Everybody's Changing [Aylee]

Morgana had donned her long, green cloak, intent on taking a trip. Having mastered her apparation quicker than most and having turned seventeen only a few days ago, she decided to apparate out of Winchester and to a place she hadn't gone since she was a young child: the Wailing Woods. She had gone there with her father before she started Hogwarts, and it had easily become the most mysterious and beautiful forest she'd ever ventured into.

And now she could be there in a crack. She spun on the spot and felt that nauseating feeling of being pushed through rubber and being unable to breathe for a mere moment before her feet found solid ground in the massive forest. She looked around herself, wondering if her appearance had been noticed. It hadn't. This wood was mostly visited by wizards and witches but it did happen that a muggle stumbled into it. And even though Morgana did know how to use the obliviate spell, she hadn't practiced it enough to not rob the person of every single memory.

She started threading the grounds, walking around the trees, just soaking herself in the smell of the forest. There were few things that really calmed Morgana down. And being in a forest was definitely one of them. She walked for a long time, perhaps a couple of hours, when she heard a twig break not far off. She hoped it was a creature. She hoped it was a dangerous creature that would suck her soul dry rather than it being a person. Right now, she would rather face a manticore than a homo sapiens.

But by the way that the being walked and the steps it took, it was clear to Morgana that it was indeed a person. Now she hoped it was a muggle, so she could just obliviate them and send them on their way. No matter the loss of memories. But as the person came closer and Morgana noticed the outlines, a sense of nostalgia hit her. And she blinked, surprised when she saw who it was. And she was also relieved.

"Aylee," Morgana said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. She then registered the makeup and the hair. Morgana raised her eyebrows and couldn't help from asking: "What the hell have you done to your hair?"

Aylee's mother was having enough of the "stupid attention-seeking act", which resulted in a huge argument right after lunch. It started with an angry discussion and ended with the two adults yelling horrible things at each other from the other side of the house. It was nothing that she hadn't heard before, though. The argument was all about the usual stuff- Aylee dying her hair, her staying out for long at night and coming home drunk, the fact that she spent half her time in the bedroom, her moping around and "acting depressed". The guys of the family had found excuses to not be in the middle of it, but Aylee was still furious.

She entered her bedroom, slammed the door, grabbed her bag and apparated away. Somewhere. Wherever. The first place that came to her mind was the Wailing Woods, and by the time she was thinking about it she was already there. The mysterious woods she had come to a few years ago. She let out a laugh, a kind of sarcastic one and then kicked a nearby tree. Fantastic. Her feet hurt. It didn't need a Ravenclaw to work out that one. But, seriously, she didn't care. Aylee was fuming. She put her hand on her forehead, and then ran her fingers through her hair. Why did she come here? She wanted to get away from home. She wanted to think.

And without a further thought, Aylee started walking. Somewhere into the woods. It didn't matter where to her, because she could just apparate away if she got into trouble or anything. Like she cared, anyway. She walked, stomping her feet, snapping who-knew-how-many twigs and crunching leaves. It was only when someone said her name aloud that she looked up and saw Morgana. Her old friend. Another old friend that she hadn't talked to in years... "Morgana," Aylee replied.

It wasn't that she didn't miss her friend, she did. She just wasn't in the mood to be happy at all, because it seemed like being happy always turned out to be ruined. That was when Morgana asked about her hair. Aylee's hand was about to go to her hair but she quickly lowered it. "I dyed it," she answered, her voice plain and daft. Wasn't it pretty obvious what she had done to her hair?

Morgana didn't say anything as Aylee's voice registered in her mind. So the hair wasn't the only thing that had changed, then? Morgana wasn't surprised. The innocent girl who was so quiet and refined. Of course she'd change when she left Hogwarts. Hogwarts was a safe zone. The world wasn't. And Aylee was obviously changing. For what reason was something Morgana hated to admit that she wasn't a hundred percent sure of.

Morgana studied Aylee's face with the black hair. She looked much paler with it, but somehow it made her feautures stick out more. After a moment's thought, Morgana finally decided. "I like it," she said truthfully. But Morgana's concern was not at all for the haircolor. Aylee seemed bent on being alone. Morgana didn't mind her want to be alone. Morgana always wanted to be alone. She would always prefer being alone, but Aylee just was nice company and preferred company if she was doomed to have it.

She wasn't going to ask if Aylee was okay. Morgana didn't ask stuff like that. And though her concern was a tiny flimmer of emotion deep, deep inside her stomach, it was much more emotion than she normally felt. "How have you been?" Morgana asked in her monotone voice instead, as they hadn't been talking for a long time. Around two years, probably. It had been a year of work for Morgana the last couple of years at Hogwarts, and being alone was, again, her preferred pasttime.

Morgana wondered if it was family that drove Aylee to changing, or if it was the world outside of Hogwarts. Outside of Hogwarts... Morgana suddenly started to wonder what Aylee would be doing this year. Her first year in a job? Had she even gotten a job? Morgana figured she would have. Aylee was a bright person so getting a job shouldn't be a problem for her. Question was if she found the job she wanted to be in. Morgana figured she'd wait with that question until Aylee had answered her first.