Disclaimer: Everything recognizably J K Rowling's is (of course) hers, I don't own any of it (if I did, would I really be writing for fanfiction??) Everything else is mine. Oh, except for the title, coz I kinda stole that from a Radiohead song - so that's not mine either.
Chapter One
The summer sun rested upon the crooked rooftops of central London while the sky surrounding it, flushed in a final blaze before nightfall, grew darker and became studded with the glittering lights of distant constellations. The flurry of mingled conversation and laughter drifted in and out of open windows, carried by the gentle breeze of a warm summer evening. As she leant out of her window to watch the bustling street below her, the same breeze kissed her cheek and lifted her hair off her face. The scent of honeysuckle, freshly cut grass and far off barbecues filled her lungs and, for the first time in weeks, she felt truly happy. As she gazed into the glowing sun she forgot, just for a moment, all of the pain and darkness of the past and became lost in the majestic beauty of the last day of August. For as long as she could remember, the sight of true beauty could touch her heart, and even today a faint smile flickered across her lips as the rusty highlights of the evening
sky sparkled in her black eyes and wove copper threads into her long, curly hair.
She turned her back to the setting sun and surveyed the room around her. It had gown quite gloomy while she wasn't looking and Onyx's bright eyes blinked at her from the darkness of the bed.
"Poor Onyx, you must be bored, stuck in here all day with no ickle mice to play with," she said, moving towards the bed to sit next to her cat. A soft miaow was her only reply. "I'll take it that means "Oh no Morwenna, I'm not bored at all. But now that you mention it, I am a little peckish". Well don't fret, my feline friend, when we get to Hogwarts tomorrow there'll be thousands of fat little mice just queuing up to be your dinner." At this, Onyx opened her mouth in a wide yawn, stood up, stretched out her sleek back, turned around and curled up to go to sleep. "Hmm...I suppose that's what I get for talking to a cat," she said dejectedly. Without even a cat for conversation, Morwenna sighed and stood up to do what she had been putting off all day. "Time to pack".
She lit some candles, put some food out for Onyx and began filling her trunks. After staying in the Leaky Cauldron for only a week, Morwenna had somehow managed to cover the whole room in a layer of clothes, books and other assorted items. As trying to form the chaos into any kind of order seemed about as possible as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye and not getting singed eyebrows, she decided to stuff as much into her two large trunks as possible, and wear any clothes which wouldn't fit. After settling on this system of packing, the process only took an hour (half of which was taken up with a frantic search for her wand, which she eventually found propping open her window), leaving her time to go down to the bar for a cold Butterbeer before bed.
Sitting alone in the crowded bar she found herself wondering what the next day would hold, never having seen Hogwarts she could only imagine what it must be like from what her mother had told her. One thing she was sure of was that Hogwarts would be completely different to her old school. On the eve of her journey to a completely new life, she felt a confusion of emotions accumulating inside her, each battling with the others for her attention. But, determined that she wasn't going to give Hogwarts, the future or the past even a moment's thought, she shook out her curls, stood up and made her way to bed for a good nights sleep before the Hogwarts Express departed the next morning.
***
The sun had almost completely set, but Harry continued to gaze at the orange streaks of cloud in the darkening sky. The breeze that ruffled his messy black hair was becoming cooler, and the smell of Mrs Weasley's fantastic cooking was becoming stronger. A soft sound behind him made Harry spin around quickly, only to find Ginny's nervous head poking round the door behind him.
"Umm...Sorry to interrupt, but Mum says dinner's ready."
"Oh, thanks Ginny, I'll be down in a second". Ginny gave an embarrassed little smile and vanished from the doorway. Even after all these years Ginny hadn't quite got over the fact that THE Harry Potter was her brother Ron's best friend, and as the years had gone by, and he had got much better looking, she couldn't stop an insane giggle from bubbling out of her every time he looked at her with those startling green eyes. Harry, being a boy, still had no idea why he produced this kind of reaction from her, and often wondered whether she thought he just had incredibly amusing freckle patterns, or an abnormally large forehead. Thinking that it might be his notoriously untidy hair that she found so amusing, he made an attempt to flatten it down with is hands and made his way down the narrow staircases of The Burrow.
