Closed To Go Back to the Younger Days

[Harper Alston]

Harper had known that going back home would be difficult, but she hadn't been prepared for how off-kilter everything felt. The problem was her, of course. She could tell that no one in her family knew what to make of this new, more subdued version of herself. Her parents had tried to ask about her semester, but Harper had brushed off their questions. Not only did she not know how to explain the accident, but she also didn't want to worry them. It felt wrong to complain about magical issues while everyone else was dealing with real problems.

Thankfully, Chloë had sent her a ticket to one of her games, giving Harper a chance to escape the questioning looks for a day. She had never seen a professional Quidditch match before, and it was at once startlingly familiar and completely foreign. Perhaps most striking was the sheer number of people in attendance. It occurred to Harper that she had no idea how big the magical population was. Exactly how large was this secret world?

As fun as it had been to cheer Chloë on once more, what Harper had really been looking forward to was actually getting to meet up with her friend. It had been over a year since they had last spoken though they'd traded letters in the interim. They had decided to meet at a café in a nearby wizarding town, and that was where Harper now waited. Although the winter air bit at her skin, she had opted to sit at one of the outdoor tables for now, not wanting to miss Chloë's arrival. It didn't take long before she saw a familiar flash of red hair, and she waved her friend down. "Chloë!" Harper called, jumping up to give her a hug. "You were amazing today! I mean, that one steal? That was incredible." Not that she was surprised. Chloë had been one of the most talented players at Hogwarts. "Thanks for inviting me."

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë had been enjoying life after school much more than she had anticipated. Her career had been taking off and even though she enjoyed living with her brother she was starting to think of moving out. Archer had been good enough to open up his home to her when she was freshly graduated but now that her own adult life was starting to take shape she felt like that was the next step to take. Either on her own or with a housemate that wasn't travelling as much as her brother was.

Even so, she might just need to wait for the season to end before moving houses. Right now she couldn't exactly say she was home a lot either, spending a large part of her time on the quidditch pitch. So far though the season had been going well and she was surprised by how well her cousin and her were working together on the pitch. She knew their relationship off the pitch wasn't as well as it could be but perhaps them working together wasn't so bad. Perhaps it would allow them to somehow become real friends. Something they hadn't been in forever.

Today's game had been tiring yet Chloë was still excited by the idea of getting to hang out with Harper afterwards. She had made a promise after all and while she had already fullfilled half it by getting her friend the tickets that wouldn't mean anything if she didn't make time afterwards to actually go and see her. It had taken a debriefing and some freshing up but eventually she had made her way out of the stadium and apparated to a spot she knew near where they were supposed to meet. Chloë was surprised when she already heard someone calling out her name as she was nearing the café, shaking her head when she noticed Harper outside. "Were you scared you'd miss me coming in or something?" She laughed as she hugged her friend back before ushering her towards the door, keen to get inside. "Thanks, I try." She replied with a grin and a bit of modesty when Harper gushed about the game. Having people support her was always nice but it was even better when it came from people she cared about. "No worries, I did promise." Chloë brushed off Harper's thanks as she took a seat at one of the empty booths. "Plus, now you can stop telling people you've never seen a professional game again."

 

[Harper Alston]

Even though it had been over a year since Harper had seen Chloë, now that that they were actually talking in person, it was like no time had passed. She grinned. "I was actually kind of worried I'd accidentally end up at the wrong café. I've never been here before." Getting a portkey to the town had been easy enough, but navigating the winding streets without a GPS had been tricky. "I didn't even know this town existed before today," she said, throwing one last glance back at the thoroughfare before entering the café. Harper was still getting used to the idea that Moutohoura Island concealed a whole Quidditch stadium. Did all those other "uninhabited" islands and nature preserves around the country actually contain wizarding villages?

