Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and am making no profit from this
what so ever. This story is based on property owned by JKR and all those
other great people including the publishers and companies.
Also, this story is the product of two minds: SoulCatalyst and hippoTHEmagical. SoulCatalyst will be writing the parts from Seth's point of view, and hippoTHEmagical will be writing from Skylar's point of view.
That said, enjoy!!
[KISMET]
The clink of the glasses was lost amongst the sounds of the rest of the people dining around Seth James and Skylar Aurora. "To Hogwarts," Seth said, smiling at the love of his life.
"To Hogwarts," she replied with a smile.
Seth and Skylar attended Tesslers School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Top in their class, they were chosen as Head Boy and Head Girl. It came as no surprise to anyone. They were always the best in class, and had been dating since their first year. Skylar was a potions genius and already had offers from universities to study to become a Potions Mistress. Seth was entertaining offers from the Department of Mysteries of both the American and British Ministries of Magic.
Erin McDennis, the headmistress at Tesslers, was a graduate of Hogwarts. Although she took much pride in her school, Erin recognized its inferiority to Hogwarts, much like every other school in the world.
Because of Seth and Skylar's exceptional skills, Erin had contacted her former teacher, Albus Dumbledore. She had convinced him to accept the two students for their seventh year of schooling. Combined with their families' wealth and the help of both the school and some philanthropists, Seth and Skylar would be able to make use of this amazing honor.
It being the night before they left for the United Kingdom, Seth and Skylar had decided to go out for a formal dinner and dancing to celebrate.
Seth had something else in mind.
[Chapter 1: American Sojourners]
After dinner and dancing, the happy couple decided to walk around South Pasadena and let their food digest a little before heading home.
Suddenly, Seth led Skylar down a small, empty street that had nothing but empty or closed stores.
"Why are we going this way?" she asked in confusion.
"I have a surprise for you," he answered in a calming tone. "Hope you enjoy it."
At the next corner, they made a left, only to see a stretch limo with completely blackened windows waiting for them, with the driver holding the door open. "What's this?" asked Skylar astonishment.
Seth smiled. "Part of the surprise."
--
The ride to the surprise was uneventful. They listened to music. They chatted about little things and big things, nothing and everything. The ride was longer then Seth had thought it would be. But, he remembered where they were headed, and figured it was about right.
Finally, the car stopped.
"So, where are we?" asked Skylar.
"You'll see soon enough. But first... Secus Inviso!" From the tip of Seth's wand, a blindfold emerged and wrapped itself around Skylar's eyes. "Hope you don't mind. I want you to be really surprised."
She giggled. "It's okay, I can't wait to see what it is."
Seth emerged from the car and led Skylar out of the limo. He led her quite a way before finally stopping and releasing her hand. He made sure everything was perfect before speaking a word to her.
"Okay," he said, "Inviso!" The blindfold vanished and Skylar was met with a sight of...
nothing. There was nothing there. Or, more accurately, she couldn't see anything. Everything was pitch black. "Seth?" she asked, "Where are we?"
"Lumos Solarum!" Light flashed suddenly around Seth and Skylar.
Finally, Skylar's eyes focused and she saw the surprise that Seth had been telling her about.
In front of Skylar was Seth, on one knee, in the center of the compass in front Sleeping Beauty's castle as Disneyland. In his hand was a black velvet box, and inside was a platinum engagement ring. It was an eternity band, with sapphires where there would usually be diamonds.
"Skylar, you make me complete and give me all the reasons I need to live. You give me what I've always needed and now... well... now I can't live without you. You make my life light, and you make everything around you so beautiful. No one will ever compare to you, and I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve you, but here we are, and I love you with all my heart and soul. I love you, forever. Always and forever. Semper. So, I guess there's only one way to say what I'm trying to say.
"Skylar, will you marry me?"
::::
The lights flicked off simultaneously, a few in the distance hesitantly dieing out with a sputter. Once again Skylar found herself in darkness. The cool night breeze pushed up against her nose, making the crisp August weather noticeable to her body.
Instinctively, with the lights going out, she gripped Seth's hand that had led her to the opening even tighter. Her sensitive ears caught his slight chuckle to her death grip on his hand, but his laughter only confirmed that he did not mind.
Her mouth was open, trying to find the words to question why they were in darkness, what she assumed to be a counter spell of "Lumos Solarum" flew from her love's mouth, but not before she caught his movement.
Everything was still for a second, and she couldn't tell if her death grip had become tighter, the brightness was overwhelming. She didn't squint as her eyes attempted to dilate to the appropriate size, instead she opened them, taking in the scene before her.
