August 28
Things didn't used to be like this… They used to be a lot worse. When I and my mother lived in Paris, our lives were anything but easy. We moved away from Paris and lived in Annecy for a few years before it was time for me to attend school. And then we moved to Lyon to be closer to my school. Although I would be living on campus, it made my mother feel better knowing I was close by.
Beauxbatons Academy wasn't so bad. I spent a lot of my time working with the stable hands, taking care of the winged horses. I loved the horses dearly, but my best subject at Beauxbatons was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
When my mother remarried an English fellow named Stefan, we moved to London so he can be closer to his family and we could be with him. I love Stefan. He's everything my real father never was for me. Before the new school year started, my mother gave birth to a boy. They named him Nicolas.
Today is the day that I leave for my new school. I've heard wonderful things about Hogwarts, and now I get to see them all for myself. Oh, did I forget to mention… I'm a witch. Not a hook-nosed hag, mind you; a real witch. My magic is very real and it's probably the one thing I'm fantastic at… Well, that and dancing. I take ballet lessons every summer day to keep me well balanced and happy. Dancing is my passion, and I hope to do it professionally one day.
But until that day even comes close, I am doing spells and hexes, and that's totally fine with me!
It's just going to be me and my cat this year. My pure white Maine Coon kitty, Mozart. The feline and I have been together for years. He maybe 5 years old, but he has the agility and acrobatics of a 2 year old tabby.
I can't wait to start my new life at Hogwarts!
This has been Karaliana Abrielle Mardoux, day one of the journey.
Kara put the notebook down in her bag and leaned down to pick up her cat. Mozart meowed with approval of being held and nuzzled his head into her chin. Kara giggled and walked out of the room to where her mother, Gabrielle, and step father, Stefan, sat at the kitchen table. Little Nicolas sat in the bassinet next to them as Gabrielle sipped her coffee.
"Are you almost ready, mon cheri?" Gabrielle asked her daughter who smiled and nodded, putting Mozart down as she began to push her suitcases out of her room, squeaking every time she did.
Kara didn't leave for Hogwarts for another few days, but her father had told her that she needed to pack a small bag for tonight.
"Where are we going, Stefan?" Kara hasn't adjusted to the whole dad thing yet. It doesn't bother Stefan.
"You'll see when we get there." Stefan grinned, standing up and pulling a bag over his shoulders. Kara leaned down and kissed Mozart on the head as he meowed at her, reaching out with his paw and swatting at her playfully.
Kara pulled her bag closer to her as she leaned down and hugged Gabrielle and kissed her baby brother on the forehead.
"We'll be back tomorrow, maman!" Kara said, skipping out of the house as her long braided hair bounced with her. Stefan kissed his wife and said his goodbye, following his step daughter out of the house. Kara giggled as Stefan ran to catch up with her as they both went into the woods.
"So, where are we going?" She said, smiling ear to ear. Stefan reached out and grabbed her green hood on her long sleeved shirt and she halted, nearly tripping over her own feet. The black converse scrapped in the dead leaves and she straightened up, brushing off her black tattered cargo pants, smiling a little bit.
"Here, Kara." He said, holding out his arm. Kara looked at his arm and shrugged. "I don't get it."
"Grab my arm, Kara." He pestered. Kara listened and grabbed his arm. He took one step forward and then… it felt like Kara's body was being squeezed through the smallest glass tube imaginable. She was used to apparition, but that feeling… it never went away!
Kara's feet touched the ground and she wobbled back and forth before finally gaining her footing and smiling weakly. In the distance, Kara heard loud cheering and whooping and she began giggling as she ran towards the noise.
"The Quidditch World Cup! Stefan! Come on!" The man in question snickered and followed behind his step daughter as she ran forward as fast as possible. She passed several vendors, tourists, people here to enjoy the match, and even ticket vouchers.
Kara heard the sound of broomsticks in the air and she looked up just in time to drop to the ground as two guys on brooms went over her head at high speed. She began laughing and leaped back up.
"Did you see that?" She shouted to Stefan as he laughed and nodded, waving at the people he knew.
"I saw it, darling! It was incredible!" He was just humoring her. He didn't see much of anything but it made Kara happy to know that he actually tried to see what happened. Kara began looking around the field and stopped as soon as Stefan shouted out to a man across the field.
"Lucius! My friend!" He shouted and walked towards the man in an all-black suit and carrying a walking stick. Kara quickly skipped after him and watched them converse back and forth.
"Good to see you, Lucius." Stefan held out his hand as Lucius held it for a few seconds. Kara smiled a little bit, but tried to hide how uncomfortable she was in the moment. Stefan noticed and decided to include her.
"Oh! Lucius, this is my step-daughter, Karaliana. Kara, this is my business partner and friend, Lucius Malfoy." Stefan placed his hands on Kara's shoulders as she held out her hand to Lucius.
"It's lovely to meet you, sir." She gently bowed her head as Lucius shook her hand as well.
"She is French, Stefan?" Lucius said, genuinely curious about her accent. Kara nodded and bowed her head, smiling at the man.
"Oui monsieur, I lived in France my whole life until one year ago. England is my home now." Lucius smiled down at Kara, but it looked forced.
Kara's attention was suddenly taken off Lucius when a very handsome boy, about her age, stepped up next to him. He looked a lot like him, down to the blistering white blond hair and black suit. But his eyes… They were a mercury gray. Kara blinked at him before shaking her head and looking back towards Lucius.
