Magic in my Spark

Gardenia is tired, so very tired. Her birthday was a few days before the last stand against Voldy and his death fellows. No one had time to celebrate birthdays but that doesn't deter her friends and housemates from wishing her a brief but warm 'happy birthday'. She honestly forgot about her birthday, with all the preparing for the final battle and making sure she improves the chance of surviving.

She didn't sign up for this shit. Sure, news spread that Voldy came back to life when she was a second year entering Hogwarts. Her parents didn't quite want their precious, only daughter to go back to Hogwarts, deeming it unsafe. However, she wanted to go, no matter what. Of course she did, she remembered that she was happy, jumping up and down and saying, "I'm gonna do magic!" back when she was a first year receiving the letter of acceptance. She chose to go to this school and like hell is she gonna transfer to another school because some pale, bald, snake dude decided to come back to life. Hogwarts is the ultimate school in her eyes.

Only later when she finally started her second year classes did she regret being so excited being back in Hogwarts. Some classes got dark real quick, depending on the professor teaching it. Even as a second year, she felt the professors were nudging them to learn more and learn quickly to better protect themselves if they have to. Second years weren't allowed to learn about dueling spells just yet but some professors snuck in some dueling spells to those that seemed the most mature and aware. Gardenia just happened to be one of those students taught some dueling spells.

Her parents were both magical, her mother is an Auror, and her father works at the Ministry of Magic. Throughout the first year, she barely has any interactions with Harry Potter and his gang of friends. Her fellow first year housemates were excited to catch a glimpse of Harry Potter and possibly talk to him. Gardenia was curious about the Boy Who Lived but she didn't go out of her way to interact with him. She thought he has enough on his plate with all the rumors surrounding him. Life as a somewhat celebrity must be exhausting when he was younger, people glorifying him when he just thought of himself as a normal boy.

The only time she interacted with Harry was when she was standing up for her Hufflepuff housemate when the group of Slytherins were on the cusp of beating the Hufflepuff. True to the house she was sorted in, she went up to the group of Slytherins and threatened to do the things she can't mention to anyone else. She learned the best ways to come off as intimidating from her mother and manipulative (her father prefers people savvy) from her father. The Slytherins didn't want to run from a second year Hufflepuff, even if she was very scary. They were about to commence a duel before Harry and his friends stopped the fight with a few words and exchange of glares.

That year, Gardenia was embarrassed whenever rumors of her interaction with the group of Slytherins came up. She was called the "spiffy junior badger" and the name stuck with her. The Hufflepuff she rescued agreed that she encompasses the traits of what Hufflepuffs stand for. It didn't help that in her second year, she met the same group of Slytherins, initiated a duel with all of them with permission, and defeated them all. Rumors of the "spiffy junior badger" only grew with the defeat of 5 Slytherin second years.

Interactions with Harry or his same year housemates were few and far between. She bumped into Cedric when she turned a corner in her first year, picked up a book that Hermione dropped in her second year, talked to Fred and George when she visited their joke shop in her third year, let Ginny borrow her writing utensil for the day in her fourth year, and fought alongside Ron for brief, jarring minutes in the last stand against Voldy in her fifth year before losing sight of him.

It's just Gardenia's rotten luck to be a fourth year and deemed able to participate in the last stand. Don't get her wrong, she is willing to make a stand with her schoolmates to defeat Voldy and his death fellows once and for all. She could feel that this year is the last stand against Voldy until Voldy either triumphs or the wizarding world triumphs. However, it doesn't mean that she's not panicking and hating that the last stand will have many casualties.

Her friends may not survive. She already lost her mother in her second year. She doesn't want to lose more people, which brings her here to now.

She saw some of her best friends that she made in the first year, dusty and blood stained, leaning on the crumbling walls of Hogwarts next to the other students. Everything was silent, save for some more vocal in their griefs and the crunch of stone. People were moving more bodies to the walls, adding the collection of those who sacrificed their lives to the war. It's somewhat shocking to Gardenia. One moment she was with her friends preparing for war and just talking. The next moment she was fighting in a god damn war next to her friends. It's almost surreal to her. 15 year olds shouldn't be involved in a war. 15 year olds should be learning about spells, attending classes, and enjoying the school year, not blasting spells right and left and using killing curses to take the lives of death eaters.

That's probably why Gardenia didn't express her grief through crying, sobbing, pleading, or bartering with god about her friends. She jumped straight to accepting that her friends are gone and she'll never hear their laughs or see their smiles again. There won't be her friends waiting for her after class to walk with her nor will there be a comforting shoulder to lean on or warm hugs. The only thing she has left is the memories, the place of rest they will be buried, and the gifts she received from them.

Her other friends who survived the war dropped out of Hogwarts. They just sent her a letter by owl in the summer and didn't contact her anymore, no matter how many letters Gardenia wrote them. Soon, her cat came back with her written letter and that's when she knew that her cat can't reach her friends anymore.

During the summer, her father was very busy with his duties in the Ministry of Magic. Too busy to take care of her, Gardenia learned how to take care of herself. Ever since the death of her mother, her father had been trying his best to care for her. He watched cooking shows, bought cooking recipes, took days off to be there for her during important events like her first day of school and holidays. She can tell that his boss didn't like that but her father didn't care, using his sweet words to convince his boss to allow him the days off to spend time with his motherless, precious, only daughter.

While Gardenia did help her father cook sometimes, she's still learning herself. That's why after a couple of burnt casseroles later, she finally cooked a decent casserole. Cooking only improved for her as time went on.

Fat lot of good that will do. She wasn't allowed to cook ever since she tripped into the veil.