With lights glaring out before her, she forgot to breathe. The cold weather lost in the back of her mind, along with the hand that held her own, tears welded their way in her eyes.
Before her lay Disneyland, and for a second, that was her surprise; but at the bottom of her vision rested Seth, one knee neatly behind him, holding his weight, her hand in his, and a box in the other.
She couldn't breathe or think, she couldn't cry or question. For the second, she couldn't even register his stance, but, she didn't have to, because within the second he popped the question.
"Skylar, you make me complete and give me all the reasons I need to live. You give me what I've always needed and now... well... now I can't live without you. You make my life light, and you make everything around you so beautiful. No one will ever compare to you, and I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve you, but here we are, and I love you with all my heart and soul. I love you, forever. Always and forever. Semper. So," She took a single breath, the only one she had for a great time. Skylar found herself straining to listen to the man inches away, waiting for the question that she knew would come. "I guess there's only one way to say what I'm trying to say.
"Skylar, will you marry me?"
Seth had the biggest smile not only on his face, but also in his eyes. She could catch the shimmer of his tears. He gently squeezed her hand, pulling for an answer.
Their relationship had been long, consumed by the moments where they'd both ask each other this question, but never taking them to the extreme. But, here he was, the real thing, ring in hand, truth both in his heart and eyes...
The huge smile she had on her face suddenly became somber and she could feel his hand pulling back. She knew she would have to speak quickly.
"As if you would have to ask, love." Skylar's smile grew double the size as it was before, and she saw that his did too. "Yes. My answer is yes, simply yes."
She was in his arms in record time.
Seth pulled back suddenly. "The ring."
He pulled her hand forward, and she felt the cool platinum flow over her finger.
::::
Seth smiled contently as he absent-mindedly ran his thumb along the patch of skin where a wedding ring would one day be.
The beautiful woman lying in his arms in the otherwise empty compartment shifted slightly, sighing as she did. It had been less then seventy-two hours since his proposal to Skylar, and here he was, across a continent and an ocean from his home. Here he was, with his fiancé, riding a train to his new school, to their new school.
He watched out the window: mountains rushing by, trees becoming green blurs outside the Hogwarts Express. It reminded him of family trips he'd taken when he was younger, trips he'd never enjoyed, but always been forced on. But this trip was different; it was a trip he would hopefully enjoy.
And, on this trip, the company was infinitely more enjoyable.
Seth allowed his mind to wander away from his compartment, away from the passing trees and rivers . . .
--
Seth looked around, trying to regain his bearings and the world swam into focus. He knew this was a dream, but he couldn't get himself out of this. He knew this dream, having lived through it many times before, and he knew that there was no reason he would want to get out of it.
'This is the day we met,' he thought to himself.
He looked at his robes, and smiled as he saw the emblem of his house, Hawke house: a diving hawk on a clear, blue sky.
Behind him, the doors to the great hall opened. Light poured in through the open portal, silhouetting the figure that was walking in. She was wearing the same robes as everyone else in the school, and had an emblem like Seth's on her left breast.
Skylar was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman Seth had ever seen.
He walked slowly toward her when the light from the door grew in luminosity, overwhelming his eyes, and making his whole world white.
--
Seth's eyes adjusted again, the light from outside the train hitting his eyes, forcing him to wake up. Skylar was resting in his arms, sleeping peacefully, her beautiful smile gleaming brightly.
I knock on the door to their compartment stirred her from her peaceful slumber, and brought Seth's thoughts and gaze back to the present. The door opened, and he found that the visitor was Hermione Granger, their personal envoy from the school.
"The meeting with the Head students and the Prefects is going to start in the back car in a few minutes. Draco and I would like you to join the meeting, as you will be given Prefect duties during the year. Since you've yet to be sorted, we figured you could learn your duties now, and then apply them once you are sorted at the castle."
Skylar spoke before Seth could get the words out. "We'd love to join the meeting. We'll be right behind you, we just need to get our bearings again."
Hermione smiled and closed the compartment's door.
Skylar leaned up and kissed Seth the moment the door closed. He smiled as she sat up, pulling away from him.
"C'mon," she said, standing up and fixing her robes, complete with the Hawke emblem on the left breast, "we better get going."
::::
She tugged on his hand. She wanted to skip and he wanted to wake up for their short-lived nap. She smiled and surprisingly he smiled back. For the moment, all was right with the world, the equilibrium was equal, and everything was set-
And then the train came to an abrupt halt. Skylar found herself stumbling back, her footing suddenly having gone astray from the royal blue carpeting and into the arms of her love. Her first attempt was to get back onto her feet. She was a decently independent girl. She pulled away from him, only to find that he Seth hadn't let go of her.
