 open Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?
Ashley was done with her homework. She wanted to just relax in the common room, but she was not in a great mood today and no way was she going to do riddles. If she wanted to, she could, but on a matter of principle called "this is ridiculous", she didn't even try. Instead she just sat by the door with a faraway look on her face, reading a letter from a muggle friend and trying to figure out how to respond without blowing her cover. There was a present too. It was a cheap muggle watch and a spare phone charger, and the overwhelming muggle-ness of the gift just made her happy. There were no surprises, it was just a watch and a phone charger. Take that, hogwarts, she thought to herself. It made her feel somewhat defiant, just holding muggle things. It reminded her of her old life. Her old friends. Her old hobbies. But Hogwarts wasn't all bad. She could get away from her family. But... there was the headmaster, who was quite possibly worse, and Ashley wasn't sure if it was a fair trade. But like, she didn't exactly have a choice, did she? So she just sat there, staring at the artifacts in her hand, looking for signs. She even hummed an appropriately sad muggle song. And she just sat there for a while. |