her own sister well, Queenie focused in on Tina and could feel the jealousy that had begun to consume her.
"How?"
The word hadn't been spoken out loud, but somehow Queenie heard it. She felt someone place a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find a tall, grey-haired witch smiling down at her.
"Well, chicken. Looks like you've got a choice to make. What's it gon' be, honey?"
Queenie glanced at Tina once more before turning to face the witch again. The atmosphere in the room was almost static and the entire place was focused entirely on her. You could have heard a pin drop in the silence. Queenie cleared her throat.
"I choose…" Queenie began.
Her mind was made up, but she was still worrying whether it was the right choice to make. She took a deep breath and started again.
"I choose, Pukwudgie."
An ear-splitting roar sounded around the room as her fellow Pukwudgie's celebrated their new arrival. Queenie was being led across the room by the kind witch from earlier. Before entering through the door to the wand ceremony, Queenie caught a last glimpse of her sister. For some reason, Tina looked slightly relieved.
~N~
"QUEENIE!"
Tina's voice carried down the hallway and so Queenie turned to wait for her. Tina was a prefect now and so didn't approve of running in the halls. Instead, she walked at a brisk pace, something that drove Queenie mad. It was always quicker to run. Although, truth be told, Queenie rarely ran nowadays. If you were running it gave the boys less time to notice you. Finally, Tina caught up with her.
"What is it, Teenie?"
"You left your charms book at the breakfast table again," said Tina, handing Queenie the book.
"Oh - thanks, Teenie! What would I do without you?"
Tina rolled her eyes, though smiled warmly at Queenie at the same time.
"You'd probably lose your head."
Queenie giggled.
"You're probably right."
"Yes I am, now get to class!"
"Bye, Teenie."
Queenie gave her sister a peck on the cheek before heading towards her classroom. The rest of the class was already there when she arrived, but the professor merely gave her a stern look when she arrived. He warmed to her almost immediately once she'd directed her dazzling smile at him. She took her regular seat beside her best friend and took out her books, parchment, quill, and wand.
The lecture began and Queenie began taking notes. A few minutes into the class, her friend passed a note to her. They did this in almost every lesson, which often got the two of them in trouble. Briony, her friend, was able to concentrate on the lessons and write notes at the same time but Queenie had not mastered that. Recently, she had been trying to make more of an effort to multitask but had found herself writing down what the professor had said on the note between her and Briony.
"And, can anybody tell me the name of the summoning charm?"
"Accio!" said Queenie.
For some reason, the entire classroom turned to stare at her. Professor Wheelan was looking at her as though she was a trout with legs. Queenie knew that she wasn't known to be the brightest spark in the box, but she occasionally could answer a question correctly. She turned to face Briony to find her friend staring at her with the same confused expression as the rest of the class.
"What?" said Queenie.
"Uh, you just shouted out a spell for no reason, Queenie," said Briony.
"No, I didn't. I was answering the question."
"But he didn't ask a question."
"Yes, he did!"
"Actually, Queenie," said Professor Wheelan. "No, I didn't. I was about to but you shouted the answer before I had the chance."
"But, I heard you," said Queenie.
"I'm sure you did. Queenie, make sure to stay behind after class. We're going to need to have a little talk."
~N~
"A Legilimens?" said Tina.
"That's what they said," said Queenie.
"You're a Legilimens?"
"I guess so."
"Wow, I can't believe it. My sister, a Legilimens."
"I know, I thought it would have been you if either of us."
Tina laughed.
"I may be the academic one, but you've always been the empathetic one. Perhaps that's why you have the natural ability for it."
"Maybe…"
"Are they going to train you?"
"Well, yeah. I think so."
"Ain't that just something! If only Ma' and Pap could see you now."
They sat in silence for a few moments.
"I miss them," said Queenie.
"I miss them too," said Tina.
Tina pulled Queenie into her arms and gave her a long hug.
"I'm scared, Teenie. I don't wanna be different."
"Don't worry, Queenie. Your differences are what make you amazing."