Dark Come Soon

It was early, well before six in the morning, but Alexandra was wide awake. She had woken up a little after five and had been lying in bed ever since then, trying to lure herself back to a comfortable sleep. Her attempts at doing so had failed miserably. Apparently, counting sheep no longer worked and neither did reading the encyclopedia. So instead of lying there until Andrés woke up at eight, she decided to put her time to good use.

Alexandra decided that it was time to paint.

During the last three weeks that she had been living at Hogwarts, she had been painting and sketching more than ever. She spent her every free moment sitting at the window seat in the chamber she shared with her farther and from that seat she looked out into the horizon, waiting for inspiration to strike her. And when it did she would place her pencil to the paper or her paintbrush to canvas and bring to life whatever she had visualized.

The fact that Hogwarts constantly inspired her art was one of the reasons why Alexandra had grown very fond of the school. She even dared say that she liked it. That statement wasn’t a very profound one. It was one that any three year old could string together with ease to describe a new toy or candy, but saying that she liked Hogwarts, as childish as it sounded, was a very strong statement for Alexandra to make.

It was a statement that she had not been able to make in months about anything or anyone other than her family and even then, there were moments when she felt herself not enjoying their company as much as she ought to.

When her ability manifested itself, Alexandra pulled away from the world out of fear of being discovered or harming someone during a trance, but she wasn’t afraid at Hogwarts. There was something incredibly soothing about the ancient castle, something that made her feel like she didn’t have to fear herself.

Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that Sybill, Dumbledore and Mona treated her ability in a positive light, perhaps her opinion would change once school started and she met her peers, but at that moment, she wholeheartedly liked Hogwarts.

At that moment, it was home.

And with each passing day, Alexandra learned more and more about its ancient halls and lush grounds. Her knowledge was being fed to her by Mona whom had made it her top summer priority to teach Alexandra her way around Hogwarts. They spent at least two hours a day wandering aimlessly through it. Every once in awhile Mona would point to something and give her background history on it. Alexandra liked how Mona showed her around. It made the trips exciting and not boring as others would have made it.

As a result of spending so much time with Mona, Alexandra found herself forming a surprisingly close friendship with her. Their friendship, although close by Alexandra’s standards, wasn’t one that would be deemed so by others. That was because, Alexandra didn’t tell Ramona things in confidence or spill her soul to her, but she did something that – to Alexandra – was far more important, she let Mona see her artwork.

And that was huge.

Alexandra guarded her work from everyone.

The only people that had ever seen any of it were her father and Nana. No one else had seen her work, but for some reason she felt comfortable sharing her work with Mona. That was mainly due to her thinking that Mona would appreciate the art and luckily for Alexandra, Mona did. She raved about the art and Alexandra, overjoyed by Mona’s praise, told her father that she had shown Mona her work

Andrés didn’t believe her.

He thought it was a lie that Alexandra was telling him in hopes of convincing him that she was comfortable in their new environment. That thought only changed when Mona talked to him about a portrait that Alexandra had done of him a few months earlier. He was flabbergasted, utterly flabbergasted. The feeling was quickly replaced with happiness. He was glad that his daughter trusted someone enough to show them her work and then, he began nagging her about the fact that she hadn’t shown them to Sybill.

She knew that all her father wanted was for them to get along and for them to have a healthy mother-daughter relationship, but at that point in time, that wasn’t something that Alexandra felt comfortable to do.

Because how could Alexandra have a healthy relationship with someone that she doesn’t even refer to as her mother?

The entire time that she’s been there, she’s been calling Sybill by her given name. It’s not something that Alexandra is entirely proud of. She was aware of everything that Sybill had done for her in the last few months and knew that out of gratitude for everything that she’d done, she should call Sybill, mom, but Alexandra was stubborn and she refused to call Sybill her mother until she felt that Sybill was truly her mother.

At the present, Sybill was just an affectionate woman that was trying to win her over.

And Alexandra appreciated Sybill’s affection.

In return to it, she was kind and amiable, she would shoot her small smiles and take tea with her, she even helped her move things into her new office but she refused to call her mom until the moment was right. She refused to be as lively around Sybill as she is around Mona and that was because it’s easier to form a friendship than it is to create a relationship with a formerly absent parent, much easier.

That was something she had explained to Andrés on numerous occasion, but they still argued.

And the fact that Alexandra wanted to avoid an argument with Andrés was the reason why she decided it best to paint outdoors. That way her father wouldn’t make a comment about how Sybill would love to see her in action or how she should really let Sybill give it a look once it was done.

Alexandra dressed in silence, throwing on her shorts and shirt quickly and then stuffing her apron and art supplies into her enchanted purse that was her designated carrier. She then grabbed her large hat from a nearby table and began to journey to get from her room to the lake.

The walk was long but it wasn’t as draining as it had been the first time. Alexandra was getting used to walking up stairs and going pretty far distances so she wasn’t as much of an out of breath, sweaty mess anymore. Now she just had rosy cheeks to deal with.

When she reached the lake, she slung her bag so that it rested against her belly and began pulling out her art supplies. The first to come out was the blank canvas, the next her easel. Her small stand followed and atop it she placed her assortment of paints and brushes. As soon as all her supplies were out, she reached into her bag and pulled out one last thing; her marijuana.

Marijuana was Alexandra’s vice.

That and coffee were her addictions and if anyone ever tried to take either from her, she would most likely curse them into oblivion. She had been drinking coffee since the age of three. She had been smoking since fourteen and there was nothing like a brilliant high to get her artistic juices flowing.

