Growing Pains

As the rain pelted down in the north of England, three couples sat in a grand living room next to a beautiful, roaring fire, their 11 year olds sitting beside each other on a large, padded couch.

"So, Jazmin and Emma have received their letters? Magnificent news! You must be proud that they had been accepted Adrienne and Helen", a thin, platinum blonde woman with red lips and dark eyes named Nacrissa Malfoy chimed above the crackling of the fire burning beautifully in the grand fire place. Nacrissa was sat with her husband, Lucius. These two beautifully harrowing characters were the parents of a small scared looking and slightly ill appearing boy who was in between the two beautiful young girls who were sat with him, his name was Draco, Draco Malfoy. The senior Malfoy's looked at the other witches of the other wizarding couple for their answer.

"Our little Jazmin has been nothing but excited since she found out, of course she was relieved when Emma was accepted too. We all were" Adrienne softly spoke as she placed her hand on her husband's leg, smiling at him and bowing her head at his gaze. Adrienne was the mother of the thin brown haired child sat to the right of Draco. Jazmin Elderin had luscious brown locks which tumbled down her tiny back, tall for her age, she was a few inches taller than her male companion but the same height as her female friend. Thin with warm caramel eyes she was a beautiful girl and had the best personality any parent could ask for in a child; intelligent, well mannered and helpful, Jazmin -respectfully known to others as Jaz- was an asset to her rather young looking parents and a loyal friend to the other two children. Jaz's mother looked like a slightly older version of her daughter and smiled a fantastic, cover model smile at the second blonde woman in the room,

"I understand exactly what Adrienne means," Helen said with a sigh, mindlessly putting a strand of her light blonde hair behind her ear and out of her snowy skinned face, "Emma had hardly spoke a word when we told her she may have to go to Beauxbatons, awful place… I wouldn't want her to be forced into such a popularity driven environment with out Jaz or Draco. It broke all our hearts thinking she would have to be apart from the two" Helen Asteria was tall, slim and had creamy blonde hair that was loosely curled that hung just below the shoulder, natural of course; it complimented her emerald green eyes which were mesmerising and would hold the attention of any person who saw them especially the males but she only had eyes for her husband, Logan, who was patting his wife's leg in reassurance. Emma Asteria, again tall for her age had skin as white as snow, hair as fair and curly as her mother's and crystal blue eyes just as mesmerising as her mother's but as strong and deep a colour as her fathers, though she longed for her mothers green eyes. She too preferred the abbreviation of her name as 'Em'.

"This is such a fantastic thing for us parents, isn't it? Us 6 being friends since Hogwarts and now our children starting the wonderful journey we embarked on all those years ago" said Logan, Emma's handsome father who put his arm around Helen as he made his small thought heard.

"I totally agree Logan," Fergus Elderin chuckled as he ran his hand through his thick brown hair, "Maybe Draco could join his house's Quiditch team? Huh, Lucius?", Jaz's equally as handsome father nodded his head towards the older Malfoy's as he took a drink of his whisky.

"Maybe Fergus… just maybe" chuckled Lucius back looking down at his own glass and then facing his wife for her input, Nacrissa interjected "Everything is new now a days, Boys, Em and Jaz could join their Quiditch teams if they wanted to, couldn't you, girls? I've heard you've both been beating Draco quite gallantly in your one on one matches." the older witch said whilst warmly winking at the girls, they giggled shyly.

"A toast to Draco, Emma and Jazmin!"

"CHEERS!"

Leaving the adults to chat, the three children wandered to the window to watch the rain. Emma sat rearranging the clothes and stuffing that was spilling out of her headless doll that had been headless for quite sometime since Jaz had accidentally caught it in a door frame with out knowing, Jaz unbent a few of the bristles on her tiny broom stick which had nearly broke when Lucius had stood on it on his way to his study that afternoon. Draco, again situated between the girls, looked up from his mask that his father and mother had handmade for him for his 9th birthday and stared out the window, each girl looked at each other and followed suit. After a long period of silence and absent minded stares, Emma spoke,

"It's the end of our childhood now, isn't it ? Hogwarts is our childhood's death wish" there was silence again that was making Jaz uncomfortable so she spoke out again to the children,

"It doesn't have to be if we don't want it to be… our childhood is for us to decide, we can be children for as long as we want" Draco looked at the girls either side of him and sighed at Jaz's naivety,

"I'm sorry to go against you Jaz, but it is the end of our childhood, it's time to put away our childish possessions and grow up in to the mature teenagers we need to be" He said this with a sense of authority over the girls. Each child looked at their beloved possession in their hands and realised that soon, they'd no longer be children and wondered what Hogwarts had in store for them, they had heard that the boy who lived was in their year but didn't know much about it, Draco was well informed about him but Em and Jaz chose not to dwell in someone else's misfortune and horror, they had enough of their own.

