A/N: hi this is my first fan fic. I tried writing this story before but it didn't feel right. So here I am again. Yay! Please leave me a review so I can know how you like it and tell me if you want anything to happen and I'll see if I can work it in. Enjoy!
Chapter One: Teenage runaway."Oh my god!" I screamed, "I can't believe you are doing this to me! This is so unfair!" I was getting hysterical and tears were pouring down my face. I only ever really cried when I was angry or frustrated, when my fish died I shed no tears, me and Bubbles were really close, but when my brother stole my favourite teddy I chased him round the house crying and screaming. My father, he had lost the title of dad at this point in time, walked slowly towards me, his face purple with rage, pointing his finger threateningly.
"Now you listen here, missy" he made missy sound like an insult, he could do that with many words, I believe it was a talent of his. "You will do as you're told as long as you live in this house." He drawled menacingly, I glared back at him. His face was now almost blue, which contrasted oddly with the olive green walls of the hallway, where our fight had progressed to. It had started in the kitchen but there were so many knives within his reach that I moved it to the lounge, not that I had expected him to throw a knife at me, just that there was a distinct possibility he might get so angry he'd threaten me. He sighed dejectedly and his shoulders slumped. "I'm doing this to keep you safe, Natalie. Can't you see that?" he pleaded.
I could see the pain I was causing him in his eyes but I couldn't stand to let him do this. I had to go back to Hogwarts, to see my friends and also actually get a good education. He had calmed down now and his colouring was a little more natural. I straightened my posture and filled my voice with venom. "Fine," I hissed, "Have it your way." He looked surprised and confused until I added, "I'll go pack my things." His face crumpled, I turned on my heel and marched up the stairs to my bedroom.
I tore apart my room packing nearly everything I owned into my trunk, it was lucky that I had my best friend Lily put an undetectable extension charm on it before the summer. I looked around the room that I had called my own for nearly sixteen years. There had been so many memories in this room; the time Amelia and Lily had come over and we spent the entire weekend giggling, eating popcorn and making Noah our slave, he used to fancy Amelia and we certainly used that to our advantage. My once full antique wardrobe; where I had hid once from James who had taken a knife from the kitchen and pretended to be a murderer when my parents had taken Noah out to a school meeting, was empty; my bedside table, where I had hidden letters from my friends for six years so Noah couldn't find them, was a mess; and my queen-sized bed, where we had once fit all seven of us in at once and slept the night through, was a mess of blankets and sheets. I looked at the pictures decorating my walls, most of them were of really good looking famous men, I plucked my favourite photo off the wall; it was a picture of me and my friends standing in front of the frozen black lake at Christmas. James and Sirius were attacking Lily and I, we had been trying to charm James' hair green so I guess we had asked for it, Peter was lying at the front doing a sexy pose with his leg bent and one arm behind his head and Remus had his arm around Amelia who was waving at the camera. That had been the best Christmas ever. I was going to miss my home but I couldn't say the same for the people in it. My mother and father did what they thought were in their children's best interests, I admit, but there was a gap between us, one that was never going to close. Also the fact that I had a demon for a brother didn't help the family issues.
Speaking of devils, I thought as I turned to see Noah leaning casually against the doorway, smirking.
"What do you want, Noah?" I asked, exasperated.
He chuckled and his smirk grew even more pronounced. "I just wanted to see how you were going... with the packing, I mean. Want some help to speed up the process?" he sneered, he sounded like a Slytherin.
He was such a git. "Piss off, you git." I spat. He knew he was never allowed on my room, hence the leaning on the doorframe, so I don't know why he even bothered asking.
This comment made him outright laugh and it took all my self-control not to punch the tosser in the face. "oh dear. It seems mother has not done as well as she thought she had with raising you," He scolded, mockingly "To speak with respect. Especially to your elders."
He expected me to speak to him with respect? Was he bloody joking? I simply flicked him a finger, I'd seen muggles doing it lately, and stomped out of my room and down the stairs.
"Have a lovely time sis." The creep called from the top of the staircase, his voice dripping in sarcasm. I put a hand on the doorknob and paused, taking this time to look back over my shoulder at the interior of the house I used to feel safe in. My father was standing in the middle of the hall, his back hunched over and a pleading expression on his face. He opened his mouth to say something and I felt a surge of hope. Perhaps he would call my bluff and tell me not to leave and that I could go back to Hogwarts. No such event occurred. He simply closed his mouth, swallowing back the words I desperately needed to hear. I made sure to keep my expression blank as I turned back to the door and pulled it open, walking out into the darkness.
