As we all know, JKR owns the HP characters but anyone you don't recognize belong to me. Each is based on someone I know so their personalities are each unique. This is my first original story so we'll see how it goes.
Franklin Boletta walked through the busy streets of Diagon Alley one warm summer afternoon. Weaving with ease through the small groups of witches and wizards conglomerated along the sidewalk, Franklin — or Frankie as he was referred to by friends and family — made his way to a particular destination. His eyes gleamed with hope as he pictured her long honey colored hair and the way she smelled of berry. Oh, how he loved the times they were able to spend together during the holidays!
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Frankie had received an owl from his girlfriend of one year earlier that morning. He was sitting in the family room of his childhood home doing some summer reading for his Charms class. (per his mother's demands — "He mustn't waste the summer being lazy!") There was a soft tapping at the window which he had learned long ago to recognize. The owl was a light gray color with honey colored feathers mixed in to add color. It was the perfect owl for his beautiful girlfriend, Michaela. Like his Love, the owl was very gentle and somewhat shy. Frankie got up and, ever so slowly, approached the owl that was still waiting beyond the glass window pane. He carefully unhooked the latch and opened the window. The owl took a few seconds to approach the boy and nuzzled with Frankie's hand as his feathers were being rubbed. Looking down at the owl's leg, Frankie smiled when he recognized the envelope. It was a lovely grayish purple color — elegant without being too fancy. It was as if the color was made with her in mind. The simple lettering on the note gave him the news he was waiting to hear:
Franklin —
My mum and I are going to be in Diagon Alley this morning and well into the afternoon. I would love to see you if you can get away for a bit — say around noon? Let me know with a note sent back using Starlight straight away. I miss you, love. - Michaela
Frankie scribbled his affirmation on the backside of the note and kissed the owl's head.
"You're such a sweet owl, Star," he mused as she flew away.
Closing the window, he checked to see what time it was on their large grandfather clock in the hallway.
10:30. Plenty of time to get ready.
For good measure, he even finished his Charms essay so his mother would not have reason not to allow him the use of the Floo network.
Frankie jogged upstairs, skipping every other step and grabbed some clean clothes from his bedroom. It had been almost a month since he had seen her so he picked out an outfit she had given to him for their birthday that past March. Her birthday fell on the same day as his so they made a day of it and she insisted on taking him shopping to pick out an outfit; nothing too fancy, just something new. They settled on a simple button down cotton shirt in a classic black and a pair of black pants of his choosing. (She liked it when he wore all black. She would tell him it gave him a mysterious and sexy look.)
Fifteen minutes later and with a clean shave (no razor cuts to heal), he was ready to go. It was not quite eleven yet so he decided to find her a nice bouquet of flowers from his mother's garden in the back although Frankie did not think she would let him willingly pick the flowers. When she saw how nicely he cleaned himself up, she took pity on him and shooed him out the door.
"Just don't be sloppy in how you cut them, dear. I plan on winning first place in the floral pageant this year while you are away at school. If I don't, how do you think we'll pay your tuition?" she teased. She watched as her son carefully picked out a nice array of colorful flowers and commended him on his choices when he returned inside the house.
"Send her my love, dear. I do miss seeing her around. It's a pity her family move, especially after what happened recently with that young McDugall boy and his family…"
His mother seemed to ponder her last statement before she moved to kiss his cheek and hand over the jar of Floo powder. She was a little shocked she he ducked the affections. Frowning, she said, "Why ever are you avoiding me, Franklin? Feel you're too old to be getting a kiss from your mum?"
Frankie blushed and shook his head, apologizing profusely. "No, I'm sorry. I just noticed that you are wearing a fresh coat of lipstick and it is always so difficult to get it off of my cheek when you wear the red shade." He seemed almost embarrassed at his reasoning but she just smiled.
"Fine, a hug it is, then." And she gave him a bone-crushing squeeze that almost left him loosening his collar had a few buttons not been already undone.
"Okay, I'll be back in time for dinner, I promise. Bye, mum," Frankie said to her as he wrenched his way out of her grasp and walked into the fireplace. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, he winked at his mother as he called out, "Diagon Alley!" and with a poof of green flames, he was gone.
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Eliza was sitting at a small table on the outskirts of Diagon Alley eating the ice cream she had purchased for herself. She had only been in the London area for a few weeks but she felt like she knew Diagon Alley like the back of her hand. Eliza had recently transferred from Durmstrang Institute after a few too many run-ins with some particularly dark wizards and she was, on this day, walking the now familiar streets trying to scope out potential schoolmates. She felt as if she was a fairly good judge of character and thought that if she could make some friends — or at the very least some acquaintances — maybe school won't be so awkward come September first.
Eliza had the run of her house for the most part. Her mother and uncle were busy trying to make ends meet in their jobs at the Ministry. Her father had passed away when she was small, leaving her uncle to be her only male role model. Her mother was a healer and her uncle worked in the Department of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, a position he took after Arthur Weasley was promoted elsewhere. He did not love his job as much as Arthur did but it was a job nonetheless and it helped pay the bills.
