She appeared into one of the many alleyways, feeling a bit disorientated, she took time to look at her surroundings. 'Urgh… why is this place so dirty and untidy?!' she looked around disapprovingly. After gathering herself and altering her clothes to look similar to the people around, she walked out of the alleyway and tries to find her designated place, but everywhere is a mess, hardly any directions… Feeling she had no choice, she waved her hand around, casting a disillusionment charm on herself and took out her wand and cast the four point charm, leading her to the correct direction to House 16 in the Seam. Checking that this was House 16, she looked for a nearby alleyway and memorise the direction. She muttered something and appeared to everyone else. She walked back to Houde 16 and knocked on the door.
—
Gale and Katniss are in the woods for the fifth day in a row, both of them knew why everyday they were eager to go to the woods, because the Reaping Day is slowly approaching, and neither of them can stop thinking about it.
They have decided to stop hunting for a moment to rest. "It's all the teachers talk about these days, they never stop." Katniss complained.
" 'The Reaping Day is coming, make sure you are dressed appropriately for the special occasion!' " Gale mocked the teachers, making both of them laugh, 'oh how cute she is when she laughs' "I think what they are saying is that they were lucky enough not to be reaped!"
"But one of their student's will, wouldn't they feel sorry for them?"
"Yes, but if someone else got picked, you WOULD feel relieved it's not you right?" Katniss nodded, "Nobody wants to get reaped, they are just happy they were lucky enough."
"Yea, guess you're right, but I still don''t think they should say that, it kind of makes it sound like 'if I was to be sent to die, I'll die prettier' " She mocked, making them fall into a fit of giggles again.
After a short silence, "You think we might be able to run away?" Gale questioned, "I mean they never caught us out here in the woods, we could live here, then we won't have the constant fear for getting reaped."
"What about Prim? and Rory? Vick? Posy?" She stressed the last name, knowing it will hit Gale's steely heart.
"Yea, maybe not. Hey, you know what? You should come to my house to eat dinner tonight, since Prim is with her friends for the sleepover."
"Yea, maybe, I need to feed mother though."
"You can do that later, when you finished eating at my house. It can't be that enjoyable for you to eat in silence by yourself, then feed you mother. And hey, Posy's been waiting for you forever to come and play dolls with her, she says I'm too much of a boy, and you are much more fun because you are a girl." She turned to him, horrified, and he smirked, since he knows that she does not fancy playing with dolls at all.
She signed "I would take the offer for eating at your house, but maybe a pass on playing dolls with Posy."
"Not a chance, Posy would attack you the moment you step into our house, she has been begging me to bring you home. Mom is no better, she said it must be hard for you to be alone in that house. She seriously disapproves of how your mother coped with the mine accident."
"I know, every time I went over to your house, she was all 'Katniss dear, hope you are all right, you can't have had much fun in that house with your stony mother.' Its like she is more concerned about me, than you!"
"Which I think she is. You DO only come by our house once in a very long time."
"Yea. Come on then, we should get back earlier today, playing dolls with Posy requires more energy than you think. We should set up new traps and trade now."
"Right you are, Captain Catnip." She turned to glare at him, and he just smiled smugly.
They set up new traps, which Gale did most of the work, since Katniss was never as good as him, and went to the Mob to trade their game. They walked to Gale's house in comfortable silence and Gale opened the door.
"Mom! I'm home! I brought Katniss here!" Gale shouted to the kitchen as soon as he went in.
"KATNISS!" Posy ran from the stairs to hug Katniss' legs, Gale smirked, mouthed "Good luck!" and walked upstairs .
Katniss looked down to the little girl hugging her leg and said, "Hello Posy. I heard you were being a bad girl and bothering Gale… What do you think?"
"I'm a good girl," she pouted, "and Mommy also agrees with me that you should come here more often!"
"Of course." Katniss responded and kiss the of her head.
"Play dolls with me?" Posy looked up hopefully.
Right at that moment, Hazelle walked out from the kitchen, "After dinner, Posy, and after I had a talk with your brother and Katniss." She walked over to hug Katniss. "Oh Katniss, it's so good to see you, you don't come here as often as you should."
"It's just a bit busy at home."
"I bet. Darling, can you run up and bring Gale down to the kitchen please? Tell him we have a visitor."
