author note: I've always loved shows like Gravity Falls and I've been rewatching it since I got Disney plus again! I also watched the tv show Outer Banks pretty recently. And it made me want to write a story including some kind of treasure hunt/mystery. My OC Caelina has been floating around in my mind for quite some time, and I started creating this story about a month ago. I hope you like it!
I don't support Jk Rowling and for anyone who hasn't read the books or seen the movies. I strongly advise you to pirate it, or buy them second hand! Her donations to anti trans organisations help anti trans laws get passed, so it's best to not give her even more money.
TW: use of homophobic language, minor mention of sa
-beckysparks1389
August 15th 1993
three letters back
"A year ago, on this day here in Hungary, we witnessed history as Nigel Mansel took his first-ever Formula One championship. Today is the dawn of a new era in Grand Prix racing, our first second-generation Grand Prix winner as Damon Hill lives up to his father's legacy," The commentator spoke loudly as the blue, yellow and white car driven by none other than Damon Hill sped towards the finish line.
"Watch his arm. I bet he raises his arm!"the other commentator said. Caelina sighed, crossing her arms. Her favourite driver, Ayrton Senna, couldn't even finish the race.
"He's not known as a Michael Schumacher kind of happy guy. Damon Hill's arm is thrust in the air and it will be interesting to see how he handles his first trip to the top of the podium in Formula One," he continued enthusiastically.
"Damon Hill is your winner!"
"Yes!" one of her best friends Lewis exclaimed as he jumped up from the tiny sofa they were both seated on. "It was about time he won," he added and Caelina groaned miserably, slumping further down the sofa.
She stayed there for a moment, lying defeated on the cold leather sofa. "Are you guys finally done watching the race?" a voice asked them and Caelina looked towards the narrow opening of the attic faced with her other best friend.
She wore a white cropped top that her parents did not approve of, with a pink plaid skirt. Her eyes covered with a pair of black Ray-Ban sunglasses and her long black hair braided to perfection. "C are you okay?" she snickered, noticing the girl's dramatic state. "Aryton Senna had a DNF," Lewis said a bit too cheerfully, which granted him a glare from Caelina.
Amelia shook her head in disbelief. "I don't get why you guys are so obsessed with a bunch of muggles driving around in circles," she told them, pinching her nose. Lewis let out a fake gasp. "They don't just drive around in circles!"
Amelia shrugged. "That's what it looks like to me," Caelina crumpled up from the sofa, stretching her arms. "Aryton Senna isn't a muggle, you know, he went to Castelobruxo," she said.
"Whatever, you guys coming? Jake's waiting by the Ashray," she asked them, referring to Jake's boat. Before slipping back down the ladder. Caelina nodded, going to the back of the tv to turn it off.
She swiftly climbed down the sketchy narrow ladder where Amelia was already waiting. The girl rubbed her eyes as they abruptly had to adjust to the light. "Are you not going to change clothes?" Amelia asked her, pointing at the other girl.
Caelina looked down at her black ripped jeans, her Metallica t-shirt and her slightly oversized dark brown leather jacket, which she bought in a thrift store last summer.
"What do you mean?" she asked her friend. Amelia rolled her eyes. "You're going to die of a heatstroke wearing that," she said and Caelina shrugged.
"Lewis, hurry!" she then bellowed out. "At least ditch the jacket; I know you're just going to complain about the heat if you keep it on."
Caelina groaned. "Fine," she said, taking the jacket off and taking a few steps down the corridor to her room. She opened the door on the left and stepped inside her dark small room. Her window was wide open, but the thick black curtains completely covered the sunlight in front of it.
She threw the jacket over the wooden desk chair, slipping out of her room soon after. Just as she got out, Lewis jumped from the ladder, skipping the last half.
Amelia gasped, slapping his shoulder in annoyance. "Idiot," she mumbled as Lewis broke out into laughter.
Caelina put a finger in front of her mouth, signalling for Lewis to be quiet. Her father was somewhere downstairs, and definitely wouldn't let her outside without a trusted adult now with Sirius Black on the loose. They had to sneak out of the house as quietly as possible.
"Don't worry, I told him we're going to hang out at my house," Amelia whispered, as if she read her mind.
"Okay," Caelina said with a relieved sigh.
She stepped forward, opening the door to the sitting room where she found her father, nose deep into a book. "Dad, I'm going to Amelia's house now," she told him calmly.
