Closed Field of Stars

[Miya Bell]

Since discovering that her 'muggle' father had been a squib and that she had a whole branch of magical family members she'd never known about, Miya's hands had been full with finding her place in the family tree. It had been far easier to fit into their world than she expected, despite her shy nature, and Miya had spent the last few years flitting around as the Hoshinos needed. She liked to be useful, but Miya was tired of travelling and it was time to go home. She had barely been back to New Zealand since she'd come of age, although had kept up with communication as well as she could.

The radio station had been an accident. Her mother, eccentric witch that she was, had tried to come up with a system for communication based on the muggle telephone so they wouldn't have to send letters back and forth as Miya traveled. It had worked - until Miya discovered that the signal could be picked up on the wireless and received a letter from someone who had enjoyed her descriptions of the unicorns she'd encountered while ostensibly researching wand cores for the family business, and Miya had continued to broadcast.

"You're listening to the Star Field, if you're listening at all. Keep an eye on the horizon. Trouble may be brewing for you, but don't worry! It hasn't noticed you yet! Just be cautious."

She enjoyed talking to the void and waiting to see if it wanted to talk back. Perhaps people were listening, but it didn't bother Miya in the slightest if she was speaking to the silent air. She did not have a set schedule or planned segments, so her radio show was elusive and its content entirely subject to Miya's whims. Once, she had left her microphone on next to the sink and broadcasted the sound of a tap dripping for two hours before she realised, and began rambling about the water quality of local lakes for selkie habitats.

Miya had politely declined the invitation to stay with her aunt Karen upon her return, to avoid being trapped in business discussions, and instead was camped out in a park nearby to the Hoshinos' New Zealand bach. The door of Miya's van was enchanted to open when her family members approached, and she hoped Theodore would visit her when he arrived home for Christmas. It couldn't be easy for him, being sorted into Ravenclaw. Miya frowned as she spun around on her chair, fiddling with dials on the soundboard. She paid enough attention to family gossip to know that his mother wanted a full set of Slytherin children, and that frustrated Miya more than she could express. It seemed unfair, but also wasn't her place to comment. She loved her younger cousins, but they were just kids, and she was determined to be there for them in any way she could when the pressure got too much.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue was a little confused as to what she was doing in New Zealand for the holidays instead of attending the customary Hoshino gathering at the estate with the rest of the family. The announcement that she was to spend Christmas with Karen had been met with hesitance, but Blue readily agreed when it was mentioned her brother would be also there. It had been too long since she'd gotten to see her older brother, especially since he was at Hogwarts now. She'd never been able to figure out what Teddy's mother was supposed to be to her. Step-mother? Adoptive mother? It felt as though her family had a case of collective forgetfulness when she brought it up, so Blue elected to ignore it. The ten year old had more important things to focus on anyway, like whether she could convince her germophobe cousin to go catch bugs with her, or badgering Teddy about Hogwarts. Blue had been sent away while Karen "had a little talk" with Teddy, and her syrupy sweet tone had spurred the young girl to flee. She felt bad leaving her brother alone, especially after he'd told her about the howler, but she was certain he'd survive the encounter. If not, she'd just have to rescue him.

Blue was supposed to be using the trip to improve her English, but had stubbornly brought along both her Welsh and Polish textbooks because her father told her those two languages in particular wouldn't be useful for her future. Blue refused to believe there was such a thing as useless knowledge and sought to learn them anyway. She skipped up the steps to Miya's van and raised her hand to knock, but the door opened before she could. Taking that as an invitation, Blue poked her head through the doorway and beamed when she saw her cousin. She waved enthusiastically, staying silent as she saw Miya was on air, and tiptoed over to examine what she was doing.

 

[Miya Bell]

Miya heard the door open and smiled as her baby cousin's head came into view. She put another song on, carefully handling the vinyl record and placing it on the turntable. There were likely more efficient methods for running a magical music station, but Miya had never been one for practicality. Hers resembled an ancient muggle system, and she wasn't interested in changing the magically-powered setup anytime soon.

She hummed along to the song and beckoned her cousin over. Blue reminded her a lot of herself at the same age, and she loved the kid dearly. "Hi, baby frog. How are you?" she greeted quietly. A soft wave of sadness enveloped Miya as she thought about her own little sisters, but she exhaled and gently pushed the feeling away. They were muggles and knew nothing of magic, and Miya always felt like she had to hide that part of her if she visited. She was grateful for her newfound family, even with its difficulties. "I got a new jigsaw puzzle? If you want to start that?" Miya pointed to the cabinet under her bed. The moving picture fragments on each piece had given her a headache the first time she tried it, and she hoped Blue would be up to the challenge.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

"A baby frog is called a tadpole, Mi-chan," Blue huffed, draping herself over the older girl's back in a hug. She wondered why they had different names when they were the same thing, just grown up. Miya was an adult, but she'd been a kid like Blue once, and it made the younger Hoshino consider if Miya had been a different Miya once. Blue could not imagine it, and wrestled with the concept of time itself as she scuttled across the ground on her knees to pull out the box containing the puzzle. "A frog is an adult tadpole. Chicken, egg, phoenix, ashes." she mused, happy with the conclusion she'd drawn. She opened the jigsaw box and tipped the pieces on the floor, making an arc around where she sat. Like a moat, Blue thought. That would make her a castle. She moved a few pieces around experimentally and frowned as the pictures kept shifting. "What picture does this make?" she asked her cousin, cheerfully confused and excited to put it together.