Weeks had passed since that rainy day at the Malfoy's manor and preparations had been made so Em and Jaz could get their education well underway at Hogwarts. Both girls knew their time there would be tricky and something to learn from but were comfort by the fact that they had each other. They were sent on their way on platform 9 ¾ by their own parents then each girl was wish luck by their companion's parents. The platform became smokey and the train pulled in, a massive purple and black steam train rolled into the platform and towered above the commotion that the students were causing -as they do every year- as they got ready to board. As the smoke cleared it revealed a few tall and lanky figures as well as a few smaller one and a plump silhouette emerging from the far end of the platform, it was a group of straggly looking, red headed, pale skinned children dragging their bags and trunks onto the train, followed by their what seemed to be father and chaotically organised plump woman who was wiping a smudge of dirt off the nose of the youngest boy who Jaz imagined to be about her and Em's age. As the family were boarding; Jaz locked eyes with one of the older looking boys, one part of a set of twins he was handsome and tall with burning red hair and a cutely freckled nose, she nudged Em who was watching a small boy with taped glasses and black hair who was struggling with his trunk and flustered owl. She was considering on helping him but another woman got there first; the red headed, plump and 'organised chaos' woman, Em guessed she was the mother of the family though this boy looked out of place, she assumed this woman to be making a kind gesture to the small boy who seemed to be alone in his travels. When Em looked away from the lonesome boy to where Jaz was looking she caught sight of the other twin, obviously the double of his brother, but there was something else about this one; be it the more freckles to his nose or the brightness of his eyes, he seemed to similar yet to different to his brother who had been nudging him the entire time Em and he were caught in gaze. The twins winked at Em and Jaz and boarded the train. Jaz and Em looked at each other and giggled, the only attention they got from boys was their dads and Draco and o be honest it was weird thinking of Draco's attention being anything more than a friends, he was practically their brother. Jaz looked at her enchanted watch, everyone's watch-hands were where they were meant to be; Em was at 'safe and happy', her mother's and fathers were 'nervous but excited' and the rest were in 'no difference' except Draco's, Draco's was in 'unknown'. The fact that even her watch didn't know where Draco was troubled Jaz,

"I wonder where Draco is? He's never late, especially with a dad like Lucius…" she muttered to Em whilst their parents loaded their belongings on the train. Em surveyed the platform for their young friend hoping to find their friend struggling with his trunk, making him so late,

"Maybe he's already on the train? He might of got here before us"

Jaz bit her lip slightly in thought, a common occurrence for her whilst in thought,

"I guess, we'd better get on our ourselves, we can't be late for the sorting ceremony" as Jaz uttered these words, a small boy sauntered over to the two young witches, with mouths a gape, Jaz and Em took in the sight in front of them, this child who looked slimy and down right conniving was their friend Draco. His boyish, scruffy hair had been gelled back so much that his beautiful blonde locks looked greasy and un kept, smartly dressed in black robes and a grin on his thin, pale face he looked more like a judge than an 11 year old boy.

"Morning ladies" Draco winked at the two not so small girls. They could not believe what was in front of them, Em lifted her palms and rubbed her eyes as if to wake up from a horrible dream. Lucius' face had a sly smile on it that made her feel like someone had walked over her grave. Both girls looked at each other then Draco, who hardly looked like the little scruffy wizard they had grown up with, they knew the real Draco, they had all been inseparable since the day they had been born and their parents were amazed at the fact all three births had occurred in no less than half an hour between each other. The girls knew that the boy stood in front of them was not that shy, little, ill looking boy they knew. Draco seemed pleased with the reaction and boarded the train with out a second glance at them. Jaz turned to face Em with worry etched in her little cherub like face.

"Something isn't right here, Em…" she muttered as she started to bite her lip again. Her blonde companion was still looking at the door to the train, twirling a strand of her hair in-between her thin bone like fingers.

"I know exactly what you mean that isn't Draco, that's -"

"A mini Lucius…a little carbon copy just with shorter hair." finished Jaz. It was true that Draco didn't have his fathers long, silvery hair and he didn't bash people out of the way with a cane with a snake head, but with the way that the young man conducted himself that morning made it seem that if given the chance, he would put several people in the hospital with that terrifying cane. Draco arriving at platform 9 ¾ that fateful September morning was just the beginning of the two friends long, bumpy and at many times complicated journey through adolescence, as boarding that train, hand in hand, would take them from being little girls to mature young women. Clutching each other, the young ladies took the leap into the way of Hogwarts - School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The best wizarding school in the world and the place where they would feel many new emotions that were to strong for even the most powerful of love potions and Felix Felicis could over take.