Guilty Friendships & Bitter-sweet Affairs
The small girl with the bright white hair stood in the corner of the playroom. She gazed fearfully around.The room was filled with children as young as her to children of about 12. There didn't seem to be anyone older. Everyone seemed engrossed with what they were doing; reading books, playing video games or just sitting chatting. The girl felt very out of place and alone. Suddenly, a slightly taller girl with shocking red hair and curious green eyes approached her.
"Hey! You... you've not been here before huh?"
The smaller girl looked terrified and shook her head vigorously.
"Let's play!" The bigger girl took the emerald-green eyed girls hand and dragged her to a sandpit. She half-shoved her in and asked "What's your name?" When the girl didn't answer for a moment the ginger girl smiled "Well, I'm called Lunnaya. The grown-ups call me Princess."
"I'm Phoenix. My big brother...called me Nixxy." Phoenix looked so sad that Lunnaya was over come with a terrible urge to hug her. She did so, causing them both to fall into the sand.
The train steam made Lunnaya sneeze as she walked up Platform 9 ¾ with Phoenix practically hanging of her arm.
"What if, what if the letter was a mistake and they don't want me?"
"You know what the older kids say, Dumbledore doesn't make mistakes"
"What if no one likes me?"
"They will like you. Even if they don't you got me."
"What if-"
"If you say "what if" one more time, you will be riding on the train to Hogwarts!" Lunnaya cried irritably. When Phoenix didn't reply Lunnaya's face softened. "I'm scared too, you know."
Ten minutes later. After saying goodbye to the staff, Princess and Nixxy were on the Hogwarts Express. The train started to move and they still hadn't found a compartment. They wandered into the second carriage. They could hear the sounds of people laughing and chattering. They opened the door to a compartment they thought was empty.
"Hey, I think this one is..." Lunnaya stopped when she saw the sitting in the compartment.
"...and then she said..." The boy with heavy Irish accent stopped. The "empty" compartment actually had four older boys in it. They had been joking around but had abruptly stopped at the sight of Phoenix and Lunnaya. Lunnaya hesitated only a moment and then said "Oops, I'm sorry, we thought you were... someone else." she didn't get to say anymore as a sharp tug on her arm from Phoenix pulled her away.
"What?" She asked when they were a little way away.
"If I hadn't pulled you away, you would have started chatting them up!" Phoenix replied exasperated. "Look I think this ones empty." She gestured to an empty one and they both went in.
About five minutes later a tall and clearly older boy opened the compartment doors. He had platinum blond hair and striking blue eyes. "Crabbe, have you..." He trailed off when he saw the two younger girls sitting there. "Wrong compartment." He closed the door again and, with a last glance at Phoenix, disappeared.
Lunnaya grinned suddenly.
"Oh, no. Not that look. I don't like that look. That look means "I'm thinking something you won't like." So don't say it."
Lunnaya said it anyway. "He thinks you're hot."
"Who? The boy!" Phoenix cried. "You think anyone who glances at me thinks I'm hot."
"He liiikes you." Lunnaya replied extending the word 'like'. "He liiikes you. He liiiiikes you. He lii-" A sudden sound of a hand hitting a certain ginger girls head silenced the taunting.
Around six hours later after the train had pulled in and all the students were in the great hall. They were in a line waiting for the sorting hat to sort them into their respective houses. Lunnaya and Phoenix were two of the last in line.
"Lovegood, Lunnaya." Called McGonagall. A few whispers went round directed at Luna asking if they were related. Luna explained the story and everyone knew before Lunnaya had even got to the hat.
She fiddled nervously with her necklace as the Sorting Hat was placed on her head. It didn't take the hat long to decide. "Hufflepuff" it announced and Lunnaya went over to the hufflepuff table.
"Longbottom, Phoenix."
Neville looked up suddenly from the conversation he had been having with Luna. "Wha..." He looked at the girl with the bright white hair as she walked toward the hat. Something stirred in the farthest reaches of his memory. Only he didn't know what...
Phoenix sat nervously and waited for the hat to announce her house.
"hmm... Slytherin!" It said loudly.
Lunnaya and Phoenix were both struck with horror. They had never even considered the possibility that they might be in different houses. It should never have happened. They were meant to be together! But the hat had made it's decision and Phoenix could do nothing but go and sit down with the other Slytherins. The Slytherins did not seem to happy about this at all. Phoenix heard things being shouted such as "She's a Longbottom! She doesn't belong here!" and "She's called Phoenix for Merlin's sake! That's more suited to Gryffindor" the last word was said with such contempt that Phoenix looked up to see who had said it. Standing a few seats down was the platinum blond haired boy from the train. As Dumbledore uttered the last few words of his speech "...Nitwit, blubber, oddment and tweak." At lest three faces the expression of confusion and disappointment. Neville's confusion and Lunnaya and Phoenix's disappointment.
The year passed relatively quickly for both Lunnaya and Phoenix. They weren't in any of each others classes and they couldn't sit together at mealtimes. Lunnaya soon became friends with Hannah Abbot who she shared a dormitory with. Hannah introduced Lunnaya to her friends and soon Lunnaya was well-known by most of her house. Phoenix on the other hand, chose to go it alone. She knew who most people were and occasionally someone would say hello and wave but usually Phoenix was on her own. She excelled in all her classes, as did Lunnaya. What they didn't realize was the further into the year it got, the further away Lunnaya and Phoenix slipped. It got to the point eventually when even Lunnaya looked at Phoenix with the distaste she would use with any other Slytherin. Phoenix too, began to regard Lunnaya as just another weak hufflepuff. Lunnaya and Phoenix both stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas but Lunnaya spent all her time in the Common room, while Phoenix could always be found under a willow tree by the Black Lake. So, still they rarely encountered each other.
Eventually the time came when everyone had to go home for the summer holidays. The thought of going back made them both a little nervous.
On the train back just before it left Hannah, Lunnaya and Leanne were all looking for a compartment. They had lost track of Megan and Susan in the confusion of leaving on the platform.
Hannah gestured to an empty compartment and they were just about to go in when she caught a glimpse of white blonde hair.
Just twenty seconds earlier Phoenix had entered the train from a different door. She had seen Lunnaya and gone to wave when she realized how Lunnaya seemed to not care about Phoenix anymore. Phoenix realizing she didn't need Lunnaya either, turned and headed the other direction. It was just at this moment that Lunnaya had looked up and seen Phoenix not caring about her that she had turned and gone into the compartment without trying to stop Phoenix.
The summer was awkward. Lunnaya and Phoenix still shared a room. Since they hadn't spoken to each other in nearly a year, things were uncomfortable. At first the Orphanage staff tried to ask them what had happened at Hogwarts, immediately noticing the difference between the two previously inseparable girls. When questioned Phoenix simply wouldn't say, told them nothing was wrong and Lunnaya would storm off.
The rest of their summer was spent subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) avoiding each other.
With excitement in the air it wasn't long before it was time to begin their second year at Hogwarts.