(A/N: So, I posted this fic a while back on another account and stumbled across it recently I decided to edit it and finish it. Credit to the lovely J.K Rowling for the Wizarding World. Please enjoy and review!)
1975, 1st September
Anastasia sat at the back of her parents beat up, old car, her arm flung over the large trunk on the old seats next to her. Ana's mother sat in the front passenger seat, yelling at drivers that caught off Ana's father, who was hunched over the car steering-wheel, squinting his eyes at the cars in front. He was waving his hand dramatically at his wife, complain about traffic and how they should have left earlier, and how important time was important when getting Ana to King's Cross station. When it came to these arguments, Ana decided not to get involved with it. In fact, she rarely got involved with the arguments of her parents.
Mr Reese, only ill-tempered when driving, was a wisp of a man. He tended to be hunched over, never reaching his full height of 6ft1. His hair was brown and thinning, his arms and legs were lanky – forcing his shirt sleeves and trouser legs to ride up, revealing thin wrists and ankles. His glasses askew and hiding his dark brown eyes that Ana had inherited. His hands tended to be covered in paint, and a pencil was always tucked behind his ear to go along with the sketchbook he carried around in his back pocket – no matter the outfit he wore. Mrs Reese, on the other hand, was a small woman with curling silver blond hair that she always wore in a tight bun. Her blue eyes always seemed wide in surprise. Mrs Reese, as far as Ana had known, had been a writer; but had given it up to be a mother to Ana. However, this didn't change the curiosity that had come along with the job. Mrs Reese was a thin woman, who wore well fitted blouses and tight skirts. Ana had always been aware that her parents had had her young – a wild love affair gone into a marriage, and soon after, a child. Still, Ana had always forgotten how young Mrs Reese actually was. Grey did not litter her hair, and age hadn't clouded over her eyes, nor did any lines mark her pale skin.
Ana's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her mother's window going down, the familiar sound of the window being cranked open was a norm of any car ride with the Reese family. Ana watched in shock as her mother poked her head out of the car window, keeping her eyes focused on a cyclist, she cupped a hand around her mouth.
"Wrong side of the road, idiot!" Mrs Reese shouted before sitting back in her seat and cranking the window back up. Ana flinched and then turned back to the window as they passed the cyclist, mouthing an apology to him, to which he smiled and nodded to. Ana gave a sigh, and threw herself against the seat. "Don't do that, Darling. You'll ruin the seats." Mrs Reese warned, Ana made a face at her mother, who didn't see it.
"They're already ruined, Mum. The cars ancient." Ana pointed out, this time her mother turned around, just as Mr Reese turned the car around a corner in hunt for a parking space. Mrs Reese narrowed her eyes, and looked her daughter up and down.
"Watch your tongue young lady, I don't want to be seeing you off after fighting with you." Mrs Reese warned, before turning back around in her seat and looked at Mr Reese pointedly. "She never comes home anymore, honey. And when she does come home, she's always in a bad mood." Ana didn't dare say anything. It wasn't the first time this summer that her mother had talked about her like she wasn't in the room. Ana would say it annoyed her, but she didn't bother. Instead, she just ignored it, tapping her fingers on her trunk.
"She's becoming independent, Athena, it's typical for girls her age to go off and do her own thing. Plus, she's in a castle up north, she can't get up to much." Her father explained as he parked the car up, and slid out of the driver's side. Mrs Reese followed his lead, along with Ana, who tried to pull her trunk out with her. Ana felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and turned around to see her father, a crooked smile on his thin face.
"I've got it, Annie, don't you worry about it." Although Mr Reese was a thin man, and not particularly muscular, he had no problem tugging Ana's trunk out of the car and placed it on its wheels. Mr Reese then took the handle and began to walk, his wife beside him. Ana walked a little behind, having had to scramble into the boot of the car and pull out her brand new broomstick. Despite both her parents being wizards (her mother a pureblood and her father a muggleborn), they lived very much like muggles – using magic only when completely necessary – they had only ever giving Ana money and clothes for birthdays and Christmas, and had asked others to do the same. Ever since she was eleven and it was confirmed she was a witch, much to her parents despair, Ana had converted the muggle money into Galleons; Sickles; and Knuts. Ana had used the money wisely, only buying robes, books and other essentials she needed, with her parents helping her along the way. The broomstick had been the first thing she had bought that she didn't require for school – until she had told her parents she was trying-out fir her House Qudditch team. With her new broom over her shoulder, Ana followed her parents happily towards the traffic-lights, before crossing to King's Cross.
Entering King's Cross station, the small family made their way across the station towards platforms nine and ten, and stopped. Mr Reese let go of Ana's trunk and turned to look at her with sad eyes. Ana's parents hadn't set foot on Platform 9 ¾ since their time at school, and would never really explain why. Ana could never see any reason as to why her parents wouldn't join her on the platform, the Wizarding World belonged to them as much as her, but the never seemed comfortable around the idea of it all. Even when sending letters, Ana had to rely on Lily Evans and her family to send letters and packages through the Muggle post to contact her parents. Ana allowed her father to give her a kiss on the cheek, and her mother to hug her tightly, before separating. With promises to write and last goodbyes, Ana walked through the barrier between platforms nine and ten, entering the Wizarding world.