His arms were wrapped from her back around to the front of her tummy. He gave an extra squeeze and a lazy kiss from his lips found its way from the meeting of her neck and ear moving slowly up to her chin, his body slightly bent over her from the side in an effort to get better access to her skin.
She found herself tilting her head up and in the opposite direction of his kisses; allowing him the space he needed. She leaned back into his arms, loving the feel of being so close, having his protection and warmth all neatly packed behind her.
A compartment door slid open, its hinges letting out a sigh as its passengers flooded out. Skylar reluctantly pulled away with speed, not wanting to have the reputation of doing such things on a train, in public, even though they both knew they were always like this, no matter where the place or occasion. He was her fiancé after all. A small smile tugged at her lips.
Her heart sank slightly as she felt the arms of her Love loosen as well.
"Come." She said, her voice chirping once again with happiness. She grabbed his hand and raised it to her lips, leaving a feather light kiss upon it.
She dragged him along with her, her finger up in the air as to make a point and the words, "Adventure!" escaping her lips from time to time.
--
She reached the compartment door and noticed that it was unusually quiet. No noise played from the behind the thin door or down the passage they had trudged up.
"Think it's the right spot, Love?" Skylar asked, not certain if she should intrude in a room not marked, but Seth gave a single nod in response. He reached forward to open the door for his lady, and Skylar immediately stepped into the room and moved off to the side, making room for Seth to enter as well.
The room was bigger than the train would allow in width, and immediately Skylar's head was over brimming with curiosity of the spell used on the compartment. But the light from the windows brought her back, as did the silent twenty students or so, some waiting patiently and others playing with cards or even, with the younger ones, what looked like erasers.
A girl will amazingly curly hair she recognized from the few moments before stood up as they had entered. 'Hermione Granger', Skylar reminded herself. She watched acutely as the young woman's hand gently swatted at the boy seated to the side of her.
He wore black robes as well, a squiggly line on his house of emblem, one that she couldn't make out lay on his breast. But it was his hair that caught her attention; its strands going past to mid ear and a shocking blond that almost glowed white presented itself to her. This young man reluctantly stood up, and unlike Hermione, wore no expression on his face.
"Skylar Aurora, Seth James, welcome, we were just about to get started," Hermione greeted, gesturing two open seats to the right of her and her companion who had already taken a seat.
She and Seth walked over to the seats and stood behind them, greeting what students were willing to offer smiles and names to identify with. Hermione went around the table at which they sat, introducing the people and their houses, and every so often a year of schooling.
"And I'm Hermione Granger, as I'm sure you knew." She said with a smile that rivaled the sun. Skylar felt. . . inferior in her presence. She watched as her Love answered with a 'yes' to her comment, and blinked aback the smile that was presented to him. She had the sudden urge to scoot closer to Seth, but bit the urge down.
Hermione then turned to the boy with the shocking blond hair and this time she noticed that his eyes, a solid gray color with a pupil etching on a lighter black that she questioned his sight capabilities.
"And this is Draco Malfoy, our head boy." He caught her gaze upon his and she shamefully and slowly shifted her gaze. She couldn't help but have felt so curious. She was just a curious button, looking for holes to fit her mind into, or so her mother had told her.
As mature as Skylar was, she was as immature for as equal amounts as the other.
"This is the student staff that we work with here at Hogwarts, quite a diverse group of students." Hermione remarked looking proudly among the students that sat and stood before her. "If you have any questions or anything at all feel free to ask any of us, and or any of the other students, I'm sure they'll be grateful to help you."
Skylar took this moment to offer her best smile. Hermione was kind and seemed to be a wonderful person. She shouldn't have felt ill mannered towards her in the first place, Skylar concluded.
Skylar couldn't help but admire the girl. Here she was, head of her class, leading a school in the middle of a war. Skylar, back in the states had left a chance of being the equivalent to what Hermione was, but she had left the chance behind.
A sudden flood of homesickness filled Skylar. Her Love, the only thing that mattered, sat at her side chatting idly with a younger classmen; as to what they talked she did not know. But, while she had him, she had left behind her parents and brother. At least it was safer back in the stated, she reminded herself.
"Thank you. I know it must be a lot of work to have students come in like this, we appreciated all that you've done for us and all that you've presented us with." Skylar offered another huge smile with her thank you.
Hermione smiled and sat back down for the first time since the half an hour introductions.
"Something else we needed to know while in here?" Seth worded, readying himself for direct questions as to know exactly what to do once they reached the school.
