Whenever it's a full moon Mummy cries. She always told me it was because Daddy gets really sick. She would say "you don't want to go near Daddy on a full moon. He gets very sick and if you're too close you can get sick too". Mummy is a Healer. Why can't she just help Daddy like she helps all the other witches and wizards who need her?
This full moon was louder than other ones. Daddy was meaner for some reason and made Mummy cry louder than usual. I wanted to go out and hug her but she kept yelling at me to stay inside my bedroom. I would be in trouble if I went out. I would get sick like Daddy.
There was a lot of noise outside my room. Daddy was breaking things and hitting the walls really hard. I thought Mummy would give him something to help him sleep, but she started screaming instead. "Remus, no!" She yelled. There were fast footsteps coming towards my room- fast, scary ones. "Remus! Look at me! That's your daughter in there! Abigail is in there, Remus!" I opened my door once I heard Mummy's voice loud enough.
"Abigail!" Mummy stood in front of me and stuck both hands in front of her, but Daddy was too strong for her to fight. He shoved Mummy to the ground and I could see him clearly now that she was down. It didn't look like Daddy, it looked like a monster. I started to cry, but Mummy jumped back up and ran out of the cottage with me in her arms. "Baby girl, you need to run. Remember what Uncle Siri showed you and run as fast as you can. Quick before Daddy-"
Mummy screamed louder than I thought she could. I only looked long enough to see her fall asleep, but it was enough to make me run faster. She'll wake up. Mummy's just sleeping and Daddy's carrying her to bed like he does with me. She'll wake up.
Dad came in without a sound just like he always does. I already had breakfast made for him exactly the way we had it every morning since Mum died. On top of the Daily Prophet sat a plate evenly decorated with poached eggs, sausage, beans and toast with the faintest golden shimmer. Father rarely ate the toast and beans part. That was what I would normally eat off of his plate and he would enjoy the meats. Two glasses sat in front of one plate: one of pumpkin juice for me and coffee for Dad.
"Why am I not surprised that you have breakfast made an entire forty five minutes early?" My father was very punctual around the house. Anything and everything ran by a schedule, and if it was broken by a fraction of a second he would notice it.
"Eat quickly! We may have trouble at the platform, or the floo network could be messed up-" I tried to list scenarios that would delay my arrival on the Hogwarts Express, but Dad simply laughed and put his hand on my shoulder.
"There is no need to rush my love. Take your time and enjoy your minuscule breakfast." He sat next to me and plucked at a sausage, enjoying small nibbles of food and even smaller sips of coffee.
"Please, I just want to be as early as possible."
"I know you're excited." Dad smiled, lifting his plate to pull the Daily Prophet out to read. "But let's channel that excitement towards something else just briefly."
I groaned, trying to hide my obvious smile as my father prepared to list off his rules he expected to be followed. "Dad, I know the rules."
"Alright, then say them with me now... you will write me at least once a week, your grades will be just as good as I know they can be, you will not get caught running around corridors (but as long as you're safe, exploration is good for the mind), you will have no boyfriends until you're old enough to apparate, you will be respectful to all professors no matter the circumstance, you will make great friends, and..." He left the last rule for me to recite myself.
"I will be happy no matter what house I'm in." Dad gave me a hug before continuing to read the paper.
Since I learned the names of the Hogwarts houses, I wanted to be a Gryffindor like my father. The ideal of unmatched bravery and chivalry painted a golden image in my head. Dad always told me that Mum was never meant to be placed in Hufflepuff. She was as loyal as they came, yes, but she was the brightest young witch he had ever met. But Mum never failed to correct him- she used to say that the Ravenclaws were uptight and made learning more of a requirement than an experience.
Dad told me that I had just enough of all the house traits to make it into any one of the Hogwarts houses, but I never really felt like I've wanted to make it anywhere but Gryffindor house.
"You know what..." Dad started out. "You're just a year younger than Harry Potter, I'm sure if you told him about-"
"Dad, he's been living with Muggles his whole life. I really doubt he'd remember the slightest detail about me or you." Dad shrugged his shoulders after my point was made and slid the Daily Prophet in my direction.
"You don't even want to read the news? Merlin's beard you must be excited." He teased. I took his arm and pulled him up, eager to leave the house. I ran up the grassy hills surrounding our small cottage until we reached a tall birch tree.
The silvery branches seemed to be completely bare except for the one string of rope hanging down with a knot on the bottom. The knot was big enough to stand on once upon a time and when I had outgrown swinging on it with my mother in the summer time, Dad turned it into a portkey for this very day. My luggage stood at Dad's side and he smiled bright when I anxiously bounced on my heels waiting to go.
"Are you sure you have everything, my love?" He asked.
