{Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter but I do own my story and the original characters therein.}
This is the first chapter of the sequel to "Saved From The Cold" where we will be following Addison through her time at Hogwarts. How far this story will last, I'm not sure, but however long, I know I've enjoyed building the foundation for this story as well as this chapter.
~Snowball~
- Chapter 1 -
As the train pulled away from the station, Addison felt her heart suddenly ache for her family. When her mother's face faded into the distance and the train rounded a sharp corner, Addison sat down on the soft crimson cushions and pulled her knees up to her chest.
"Are you alright?" Addison looked up to see a boy sitting at the other end of the compartment. His dark brown hair twisted in wide curls around his face and his sage green eyes were looking back at her.
She nodded softly, her mahogany curls falling in front of her face. "I'm just a little nervous. That's all."
"It gets easier." He smiled, the left corner pulling up slightly as he slid across the seats to sit across from her. "Last year, I was really scared but, after a month or so, it's not so intimidating."
"So, you're a... second year?"
"Yeah." He grinned proudly. "Hufflepuff. Same as my Dad." Every time he smiled, she felt at ease. "What were your parents? Or are they muggles?" He inquired, trying to continue the conversation.
"Well, my mum was a Gryffindor and my Dad was a Slytherin." She felt the biting pain of separation come over her again.
Sensing her uneasiness creep back, he changed the subject. "As a word of warning, bring something to read during History of Magic. Binns just won't shut up."
At this, Addison chuckled.
"Hey! I got you to laugh!" The boy exclaimed as though he'd just won the world cup.
Her gray eyes glinting in the hazy sunlight, she smiled at him, "Thanks."
He stuck his hand out to her. "I'm Ethan."
Hesitantly, she took his hand. "Addison."
"And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"
~Khalil Gibran
As the train pulled to a stop, Addison reached up, sliding her small traveling bag off the steel shelf above her head. Ethan stood, waiting for her by the door to the compartment. As they walked to the doors of the train, each one held open by a prefect, Ethan said, "You'll be going with Hagrid in the boats and then Professor Vectra will meet you outside of the Great Hall."
"Thanks Ethan. I'll see you around, okay?"
As he walked off towards the carriages, he called over his shoulder, "Definitely!"
"Addison!" Called a familiar, gravelly voice.
She spun on her heels, and saw the towering form of the half-giant grounds keeper.
"Hagrid!" She cried as she dashed up the platform. Reaching him, he wrapped his great arms around her slender frame and lifted her off her feet. "I've missed you!"
"You too, m'girl."
Seeing the old friend, Addison didn't feel quite so homesick and, as soon as the other first years had gathered around, he led the way to the dock. As the small crafts floated across the lake, the castle school glittered in the moonlight and Addison thought to herself, "Mum and Dad didn't do it justice."
Reaching the edge of the lake, the first years climbed up to the entrance and were led up a tall stone staircase. As they approached the landing, a tall woman with piercing blue eyes stood looking down at them all. She seemed to be getting on in years but her image still held of sense of grace and beauty. The group stood in a semi-circle around the elegant woman as she welcomed them to Hogwarts and explained how the Sorting Ceremony would commence.
After a short period, Vectra led them to the closed entrance of the Great Hall and, as she pulled the large wooden doors aside, Addison felt her breath catch in her throat. The room was ancient and regal. The stained glass windows were amber from age and the room was lit with hundreds of candles which floated ten feet above the four long tables. As the stunned 11-year-olds walked down the center aisle towards the High Table, Addison caught sight of two bright green eyes. Ethan smiled warmly at her as she passed.
Professor Vectra stood beside a short stool and, after the Sorting Hat had finished its start-of-term song, said, "When I call your name, you will come forward, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head and he will sort you into your houses."
Patiently, Addison waited as name after name was called. Finally, she heard, "Addison Malfoy, please."
Instantly, she heard a hum of murmurs and whispers racing through the room. She looked around, trying to see what all of the fuss was about.
"Miss Malfoy, if you please." Vectra called with annoyance in her tone.
"Sorry." Addison whispered as she made for the small stool. As she took her seat, she could see hundreds of eyes starring at her from the tables. She felt the hat rest on her head and then heard its voice.
"Mmm..." He hummed. "Well, well. Shy, highly intelligent, and a Seer!" The voice echoed in her head. "Now, where do you belong, my dear?" Addison sat, her mind racing. "I know!" and then the voice cried aloud, "RAVENCLAW!"