Harry had been staying with Ron and his family for three weeks of this summer holiday at their crowded, but incredibly cosy house that they all affectionately called "The Burrow", and he had enjoyed every minute of it. Fred, George, Percy and Bill had all come home for the holidays and the bright, sunny days had been whiled away in endless, and increasingly violent, games of Quidditch and trips to the beach. Harry had made it his mission to teach the Weasley family the basics of muggle transport and communication devices. So far he had succeeded in taking them by train to Bournemouth beach and getting them to use a telephone without totally baffling the person on the other end. Only yesterday they had managed to order a pizza and arrange to meet Hermione at Kings Cross station in time for the Hogwarts Express the next morning.
The holiday hadn't been a string of endless fun, though. Every evening Mr Weasley and Percy would come home from work with more reports of missing people and mysterious murders. For two years now a shadow had hung over the wizarding world and it was felt by everyone. Since the end of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, nobody knew what Voldemort was doing - nobody saw him, nobody saw any sign of what he was doing, but everybody felt his presence. The only place Harry felt truly safe was at Hogwarts, and even there he didn't know who he could trust.
Dinner was the best Mrs Weasley had ever made and the atmosphere at the table was bright and cheerful. Yesterday Ron had suddenly snapped out of his melancholy mood when he realised that he was going to see Blythe again in less than two days. Blythe was Ron's girlfriend, she arrived at Hogwarts at Christmas in their fifth year and had been Ron's main topic of conversation ever since. He had been moping about all holiday like a lovesick Hippogriff and Harry was very glad that school was going to start again tomorrow, just so that Blythe could take Ron off his hands for a while. While Ron's love life was blossoming, Harry was about to enter his seventh year at Hogwarts without even a hint of a girlfriend.
"Who needs one anyway?" he muttered to himself as he curled up in his bed, listening to Ron dream happily about Blythe's crystal blue eyes. "I need one" he said, answering his own question, then closed his eyes and tried to ignore Ron's snoring to get a good night's sleep before his last ever trip on the Hogwart's Express.
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OK, that's it so far...it's really a kind of `setting the scene' chapter, more will happen later...hopefully. Anyway, I would really appreciate some reviews (good and bad). Thanx for reading. Happy Valentines day.
Chapter One
The summer sun rested upon the crooked rooftops of central London while the sky surrounding it, flushed in a final blaze before nightfall, grew darker and became studded with the glittering lights of distant constellations. The flurry of mingled conversation and laughter drifted in and out of open windows, carried by the gentle breeze of a warm summer evening. As she leant out of her window to watch the bustling street below her, the same breeze kissed her cheek and lifted her hair off her face. The scent of honeysuckle, freshly cut grass and far off barbecues filled her lungs and, for the first time in weeks, she felt truly happy. As she gazed into the glowing sun she forgot, just for a moment, all of the pain and darkness of the past and became lost in the majestic beauty of the last day of August. For as long as she could remember, the sight of true beauty could touch her heart, and even today a faint smile flickered across her lips as the rusty highlights of the evening
sky sparkled in her black eyes and wove copper threads into her long, curly hair.
She turned her back to the setting sun and surveyed the room around her. It had gown quite gloomy while she wasn't looking and Onyx's bright eyes blinked at her from the darkness of the bed.
"Poor Onyx, you must be bored, stuck in here all day with no ickle mice to play with," she said, moving towards the bed to sit next to her cat. A soft miaow was her only reply. "I'll take it that means "Oh no Morwenna, I'm not bored at all. But now that you mention it, I am a little peckish". Well don't fret, my feline friend, when we get to Hogwarts tomorrow there'll be thousands of fat little mice just queuing up to be your dinner." At this, Onyx opened her mouth in a wide yawn, stood up, stretched out her sleek back, turned around and curled up to go to sleep. "Hmm...I suppose that's what I get for talking to a cat," she said dejectedly. Without even a cat for conversation, Morwenna sighed and stood up to do what she had been putting off all day. "Time to pack".