He looked up from the book he was reading, raising his eyebrows. "And what are you planning on doing there?" he asked her in a sharp tone. Amelia then gave her an "accidental" nudge with her boombox.
"We're just going to hang out, maybe listen to some music, or play a few games on Amelia's new Nintendo," she said. He stared at her for a few seconds before closing the book and laying it on the small coffee table. He stood up afterwards, slowly making his way towards the girl. "I want you to be home by eight PM," he told her sternly as he looked straight into her eyes.
"Okay," she replied, stepping aside out of the doorway. He eyed her and her friends as he got out of the sitting room. His eyes specifically fell on Lewis on the stairs and his old washed out battered clothes.
The blond boy quickly stood up and moved over to stand next to Caelina. He narrowed his eyes at the three of them, but walked away toward his home office without another word.
Caelina bit the inside of her cheeks, knowing that he was suspecting something. "Let's go," she said quickly, putting on her combat boots. Lewis opened the front door, being the first to walk outside, completely oblivious to Snape's odd behaviour.
Amelia shot her an alarming look. "That was strange, right?" she whispered, and Caelina nodded. "Yeah, he's definitely on to something."
Caelina finally walked out of the house, too. Amelia followed her behind quickly, shutting the door with a thud as they stepped into the street. Lewis waited by one of the broken had been in that stage for ages, but no one cared enough to fix it.
"Come on, let's hurry, Jake has been waiting for quite some time now," Amelia told them as she took the lead quickly, walking down the rest of the street, which led to a dirt path.
They followed her, passing an abandoned playground. Caelina had never really seen children play there anyway, and she had lived next to it for her entire life. These days, older teens mostly use it as a hangout spot. Beer cans and cigarette butts usually littered the place.
Sweat formed on Caelina's head as the trio walked further down the woods. She silently thanked Amelia for making her leave her jacket, but she would never admit it out loud.
The dirt road stopped suddenly, and so did most of the trees. They walked through the tall grass for the rest of the way. Eventually stopping at the edge to find Jake. He waited a little further to the left, leaning against the boat with a cigarette in his hand.
"What took you guys so long?" he asked, taking a hit from his almost smoked-up cigarette. He threw the end into the water soon after. Jake took his snapback cap off, bringing a hand over his buzzed black hair before putting the cap on again.
He had deep brown skin and wore an oversized t-shirt with even more oversized shorts. Jake wore the cap backwards, unlike Lewis, who wore his Williams cap forward.
"My dad," Caelina sighed, stepping onto the small boat that Jake's parents had used for their store. They bought a new boat just before summer, and Jake's parents gave him the old one.
"Ah," he said in an understanding tone. "Amelia, did you bring your-," he began, but the girl already held up her boombox before he could finish the sentence.
She got into the boat as well, and the two boys followed her soon after. Jake readied the boat, and Amelia put down the boombox.
"Here," Jake said, passing her a mixtape. Amelia thanked him, placing it inside, slightly lowering the sound asI get aroundby 2pac blasted out of the speakers. Jake nodded his head to the beat as they drove away from the edge.
Lewis leaned back in his seat, enjoying the blazing sun. "Jake, can you take us out of here fast? The river smells like shit," Amelia groaned, pushing her glasses up. He chuckled in response. "It looks like shit too," he added.
"No offence," he said, taking a glance at Lewis and Caelina. They neared the old, long-abandoned coal mine.
Now it mostly serves as a hang-out spot and a place for urban exploring. "I took none," Caelina said as Lewis continued staring at the coal mine.
"Do you guys think anyone will ever find the gold?" he asked them, and Jake groaned loudly in response. "Lewis, there is no gold buried in our town." Caelina and Amelia chuckled softly at the two. "It's just a legend," Jake added, but Lewis crossed his arms crampingly. "You're boring," he said before he closed his eyes, dozing off into a nap.
"I'm taking us to Silvermere," he said, and Caelina cocked her head. "Isn't that the lake where all those toffs hang out? The one near Harry's house?" she asked, and the boy hummed in response.
Caelina rubbed her head. She said sarcastically, "Yeah, they'll definitely welcome us with open arms there," as they neared the town centre.
Amelia let out a laugh beside her. "Oh, I'm sure Harry would love to open his arms for you," she joked.