"Okay." She went upstairs, passed Vick and Rory's room and entered Gale's room. "Hazelle wants you to come down stairs to the kitchen, she said you have a visitor." So Gale and Katniss walked down to the kitchen, where they saw Hazelle talking with an elderly woman, one look at her face tells you she is not one to mess with.
"Oh good, you're here. Gale, Katniss, this is Professor McGonagall. Professor, this is my son Gale Hawthorne and his friend Katniss Everdeen." Hazelle did the pleasantries.
"Nice to meet you." Gale shook her hands, Katniss followed suit.
When the woman shook Katniss' hand, she asked "You are Katniss Everdeen?" Katniss nodded and the woman turned to Hazelle, "Hazelle, I believe we have a bit of situation, Miss Everdeen is in the same position as your son." At this, Katniss and Gale looked at each other with confused looks.
Hazelle looked to her and answered "Should I get Clara (her name was never mentioned, and the actress who played her character named her Clara) then? I don't think she will make much of a difference..."
"Mom, what is going on?" Gale interrupted.
Hazelle signed, "It would seem that you and Katniss have a special talent, and Professor McGonagall here has an offer for you two."
Both let out a sign of relief, 'It's not about us hunting in the woods.'
"And why would we need mother here?" Katniss finally asked, not wanting mother to destroy a good night at the Hawthorne's.
"We need parent consent for this offer, Miss Everdeen." the woman, Professor McGonagall said.
"Okay, I'll go get her, do I need to get Prim as well?" Professor McGonagall looked at Hazelle, "My sister." Katniss responded for her.
"No, your mother only would be fine." Professor McGonagall responded. Katniss turned to the door.
"I'll come with you, there's a chance you might need help with getting her here." Gale said, without another glance, they walked to Katniss' house.
At the Everdeen's house, everything was what everyone would expect. Mrs Everdeen stayed at the same old usual place, with her far away look, and unmoving. Looking at her, Katniss said "Mom, you've got to come with me." No answer. "I'll hold her right arm, you take her left." Katniss told Gale, and together they lifted Mrs Everdeen to the Hawthorne's.
Upon arrival, Hazelle quickly opened the door with a shake of her head, Professor McGonagall looked slightly shocked. "Hello, Mrs Everdeen. I'm Professor McGonagall." Once again, no answer.
"Don't expect much talk from her, she's been like this since Katniss' dad died." Hazelle said as she noticed the shock on her face.
"Well, I believe we should get started. Mr Hawthorne and Miss Everdeen, do you believe in magic?" Professor McGonagall started.
Katniss shook her head, and Gale said "Why would there be? Otherwise we wouldn't be here..." He looked at her warily, as if not knowing whether she should be trusted.
"Don't worry Mr Hawthorne, what you say here is kept completely in confidence. And I have made sure no one could know what we say here."
"How do I even know you are saying the truth?" He looked at her accusingly, as if she was a disguised peacekeeper on Snow's orders.
"Gale! Manners!" Hazelle scolded.
Realising this situation is not she has dealt with in the past and in England, and is worse than what she expected even with all the research she'd done, Professor McGonagall knew that using only would just would not do, so she decided to show them some magic. "Okay, how about I just show you?" She stood up, toke a stick out of her pocket and waved it in a circular movement. Then right out of the end of her stick, came a light, just like a torch. All three looked at her, shocked. She turned it off, put the stick away and sat back down "What I did just now, is a charm to create light, similar to what you would call torches. And when I arrived here, I have performed a couple of charms as well, to block others from hearing our conversation or see me, because I understand that might be dangerous to you." At this, Gale snorted and was about to say something, but one look from Professor McGonagall shut him right up, "I have done a bit of research" she explained, "Now, I have been alerted that the owls sent to you two were unsuccessful, I believe you two would be familiar with them?" Looking pointedly at Katniss and Gale, whom both paled considerably, 'Good, at least they would both admit it if needed' she thought, "That's why I brought your letters here." Handing them their letters.
Katniss and Gale shared a look and lead forward to accept their letters, one glance at the envelope and they knew it was exactly what they read at the fence. Sensing Hazelle and Professor McGanagall's eyes on them, they opened their letters. This time, they read it with a new perspective.
Gale read his out loud for his mother,
Dear Mr. Hawthorne,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term 1 begins on September 1.
We await your owl by no later than Just 31.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
After reading the letter carefully this time, Katniss spoke for the first time since she got her mother here. "Is this real? What does this mean for us?"