The first person she came across in her day of people watching was a very pretty girl who looked to be somewhere around her age standing against the wall of Florish and Blotts. Intrigued, Eliza threw caution to the wind and crossed the street, ice cream still in hand. She approached the girl and their eyes met. Seeing her confusion, Eliza quickly began talking to the stranger.
"Are you, by any chance a Hogwarts student?" the new girl asked, trying to make her purpose known sooner rather than later.
The girl looked around as if she thought it was some sort of joke and nodded, "Yeah. I'm in Hufflepuff, you?"
Relieved that this person was willing to have a conversation with her, Eliza shrugged her answer. "I don't know what it is that you are referring to. I am a new student this year, transferring from Durmstrang. All I know is where to be on September the first!"
Upon saying the word "Durmstrang", Eliza saw the other girl's face fall with a look of apprehension. She understood why and had been afraid that being honest about where she had come from might result in losing potential friends but was proven wrong when the girl extended her hand.
"Michaela Conner. It's a pleasure to meet someone new."
Eliza, taken a bit by surprise, quickly reached out to grasp the hand in front of her. "Eliza Wickerson."
Michaela glanced in the direction of the large clock and the action did not go by unnoticed by her new acquaintance. "I'm sorry, am I keeping you from something?"
Blushing, the Hufflepuff girl quickly shook her head. "Oh, no. You see, I am supposed to meet my boyfriend at noon. I was just checking to see how much time I had left before he gets here. I finished my shopping a bit earlier than planned so I have a little more free time than expected. I'm just excited, that's all."
Eliza understood. "Does he go to Hogwarts as well?"
Michaela nodded, "Yes. We are both sixth year students this year but he is in Ravenclaw, which is another house at the school.
The new girl looked confused, "House? Do we live in separate units?"
"In a way, yes, we do." Michaela explained. "You see, there are four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. On your first day you will be sorted into your new house and you remain there for the duration of your schooling. You eat with them, sleep with them and take classes with them. Most classes will have two houses at a time in them so you may be taking Charms with Slytherin and Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. Every year is different and that's one thing that makes it kind of like an adventure."
Eliza seemed relieved yet worried at this new influx of information presented to her. "Does everyone get along?" she asked with a note of apprehension in her voice.
"Well…" Michaela looked thoughtful for a moment as if she were choosing her words carefully, "There will always be some sort of friction because not everyone can get along all of the time as I'm sure you can imagine." With an apprehensive pause, she continued, "I will tell you that the Slytherin house has a pretty nasty track record of students with mean streaks. I'm sure not all of them are that way, "she held her hands up defensively in front of her "but that has been my experience so far."
Understanding what was being said, Eliza commented, "Well, if I get sorted into Slytherin, I promise not to be mean. I left Durmstrang because I was treated poorly by those students who thought they were better than others. They didn't like me because I made decent grades and refused to help them cheat. I had more hexes placed on me when my back was turned than I could care to count! My mum pulled me out at the end of the last term and we packed up and headed here. I live just outside of Hogsmeade."
Michaela seemed impressed and was unable to suppress a smile. "I'm willing to bet they put you in Ravenclaw. Possibly Gryffindor, but I am thinking Ravenclaw." Noticing the time, she gasped.
"It's about time for your rendezvous, isn't it?" Eliza commented. Seeing the other girl nod with her attention now on every face that walked by, she laughed.
"I'll be seeing you September first, then."
Coming out of her daze, Michaela jumped. "Oh, yes! Sorry. He's just such a slippery little bugger. I was worried he was going to sneak up on me, that's all."
Eliza pretended to ignore the attractive looking boy who was slowly and quietly trying to approach Michaela from behind. She understood his pleading looks that asked not to hint his arrival and thought it would be most amusing to follow along. A few seconds later and…
"I GOTCHA!" mocked Frankie as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, exposing the flowers to her as well. She screamed both in fright as well as glee and she turned around promptly. Giving each other a brief glance, he grabbed her again and spun her around.
Feeling like the third wheel, Eliza backed away. "I'll be going now. You two have fun." Michaela quickly turned to her new friend and stuttered in embarrassment, "Oh, I'm sorry Eliza. Let me introduce you."
Frankie pulled his nose out of his girlfriend's hair to give proper attention to the introduction.
"Eliza, this is Franklin. Love, this is Eliza. She is a transfer from Durmstrang. Isn't that exciting?"
Frankie liked to meet new people and eagerly extended his hand to her. "Feel free to call me Frankie. I have found lately that it's pretty much just this one here and my mum who refer to me by my whole name. And Durmstrang, huh? I'll have to hear your story later!"
Eliza blushed and shook his hand briefly. "It's a pleasure meeting both of you. I feel better knowing that I will know at least two people when school starts! I'll see you on the train."
The three of them bade their goodbyes and Eliza walked in the direction of her home.
"Well… that went a lot smoother than I thought it would," she thought out loud.