She lit some candles, put some food out for Onyx and began filling her trunks. After staying in the Leaky Cauldron for only a week, Morwenna had somehow managed to cover the whole room in a layer of clothes, books and other assorted items. As trying to form the chaos into any kind of order seemed about as possible as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye and not getting singed eyebrows, she decided to stuff as much into her two large trunks as possible, and wear any clothes which wouldn't fit. After settling on this system of packing, the process only took an hour (half of which was taken up with a frantic search for her wand, which she eventually found propping open her window), leaving her time to go down to the bar for a cold Butterbeer before bed.
Sitting alone in the crowded bar she found herself wondering what the next day would hold, never having seen Hogwarts she could only imagine what it must be like from what her mother had told her. One thing she was sure of was that Hogwarts would be completely different to her old school. On the eve of her journey to a completely new life, she felt a confusion of emotions accumulating inside her, each battling with the others for her attention. But, determined that she wasn't going to give Hogwarts, the future or the past even a moment's thought, she shook out her curls, stood up and made her way to bed for a good nights sleep before the Hogwarts Express departed the next morning.
***
The sun had almost completely set, but Harry continued to gaze at the orange streaks of cloud in the darkening sky. The breeze that ruffled his messy black hair was becoming cooler, and the smell of Mrs Weasley's fantastic cooking was becoming stronger. A soft sound behind him made Harry spin around quickly, only to find Ginny's nervous head poking round the door behind him.
"Umm...Sorry to interrupt, but Mum says dinner's ready."
"Oh, thanks Ginny, I'll be down in a second". Ginny gave an embarrassed little smile and vanished from the doorway. Even after all these years Ginny hadn't quite got over the fact that THE Harry Potter was her brother Ron's best friend, and as the years had gone by, and he had got much better looking, she couldn't stop an insane giggle from bubbling out of her every time he looked at her with those startling green eyes. Harry, being a boy, still had no idea why he produced this kind of reaction from her, and often wondered whether she thought he just had incredibly amusing freckle patterns, or an abnormally large forehead. Thinking that it might be his notoriously untidy hair that she found so amusing, he made an attempt to flatten it down with is hands and made his way down the narrow staircases of The Burrow.
Harry had been staying with Ron and his family for three weeks of this summer holiday at their crowded, but incredibly cosy house that they all affectionately called "The Burrow", and he had enjoyed every minute of it. Fred, George, Percy and Bill had all come home for the holidays and the bright, sunny days had been whiled away in endless, and increasingly violent, games of Quidditch and trips to the beach. Harry had made it his mission to teach the Weasley family the basics of muggle transport and communication devices. So far he had succeeded in taking them by train to Bournemouth beach and getting them to use a telephone without totally baffling the person on the other end. Only yesterday they had managed to order a pizza and arrange to meet Hermione at Kings Cross station in time for the Hogwarts Express the next morning.
The holiday hadn't been a string of endless fun, though. Every evening Mr Weasley and Percy would come home from work with more reports of missing people and mysterious murders. For two years now a shadow had hung over the wizarding world and it was felt by everyone. Since the end of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, nobody knew what Voldemort was doing - nobody saw him, nobody saw any sign of what he was doing, but everybody felt his presence. The only place Harry felt truly safe was at Hogwarts, and even there he didn't know who he could trust.
Dinner was the best Mrs Weasley had ever made and the atmosphere at the table was bright and cheerful. Yesterday Ron had suddenly snapped out of his melancholy mood when he realised that he was going to see Blythe again in less than two days. Blythe was Ron's girlfriend, she arrived at Hogwarts at Christmas in their fifth year and had been Ron's main topic of conversation ever since. He had been moping about all holiday like a lovesick Hippogriff and Harry was very glad that school was going to start again tomorrow, just so that Blythe could take Ron off his hands for a while. While Ron's love life was blossoming, Harry was about to enter his seventh year at Hogwarts without even a hint of a girlfriend.
"Who needs one anyway?" he muttered to himself as he curled up in his bed, listening to Ron dream happily about Blythe's crystal blue eyes. "I need one" he said, answering his own question, then closed his eyes and tried to ignore Ron's snoring to get a good night's sleep before his last ever trip on the Hogwart's Express.
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OK, that's it so far...it's really a kind of `setting the scene' chapter, more will happen later...hopefully. Anyway, I would really appreciate some reviews (good and bad). Thanx for reading. Happy Valentines day.
