Sadly, I do not own any of the original Harry Potter characters. That magnificent work belongs to J.K. Rowling. I only own Ariana and Persephone (Ariana's cat).
The early morning light filtered through a gap in some curtains. A girl was sleeping on a bed, her dark hair spread across the pillow, with one hand resting under her cheek, the other hanging over the side of the bed. A large, fluffy grey cat was curled up on the end of the bed, its green eyes half open and ears twitching.
"Ariana!" A voice came from downstairs. "Are you up yet?"
The cat's eyes flew open and it opened its mouth in a yawn. Stretching, it jumped off the bed and padded across the room. Ariana Black stirred, before turning over and burying her face in the pillow. A muffled groan escaped her mouth.
"Ariana?" The voice was louder this time, closer. Ariana sat up, her eyes scanning the room. There was a trunk at the foot of the bed, its contents spilling out of it and onto the carpeted floor. A bookshelf sat in the far corner, although half of its books were on the floor around it. On the bedside table was a photo of four people, one of them Ariana, all of them dressed in school robes with red and gold ties. On Ariana's right in the photo was a boy with flaming orange hair and a face full of freckles, next to him was a girl with frizzy brown hair and was clutching a book to her chest. The boy on Ariana's left had dark hair and green eyes with a lightning shaped scar on his temple, just visible under his fringe. They were all laughing and grinning at the camera, and the spiral towers of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry was just visible in the background. Next to the picture was a book titled 'Hogwarts: A History' and Ariana's wand; a holly wand with a dragon heart-string core, was lying beside it. The door opened and a woman with light brown hair stepped into the room, her light grey eyes scanning the room.
"Good, you're awake." Andromeda Tonks said, giving Ariana a kind smile. "We need to be at Kings Cross Station in an hour."
"Right," Ariana said her voice croaky with sleep. She coughed and tried speaking again. "I might want to get ready then."
Andromeda nodded, pulling the curtains open and letting in the rest of the early morning daylight. Ariana shielded her eyes from the glare of the sunlight as she trudged into the bathroom.
Platform 9 3/4 was as crowded as it usually was on September 1st. Abandoned trunks and cages littered the area. Families were saying their last goodbyes to their children. The large scarlet train called the Hogwarts Express sat on the tracks, steam billowing from its funnel. Ariana stood with her great aunt and uncle, scanning the crowd for her friends.
"Do you see any of them?" Ted Tonks asked, laying a large beefy hand on Ariana's shoulder. Ariana stood on the tips of her toes, searching the faces in the crowd. She spotted a tall, lanky boy with orange hair and freckles waving from the end of the platform. Standing next to him was a girl with bushy brown hair, already in her Hogwarts school robes. Ariana took her luggage trolley from Andromeda and began wheeling it towards them.
"Hi Ariana." Hermione Granger said, embracing Ariana in a hug. "How were your holidays?" Ron Weasley asked.
"They were fine. Probably not as exciting as yours." Ariana replied. "How was Egypt? And France?"
But before either Ron or Hermione could answer, a fourth member of the party arrived. A boy with bright green eyes behind round glasses and untidy black hair, with a small lightning shaped scar hiding beneath his fringe.
"Hey Ariana." Harry Potter said, grinning.
Ariana grinned back and gave Harry a quick hug.
"Where did you go?" Hermione asked. "You were here just a minute ago."
"Mr Weasley wanted to talk to me." Harry answered. "I'll tell you about it later."
Ariana nodded absent-mindedly, not really listening. A boy with white blonde hair and a pale, pinched face was standing at the other end of the platform. When he spotted Ariana staring at him, his eyes narrowed and his expression became thunderous.
"Draco Malfoy," Ron spat the name like it was poison in his mouth.
Before Ariana could do anything but scowl, a whistle went off and the sound of doors slamming all along the train caught Ariana's attention.
"Let's go find a compartment." Hermione said, looking worried. "But I doubt we'll find an empty one."