Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: This might be a really long story if I ever finish it, and I haven't actually written much so we'll see what happens.
Note: Sima is pronounced See-ma.
Sima looked up at the immense, knarled, twisted tree. Her best friend, Melody, slipped her hand into Sima's, Sima's light brown skin standing out against Melody's pale hand.
"This one?" Sima said, trying and failing to keep the fear out of her voice. This old, knowing tree was the tallest on the farm, and from its base, Sima couldn't see the top. The thick branches completely blocked out the sky.
"Yeah," Melody said, turning her head so her wavy brown hair fell down her shoulder like a cascading waterfall. "We've climbed plenty of trees before, and we're better at it than most kids our age." This was true. They'd been climbing every tree they could since they could climb, racing each other. It was a useful skill for their profession, so their parents encouraged it. But they'd never dared try this tree, somehow knowing the knowledge it held was too great for a mere human. But now Sima was leaving, leaving her home, leaving everything she'd known, leaving Melody.
"C'mon," Melody reached up for the first branches. "It's your last day!" Sima envied her confidence. She'd always felt like her neurotic fears were stupid when Melody was there, and so tried to put on a brave face. Quickly braiding her waist-length, curly black hair, she pushed every anxiety away and climbed the tree. They knew not to race on this tree, for most branches were too thin to hold their weight, and one bad placement of a foot could end in a fall. Not that the fall would be disastrous, most likely they'd perform some sort of magic without even thinking. Sima's dad calls it the magical reflex. And anyway, Sima and Melody had been trained in quick thinking since they were babies; if someone fell, most likely the other would cast a charm to save them. Sima reminded herself of each of these truths over and over again, but still felt worried. She tried to ignore it and focused on climbing, on hearing the heartbeat of the tree.
They reached the highest they could go without magic and sat down on the thickest branch they could find, Melody first, Sima next.
"I'll miss you," Melody said, and for the first time in a while, her voice dripped with real emotion. Melody was the master of hiding her emotions, while Sima found it harder, however many times her mom gave her the lecture of why she needed the skill.
"Of course," Sima said. "I'll miss you more than anything else." Sima stared at the sky. It was spring and the sun set a bit later, so she estimated the time to be about 6:00.
"But think about it!" Melody said, clearly trying to cheer Sima up. "You'll be going somewhere new! A whole new country! Show me your British accent!" Sima glared at her. Of all the countries she wanted to move to, England was not high on the list. Not that she wanted to move anywhere. She just wanted to stay here. She'd known all her life that when she was 9 they'd move to England, but that didn't make it any better.
"You'll finally use all your talents!" Melody cried, slipping her arm around Sima. Sima looked up, smiling, tears that had yet to fall hanging in her eyes.
"So will you! I've always wanted to go to Ilvermorny," Sima responded, much quieter. Melody shook her head.
"And I've always wanted to go to Hogwarts," she replied wistfully. "I guess it's true what Jayma says. You always want what you can't have." Sima sighed. They sat in silence in the embrace of the old, omnipotent tree.
"We should probably go back," Melody whispered. Sima looked over and was surprised to see tears in her best friend's eyes. Melody took her arm off Sima's shoulder. She stared at a stinkbug crawling across a leaf. Sima grabbed her hand.
"Best friends forever?" Sima smiled sorrowfully, ignoring the tears in both of their eyes. Melody laughed a slow, melancholy laugh, though nothing was funny.
"Forever."
That was pretty short. The next chapters written, but I think I want to change it so...