"It is real, Miss Everdeen. Hogwarts is a boarding school of magic, it is located some place in Scotland, and you'll have to buy your textbooks and take the train in London."
"London!? Scotland!? We can't do that, not only would the Capitol catch us, we have to take care of our family!" Katniss said urgently.
"That wouldn't be a problem, we can provide you with house elves, disguised as yourselves if necessary, and help out here if you needed." Professor McGonagall answered calmly.
Shocked, only Hazelle was capable of asking the sensible question, "Shouldn't there be magic schools all around the world? And why can't they go to some school closer to here?"
"The American magical school is called Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, they decided they did not want to interfere Panem in risk of bringing danger to themselves, therefore allowing Hogwarts to accept students from Panem should we want to. So Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledore is allowing magical children from Panem to attend Hogwarts, and provide any forms of support to them and their families." McGonagall explained.
"Okay, so let's say we are going to this school, how are we supposed to support our families from that far away?" Gale asked
"As I said, we will provide you a house elf. A house elf is a magical creature which you could call by saying their name, and they will appear immediately. You can give them orders and they will obey you."
"But that's slavery! Basically what the Capitol is doing to us!" Katniss whispered.
"Yes, but the magical community does not feel that way, because they are magical creatures, and not human."
"What about school fee and books? We don't have anything to spare for that kind of money!" Gale asked before Katniss could say anymore on the house elf issue, now was just not the time for this.
"Since you two have quite the talent for magic from our observations, and also because of your situation in Panem, you can attend the school for free, and books will be provided by us."
They all looked at each other, clearly don't know what to do. Never had they ever had an opportunity before, let alone the support they now have. Sensing Gale and Katniss' conflicted emotions, Hazelle spoke "You should both take this opportunity."
Immediately, there were protests from both Katniss and Gale "But what about you? We have yo stay here to help out our family."
Surprisingly, it was Clara who spoke, "We'll take over from here, you've both done so much, it's time you do something for yourselves."
"And how do I know you're not just going to leave Prim to starve? Like what you did to us when dad died?" Katniss shouted at her accusingly, everyone could feel her anger rising.
Clara signed "Katniss... I'm sorry for the way I acted, but I promise you I will take care of Prim when you are gone. I will never abandon you two ever again. Plus Professor McGonagall already said that there will be house elves helping us, they will make sure we are all okay." Katniss didn't respond, and awkward silence filled the air.
Not able to take the silence anymore, Professor McGonagall spoke, "It's natural to feel wary of this whole new world, but believe me you won't regret it. How about I call a house elf and you see for yourselves if you feel comfortable with them taking care of your families?" At their nods, she called "Spinky!" and a weird creature appeared out of nowhere.
"Spinky at your service, Professor McGonagall." It said as it bowed down low enough its head could touch the ground.
"Spinky, please take on Miss Everdeen's appearance and say hi to Rory and Vick upstairs, then come back down immediately. No magic." The elf bowed once again and with a 'pop', it was Katniss. The occupants in the room watched through a hologram conjured by Professor McGonagall as Spinky went upstairs and did as told. When the elf came back down, Professor McGonagall said "Dismissed, a great job." The elf bowed and disappeared with a crack sound.
All four of the Panem residents in the room was staring at the place where the elf just vanished, mouthes hanging open. Professor McGonagall let them take their time to recover.
"That settles it, you two can go to this school, and we can take care of here with the help of those house elves." Hazelle decided. With hard eyes both from her and Clara, Katniss and Gale relented and nodded.
"Okay, I will be here again tomorrow morning taking you two to London to pick up your school supplies, and also on September 1 to take you to the train station." She elaborated the details and they nod. "Good, I'll see you two tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock sharp right here, okay?" They nod. "That settles it. Anymore questions?" they shook their heads, "I'll be leaving then. Have a good night." she stood up and after some pleasant farewells, she toke her leave.
As the door closed, it was silent. Finally, Gale spoke "Well, that was something..."
"You don't say, Hawthorne..." Katniss remarked.
Hazelle stopped them before it got too big "Don't tell your brothers ad sister about this! Come Katniss and Clara, I have prepared Rabbit Stew for dinner. Rory! Vick! Posy! Time for dinner!" she shouted up the stairs. And that night was the happiest they have been in a very long time.