An uneasy round of applause rose from the table to the far left.
On shaking legs, Addison rose and walked to the Ravenclaw table to join the throng of blue-hooded students.
After the last name had been called, the feast had been eaten, and last announcements had been made, McGonagall instructed the house prefects to direct all first-years to the dormitories. The brief tour had passed by Addison in a blur and she found herself sitting on her bed, resting her chin on her raised knees as she had been on the train. Silently, she longed to see Ethan again. His warm smile had made her feel strangely at ease; as if his very presence had made the agony of homesickness bearable.
Unable to relax, Addison pulled out a small sheet of parchment and wrote a short letter to her family by the dim moonlight which swam in through the tall window beside her bed. She wrote them of how beautiful the school was. How she'd been sorted into Ravenclaw and the rousing cheer that erupted from the table. She had never been a very good liar and so she was hoping that in writing she could be more convincing. She looked down at the small clock on her bed-side table. The dark green numbers read "1:37" and she knew if she didn't fall asleep soon, she would be the walking dead all day tomorrow; not the best first impression for her professors. She folded the parchment into thirds and tossed it into the drawer of her nightstand to send off the following day.
"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ nor no man ever loved."
~William Shakespeare
Sonnet 116
For ten weeks, Addison felt empty. Her classes were highly enjoyable and she lived for those brief hours when she would be able to simply sit in class and focus only on learning. As the daughter of the legendary Hermione Granger, Addison could sense the pressure to excel academically. Luckily, that had never been a problem for her. Along with her strong memory and love of learning, both of her parents had always stressed the importance of good grades.
At the end of the day, however, she found herself sitting in the elegant common room alone whilst the other students either stared at her or ignored her very existence. She did not know what it was about her that had made the rest of her classmates avoid her but, whatever it was, it had worked. Every once in a while, Ethan would wander over to her during dinner for a short "hello" and then would return to his table. She tried to smile and not let the agony of her isolation show but, not being privy to a reason for the shunning, it proved a painstakingly difficult task. No one even knew she was a Seer yet! She hadn't had a vision since before she left for Hogwarts!
Despite the exquisite loneliness, she could not bring herself to tell her parents. She was still hoping that things would get better with time. After all, if she just waited one year, her 'cousin' James would be coming to the school. He would most likely be put into Gryffindor like his parents, but at least she would have someone she knew nearby.
Some evenings, while everyone was in their dorms studying, she would wander down to Hagrid's hut and share a cup of tea with him. She made a point to ensure she only drank half of the massive mug's contents. If she drank all of it, she would never get to sleep with that much sugar and caffeine in her system.
One cold November evening, as she sat eating her dinner, she looked down the table at the other Ravenclaws, hoping that someone might speak to her if she tried. The closest person to her was a third-year girl sitting across the table from her with a long blonde plait draped over her shoulder. The girl's eyes caught Addison's and as Addison tried to smile and open her mouth to speak, the blonde turned away and started up a conversation with the boy beside her. Struck and emotionally injured, she turned her eyes back to her dinner. Before McGonagall had excused them all, Addison rose from the teak table and made her way towards Ravenclaw Tower. As she walked out of the Great Hall, she didn't see Ethan try to follow her, losing her in a crowd of Quidditch enthusiasts babbling on about the recent match.
That night, after all the other students were asleep and the first snows of winter began to fall, she slipped silently out of her dormitory into the empty halls. Wrapped in a black cloak her mother had sent her away with, she wandered off into the darkness, her bare feet patting softly on the stone floor. Once outside the castle, she sat alone against a mangled tree beside a wide tower base as snow drifted down from the bright white clouds. Not moments after settling into her place, was she sobbing, the aching sadness and pain shaking her body violently. Her father had promised her that it would be the best time of her life and Ethan had promised that it got easier after a month or so. If that were true, what was wrong with her? What made her so repellant that her classmates couldn't stand to be around her? As she pondered this question, a new wave of despair hit her, forcing new stinging tears to her eyes.
"Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me."
~Anonymous
She awoke to the sound of her name being shouted from a distance. Her lips felt numb and every muscle in her body was tense. Her eyes refused to open, her only desire being to sleep.
"Addison!" She heard the voice call again, closer this time. Without moving, she shook her head.
"Addison!" The voice was now beside her, as far as she could tell, and their tone was laced with fear. "Addison, can you hear me?" The voice was becoming familiar.
