May 31st, 1895 — Hogwarts Grounds
"Is this your shoe?" Jameson called helpfully, holding the garment aloft in part so that it might be clearly viewed and in part because it did not smell fantastic.
With breakfast concluded, the first through sixth years had been dismissed to say their last goodbyes and to gather their things—which the Ravenclaws, at least, had been thrice reminded to pack the night before. Living in Hogsmeade, Jameson did not share the urgency of those who would be taking the train, and had signed up for one of the later carriages into the village, which he would ride with Gideon and a couple of other Bartonburg boys. His things were nicely packed up and waiting, Lucy's empty cage atop his trunk—the barn owl had already flown home.
Evidently, not everyone shared the no-longer-first-year's packing prowess: the shoe was just part of what he estimated to be a week's worth of wardrobe strewn across the stone path, the chest that had likely once housed it all upended and open in the grass. The shoe's owner, he expected, was the rather harried looking student who was scampering to gather it all up, made more difficult by the fact that it was a particularly windy day.