"Prefects' meeting." Both Skylar and Seth turned their attention back to Draco, surprised at his first words since their arrival.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed. She sent a smirk to Draco and turned her attention back to the lot seated before her. "The Prefects' meeting is about to come to order." Skylar watched as many of those standing in the room took heed of her words and began to find seats in the room.
"Sit back, Love, you look tense." Skylar jumped and tensed more at the breath on her ear that trailed down her neck; Seth had startled her. She calmed her breathing with a hand on her chest. He chuckled quietly. "Looks like this might take a while."
::::
The meeting didn't take as long as Seth had expected. Hermione had announced exactly what he and Skylar were doing at Hogwarts this term, and everyone seemed to be fine with it.
Except for Draco Malfoy. It seemed like his demeanor had changed during the questioning. Seth had been asked about his parent's jobs, and when he mentioned his mother was a muggle schoolteacher, Draco had tensed somewhat. He mentioned something about "impure filth", and had stopped being as congenial as he had been the rest of the meeting.
As the train pulled into the station at Hogwarts, Seth and Skylar disembarked, hand-in-hand, and became completely confused as to what to do.
From farther down the train, they heard a deep, bellowing voice. "Firs' years follow me! C'mon now, firs years this way!"
Seth surmised that this was Hagrid, the kind half-giant that Hermione had told him about. "He's the gamekeeper," she had told him, "and the kindest, sweetest man you'll ever meet. You'll love his class, I'm sure."
Squeezing Skylar's hand, he said to her, "C'mon. Let's try this way. Maybe we should go with the first years, seeing as this is our first year here."
Nodding her head, Skylar followed Seth towards the giant lake upon which boats were awaiting the first year students.
"Seth! Skylar!" a voice called from behind the couple. They turned to see a short, thin, red headed girl and a somewhat chubby boy running towards them. Realizing he and Skylar had met the duo at the Prefects' meeting, Seth racked his brain to find their names.
"Ginny and Neville, right?"
"Yes, that's right," Ginny answered. "Come with us. That way is for the true first year students. You get to ride up to the school with the returning students." By this time the four had reached the carriages. "You're in the last carriage, with Hermione and Draco. Hope you enjoy the festivities." Ginny left and went off to her own carriage, leading Neville behind her by his hand.
Seth smiled as Neville helped Ginny into the carriage. "They make a nice couple, don't they?" he commented to Skylar.
"Yes, Love, they do. C'mon, or we're going to miss our carriage."
--
The carriage ride was uneventful, with Hermione talking endlessly to Seth and Draco giving Seth the "hairy eyeball" as he spoke with Skylar.
When they got to the Great Hall, Draco left to sit with his house as Hermione remained to sit with Seth and Skylar in the back of the hall and watch the tradition of the sorting ceremony unfold.
As the first years filed in through the main doors, Professor McGonagall led them to the front of the hall and gestured to a ragged hat sitting upon a stool.
Just as the hat burst into song, Hermione started talking. "That's the Sorting Hat. It was the hat of one of the founders of Hogwarts, bewitched to settle the dispute over which students would be allowed into the school. They decided to let in all kinds of students and have the hat read the minds of the new students in order to choose which house they should be in. Gryffindors are the bravest, Slytherins are the most cunning, Ravenclaws are the smartest and most logical, and. . . well, Hufflepuff is pretty much everyone else. To tell you the truth, we all kind of look down on Hufflepuff."
"Oh," Skylar said softly. "A hat to sort you into your houses. How weird."
"You think so?" quipped Hermione, sounding almost hurt, "and how do you get sorted in America?"
"Why, a cloak of course."
Once the enchanted hat concluded singing, it began to sort the first year students. With the sorting of "Zeller, Magnolia" into Hufflepuff, the sorting ended and Professor McGonagall called the hall into silence.
Seth sat farther back in his chair as Professor Albus Dumbledore stood to address the students of his school. The headmaster had a commanding presence, the likes of which Seth had never felt. His voice boomed, filling every nook and cranny of the hall.
"This year, Hogwarts has the pleasure of teaching two of the most magically gifted people to ever grace its halls. Seth James and Skylar Aurora hail from Tesslers School in the United States. One of my former students, the headmistress at Tesslers, had informed me of Seth and Skylar's large talents. However, in order for them to enjoy their stay here fully, and be completely integrated into Hogwarts, I feel Seth and Skylar should be sorted. So, Minerva, if you please?"
Professor McGonagall stepped up to the stool with the sorting hat. Picking it up, she called in a commanding voice, "Aurora, Skylar!"