Slightly annoyed at her sleep being interrupted, she forced her eyes to open. The heavy lids lifted only enough to let a sliver of light in. That was enough for her to realize where the voice had come from. Ethan's face blurred into her vision.
"Addison! Can you hear me?" He called again. She tried to nod, but her stiff body seemed petrified against the cold ground. "Please, Addison, look at me!" She tried to speak, but the most she could manage was a soft moan from behind closed lips and clenched teeth.
"Oh God, stay with me, Addison." He pleaded as she felt her body rising off of the hard ground. Faintly, she could tell she was moving but not by any effort on her part. She could feel a warm sensation spread slowly from her left side. She could hear Ethan speaking to her but, as much as she might have wanted to, she could not force her lips to move. As the warm sensation spread, she felt her body begin to shake and now could recognize how cold she really was. Soon, she heard him calling to someone from down the hall. After that, a flurry of commotion rang in her ears.
"I was taking my morning run and I found her in the snow. I don't know how long she'd been out there." Ethan explained to someone. She felt herself being set down on a firm mattress and Ethan's arms slipped out from beneath her. With all the strength she could muster, she reached stiffly out to, hopefully, catch his arm. The movement made blood rush to her fingertips and the resulting surge of fluid made her hand throb with pain. The tip of her middle-finger stung sightly more than the others and she hoped that meant she'd managed to touch him at all.
With surprise in his voice, she heard him speak again. "Addison?" Her lips quaked slightly, but no sound followed. "Addison, I'm right here." The pain in her hand rose up again, but, to her, that meant he wasn't going anywhere.
"Is there anything I can do?" he asked someone.
A female voice answered him, "It might be easier to raise her body temperature if you could hold her. Try and warm her as much as possible as I try to get these wet clothes off of her." Her shaking body was lifted slightly and the sharp stinging feeling seemed to spread from her shoulder to the whole of her back. After the tingling pain died down, she felt herself leaning against something soft and she was sitting up.
"Keep talking to her." The female voice spoke hurriedly.
"Addison?" Ethan's voice rang in her ears from behind her. "I'm right here with you. You've just got to hold on, okay? Keep awake, Add."
She mumbled softly, "So tired."
A gasp caught in his chest and she felt him rub her left arm vigorously, "I know you're tired. You've just got to stay with me for a little while longer."
Staying with Ethan a little while longer was something she could manage but the memories of her time away from her family made her slightly reluctant to return to the emptiness the ancient school had left her with.
She groaned, her lips quivering softly.
"What?" Ethan whispered softly in her ear.
"Stay." She said slightly louder.
"I'm not going anywhere." He promised. "Talk to me, Add. Talk to me."
Her eyes drifted closed as her fragile energy quickly faded.
She felt Ethan hold her face between his hands, her head lolling back. "Addison!" His voice became more frantic. "Please, look at me. Open your eyes and look at me."
Reluctantly, her heavy violet lids lifted open, revealing her eyes, soft and silver.
"That's it." He called, rubbing her cheek with his thumb. "Come on, stay with me."
Addison forced herself to look up into his frightened green eyes.
"Ethan." She mumbled.
He smiled down at her. "Yeah, I'm right here." He slid his left hand to the back of her neck, keeping her head steady, while he wrapped his right around her. It was then that she realized that she wasn't wearing a shirt anymore. If her blood had been pumping properly, she would have been blushing a deep crimson by now. He pulled her body as close to his own as possible, rubbing the exposed pale flesh of her back.
"Here," The female voice returned, "Wrap this around her." Addison felt something soft envelope her upper body. Once what she assumed was a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, she felt Ethan resume rubbing her back and trying elicit a conversation with her.
"Addison darlin'," The woman spoke softly. "I need you to drink this." Addison felt her lips part slightly and then a hot, lemony liquid splashed across her tongue and scorched down her dry throat. She felt the heat from the mixture flow from her mouth to her throat to her stomach.
"Good girl." The female voice cooed, and Addison heard her footsteps retreating.
"Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,"
~William Butler Yeats
Hours seemed to pass as Addison felt her body temperature return to normal. Twice the woman, who turned out to be the young healer, Robyn Leaper, told Ethan to go to class, but each time, Addison would grip onto him more firmly and turn her body as much as she could into his chest until Leaper had them both excused from classes for the day.