Her father didn’t know that she smoked. She was very careful and discreet about it, knowing very well that Andrés would be furious with her if he ever found out about her illegal habit. Keeping it a secret wasn’t hard. She had an enchanted container that kept the smell from spreading, she only smoked when he wasn’t around and most importantly, she had a perfume that covered up its scent without being overbearing, something that was very important because if a teenager sprays themselves with a strong perfume or cologne and comes home real mellow, it’s a dead give away that they’ve been getting stoned.

Alexandra took her time wrapping her blunt. She always very careful with it, not wanting to spill a single bit since she had expensive tastes with her drugs and having expensive taste on a $20 allowance wasn’t a very prudent thing. The moment that she finished wrapping the blunt, she lifted it her lips, placing it between them and then she lit it with her beat up lighter.

A long, slow drag was taken. The smoke was held deep within her lungs, filling her being with its familiar warmth and after half a minute, she expelled it, letting it mix with the early morning fog that lingered in the air. She finished half the blunt before she decided to lie down and stare up at the sky. She lay there for a half hour, mesmerized by the brilliant hues that the sky held and when inspiration struck, she stood up and raced towards her painting station, taking hold of her paintbrush so she bring to life her creation.

Paint was spread across the blank canvas, breathing life to her vision. Alexandra herself in the vibrant colors and their composition, growing so consumed by it that she rolled another joint and stuck it in her mouth so she could smoke and paint at the same time. She only stopped painting when a familiar voice broke the morning’s silence.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were smoking weed.” Mona spoke. Her long dark brown curls blowing gently in the morning wind.

Alexandra turned slowly, unsure if the voice was a figment of her imagination or if Mona was truly there. Upon seeing Mona’s smiling face, her eyes widened and she instinctively took the blunt from her lips and hid it behind her back.

“It is weed!” exclaimed Mona, her eyes alight with amusement. “I seriously didn’t expect this from you. You’re way too quiet and shy to have given off that impression, but I guess it’s true what they say, it’s always the quiet ones.”

“I suppose so.” Alexandra removed the blunt from behind her back and lifted it to her lips. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”

“Do I look like a bloody narc?”

Alexandra chuckled softly. “No, not really.”

“There’s your answer then.”

“Would you like a hit? Its good quality stuff from Northern California,” Alexandra told her.

“Never smoked anything from over there,” Mona commented. “But I hear Northern California grows the best greens. It must have something to do with the fertile land and climate or something.”

“I think so,” she handed Mona the blunt. “The stuff from Oregon’s good to. I’ve only smoked that a few times though, it’s a little harder to come by.”

Mona took in a long drag. She hadn’t expected the weed to be as potent as it was and as a result of that she began coughing quite loudly.

“Bloody hell,” Mona coughed. “This is some strong weed.”

“Told you so,” Alexandra smiled brightly.

“So is this what you do in the morning? Just smoke and paint?”

“When I have the time,” Alexandra responded. “Sometimes I have an activity or meeting scheduled in the morning so I can’t, but whenever I have free time, I try to get out here for a few hours so I can paint and smoke. This landscape is too beautiful to not attempt to capture its essence.”

“You talk more when you’re stoned.”

“Is that a good thing?” Alexandra made some adjustments to her painting.

“A vey good thing, it’s nice to hear you give more than a one sentence response.”

“You know I don’t do that to be rude, right?” she paused before adding. “You’re really nice and I do try to be friendly but I’ve just been pushing people away for so long that letting them in is harder than I remember.”

Mona giggled. “You’re not rude. You’re just paranoid and it’s no wonder you’re paranoid if you’re smoking this.”

“Hey, don’t blame the plant! I’ve only recently become paranoid and it’s definitely not to blame.”

“Alright then, I'm sorry for blaming you oh precious plant.” Mona joked.

“The plant accepts your apology,” Alexandra declared.

“Good, now I can go back to smoking it.”

The pair smoked what remained of the blunt and then lay down on the grass from where they stared up at the brilliant blue sky that was being adorned with fluffy white clouds and flying birds. They talked about random things, Alexandra joked and laughed more than she had in the last three weeks and by the time the clock struck ten, the two girls were running towards the castle so they could rummage for food in the kitchens.

“This is so fucking good.” Alexandra was referring to a blackberry pie that a house elf had given her.

“You just said fucking!” Mona stopped eating her cookies. “I didn’t even know you could curse!”

Booming laughter echoed from Alexandra. “Just because I'm quiet that doesn’t mean that I'm sort of a Saint. I curse and I smoke and on occasion I drink, I'm just private about it. That way if anyone ever smells weed or thinks something’s wrong with me, they won’t suspect that it’s drugs. They’ll just think I'm sick.”

“Smart thinking but doesn’t your dad suspect?”

“No, I'm good at keeping things secrets when I need to.”

“That’s good to know. So tell me, what else are you hiding? Is there any amazing hidden talent other than your painting?”

“I dabble in writing, mainly poetry and little stories, but painting is my main passion. It’s my love and I'm going to have to bug my dad to take me shopping in California so I can pick up more art supplies.”

“Why go all the way to California when we can go to Diagon Alley?”

“Isn’t it really dangerous?”

Mona shook her head. “Not as dangerous as everyone says it is and my Grandpa always sends me with bodyguards so there’s added protection. What do you say? Want to go?”

“I'm down. I’ll just ask my dad.”

When the teenagers returned to Hogwarts, Alexandra asked her father if she could go to Diagon Alley and just as he was about to say no, Mona informed him that Dumbledore would provide them with bodyguards to ensure their safety. Still feeling uneasy, he agreed to let them go under the condition that both he and Sybill go with them. The girls agreed and it was decided that they would travel to Diagon Alley that weekend.