Wheelchairs were a pain in the ass. There. She said it. Its out there now. They're a pain in the ass and she hates that she now goes to a school without a freak'n elevator!
Okay, so for the first week the floating runes they incorporated into her chair was kinda cool, but that got old real quick. Floating is all well and good, but that doesn't the issue of stability and access in classrooms and bathrooms and ugh!
Cherise sighed exasperated once again with the magical community. At least the grounds were relatively accessible in the fall and spring. She could sit by the lake like she is today, or sometimes she goes out by the greenhouses to have a picnic with friends.
Still, she'll never know what its like to romp through the forbidden forest, because the path isn't smooth and she'll never be able to go to Hogsmeade for Christmas treats for her friends and family because the path to that is ridiculously inaccessible as well.
Feeling melancholy and once again exasperated with the magical community she beging to make her way back to the castle. She had just crested a small hill when she felt a weight softly hit the back of the chair.
She whirled around to glare at the trouble maker, she was done with the ignorance of some of the students within her first week at Hogwarts, when she stopped short. Looking back at her apologetically were startled green eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Sorry!" Harry apologized, standing and waving his hands, "I tripped…"
Cherise took a breath. "Its okay, just be careful next time"
Harry nodded excitedly. "Where you going?" He asked "We don't have be inside until 6!"
"I'm going back to the Ravenclaw common room."
Harry hummed. "Oh, what are you going to do there?"
"I don't know, probably read something…" She said looking to the side, who was minding this boy?
"Oh… Well I was wondering if you'd play with me!"
"I don't know. I kinda need to go back to the common room"
"No! No, come on this will be fun! We can, um, play catch or like tag," Harry suggested excitedly. "Or, we could roll down the hill! Yea!"
Cherise sighed. Well, it wasn't like she had any concrete plans.
"Sure."
It was a struggle to get out of her chair and onto the grass at the top of the hill and it would be even more of a struggle to get back in it later, but all of that feel to the wayside as she rolled down the hill with the excited ball of energy that was Harry Potter.
The magical world definitely sucked in a lot of ways, but it was the little moments that made it worth it.
A/N: Here's the second chapter.
Some things about Cherise: She's a muggleborn student in her 4th year who's pretty exasperated with the magical world's lack of accessibility. She's been wheelchair bound for most of her life and it is as much a part of her identity as her hair color. She got a lot of flak from purebloods and halfbloods who had never been exposed to someone who uses a wheelchair before coming to Hogwarts and don't understand why one would need to use one when "magic fixes everything". Cherise has more experience with the reality of the situation. While magic makes some things easier, it's also made parts of her life needlessly complicated and unfortunately there isn't a solution for everything. She has a lot of accessibility issues with the school which was built pre-modern era and is not handicap accessible. Despite all this she loves Hogwarts, she loves Ravenclaw, and she loves the magical community. She hopes to become a potions master after graduating and working at the Ministry.
I've wanted to write something about a differently abled character in Hogwarts for a while but I continued to struggle as far as characterization and the actual writing as well. Finally I wrote this. Hopefully it does it justice.
R&R!