Once her body was warm enough, she opened her eyes and, despite feeling slightly dizzy and knowing she would likely be staying in the hospital for a few days more, she smiled, seeing Ethan's sleeping face beside her own, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. Slightly embarrassed from still being essentially naked, though wrapped in a thick quilt, Addison felt blood rushing softly into her cheeks.
Ethan gently stirred and opened his eyes, quickly looking down with a slightly panicked glimmer in his emerald orbs. Seeing her looking back up at him with palely flushed cheeks, he smiled with a relieved sigh.
"God, Addison. You scared the hell out of me." His nervous grin spread across his face. "Are you alright?"
Addison nodded twice and then returned a smile. "You?"
He chuckled softly. "I'm good. Especially now that you're awake."
She looked down at her hands, still clinging to his slender arm which wound around her abdomen. For once, Addison was grateful for her father's insistence on a daily run early in the morning with the family; her small frame was thin and slightly toned. If she HAD to be seen partially naked, at least she wasn't ashamed of the image.
They sat there for a few minutes, not noting the essentially intimate position they held. Quietly, Madame Leaper walked back into the room, her young face soft with concern.
"Aww! You're awake!" She called as she skipped to the side of the bed. "How are you feeling, Love?"
"I'm a little dizzy." She admitted sheepishly. "... and a little hungry."
Ethan and Madame Leaper chuckled in unison.
"I'll be right back with some food for you both." The tall woman smiled. Her willowy frame and flowing black hair made her seem elegant and timeless standing in the middle of the stone room. Her dark blue eyes looked brightly down at Addison, "You've a good friend there," She said, nodding toward Ethan, "He hasn't let go of you since he brought you in here." She smiled at the two teenagers as she spun around and danced out the door to fetch them some dinner.
"What time is it?" Addison asked groggily.
The young man holding her chuckled. "About 4:30."
Her eyes grew wide. "In the EVENING?"
He smiled, the left corner of his mouth pulling up slightly, "Yup."
Appalled with how long she'd slept, no matter the excuse, she groaned and dropped her head against his chest. It was then that she recognized their close proximity and how this would look if her parents could see her now. She sat up with a start and tried to be more properly spaced from him, but the dizziness she'd been ignoring hit her again, making her head swim. As she began to lean off the bed, Ethan's arms wrapped around her again, pulling her back against his chest.
"Whoa! Easy, Add. You alright?" He asked frantically, worried that she was worse than she was letting on.
She held the side of her head, a throbbing pain pounding at her temples. "Yeah. I just have to be careful of sudden movements."
"Let me see." He placed his hands on either side of her face, making her look at him. "My mum's a doctor." He stated reassuringly. Green stared into silver. He watched her eyes intently. "You look okay." He rubbed along her cheek bone with his thumb. "Add, why were you out there?"
Ashamed and embarrassed, she looked back down at her hands. "I..." She tried to decide the best way to explain her night of tears and depression in a way that didn't sound self-pitying; which it had been. She lowered her head and a few soft chocolate curls fell in front of her face.
He brushed the stray twists behind her ear, his fingertips dusting across her cheekbone, "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to..." Ethan spoke softly, sensing this was a hard thing for her to say, "But you can trust me."
Those simple words struck her and an instant flood of tears erupted from her eyes. She collapsed into his chest and she felt his arms coil around her again as she sobbed. While he didn't know what to do when someone cried around him, all he could think to do was hold her as close as possible and hope that that was enough.
"You learn to like someone when you find out what makes them laugh, but you
can never truly love someone until you find out what makes them cry."
~Anonymous
For the next three days, as the consequence of her night of depression was a wicked case of pneumonia, Ethan spent all of his spare time in the hospital wing, talking with her, playing games with her, or simply holding her as fever tremors wracked her body. The fourth night, she sat with Ethan while he worked on his dorm-work with her and Madame Leaper walked into the room, a chart in her hand.
"Well, M'dear," The lovely Irish woman smiled down at her. "By morning, you should be fine. You'll be able to resume your classes."
As pleased as she was to be freed from this state of idle-ness, which she had always detested, she was also not looking forward to being stuck in that Common room again, night after night, being shunned by all those around her.
Sensing her apprehension, Leaper returned to her office around the corner to give the two teenagers a bit of privacy.
"Add?" Ethan whispered, taking her hand in his, "What's wrong?"
The embarrassment was plainly scrawled across her face. He folded up the books and parchment and sat beside her on the stiff mattress. Gently, he wrapped an arm around her tense shoulders.
"Add," He carefully lifted her chin to look up at him, "Please tell me."