"Absolutely certain, now can we please go!" Dad laughed, grabbing tight onto my luggage as we both reached to grab the rope hanging from the tree.
The feeling was the most awful experience I could imagine. My stomach was being pulled from the inside and the world was spinning beneath my feet, but within a split second I was back on hard ground. The world opened up again when I found myself standing for the first time on platform nine and three quarters. Right where my mother knew I would be happiest.
"Would you look at that, we are right on time!" Dad wrapped his arms around me with tears in his eyes. "You promise not to grow up too quickly, alright? Give your old father a chance to keep up."
"My old father's not a day over twenty-five in my eyes." I encouraged, hugging back tightly. As much as I anticipated finally coming to school, the thought of leaving Dad alone for so long made my stomach churn. Or perhaps that way the portkey talking.
"That's what I like to hear." He grinned letting go and walking me over to the train. "Abigail," once I was halfway up the steps, I turned to glance at him one last time before Christmas. "Enjoy it. This is where you belong, love."
I blew my father a kiss to satisfy him and hurried into the train before it left without me. Cars were filled from the front to the back except for one that had room for at least two other people. Two girls sat across from each other in deep conversation. One had long blonde hair going to about the middle of her waist. Her eyes seemed wide all the time and her face had a permanently surprised look as she spoke. The other had brown hair falling just below her shoulder blades. She had a soft smile and sat at the edge of her seat with interest.
I slid open the door to the car sheepishly, looking between the two of them. "Uhm... I'm sorry, would it be alright if I joined you? Everywhere else is pretty full."
"Of course!" The brown haired girl said, patting the seat next to her. "Hi, I'm Lasea Montgomery. Muggle-born as you all would say." She introduced herself enthusiastically. When I was seated next to her she glanced at the other girl and shrugged when she didn't say anything. "That's Luna. I'm sorry I forgot your last name."
"Lovegood." Luna introduced, looking over at me curiously. "Luna Lovegood."
"Erm, Abigail Lupin." I stated simply. Looking around the car to get a feel for my surroundings. Even with Luna's wide stares and Lasea's all-to-bright smiles, I seemed to feel comfortable for the time being. "Sorry if I interrupted your conversation there..."
"Oh nonsense!" Lasea exclaimed. "I was actually just telling Luna how new everything is already. It's like the Muggle world speaking to all these people but they're witches and wizards! How bizarre is that when two worlds seem so similar! Except of course all the optical illusion walls and magically animate candies."
"She rambles." Luna stated plainly. Lasea's cheeks started to flush, but she smiled sheepishly and continued to talk.
"Well, it's sort of my mechanism. Any time I'm in new places I start making friends. Even though that means I come off as annoying at first. People generally seem to love me after a while." She looked from me to Luna and back as she spoke, giving both of us the perfect amount of eye contact.
"I don't mind chatter." I said simply and Lasea grinned thankfully. "Back when I was younger I used to talk my mother's ear off. I'd ask her so many questions about the simplest things."
"She got tired of that I guess." Lasea joked lightheartedly. "I used to be the same way with my Dad. 'Lassie', he'd say. 'Are you ever going to learn to pick up a textbook for these questions? Sometimes I don't know all the answers.'"
"Yeah, well Mum always tried to know every answer I wanted." I said, avoiding the topic getting to the present.
"Oh, that's so sweet of her. I bet she'd have to stay up night and day trying to get that smart- children ask the wildest questions!" I nodded without a word before Luna mentioned something about the train to change the subject.
Most of the train ride went by with Lasea chattering away. She would go on about one subject until Luna or I mentioned something else for her to go on about. My mind was going just about as fast as the train with all the thoughts about home and how Dad would be doing without me. I've never been away from him longer than a few weeks. There was a knock on the door and it opened up to reveal a girl dressed in her school robes with a book at her side.
"Sorry to bother you three, but I noticed none of you are in your robes yet. The train doesn't give much time for last-minute changing so I thought I'd just give you a little five minute warning." She casually shut the door and Lasea bounced up to go get her trunk and put on her robes. Luna and I were standing in the car alone when she lowered her voice to talk to me.
"You lost your mother, didn't you?" She asked as if it were an everyday question. Taken aback, I nodded instead of speaking. "I thought I heard about that when I was younger. My father was telling my mother over breakfast. A few years later, she died as well."
"I'm so sorry." I offered. Luna waved it off casually.
"You and I both know that we'd rather leave it than hear conflicted apologies." She said, edging her way out of the train car so that we could both get dressed.
Even with her quiet shell and her intense stare, I could tell that Luna would be a closer friend than I could ask for. She seemed to understand my emotions even before she had the chance to know me. With her understanding and Lasea's never-ending personal acceptance, I had no doubt that school could be just as amazing as I always knew it could be.