Harper slid into the booth and shook her head. "Nah, how else am I supposed to get people to take pity on me and give me free tickets?" she joked. Honestly, it was a little funny how surprised some people were when they heard that she'd never seen a professional Quidditch match before. To be fair, Harper would probably have the same reaction to anyone who said they'd never seen a rugby match before. One of the waitstaff came by with menus, and Harper took one with a quick "thank you." She glanced over it for a second, but she was much more interested in catching up with Chloë. "So, how have you been? How's the real world? Tell me everything." She had Chloë's letters, of course, but she knew from experience it was impossible to capture a life in a few paragraphs.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë knew she hadn't been the greatest in keeping up with any of her friends but had to admit she had probably managed the worst when it came to Harper. The other girl still being at school had limited their communication sending letter and that had certainly made things more difficult. Especially since it was easier to plan a moment to catch up with her friends who had already graduated as well. "Look at you, still learning things even when you're not at school." She grinned, nudging Harper when she mentioned not even knowing the town they were in existed in the first place.

She laughed when her friend joked about getting free tickets to games after mentioning she had never been to a professional one before multiple times when they were still in school. "Fair point." She nodded with fake approval. "Although it does make me wonder how many quidditch playing friends you have that I don't know about." Chloë joked in return. She wasn't sure how often they were allowed to hand out free tickets to their games but surely it was something that could be done more than once if she just asked for it. Especially since she still had some family to invite as well. Surely, Zay would kill her if he would hear she had gotten Harper tickets to a game while he hadn't gotten any yet. "It's been an adjustment." She smiled at her friend's question. "It's strange not having everyone so close to me anymore, having to put in way more effort to see my friends. Especially since everyone's doing different things with their lives now. But it makes it all the better when I am able to hang out with someone." Chloë explained. "I've been living with my brother which has been fun but he's gone most of the time now so I'm probably going to look for somewhere else to live. Having to clean everything myself does make me grateful for magic, although I do sometimes miss the Hogwarts house elves." She added with a small chuckle. "But it's all been good, really. I know I got lucky playing quidditch and I really don't want to take anything for granted." She continued, trying to think of all the things she could share. There was probably way more to it but she didn't want to bore Harper with uninteresting details when there was so much else to catch up on. "What about you? How's school? Had any trouble as a prefect yet? And how are things with animagus training?"

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper grinned. "That's a secret. But most of them play for Kea," she joked, hoping she'd correctly picked out the Macaws' rival team. Now that Harper thought about it, she did have a striking number of friends who played (or used to play) Quidditch. So far, Chloë was the only who played professionally, but she was sure that would change soon, especially now that Nikko had graduated. She listened sympathetically as Chloë talked about being away from her friends. Harper was definitely not looking forward to that part of postgrad life. She thought of her own brothers and wondered if they would be willing to get a place with her next year. When she was younger, she'd always assumed she and Fletcher would live together after she graduated, but now she wasn't so sure. "Do you think you'll live by yourself? Or will you get roommates?" Harper asked. She chuckled at Chloë's comment about cleaning. "I don't think I'll mind cleaning so much as having to cook for myself. I don't know how to make anything besides pasta." It was truly a shame food was one of the few things that was impossible to conjure. "Sounds like you've been killing it," she said with a smile. "Not that I'm surprised."

Chloë returned the question, and Harper took a second, trying to figure out how to sum up her entire year. "It's been good. I won the Dueling Tournament, and I managed to make it through exams without dropping out. I don't think I make a very good prefect though. I swear, the younger kids can sense weakness," she said with a laugh. "It's like they can tell that I don't want to take points away from Gryffindor." Harper paused, wondering how much of her year she should reveal. She didn't want to worry Chloë. But also, what was the point of having friends if you couldn't at least be somewhat honest with them? (Never mind that she had a whole group of friends in the muggle world who she could never be honest with). "I also managed to get half a semester's worth of detention, so I'm pretty sure Kingsley regrets her decision," she said with a forced smile, hoping that if she treated it with an air of casualness, she could avoid worrying Chloë. She decided not to mention that Kingsley had also threatened to take away her badge. "Anyway, animagus training has been... okay. I've actually been taking lessons over the break, so that's been helping a lot."