--
Kismet: Destiny, fate
Also, this story is the product of two minds: SoulCatalyst and hippoTHEmagical. SoulCatalyst will be writing the parts from Seth's point of view, and hippoTHEmagical will be writing from Skylar's point of view.
That said, enjoy!!
[KISMET]
The clink of the glasses was lost amongst the sounds of the rest of the people dining around Seth James and Skylar Aurora. "To Hogwarts," Seth said, smiling at the love of his life.
"To Hogwarts," she replied with a smile.
Seth and Skylar attended Tesslers School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Top in their class, they were chosen as Head Boy and Head Girl. It came as no surprise to anyone. They were always the best in class, and had been dating since their first year. Skylar was a potions genius and already had offers from universities to study to become a Potions Mistress. Seth was entertaining offers from the Department of Mysteries of both the American and British Ministries of Magic.
Erin McDennis, the headmistress at Tesslers, was a graduate of Hogwarts. Although she took much pride in her school, Erin recognized its inferiority to Hogwarts, much like every other school in the world.
Because of Seth and Skylar's exceptional skills, Erin had contacted her former teacher, Albus Dumbledore. She had convinced him to accept the two students for their seventh year of schooling. Combined with their families' wealth and the help of both the school and some philanthropists, Seth and Skylar would be able to make use of this amazing honor.
It being the night before they left for the United Kingdom, Seth and Skylar had decided to go out for a formal dinner and dancing to celebrate.
Seth had something else in mind.
[Chapter 1: American Sojourners]
After dinner and dancing, the happy couple decided to walk around South Pasadena and let their food digest a little before heading home.
Suddenly, Seth led Skylar down a small, empty street that had nothing but empty or closed stores.
"Why are we going this way?" she asked in confusion.
"I have a surprise for you," he answered in a calming tone. "Hope you enjoy it."
At the next corner, they made a left, only to see a stretch limo with completely blackened windows waiting for them, with the driver holding the door open. "What's this?" asked Skylar astonishment.
Seth smiled. "Part of the surprise."
--
The ride to the surprise was uneventful. They listened to music. They chatted about little things and big things, nothing and everything. The ride was longer then Seth had thought it would be. But, he remembered where they were headed, and figured it was about right.
Finally, the car stopped.
"So, where are we?" asked Skylar.
"You'll see soon enough. But first... Secus Inviso!" From the tip of Seth's wand, a blindfold emerged and wrapped itself around Skylar's eyes. "Hope you don't mind. I want you to be really surprised."
She giggled. "It's okay, I can't wait to see what it is."
Seth emerged from the car and led Skylar out of the limo. He led her quite a way before finally stopping and releasing her hand. He made sure everything was perfect before speaking a word to her.
"Okay," he said, "Inviso!" The blindfold vanished and Skylar was met with a sight of...
nothing. There was nothing there. Or, more accurately, she couldn't see anything. Everything was pitch black. "Seth?" she asked, "Where are we?"
"Lumos Solarum!" Light flashed suddenly around Seth and Skylar.
Finally, Skylar's eyes focused and she saw the surprise that Seth had been telling her about.
In front of Skylar was Seth, on one knee, in the center of the compass in front Sleeping Beauty's castle as Disneyland. In his hand was a black velvet box, and inside was a platinum engagement ring. It was an eternity band, with sapphires where there would usually be diamonds.
"Skylar, you make me complete and give me all the reasons I need to live. You give me what I've always needed and now... well... now I can't live without you. You make my life light, and you make everything around you so beautiful. No one will ever compare to you, and I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve you, but here we are, and I love you with all my heart and soul. I love you, forever. Always and forever. Semper. So, I guess there's only one way to say what I'm trying to say.
"Skylar, will you marry me?"
::::
The lights flicked off simultaneously, a few in the distance hesitantly dieing out with a sputter. Once again Skylar found herself in darkness. The cool night breeze pushed up against her nose, making the crisp August weather noticeable to her body.
Instinctively, with the lights going out, she gripped Seth's hand that had led her to the opening even tighter. Her sensitive ears caught his slight chuckle to her death grip on his hand, but his laughter only confirmed that he did not mind.
Her mouth was open, trying to find the words to question why they were in darkness, what she assumed to be a counter spell of "Lumos Solarum" flew from her love's mouth, but not before she caught his movement.
Everything was still for a second, and she couldn't tell if her death grip had become tighter, the brightness was overwhelming. She didn't squint as her eyes attempted to dilate to the appropriate size, instead she opened them, taking in the scene before her.