 

[Miya Bell]

Miya found that keeping a radio show on air while talking to Blue was a lot to focus her attention on at once, but Blue's babbling made her smile. She often had trouble understanding how other peoples' brains worked, but the easy chatter of the younger girl didn't leave her head spinning like conversations with other members of the family.

"If the walls of your house are bleeding, don't be alarmed! It's could just be a boggart hiding behind the drywall. My advice would be to not be afraid of anything, because then the boggart can't hurt you and you can co-exist in peace. Boggarts need friends too, you know?" Miya hummed gently as she looked for another song to play. She had a lot of interesting music in her collection, although the quality was variable as Miya was fascinated by a wide range of sounds that most would more politely refer to as bad or wrong. "Next up is... Astrono-Meet-Me Under the Full Moon by Furry Little Problem," Miya chirped into the microphone and hit play.

She rolled her chair over to the kitchen nook, which would have taken her two steps to reach in the cramped van, but was easier to reach the bottom cupboard while seated. Miya had never been good at cooking the muggle way, but she'd practiced her household spells until she was proficient enough to at least make marshmallow pancakes without setting her home on fire. She set the batter to mix itself, and turned to Blue, shrugging helplessly at the question. "Don't know yet, put it together and find out?"

 

[Theodore Hoshino]

Teddy knew he'd made a mistake the second he left the safety of Hogwarts to return home for the Christmas break, but he couldn't see any alternative. If he stayed, his ma would undoubtedly send more howlers and the entire school would know what a disappointment he was to the family. His best chance was to endure his family and cross his fingers that he'd remain invisible for the second half of the semester. He was looking forward to seeing his little sister, at least. Teddy couldn't remember the last time they spent any significant amount of time together outside of the holidays.

It didn't add up, why he and Blue was at the New Zealand home while their shared father wasn't. Teddy wasn't in the mood to question it, and left the house as soon as he'd been released from his scolding. His ma had been furious, as expected, and Teddy had done nothing but stand there and take it until she was finished. He especially hated it when she was quiet and acted like he'd been sorted into the wrong house on purpose. He hadn't done anything wrong. Teddy sighed and headed in the direction of things that made sense, guessing Blue had already followed the path to Miya's house. The door opened for him as he approached and Teddy ducked his head as he entered the van, nervously watching the occupants and mumbling an uncomfortable greeting. He looked at the puzzle Blue was working on, and gingerly crouched down to help her sort through the pieces.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue squeaked in excitement as her brother joined her. He didn't look happy, and Blue's guilt from abandoning him resurfaced. "Teddy, we have a mystery puzzle to solve! It has secrets," she said, hoping to raise his spirits. She liked Miya's answer, and not knowing what picture the puzzle would make. She'd just have to figure it out and solve the mystery herself.

She got up on her knees to brush Teddy's hair out of his face, pulling a butterfly clip out of her pocket and securing it on her brother's head. She'd heard about the enchanted scissors Karen had sent him, and was frustrated as to why it mattered how long her brother's hair was. Blue liked it the way it was, especially if Teddy let her braid it later. For now, she was engrossed in the puzzle-solving and keeping the older boy distracted so he would forget about being sad. She found some pieces of green and brown that looked like they might match, and pushed them towards Teddy to see what he thought.

 

[Miya Bell]

Miya reached for her rice cooker to wipe it down before she poured the pancake batter in. The melting marshmallows would make the insides sticky, but the cleaning would be worth the extra-fluffy result. She didn't like to use magic around her food preparation when she had muggle disinfectants and sprays to make sure everything was properly clean. Miya rolled back to her microphone to speak between songs as she waited for the pancakes to be done.

"In other news, unfortunately it appears the apocalypse won't be happening any time soon? Banshees are not reliable sources for predicting the end of the world and I have to remind you, listeners, that earmuffs or a good Laughing Potion should be used if you have the whim to approach one. In the event of the world actually ending, don't just hole up in a bunker by yourself and hoard all the supplies? That's rude, and I don't like you if you do that."

Miya selected her next song, and whispery vocals accompanied by a choir of hippogriff calls filled the van. She sang along as she plated up three pancakes and padded over to the children. The pancakes were a little lopsided and full of mostly-melted goopy marshmallows, but Miya was proud of her attempt. "You're not a cookie, you don't have to fit," she said kindly to Teddy, passing the food towards her cousins. Miya had edged her way into being the black sheep of the family much later, remaining relatively unscathed, but the two children sitting on her bedroom floor were growing up right in the middle. They were braver than she could ever be. She'd run from Hogwarts when it became too much and never stopped to wash off the road dirt ever since, but Miya hoped her van could be at least a small escape from family politics for Theodore and Blue.