I need to practice creative writing for my English exam in November, so if you could leave a review telling me how to improve, I would be really thankful :)
You wait until Bella and Cissa are distracted before sneaking out the window. They won't notice you're gone and Mum and Dad don't care. Once you've climbed across to the drainpipe using the ivy outside your bedroom window and slipped down it, you run down the garden and out the gate. As soon as you're out of sight from the house, you turn on the spot and with a loud CRACK, you apparate to the Leaky Cauldron.
Nobody bats an eyelid at your sudden appearance, but people must apparate in here all the time, it's nothing new. You glance at your watch as you slip out the back door. There's still 10 minutes until you're supposed to be meeting Sirius at Florean Fortescue's. You tap the wall with your wand and watch the arch appear. Diagon Alley looks exactly the same as always, the shopfronts bright and inviting and people everywhere, laughing and joking. You're just thinking about how there are an unusually large number of teenagers around when it's hits you. They're all here buying Hogwarts supplies- term starts next week. It feels weird to not be going back as you left last year.
"Hey, Andi!" a familiar voice behind you shouts. Looking around, you spot Sirius running towards you.
"Hey," you reply, grinning. He reaches you and you hug him, before stepping back to look at him properly. He looks the happiest you've seen in months.
"Where are you staying?" you say, hoping you don't sound as worried as you feel.
"With James. Mr and Mrs Potter have been great. I'm okay, don't worry." He's seen right through your act, he always does. You both start walking towards Fortescue's still talking and laughing and you're halfway through large raspberry sundaes before the conversation becomes serious.
"So what about you?" Sirius asks seriously.
"What about me?" you respond, not meeting his eyes. You know perfectly well what he means.
"You and Ted. Ted and you. You clearly haven't told your parents. Are you going to?"
"At some point, yeah. I mean, I have to, I really love him. I can't keep it a secret forever." You say, all in a rush. Sirius nods in understanding.
"Where will you go? Ted's house?" You shake your head.
"I couldn't put them in danger like that. What if Bellatrix came looking for me?"
"You could always stay with me. The Potters are brilliant, they won't mind." You shake your head again, you couldn't intrude like that, especially if it meant endangering them as well.
"I'll rent a flat or something. I don't know. I don't even know how I'm going to tell them." He finishes the last of his sundae, thinking.
"How about 'Hey Mum, Dad. It turns out you're both supremacist bigots and I'm eloping with my muggleborn boyfriend'. How's that?"
"Oh yeah, that's really brilliant, that is. I can't believe I did think of it myself. Thanks Siri." Suddenly, you're both laughing and laughing and you don't stop for a while. After that, the conversation turns to less serious things and soon it's time for you both to go home. You both walk back to the Leaky Cauldron together.
"Be careful, Sirius," you say.
"You too Andi. Look after yourself," he replies before hugging you close. Then, you watch him apparate back to the Potters and sigh. You don't want to return to your family and go on pretending to believe the same things they believe. But, right now, you don't have a choice, so you too apparate.
You slip in the gate, run up the garden, limb up the drainpipe, across the ivy and in your bedroom window. You dust yourself off and go downstairs, no one has even noticed you'd gone.
Years later, you still find yourself thinking about that afternoon and smiling.