With lights glaring out before her, she forgot to breathe. The cold weather lost in the back of her mind, along with the hand that held her own, tears welded their way in her eyes.
Before her lay Disneyland, and for a second, that was her surprise; but at the bottom of her vision rested Seth, one knee neatly behind him, holding his weight, her hand in his, and a box in the other.
She couldn't breathe or think, she couldn't cry or question. For the second, she couldn't even register his stance, but, she didn't have to, because within the second he popped the question.
"Skylar, you make me complete and give me all the reasons I need to live. You give me what I've always needed and now... well... now I can't live without you. You make my life light, and you make everything around you so beautiful. No one will ever compare to you, and I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve you, but here we are, and I love you with all my heart and soul. I love you, forever. Always and forever. Semper. So," She took a single breath, the only one she had for a great time. Skylar found herself straining to listen to the man inches away, waiting for the question that she knew would come. "I guess there's only one way to say what I'm trying to say.
"Skylar, will you marry me?"
Seth had the biggest smile not only on his face, but also in his eyes. She could catch the shimmer of his tears. He gently squeezed her hand, pulling for an answer.
Their relationship had been long, consumed by the moments where they'd both ask each other this question, but never taking them to the extreme. But, here he was, the real thing, ring in hand, truth both in his heart and eyes...
The huge smile she had on her face suddenly became somber and she could feel his hand pulling back. She knew she would have to speak quickly.
"As if you would have to ask, love." Skylar's smile grew double the size as it was before, and she saw that his did too. "Yes. My answer is yes, simply yes."
She was in his arms in record time.
Seth pulled back suddenly. "The ring."
He pulled her hand forward, and she felt the cool platinum flow over her finger.
::::
Seth smiled contently as he absent-mindedly ran his thumb along the patch of skin where a wedding ring would one day be.
The beautiful woman lying in his arms in the otherwise empty compartment shifted slightly, sighing as she did. It had been less then seventy-two hours since his proposal to Skylar, and here he was, across a continent and an ocean from his home. Here he was, with his fiancé, riding a train to his new school, to their new school.
He watched out the window: mountains rushing by, trees becoming green blurs outside the Hogwarts Express. It reminded him of family trips he'd taken when he was younger, trips he'd never enjoyed, but always been forced on. But this trip was different; it was a trip he would hopefully enjoy.
And, on this trip, the company was infinitely more enjoyable.
Seth allowed his mind to wander away from his compartment, away from the passing trees and rivers . . .
--
Seth looked around, trying to regain his bearings and the world swam into focus. He knew this was a dream, but he couldn't get himself out of this. He knew this dream, having lived through it many times before, and he knew that there was no reason he would want to get out of it.
'This is the day we met,' he thought to himself.
He looked at his robes, and smiled as he saw the emblem of his house, Hawke house: a diving hawk on a clear, blue sky.
Behind him, the doors to the great hall opened. Light poured in through the open portal, silhouetting the figure that was walking in. She was wearing the same robes as everyone else in the school, and had an emblem like Seth's on her left breast.
Skylar was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman Seth had ever seen.
He walked slowly toward her when the light from the door grew in luminosity, overwhelming his eyes, and making his whole world white.
--
Seth's eyes adjusted again, the light from outside the train hitting his eyes, forcing him to wake up. Skylar was resting in his arms, sleeping peacefully, her beautiful smile gleaming brightly.
I knock on the door to their compartment stirred her from her peaceful slumber, and brought Seth's thoughts and gaze back to the present. The door opened, and he found that the visitor was Hermione Granger, their personal envoy from the school.
"The meeting with the Head students and the Prefects is going to start in the back car in a few minutes. Draco and I would like you to join the meeting, as you will be given Prefect duties during the year. Since you've yet to be sorted, we figured you could learn your duties now, and then apply them once you are sorted at the castle."
Skylar spoke before Seth could get the words out. "We'd love to join the meeting. We'll be right behind you, we just need to get our bearings again."
Hermione smiled and closed the compartment's door.
Skylar leaned up and kissed Seth the moment the door closed. He smiled as she sat up, pulling away from him.
"C'mon," she said, standing up and fixing her robes, complete with the Hawke emblem on the left breast, "we better get going."
::::
She tugged on his hand. She wanted to skip and he wanted to wake up for their short-lived nap. She smiled and surprisingly he smiled back. For the moment, all was right with the world, the equilibrium was equal, and everything was set-
And then the train came to an abrupt halt. Skylar found herself stumbling back, her footing suddenly having gone astray from the royal blue carpeting and into the arms of her love. Her first attempt was to get back onto her feet. She was a decently independent girl. She pulled away from him, only to find that he Seth hadn't let go of her.
