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a place for hiding things
Saturday, 30 May 2015 17:32When I started out at Hogwarts, the first thing I looked for was a hiding place.
Everyone needs a good hiding place. For trinkets, for baubles. For thoughts and feelings we don't want anyone to see.
I always had a lot of hiding places at home, and I changed them so much that I forgot what I had hidden and where. At my father's house there was a loose stone in the wall of my Uncle Rabastan's boyhood room. I think he might have hidden things there himself, once. Love letters to girls, or little bottles of whiskey. Those sound like things he would hide.
When I was seven I found a collared dove, just a fledgling that was pushed from the eaves. I didn't know then that you shouldn't pick them up. I thought it was hurt, so I took it inside and hid it behind the stone in the wall. I fed it for a few days, then finally took it outside, where it flew away. I know now that it's lucky it didn't die.
I tried to hide other things there, later, and got in trouble for doing so. But that never stopped me from looking for more places to hide things.
At Hogwarts I looked all the way back into the furthest reaches of the dungeons, where most people don't like to go. I didn't mind. There's a giant urn tucked back there that makes for a good hiding place. I used that one, once or twice. But the best place I found was a staircase that no one uses anymore. It leads upstairs to long hallway that, if you follow it far enough, will take you to the back of the kitchens. The staircase has a small landing with an empty alcove. I put some cushions in there, along with a quilt, some books, and some sweets (sweets were another thing I always had to hide). I called it my secret stairwell.
That's where I used to curl up, and that's where I wrote in my diary (but not always this one).
It was a good hiding place for me. It wasn't good for everyone. That's where Effie Stevens was found. I don't know who killed her, or if she was trying to hide or trying to find someone. We were in an Arithmancy study group in years 4 and 5. At the Hogwarts Day of Remembrance that was held back in December, she was thinking a lot about how she wished she didn't have to be at the castle anymore. Or in England at all, really. A lot of people were thinking that.
I'll miss Effie Stevens. It's strange to feel that I've known a lot of people very well, who probably don't feel as if they know me at all. I'd like to change that, if I can. It's good to not look for hiding places, anymore.
Everyone needs a good hiding place. For trinkets, for baubles. For thoughts and feelings we don't want anyone to see.
I always had a lot of hiding places at home, and I changed them so much that I forgot what I had hidden and where. At my father's house there was a loose stone in the wall of my Uncle Rabastan's boyhood room. I think he might have hidden things there himself, once. Love letters to girls, or little bottles of whiskey. Those sound like things he would hide.
When I was seven I found a collared dove, just a fledgling that was pushed from the eaves. I didn't know then that you shouldn't pick them up. I thought it was hurt, so I took it inside and hid it behind the stone in the wall. I fed it for a few days, then finally took it outside, where it flew away. I know now that it's lucky it didn't die.
I tried to hide other things there, later, and got in trouble for doing so. But that never stopped me from looking for more places to hide things.
At Hogwarts I looked all the way back into the furthest reaches of the dungeons, where most people don't like to go. I didn't mind. There's a giant urn tucked back there that makes for a good hiding place. I used that one, once or twice. But the best place I found was a staircase that no one uses anymore. It leads upstairs to long hallway that, if you follow it far enough, will take you to the back of the kitchens. The staircase has a small landing with an empty alcove. I put some cushions in there, along with a quilt, some books, and some sweets (sweets were another thing I always had to hide). I called it my secret stairwell.
That's where I used to curl up, and that's where I wrote in my diary (but not always this one).
It was a good hiding place for me. It wasn't good for everyone. That's where Effie Stevens was found. I don't know who killed her, or if she was trying to hide or trying to find someone. We were in an Arithmancy study group in years 4 and 5. At the Hogwarts Day of Remembrance that was held back in December, she was thinking a lot about how she wished she didn't have to be at the castle anymore. Or in England at all, really. A lot of people were thinking that.
I'll miss Effie Stevens. It's strange to feel that I've known a lot of people very well, who probably don't feel as if they know me at all. I'd like to change that, if I can. It's good to not look for hiding places, anymore.