The door swung shut with a snap and I felt my heart throb painfully. I took two deep breaths and looked up at the sky. It was a clear night and I could see a vast blanket of stars. The night calmed me, I felt at peace in the dark. The sensible part of my mind told me that the peace was a facade, bad things happened in the night. Sighing, I walked to the front gates and pulled my wand from the back pocket of my jeans, sticking it out into the laneway. A loud crack echoed through the trees on either side of the gravel lane that lead to the Delano mansion and a large, purple, double-decker bus appeared. It screeched to a stop right in front of me and a young man, who looked around twenty-five, jumped out and stood in front of me, hands on his hips. He was sporting a purple and black bus-boy suit and had a funny-looking cap on his head, which looked suspiciously like a tea cosy. "Welcome to the knight bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard" he drawled in an important manner, "My name is Gregory Perkins and I will be your conductor for this evening." His accent was strange, it was a mixture between Irish and Cockney but also a little Welsh. I was thoroughly confused. "So, miss...?" he questioned when I didn't respond.
I collected myself, "Oh. Err. Delano. Natalie Delano." I stretched out a hand to shake his and he accepted it warmly.
"So where to, Miss Delano?" Perkins motioned for me to enter the bus and I walked forwards hesitantly. It was my first time on the knight bus and I admit I was a little nervous. Perkins carried my belongings aboard and placed them at the nearest bed. I just remembered the question he asked me. Shit. I had hit a roadblock. Where the hell was I going to live?
Well going to family certainly wasn't an option. They were bound to take me straight back home. Lily was in France on holiday and didn't get back until the week after next, Amelia lived in Ireland for the summer holidays, my parents would immediately go to James' house to check if I was there, seeing as he lived closest and we were nearly inseparable during the summer, Peter's mum scared the crap out of me; she was so suspicious, I couldn't put up with Walburga and Orion Black at that moment and I doubt that they would welcome me, as Sirius had run away at the beginning of summer, and I wasn't exactly sure where Remus lived.
"Looks like the leaky cauldron it is then." Perkins nodded and motioned for me to sit on the bed.
"Already on our way there, pet." he began whistling cheerfully and the knight bus zoomed into motion. I flew back against the bed and nearly over the other side as the bus took off at lightning speed. I was amazed that nothing was breaking in the bus. The crystal chandelier hanging from the roof rattled menacingly but did not shatter, all the sleeping patrons stayed in a dozing state and nothing fell from the beds or their bedside tables. I watched as we weaved dangerously through Muggle traffic, almost suicidally.
"The muggles," I yelled above the noise of the wind rushing furiously past us, "Cant they see us?" I assumed even muggles would see a great purple bus zipping its way down the roads.
"Muggles?" Perkins asked incredulously, "They don't see nothing."
I smiled at his appalling use of language and refrained from correcting him, as my mother would have done. She was incredibly hard on Noah and I when it came to our education and the way we spoke. She used to give us lectures on what good pureblood children would say and how they would act. I suppose I could not blame her, it was drilled into her every day by her own mother when she was young. I couldn't help but think how disappointed my mother would be that I had left. We were by no means close as she had always doted on Noah and I had been rather neglected. Not that I was complaining, I liked being left alone, but Noah was the golden child. That boy could do no wrong. He was a Ravenclaw prefect since his fifth year and was now head boy. Mum had put his badge up on the mantel piece so all her friends could see it. Noah got nine O's in his O.W.L's, all except divination, which I got an O in by the way, he got an E and we all expected him to get top scores in his N.E.W.T's to get into healer training. Stupid git.
We stopped abruptly and I fell to the floor. "The leaky cauldron." Perkins called. He helped carry my things off the bus and bid me good night. I watched as the bus took off and whizzed out of sight. I turned to look at the dark, dank pub, which was likely to be my home for the rest of my schooling life, in disgust. Why the hell was I so defiant and stubborn? Because I'm an idiot.
A/N: just another little side note; I enjoy listening to music whilst I read. So if you're the same I'm going to leave you the name of a song to listen to whilst you read specific chapters bye! REVIEW!