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"It's the kitchen hallway, but we convert all of the rooms into stores that are in Hogsmeade," Maya explained with a large grin on her face. "My room was Zonko's Joke Shop."
"Yes, and that won't happen again," Mrs. Finch sighed, grimacing at the memory. "I will not have any more fireworks waking me up in the middle of the night."
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Aspen laughed and clapped.
"Oh!" She said happily "do you make homemade Butterbeer too?"
"Tori makes the drinks," Mrs. Finch responded. "Butterbeer is one of them, but she also makes a very fine Firewhiskey as well. A few other kids make the wizarding world sweets and some even make custom wands. The wands don't do anything, of course, but they're fun to make and receive."
Aspen giggled delightedly.
"Oooo" she said "when the next one comes round can I help make the sweets?"
"Of course you will, you live right next to the kitchens," Maya said, amused. "The rule of being next to the food is that you also have to help make it occasionally."
"Exactly," Mrs. Finch agreed with a satisfied nod before turning her golden gaze back to Aspen. "I believe we got a little off track. Was there something you two needed?"
Aspen looked at Maya.
"Uh, Maya—" she said, gesturing to Maya "had something to ask."
"My genius brain has figured out that Aspen can levitate objects," Maya began, grinning at Aspen. "If she can levitate people on brooms along with the snitch and everything else…" she paused for dramatic effect and gestured to Mrs. Finch to complete the sentence.
"…then we can potentially have a quidditch match this year," Mrs. Finch finished, although she looked a bit reluctant.
"Have you even tried exerting your peculiarity that much?" She asked Aspen, crossing her arms and leaning a bit on the edge of her desk.
Aspen shook her head.
"I would have to practice, but i'm sure I could do it." She said, looking down.
Mrs. Finch stared at Aspen thoughtfully for a few moments before coming to a decision.
"If you can prove to me a month before we have our Hogwarts day, then I will allow a Quidditch tournament this year. However, if I think for even a second that you won't be able to do it safely, then you will not do it, got it?"
Aspen smiled and shook her head.
"Yes." She said "thank you Mrs. Finch."
"No problem," Mrs. Finch said with a smile. "I do hope you're able to do this. The kids here would very much enjoy a successful game of Quidditch."
Aspen smiled.
"But wouldn't it be unfair?" She asked "in case I favor one team over the other?"
"That's why you'll be practicing a lot if this is going to work out," Mrs. Finch replied.
Aspen nodded tightly.
"Yes, of course." She responded and began walking towards the door.
"Thank you so much Mrs. Finch!" Maya said, earning a nod from the honey haired woman.
"Alright, where do you want to go now?" She asked Aspen once she opened the door. "Back to the library? Or do you want to see something else?"
Aspen shrugged.
"I might just try to stalk Maxwell and see if he talks about Janix to anyone." She said and smiled slyly. "Want to help?"
"Of course," Maya replied with a wicked grin. "I thought you'd never ask."
Aspen smiled and paused.
"But first I need you to find him for me, I don't actually know what he looks like." She told Maya with a smile.
"I'll go hunt him down," Maya agreed. "Let's try the astronomy tower first, he sometimes stays in there."
Aspen nodded.
"What's his peculiarity anyways?" She asked curiously.
"Floating," Maya replied, sighing as she took yet even more twists and turns through the maze of the castle, dreading the climb up to the astronomy tower.
Aspen smiled and laughed.
"So like mine, but he can only make himself float." She said "can he control it? Or does he wear like lead shoes to keep himself grounded?"
"He can control it now, I'm not sure if he had to wear lead shoes when he was younger," Maya said. "He's cute and all, but he's absolutely horrible when we play tag in the castle. No one can reach him."
Aspen laughed.
"I think I'd like to meet him, considering the whole floating thing, it's kind of like my own peculiarity but I can only float things up to a certain speed." She said with a smile.
"I think you two would make pretty good friends," Maya said, smiling back. When they reached the bottom of the stairs to the astronomy tower, she stopped. "Hey, speaking of floating…can you levitate us to the top again?"
Aspen rolled her eyes and squinted her eyes, picking both of them off the ground and began floating them upwards, she squinted her eyes almost shut and they went faster, reaching the top after about a minute.
"There," She said as she placed both of them on the very top steps.
"That'll never get old," Maya grinned, opening the doors to the astronomy tower.
Aspen smiled and followed behind her, gasping at the very high ceiling of the tower and the overly large glass window supporting opening doors that led to the balcony.
"Woah…" She said in awe.
"It's great, isn't it?" Maya asked, walking up to the balcony. "It's probably the most relaxing place here."
Aspen looked around.
"But where is Maxwell?" She asked "I thought you said he'd be here."
A laugh came from above, where Maxwell was floating against the ceiling, lying on it, like it was the floor.
"Hi!" He called down "what brings you gals here? Hardly anyone comes up here but me and Janix."