Caelina groaned loudly, trying to forget his many confessions of "love". "Please don't remind me."
"He will leave me alone now, though," she added. Amelia looked strangely at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.
Caelina paused, thinking back to her previous school year. Back when she used to go to Ilvermorny. Harry caught her doing something, something that made it clear she would never be into him. But she couldn't tell her friends the true story. At least not yet.
"C?" Amelia asked her. The girl quickly snapped out of her trance. "I was pretty harsh towards him at the end of last summer," she told her friend.
But Amelia still stared at her suspiciously.
"Hey, Jake?" Caelina called out.
"Yeah?" he said back, keeping his eyes focused on the water in front of him.
"When I told my dad the lie about us leaving to hang out at Amelia's place. He looked at us suspiciously but didn't press for any details; that's strange right?" she asked him to change the subject.
The boy paused for a moment before he nodded. "He knows you guys weren't being a hundred per cent truthful."
"He also just let you three presumably walk to Amelia's house? Alone? While he also could have made you use the Floo Network?" he asked them. Both Caelina and Amelia nodded.
"Yeah, he knows you three were lying," Jake laughed.
The two girls sent him dirty looks, which only made him laugh harder. "Have fun being in detention for an entire year," he added.
"Detention?" Lewis asked, confused. He sat back up, rubbing his eyes. "My dad knew we were lying to him, so we'll probably be in detention for the entire next school year," Caelina explained to him.
He furrowed his eyebrows, leaning forward to look Caelina in her eyes. "We were stupid to think that he would believe us anyway," she replied. "He's probably on his way to Amelia's house now to check if we're there."
Jake let out another snort before he steered to the right, making a big turn into the canal. Which was built only a few years ago, together with a bunch of new houses. The rich kids of their town lived here, including Amelia.
Caelina glanced around her at the gigantic houses which looked more like mansions to her. And couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.
Houses were widespread and varied in different shapes, colours, and sizes. The gigantic gardens were all well kept and Caelina noticed that some even had a pool. The backyards often led to small docks, where expensive boats rocked gently against the water.
Jake moved along with the canal, driving them into the large lake. Caelina could see Harry's house in the distance. It was the biggest out of the neighbourhood. And one of the oldest as well, since it got built way before the canal and any of the other houses.
They drove closer to the house, stopping at the docks. Jake struggled to find a free place, since it was almost full. Mostly with much more expensive boats.
"Do you guys want to get something from the shop?" Amelia asked them and Lewis immediately shook his head.
"No, I don't have any money," he replied.
Caelina stared at him for a second, noticing the red tint that formed on his cheeks as he lowered his head.
"But you haven't eaten since Friday night," she told him. Caelina then tried to reach for her wallet, only to realise that she had left in her leather jacket.
"Fuck!" she exclaimed, and a few older teens who had also just arrived at the docks snapped their heads around to look at her.
Amelia had a look of realisation and jumped out of the boat. "Don't blame me. I didn't tell you to leave your wallet," she said, holding up her hands.
Caelina briefly put up her middle finger before stepping out of the boat, too.
"I have five quid," Jake said, holding out a bill.
Lewis shook his head immediately. "No, I don't want anyone paying for me. Plus, it's not enough for us all."
Caelina did the math in her head and realised he was right. Fish and chips cost £1.50 each. Which meant they only had enough for three meals.
"I'll take just the chips, that one only 50p," she told the boy, who opened his mouth again to argue, but Caelina quickly continued, "I don't like fish, remember?"
Lewis sighed and nodded. "Fine, but I will pay you back," he said in a defeated tone, pointing his finger at Jake.
The both of them then got out of the boat as well; Jake passed the boombox to Amelia. Before bending down to grab something else from the bottom of the boat. Caelina watched him with curiosity, wondering what else he could have taken with him.
"Here," he said as he passed her a large ball which looked like a fleece blanket. Caelina took it from his hands and realised there was something hard and cold inside.
She opened the blankets slightly and almost let the whole thing fall on the ground as she realised what was inside.
"How were you able to sneak this out of your house?" she asked him frantically, but a small mischievous smile crept up on her lips.
Jake grinned at her. "My parents went to the grocery store just before I left. That's when I took one out of the fridge," he explained casually.
"Sneaky bastard, I'm always surprised you didn't get sorted Slytherin," she said as she safely tucked the can of beer away.