Lily Evans stood under the large, black clock that was attached to one of the pillars on Platform 9 ¾ , waiting on her friend Anastasia Reese. Lily had shared a dormitory with Ana for the past five years, and had found her fellow student a strange girl at first. Ana had been the type to leave things last minute, and had almost always been late for her classes, despite being up at 5am each morning. Complete opposites, Lily had tried to ignore Ana as much as possible, that was until Ana had defended Severus Snape when Potter and his band of idiots had tried to curse Severus in their second year. It was then that Lily saw a different side to the athletic girl – who would get up every morning and run until breakfast, then she would only grab an apple and try to squeeze in some extra time to practice Quidditch. Although she never joined the Gryffindor team.
Lily spotted Ana ten minutes before they were supposed to board the train. Ana was on her own again, carrying what appeared to be a broomstick and dragging her heavy trunk behind her. Like always, Lily noted, Ana wore her hair up in a high pony-tail, and out of her large brown eyes. Ana's pale skin shown with sweat due to the weight of her trunk and her cheeks were flushed pink. Ana grinned when she saw Lily, who smiled back and waved both her arms excitedly, jumping up and down excitedly. Ana, after what seemed like an age, managed to drag her trunk towards Lily, and let go of the handle, only to swap the broomstick hands and take hold of the trunk again.
"Hey," Ana breathed out, tired out by the weight of her trunk and spending time with her parents. Lily jumped from foot-to-foot, and kept grinning like she had gone. But time was bearing down on them, and whatever Lily wanted to say had to wait as Ana nodded toward train. The two girls walked towards the train together, but Ana still fixed Lily with a glare that would have made Mrs Reese proud. "Are you sick or something, Lil? You seem…fidgety." Ana put forward, Lily realising that the girl in front if her was truly worried. Lily blew off this worry, and still smiled as she skipped beside Ana. The two girls could not look any more different, Lily thought as she walked beside Ana. Despite the weight of the trunk, Ana still seemed to walk at a leisurely pace, while Lily skipped beside her with her skirt flying around her as she went.
"Oh, Ana!" Lily giggled, using the nickname that Ana preferred over 'Annie', the nickname that reminded Ana too much of her parents. Lily took Ana's broomstick for her as they neared the train, so that Ana could get her trunk up no problem. Lily was still beaming as Ana turned so she had her back to the train. "I have some amazing news that I've wanted to tell you ever since you sent me the letter saying that you were going to try-out for Quidditch, which is amazing! I know I've already told you that, but -
"Lily," Ana huffed as she began to drag the heavy trunk up onto the train. It had always surprised Lily how Ana could do things such as heavy lifting with, what looked like, ease. "I don't mean to be rude, but what has got you so excited? Not shagging Potter, are you? I've seen a lot of girls this excited after, and well…let's just say, you've taken your time." Lily narrowed her eyes at Ana, clearly annoyed.
"Of course that's not what it is! Okay," Lily boarded the train just as Ana managed to hull her trunk up onto the carpeted floor. "I'm a Prefect!" It had seemed impossible for Lily to hold it in any longer, Ana, on the other hand, seemed puzzled. A Prefect wasn't something Ana would consider a good thing, and Lily knew this. It wasn't that Ana was a particularly disruptive girl, in fact, she was a rather good student. But I'd had always been Prefects that had jumped down Ana's throat for the smallest and most simplest of things – things that Ana hated to explain were part of her routine. Lily nibbled her bottom lip, unsure whether her friend was going to be excited for her, or make fun of her instead. Ana let go of her trunk and wrapped her arms around Lily in a hug, and gave her a quick squeeze.
"Congratulations, Lily! Does that mean you're going to be keeping more of an eye on me?" Ana asked, Lily gave a quick laugh and nudged Ana with her elbow as she rolled her bright green eyes.
"Not unless I have to." Lily joked as she lead Ana to an empty compartment, helping her shift her trunk.
Sirius Black took his seat beside James Potter, grumbling about something or other that neither James nor Peter Pettigrew could really hear. James looked at Sirius as he ran his fingers through his own messy hair – already unkept. James' hazel eyes shown inquisitively.
"What was that, Padfoot?" James questioned as he propped his feet up beside Peter, admiring his new shoes by moving his feet side to side.
"Just Moony, mate." Sirius muttered, glancing out the window and puffing out a cheek. "I mean, one of us, a Prefect! Is Dumbledore finally gone mad?" Sirius turned to both James and Peter, his eyebrows creased together, his hair brushing lightly against his cheeks. "I can't be the only one that bloody well thinks it?" James looked at Sirius for a couple of moments, almost as if he was considering what Sirius had said, before laughing loudly. Peter following with a nervous titter.
"Dumbledore's always been mad, Pads. Besides, I think you're over-thinking it, Dumbledore probably just put old Moony in charge thinking we'd listen to the bit. Obviously, he'll be wrong and laugh all the same." James shrugged, and then, with a look of seriousness, Tom a deep breath as he looked are born Peter and Sirius with a challenging look. "Being serious, Qudditch practice." It took a minute before both Peter and Sirius let out a sigh.
"Bloody hell, Prongs." Sirius said in a tone of relief. "I thought you were going to bring up Evans." But Sirius regretted mentioning the hot-headed Gryffindor rather quickly.
"Speaking of Evans," James muttered as he caught sight of the red-headed girl, hurrying passed the compartment with a slim blonde by her side.