His arms were wrapped from her back around to the front of her tummy. He gave an extra squeeze and a lazy kiss from his lips found its way from the meeting of her neck and ear moving slowly up to her chin, his body slightly bent over her from the side in an effort to get better access to her skin.
She found herself tilting her head up and in the opposite direction of his kisses; allowing him the space he needed. She leaned back into his arms, loving the feel of being so close, having his protection and warmth all neatly packed behind her.
A compartment door slid open, its hinges letting out a sigh as its passengers flooded out. Skylar reluctantly pulled away with speed, not wanting to have the reputation of doing such things on a train, in public, even though they both knew they were always like this, no matter where the place or occasion. He was her fiancé after all. A small smile tugged at her lips.
Her heart sank slightly as she felt the arms of her Love loosen as well.
"Come." She said, her voice chirping once again with happiness. She grabbed his hand and raised it to her lips, leaving a feather light kiss upon it.
She dragged him along with her, her finger up in the air as to make a point and the words, "Adventure!" escaping her lips from time to time.
--
She reached the compartment door and noticed that it was unusually quiet. No noise played from the behind the thin door or down the passage they had trudged up.
"Think it's the right spot, Love?" Skylar asked, not certain if she should intrude in a room not marked, but Seth gave a single nod in response. He reached forward to open the door for his lady, and Skylar immediately stepped into the room and moved off to the side, making room for Seth to enter as well.
The room was bigger than the train would allow in width, and immediately Skylar's head was over brimming with curiosity of the spell used on the compartment. But the light from the windows brought her back, as did the silent twenty students or so, some waiting patiently and others playing with cards or even, with the younger ones, what looked like erasers.
A girl will amazingly curly hair she recognized from the few moments before stood up as they had entered. 'Hermione Granger', Skylar reminded herself. She watched acutely as the young woman's hand gently swatted at the boy seated to the side of her.
He wore black robes as well, a squiggly line on his house of emblem, one that she couldn't make out lay on his breast. But it was his hair that caught her attention; its strands going past to mid ear and a shocking blond that almost glowed white presented itself to her. This young man reluctantly stood up, and unlike Hermione, wore no expression on his face.
"Skylar Aurora, Seth James, welcome, we were just about to get started," Hermione greeted, gesturing two open seats to the right of her and her companion who had already taken a seat.
She and Seth walked over to the seats and stood behind them, greeting what students were willing to offer smiles and names to identify with. Hermione went around the table at which they sat, introducing the people and their houses, and every so often a year of schooling.
"And I'm Hermione Granger, as I'm sure you knew." She said with a smile that rivaled the sun. Skylar felt. . . inferior in her presence. She watched as her Love answered with a 'yes' to her comment, and blinked aback the smile that was presented to him. She had the sudden urge to scoot closer to Seth, but bit the urge down.
Hermione then turned to the boy with the shocking blond hair and this time she noticed that his eyes, a solid gray color with a pupil etching on a lighter black that she questioned his sight capabilities.
"And this is Draco Malfoy, our head boy." He caught her gaze upon his and she shamefully and slowly shifted her gaze. She couldn't help but have felt so curious. She was just a curious button, looking for holes to fit her mind into, or so her mother had told her.
As mature as Skylar was, she was as immature for as equal amounts as the other.
"This is the student staff that we work with here at Hogwarts, quite a diverse group of students." Hermione remarked looking proudly among the students that sat and stood before her. "If you have any questions or anything at all feel free to ask any of us, and or any of the other students, I'm sure they'll be grateful to help you."
Skylar took this moment to offer her best smile. Hermione was kind and seemed to be a wonderful person. She shouldn't have felt ill mannered towards her in the first place, Skylar concluded.
Skylar couldn't help but admire the girl. Here she was, head of her class, leading a school in the middle of a war. Skylar, back in the states had left a chance of being the equivalent to what Hermione was, but she had left the chance behind.
A sudden flood of homesickness filled Skylar. Her Love, the only thing that mattered, sat at her side chatting idly with a younger classmen; as to what they talked she did not know. But, while she had him, she had left behind her parents and brother. At least it was safer back in the stated, she reminded herself.
"Thank you. I know it must be a lot of work to have students come in like this, we appreciated all that you've done for us and all that you've presented us with." Skylar offered another huge smile with her thank you.
Hermione smiled and sat back down for the first time since the half an hour introductions.
"Something else we needed to know while in here?" Seth worded, readying himself for direct questions as to know exactly what to do once they reached the school.