"Karaliana, this is my son, Draco Malfoy. You two are going to be classmates," Lucius said, smiling at the two teenagers. Kara didn't look nervous or fidgety, but Draco on the other hand, looked like he might leap out of his skin.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, sir Ackerman," Draco bowed his head to Stefan who put his hand on Draco's shoulder.
"You were so young the last time we spoke, Draco. My goodness, how you've grown. You'll be a fine young man yet, sir." Stefan praised the boy who smirked and said in the cockiest way possible.
"I know."
Kara groaned softly, rolling her eyes at his remark. Stefan lightly smacked her in the arm and she said a small ow before straightening her posture and looking as polite as possible.
"Stefan, I believe we have much to discuss," Lucius led him in the opposite direction before looking at his son. "Why don't you two get to know each other?"
Kara looked at Stefan desperately before he snapped his fingers at her and she sighed, standing up straighter. So straight that Draco thought she could be knocked over with the push of a finger.
Draco cleared his throat and Kara smiled, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Suddenly, her attention was caught by a loud noise and she turned around to see a stand offering fireworks. A grin spread across her face as she sprinted over to the merchant who greeted her with a smile.
"What's the best kind you're selling?" She asked. The man smirked and held up a large firework barrel.
"That would be the snap dragon, miss. Light this thing, and a dragon's head will form in the sparkling embers!" Kara grinned from ear to ear and handed the man the money for the firework before sprinting back to Draco who was just staring at her.
"Hey, come with me!" She grabbed his arm and he tried to wretch free.
"Hey, what are you trying to pull out?!" He shouted over the noise. Kara smirked and just continued to pull him into a field before putting the firework down and pulling a lighter from her pocket.
"Why do you just have a lighter?" Draco said. Kara ignored the question and kneeled down. But before she lit the wick, she snapped the lighter shut.
"Wait… Should we wait until night time to light this?" She muttered.
"What on Earth can that silly box do?" Draco said, kicking the firework over. Kara huffed and stood up.
"There's supposed to be a dragon when you light it."
"Rubbish!" Draco said, smirking. Kara gasped.
"I beg your pardon, sir! You doubt my find?"
"Very much so."
"Well, let's find out!" She kneeled down and lit the wick, stepping back as Draco followed her lead. In just a few short seconds, the firework exploded and a rain of silver and gold came down from the sky, merging together to form… a Dragon! Just like the merchant said!
The dragon's head roared with might and flew circles around the two, lighting the grass around them on fire! Kara giggled while Draco stepped back, trying not to singe his trousers. The dragon extinguished and Kara smiled, kicking dirt over the fire and the useless box.
"That was so cool!" Kara leaped in place and brushed the ashes off her jacket as Draco brushed off his right arm to get it back to black once again.
"Right." Was all he said. Kara smiled and pulled out her wand before casting a small cleaning spell. Draco stared at her as if she just murdered someone.
"Are you mad?" He said. Kara didn't see the harm in what she just did. Looking at her wand, she made a face and put it away before calling attention to his sleeve which was perfect once again.
"Not really, Draco. Honestly, a cleaning spell isn't going to hurt anybody." She grinned and began skipping off. Draco looked around and sped up his walking cycle to catch up to her.
"You realize that magic outside of a school is forbidden?" He said. Kara stopped and snorted a little bit before turning to see Draco eye to eye.
"And I'm supposed to believe that you never once tergeo'd your room?" Draco was about to protest, pointing at her in the face and then stopped himself. For some reason, he didn't feel like coming up with a creative lie to get out of her conversation so he just shrugged. Kara smirked and then bumped her elbow into his arm.
"C'mon, let's go back to the crowd." Kara ran off in the direction of everything and when Draco caught up to her, she was standing in front of another merchant and was buying an Irish Quidditch scarf, clearly preferring Ireland over Bulgaria. She wrapped the brightly colored fabric around her neck and felt the fine stitching on the patch and it made her grin. She waved at Draco over exasperatedly and he just walked over to her when she asked him a strange question.
"Ireland or Bulgaria?"
"What?"
Kara laughed and touched his arm again, making him almost flinch away. "Sorry, who are you rooting for? The Irish or the Bulgarians?" Draco just shrugged.
"I'm impartial to Ireland, honestly." Kara grinned and called the merchant back over and reached into her pocket, pulling out 8 galleons and smiling.
"What do you want?" Draco was now stunned. She was offering to buy something for him? But why?
"Uh, excuse me?" He said, staring her down. Kara smiled and motioned to the various souvenirs.
"Come on, Draco. Pick something," He shrugged and gestured to her scarf. Kara pointed to the scarf she just bought and the man handed it to her. She grinned and handed it to him. Draco laughed nervously and wrapped it around his own neck. Kara made a 'judging' face and nodded.
"Not bad," Draco laughed and opened his jacket and did a little spin for her amusement.
"Ya think?" Kara just snorted at him before covering her nose on embarrassment. Draco stared at her as she blushed but smiled nonetheless.
"Forgive me. I'm just… We should… Move on," There was no hiding her shyness about snorting. That was truly obvious. But Draco didn't think anything of it until she called attention to it. Without speaking of the motion again, Draco followed her around the merchants all morning and afternoon long.