His green eyes seemed to melt as he looked into her's. "I don't understand..." She moaned. After a quizzical look from him, she continued, "At the sorting ceremony, when my name was called, everyone in the room seemed to shutter and look at me suddenly like I was somehow... dangerous."
Ethan's eyes closed and he sighed sadly, "It's your last name, Add."
With a question in her eyes, he clarified. "Malfoy."
She was puzzled. "What about it?"
He looked down at her, "Haven't your parents told you about the war?"
"Of course. My mother is Hermione Granger, who fought off Bellatrix Lestrange, and my father is Draco Malfoy, who fought off and killed an old friend to save my mother." She didn't understand what any of this had to do with her name.
Ethan looked down at her, confused. "Really?"
"Yes, but what does this have to do with anything?" She was beginning to become frustrated.
"I-I'm sorry, Add. But, I always heard that Hermione Granger had married Draco Malfoy; a Death-Eater who had run off to the muggle world out of fear."
For the first time, she was angry at him. Pushing herself away from him, she cried, "My father nearly DIED fighting with Dumbledore's Army! How could you say something like that?"
Ethan retreated, sliding off the cot, "Addison, I'm sorry. I didn't kn-"
"How could people think that about MY father?"
Madame Leaper rushed into the room, "What's goin' on in here?" She looked confused as she examined the looks on their faces; his: regretful and apologetic and her's: angry and threatening. "Ms. Malfoy, what happened?"
"It was my fault, Madame Leaper." Ethan turned to her, his face mournful. "I was misinformed." He turned to Addison, sitting defensively on the low mattress, "I'm really sorry..." Quietly, he leaned forward to pick up his books and various sheets of parchment.
Realizing he was leaving, she suddenly regretted her outburst. "Ethan, I'm sorry!" She cried, reaching for his arm. "I was just so shocked, I didn't know what to think or how to react." His dark brown curls hung slightly in front of his eyes. "Please, don't leave." She pleaded softly.
He looked back at her, pain evident in his eyes; but not pain at what she'd said, but regret at upsetting her. He sat back down into his chair beside her. She took his hand in hers.
After a long moment of silence and Leaper having made her exit, Addison said softly with an apologetic grin, "Could you show me how to do that charm again?"
He looked back up at her, a small smile flashing on his features, before he returned to demonstrating the spell he'd learned in his last hour, his movements sluggish.
"Then give me leave to love, & love me too
Not with designe
To raise, as Loves curst Rebels doe,
When puling Poets whine,
Fame to their beauty, from their blubbr'd eyn."
~Thomas Carew
The next four weeks passed slowly. As if it wasn't bad enough before, now that she'd been in the hospital for a few days, she had become suddenly the talk of the school. During breaks, and on the weekends, Ethan and Addison would sit, doing work or talking. In these talks, she'd sheepishly asked him to tell her what the Wizarding World really thought of her father. The young man was reluctant at first, fearing the reaction she'd had in the hospital, but she promised that she wouldn't get angry at him.
To most of the Wizard World, he told her, the name "Malfoy" had become synonymous with Death-Eaters and 'Pure-Blood' maniacs. No one ever spoke of this openly, as the heir to the Malfoy fortune had disappeared from this world, leaving the question of who the money and Manor belonged to. Now, Addison having come to Hogwarts, this small world of theirs was abuzz with gossip.
"I'm so sorry, Addison, I should have told you sooner, but I thought you knew."
"No, no. It's okay. I just... I suppose I had never thought about it before." She sat, puzzled. "What does Harry say when people talk about it?" The thought that her Uncle Harry would allow such rumors to be spread about her father was incomprehensible.
"Harry?" Ethan thought for a moment, "Oh! Harry Potter? Oh, no one talks to him about the war. He's always off, catching dark wizards so most people don't even see him anymore." He shrugged.
Every day, she felt herself becoming more and more attached to him. His light laugh, their physical ease around each other and his generally positive energy. Nothing seemed to be forced with him. As shy as she was, she never once felt the need to hide who she was.
The first day of the Christmas holiday came around and everyone was furiously packing and preparing for the two week break. Addison had been packed since she was released from the hospital wing so she was the first down to the Hogsmeade platform and, thus, first on the train. She took her seat inside a small compartment near the front of the train. Sitting in silence, she watched the other students rushing onto the platform, dashing to find a good spot for the all-day trip. Several students peered inside her cabin and, upon spying it's only occupant, moved on to the next. She was beginning to get used to the rejection from the other students. She was becoming empty... hollow... numb. The only things that kept her from completely breaking were her parents' constant letters and her time spent with Ethan.