"Prefects' meeting." Both Skylar and Seth turned their attention back to Draco, surprised at his first words since their arrival.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed. She sent a smirk to Draco and turned her attention back to the lot seated before her. "The Prefects' meeting is about to come to order." Skylar watched as many of those standing in the room took heed of her words and began to find seats in the room.
"Sit back, Love, you look tense." Skylar jumped and tensed more at the breath on her ear that trailed down her neck; Seth had startled her. She calmed her breathing with a hand on her chest. He chuckled quietly. "Looks like this might take a while."
::::
The meeting didn't take as long as Seth had expected. Hermione had announced exactly what he and Skylar were doing at Hogwarts this term, and everyone seemed to be fine with it.
Except for Draco Malfoy. It seemed like his demeanor had changed during the questioning. Seth had been asked about his parent's jobs, and when he mentioned his mother was a muggle schoolteacher, Draco had tensed somewhat. He mentioned something about "impure filth", and had stopped being as congenial as he had been the rest of the meeting.
As the train pulled into the station at Hogwarts, Seth and Skylar disembarked, hand-in-hand, and became completely confused as to what to do.
From farther down the train, they heard a deep, bellowing voice. "Firs' years follow me! C'mon now, firs years this way!"
Seth surmised that this was Hagrid, the kind half-giant that Hermione had told him about. "He's the gamekeeper," she had told him, "and the kindest, sweetest man you'll ever meet. You'll love his class, I'm sure."
Squeezing Skylar's hand, he said to her, "C'mon. Let's try this way. Maybe we should go with the first years, seeing as this is our first year here."
Nodding her head, Skylar followed Seth towards the giant lake upon which boats were awaiting the first year students.
"Seth! Skylar!" a voice called from behind the couple. They turned to see a short, thin, red headed girl and a somewhat chubby boy running towards them. Realizing he and Skylar had met the duo at the Prefects' meeting, Seth racked his brain to find their names.
"Ginny and Neville, right?"
"Yes, that's right," Ginny answered. "Come with us. That way is for the true first year students. You get to ride up to the school with the returning students." By this time the four had reached the carriages. "You're in the last carriage, with Hermione and Draco. Hope you enjoy the festivities." Ginny left and went off to her own carriage, leading Neville behind her by his hand.
Seth smiled as Neville helped Ginny into the carriage. "They make a nice couple, don't they?" he commented to Skylar.
"Yes, Love, they do. C'mon, or we're going to miss our carriage."
--
The carriage ride was uneventful, with Hermione talking endlessly to Seth and Draco giving Seth the "hairy eyeball" as he spoke with Skylar.
When they got to the Great Hall, Draco left to sit with his house as Hermione remained to sit with Seth and Skylar in the back of the hall and watch the tradition of the sorting ceremony unfold.
As the first years filed in through the main doors, Professor McGonagall led them to the front of the hall and gestured to a ragged hat sitting upon a stool.
Just as the hat burst into song, Hermione started talking. "That's the Sorting Hat. It was the hat of one of the founders of Hogwarts, bewitched to settle the dispute over which students would be allowed into the school. They decided to let in all kinds of students and have the hat read the minds of the new students in order to choose which house they should be in. Gryffindors are the bravest, Slytherins are the most cunning, Ravenclaws are the smartest and most logical, and. . . well, Hufflepuff is pretty much everyone else. To tell you the truth, we all kind of look down on Hufflepuff."
"Oh," Skylar said softly. "A hat to sort you into your houses. How weird."
"You think so?" quipped Hermione, sounding almost hurt, "and how do you get sorted in America?"
"Why, a cloak of course."
Once the enchanted hat concluded singing, it began to sort the first year students. With the sorting of "Zeller, Magnolia" into Hufflepuff, the sorting ended and Professor McGonagall called the hall into silence.
Seth sat farther back in his chair as Professor Albus Dumbledore stood to address the students of his school. The headmaster had a commanding presence, the likes of which Seth had never felt. His voice boomed, filling every nook and cranny of the hall.
"This year, Hogwarts has the pleasure of teaching two of the most magically gifted people to ever grace its halls. Seth James and Skylar Aurora hail from Tesslers School in the United States. One of my former students, the headmistress at Tesslers, had informed me of Seth and Skylar's large talents. However, in order for them to enjoy their stay here fully, and be completely integrated into Hogwarts, I feel Seth and Skylar should be sorted. So, Minerva, if you please?"
Professor McGonagall stepped up to the stool with the sorting hat. Picking it up, she called in a commanding voice, "Aurora, Skylar!"
--
Kismet: Destiny, fate