Jake laughed. "The hat considered putting me there, but I chose Gryffindor," he told her. "I didn't want to spend the summer and the school year with your father breathing down my neck," Jake continued.
"I understand, it's why I chose Ilvermorny over Hogwarts, but it seemed faith had other plans," Caelina sighed, immediately trying to push down her memories of that place.
"Anyway, maybe we should split up; Amelia and I can get the food and you two can pick out a suitable spot," Caelina said, changing the subject.
Lewis nodded, and he immediately took the blanket from her hands. A knowing look on his face as he figured out pretty quickly what was inside of it.
Jake took the boombox from Amelia, lowering the sound. It was now playing Beat It by Michael Jackson. Jake made sure he locked his boat before he and Lewis took off towards the shore.
"Hey is everything alright?" Amelia asked her. "You seemed kind of tense when you mentioned Ilvermorny. And it's not the first time you've been weird about it ever since the start of summer."
Caelina clenched her jaw as she shook her head. "I'm fine," she said, brushing past her shoulder.
"Are you sure-" Amelia started. "I said I'm fine!" Caelina barked. She saw the other girl's shock at her anger, but she nodded anyway.
Caelina ignored her friend's reaction and made her way over to the shop, which laid next to the docks and at the edge of the shore. It was a small wooden structure with a few tables inside where you could eat and a large counter.
Behind the counter, you could see directly into the tight kitchen where a man and a woman were busy making food.
Caelina stepped into the shop, immediately being hit with the smell of grease and salt. She looked back to see if Amelia was following her, but the girl waited outside, handing her the bill.
She took it from her hands and stepped towards the counter where a large, hairy man stood. He gave her a large bright smile the moment they made eye contact and moved closer to the cash register.
"I would like to order the fish and chips meal three times and one serving of chips," Caelina told him, and he nodded along while he pressed some buttons on the cash register.
"That'll be five quid," he said with a thick accent.
Caelina passed him the bill, moving to the side to wait for her order. She heard the door open behind her, but she ignored it. Thinking it would just be a random customer. "Caelina?" A familiar voice called out from beside her. She turned her head, looking straight into the eyes of Harry Potter. Caelina sighed, leaning against the counter as the boy neared her.
"What do you want?" Caelina asked him in a harsh tone.
Harry contemplated what he wanted to say, his mouth opening and closing a few times. "I just- I haven't been able to talk to you since you know," he started moving closer to her. Caelina let out a deep breath and rubbed her temples.
Her mind immediately being brought back to the incident. "Harry, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't like-" she started.
He frantically shook his head, somehow stepping even closer. "No, no, I get it," he said, leaning in to speak into her ear. "You're a lesbian," he whispered in such a low tone that Caelina could barely hear it.
Her eyes widened out of fear as she took a big step back. She darted around the room, her eyes falling on Amelia, who was observing the scene from outside the shop.
"Look, it's fine if you are. I'm not homophobic," he quickly added, noticing her alarmed state. "My uncle is gay too!" he said.
Caelina shook her head stiffly, as her heart beat loudly in her chest. "No, I'm not," she replied. "I got harassed by someone who I thought was my friend, but that doesn't mean I'm one of those perverts," she spat in a disgusting tone.
Harry now also took a step back; Caelina could see the shock in his eyes combined with a tingle of hurt.
"You don't mean that," he persisted, trying to hide the emotions in his voice. Caelina scoffed as she moved away from the counter.
"I do. And why do you care so much, anyway?" she asked him, waiting for Harry to respond, but he kept his mouth shut. "Are you a fag too or something?" she spat, and his jaw clenched tightly.
"You know what, screw you, Caelina," he spat back at her as some of the sadness in his eyes quickly got replaced with anger. "Have fun being miserable for the rest of your life," he told her before he stormed out of the shop.
Past Amelia, who was already holding the door open. Caelina bit her cheeks as she looked her in the eyes. The girl had taken off her sunglasses and was staring at Caelina with pure shock and the same hurt that Harry had shown.
"Miss, your order is ready," the burly man behind the counter said, breaking her out of her trance.
A plastic bag now laid on the top of the counter, and Caelina thanked the man. Immediately turning her head around. Only to see that Amelia had already left the shop.
author note: WKH UDFH LVQ'W RYHU XQWLO BRX FURVV WKH ILQLVK OLQH
