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[Indira Khatri]

Indi was glad to be back at school. The break had been nice but after and dealing with her sister and cousin more than usual she was ready to have her own space again. Running into Weston at her parent's conference had been unexpected and she still wasn't sure how she felt about it. She had tried so hard to be her own person here and now it felt like the wall she had built had a crack in it. She hadn't meant to keep Anisha a secret. She just...never came up in conversation. Indi had been worried that seeing each other out side of Hogwarts would make things weird between her and Weston, but he seemed the same and they fell back into their usual routine easily. They had agreed to meet today to observe the lake for any sign of the eel. It was too cold for her to go in the water so she sat a good distance from the water's edge and kept watch. After their first encounter with the creature it had apparently decided to keep it's distance, which made learning anything about it nearly impossible. She was growing frustrated and she was almost doubting if they had really seen it at all. Indi shook her head an logged her notes about the weather and other elements they were tracking. It was real. They had seen it.

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston had long since decided that the worst part of school breaks was not getting to see his friends. So running into Indi in over the winter break had been a joyful surprise, made even more so by the fact that he'd gotten to meet her sister. The encounter had left him absolutely brimming with questions, not just about Anisha, but about her entire family. Seeing Indi at a muggle science conference had made Weston realise that he didn't know much about her life outside of Hogwarts.

They had an eel watching meeting today, and as usual, Weston was running late. But he had something he hoped would make up for it. "Indi! Indi! Hey!" He hurried over to sit next to her, a little out of breath after running down from Ravenclaw tower. "Sorry I'm late. But check out what my mum sent me." Weston dug through his bag before pulling out a pair of omnioculars, which he handed to Indi. "Cool, huh? Now if we see the eel, we can rewatch the footage." He took out his notebook and a pencil. "Did I miss anything?" he asked, trying to peek at her notes.

 

[Indira Khatri]

Indi looked up as smiled weakly as she saw Weston approaching but when she realized he wasn't coming empty handed her face lit up. "Woah, where did she get those?" she asked excitedly. She quickly set aside her notes as he held out the omnioculars to her. She held it delicately in her hands as she started to study the device. It looked like muggle binoculars but she knew it was more than that. She doubted it came with instructions and it might take some time to figure out but she was excited to learn more about it. "Very cool." she agreed. The thought of getting actual proof seemed to get ride of all previous doubt but when Weston asked if he had missed anything she sighed. "No." she admitted. "It's been quite so far today."

 

[Weston Stirling]

Indi's reaction was exactly what Weston had been hoping for, and he grinned at her enthusiasm. "I'm not sure where she got them originally," he admitted. "She said she used to use them when she was travelling and doing field work and stuff. She found them while going through some old boxes at my grandmum's place." As far as Weston was concerned, his parents had had the coolest lives when they were younger. He didn't understand why they would give up all the travelling and adventure for more school and boring office jobs (though to be fair, his dad still did travel quite a bit for work).

Weston was a little disappointed when Indi said things had been quiet, though he was also secretly kind of glad. It would have been incredibly frustrating if he had missed an eel sighting because he was late. "Oh. Well there's still time for it to show," he said, trying to be optimistic. He was silent for a couple moments as he started to take down notes about the weather and water conditions. "So. I had a question," Weston began, continuing to write. "Your sister, Anisha, how come she's not at Hogwarts? Is she not magical?" He had been surprised not to see her at the Sorting Ceremony, and he had been meaning to ask Indi about her absence.

 

[Indira Khatri]

Indi did her best to listen to what Weston was saying but she was deeply fixated on the omnioculars. "That's awesome." she said earnestly. She had never thought to go through her grandparent's things. They had done a lot of traveling in their day but considering how big her family was, anything worth taking was probably gone or not up for grabs. Indi nodded when he said there was still time. It was true but it didn't sooth her impatience.

She turned a dial on the side of the omnioculars and the view zoomed it quickly and she had to blink a few times to keep from getting dizzy. Indi tensed up when Weston said he had a question and she could feel what was about to happen next. She sighed, when as expected he asked about her sister. "Well she's only 10 and hasn't gotten her letter yet." she answered bluntly. There was a part of her that hoped that the letter would never come. But she had seen small signs of magic from Anisha for years now. "But she'll probably be here next year." Indi added with a sigh. It was inevitable.

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston hadn't realised Anisha was too young for Hogwarts. All the students below third year basically looked the same to him. "So I'll get to meet her again?" That would be fun. Their conversation at the conference center had been cut short when Indi had tried to push Anisha away. Weston had barely gotten to talk to her, and his list of questions for her had only grown longer since their first meeting.

"Do you think she'll be a Slytherin too? You guys could end up living together again." Weston had always wanted a sibling, and he thought it was a little sad that Indi had had to spend the last five years away from her sister. "Oh, if she's a Slytherin, she can help us look for the eel!" He paused his note-taking and turned to Indi. "She can keep watch from the common room while we look for it up here." Two people keeping watch for the eel was good, but three was even better. "I wonder if magical walkie talkies exist," he mused, already getting caught up in this plan. The three of them would need some way to communicate while they observed the lake.