Almost on cue, Addison felt the pressure of someone taking a seat beside her. Not needing to look to know who it was, she leaned her head against Ethan's shoulder.
"I'm so ready to go home." She sighed.
Her mood had been deteriorating quickly over the last few weeks and Ethan was becoming increasingly worried about her. He wound a protective arm around her shoulder, pulling her in as the train lurched to life, pouring a black tower of smoke from the chimney.
As they sat, watching the Scottish landscape fly past them, Ethan could sense her distance.
"Addison?" He whispered cautiously. She turned her slate gray eyes up to look at him. "Talk to me." He pleaded.
She simply sat there, looking into his deep green eyes. As vacant as she could feel herself becoming, she seemed to melt every time he looked at her like that. His liquid green irises seemed to smolder, warming her from her head to her toes. His arm wrapped protectively around her narrow shoulders made her feel safe, like when her Father had held her after she'd had a nightmare. Nothing could harm her while she had him near.
"Addison?"
She rested her head on his shoulder and gently closed her eyes. "I just want to stay like this for a while." Her quiet voice hummed, her breath caressing the flesh of his neck. To hell with the other students, She thought to herself. As long as I have Ethan, I can do this. He wrapped his free arm around her core, holding her against his chest. The train rocked and jostled but they ignored it until a soft rapping came at the door to their compartment.
The pair looked up to see an embarrassed looking Hufflepuff standing behind the glass. They nodded for her to come in. The timid looking girl stepped in and slid the door back slowly.
"I'm sorry," Her voice was nearly a whisper. "But everywhere else is full... do you mind if..."
"No, not at all, Liz." Ethan smiled at the small girl. "Add, this is Elizabeth Flynn. She's a second-year Hufflepuff, like me. And, Liz, this is Addison Malfoy. A very good friend of mine." As he spoke her name, Addison saw the left corner of his full lips pull up slightly.
Liz nodded to her with an uneasy smile. "Nice to meet you." She said, nodding at Addison.
Addison reached an arm out to shake the girl's hand. The girl smiled broadly as she took her outstretched hand.
"I've actually been hoping to meet you, Addison." The girl admitted softly.
This caught Addison by surprise. "Oh?"
"My uncle fought with your parents in the war. He's been trying to get people to stop spreading those rumors about your dad ever since."
Ethan smiled down at the girl in his arms.
Slightly stunned, Addison smiled. "Thanks."
As the train steamed toward London, Addison and her companions fell into light conversation and jokes. She had not felt this at ease with anyone other than Ethan since she'd left home. Liz was the niece of Terry Boot, former member of Dumbledore's Army. Her pale blue eyes and fair skin were off-set by the deep red hair which framed her slender face, cutting off at her chin. Her voice had a bright tone to it like crystal. When Addison mentioned this, she laughed, the note reminding Addison of the twinkling of icicles shivering on the branches of a tree.
"Yeah, my friends back home call me 'Tink.' You know, Tinkerbell?" She clarified. "My mum calls me her little pixie-child."
The three friends laughed together, Ethan noting that he hadn't heard Addison laugh in over a month.
The train pulled into the station just as the moon rose over the wintery landscape. Addison could see her mother and father waving wildly as her window passed them, flanked by her siblings. After grathering her bags, she was stunned as Liz wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug before she dashed out the door, calling, "See you in two weeks!" over her shoulder.
Ethan chuckled watching the fairy-girl fly off. "I kind of hoped you two would get on."
"You planned this?" She looked up at him, puzzled.
"Well, I hoped you'd get to meet, I didn't necessarily expect it would be on the train." He chuckled. "Well, I've got to go. Dad's waiting."
A sudden ache filled the pit of her stomach. Two weeks without seeing him. A tear began to well up in her eye.
Quickly wiping away the salty droplet, Ethan pulled her in close for a fierce embrace. "Don't cry, Add. It's only gonna be two weeks." She felt a slight pressure on the top of her head- his lips? "I'll write to you." Her fingers gripped the fabric of his navy blue t-shirt, fearing letting go. "I promise."
"Thank you for reading. I DEEPLY appreciate when people send me notes or reviews of any kind. I love you all very much for your support and I hope to continue to provide worlds for you to enjoy spending time in."
~SBE