July 22nd, 1890 — Hogsmeade Literary Festival, Day Two

It was almost two years to the day since Pierre destroyed the family died. Hermia feared late July now and resented summer, but this year, she had an escape. When she’d seen the advert at Whizzhard Books, Hermia knew how she planned the summer, if she could secure a part. Through some miracle, and hard work on her parents, Hermia secured the part of Miranda in the Reader’s Theatre. This is what she was born for maybe?!

The performance had been invigorating and Hermia desperately hope for additional chances in the future. Who would have thought that rote memory had use beyond exams? Now enjoying the second day of the festival, Hermia won out when her brothers volunteered to accompany her. Silvius and Charles were as bookish as she and it left with plenty of freedom to browse.

Drawn to a parchment volume that lacked a clear cover, Hermia pulled the little treasure down and settled into a chair tucked away. The words were strange, but it had to be some earlier English as she could puzzle through bits, but there were words she had never encountered. “’As clerkes been ful subtile and ful queynte,/ And prively he caught hire by the queynte,’” Trying to sound out the strange phrase softly to herself, Hermia paused again. “What on earth is a queynte?”

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