A/N: Ta da! The promised one-shot! I write absurdly slow, but I wanted to clear up some of the confusion that I'm sure exists. This is the meeting of aforementioned characters Leprechaun and Lily, on the first day of first year for the Marauders and Company. It's from the POV of another OC, Ekaterina Riddle.
Also, please review! I've had over one hundred hits on my last post, but only one review. Even if it's to tell me the story stinks, please leave feedback.
One Fateful Day
Ekaterina Riddle held onto her mother's hand tightly as they pushed through the crowds at King's Cross. It seemed as though everyone in the world wanted to get on the trains, and the small girl would have been lost in an instant if she let go of her mother. For her own part, Colleen Hannigan easily wove her way through the mass of people, aiming straight for the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
The barrier was rather unobtrusive, save for the gentle Muggle-Repelling Charms on it, so unsuspecting people wouldn't lean against the brick wall and find themselves in a place that wasn't supposed to exist. That might cause awkward questions.
But Kayda- as she liked to be called- wasn't thinking about any of that. Instead, her thoughts were on Hogwarts. Hogwarts. Even the name was intriguing, and for an eleven-year-old girl, it was full of mystery. Her mother had refused to tell her about the Sorting, resident ghosts, or even secret passageways, though she had explained a little about classes, the different Houses, and given her a map of the school.
Whatever. Kayda was just happy to get away from her home for a while. Oh, Colleen was a great mum, and they had fun together, but sometimes it got lonely. She was isolated from her classmates at primary school- accidental magic tended to get weird looks- and she had no siblings to play with or prank.
I bet I'll be in Slytherin, Kayda mused to herself as they went through the barrier. Her mother was a Slytherin in the truest sense, super-smart and cunning. Her father, from the stories anyway, had been an arrogant bastard with no regard for anyone but himself. Kayda liked to think she was more like her mother, though she'd never met her father, so she didn't have anything to compare to.
"Kayda? You still with me?" Colleen's low voice yanked her from her thoughts. They were standing on the platform amidst a crowd of people, all occupied with their own lives. Oops, she would have to pay more attention. That kind of daydreaming would get a Slytherin jinxed, by their Housemates, or by hostile outsiders.
"Sorry, Mum. I was just thinking about what school's going to be like," she replied excitedly, shaking her black hair out of her face.
"School is going to be perfect. Now, give me a hug, so you can go and get a good seat." That was as soothing as her mum ever got. But she gave great hugs: big, affectionate, I'm-never-going-to-see-you-again-so-make-the-most-of-it embraces. Kayda grinned and flung her arms about her mum's neck, resting her head on her shoulder for a minute.
"Love you, Mum," she said quietly.
"Love you, too, little lady. See you at Christmas," Mum was being affectionate today. Probably because they wouldn't see each other for three and a half months. It seemed like forever, and they hadn't even said good-bye yet.
They broke the hug almost simultaneously, though Colleen remained slightly bent, so mother and daughter could look each other in the eye. Green orbs met huge dark sapphires and they both smiled.
"I'll write to you. Every week. You have to tell me everything that happens. And tell Professor Slughorn I said 'Hello'."
"Okay."
Colleen gently touched her cheek and smoothed back an errant curl. "Alright, let's get you on the train. Do you need help with your trunk? Don't forget Mercury," she reminded Kayda, referring to her owl.
"Mum, I'm hardly likely to forget something as big as an owl. Now, my toothbrush, that I can imagine forgetting," Kayda tried to cover her nervousness with a joke. In reality, she was far too organized to forget either object.
Working together, they managed to squeeze the huge trunk through a car door and into the aisle. A final hug later, and Colleen hopped off the train, leaving Kayda to heave her belongings down the aisle and into an empty compartment.
She carefully pushed the trunk under the seat after removing The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One, and sat down neatly.
The first chapter of the book was rather boring, as it covered basic wand movements and a few comments on the nature of magic. The second chapter contained instructions on Levitation Charms, which sounded promising. Kayda began to read, and barely noticed when the train began to move.
A few minutes later, the door to the compartment opened and a boy poked his head in. "May I come in?" He asked. Kayda looked up and gasped.
He had blue markings on his face. A sun composed of a circle surrounded by little triangles, a sign of the trinity, and three more triangles that looked like claw marks. Kayda nearly refused him entrance, but good manners won out.
"Of course. Take a seat." He did. There was a pause, then she worked up the courage to ask the inevitable question. "What's with the markings?"
He grinned, distorting the blue lines. "They're tribal tattoos, so that when I die in battle, my body will be recognized." She noticed his Irish accent and guessed that he was from the south.
The boy continued speaking. "So what about you, my anonymous friend? I think you're from up north, but I can't be sure."
"You're correct. I'm from County Armagh, in Northern Ireland. You?"
"County Kerry."
Are you an O'Kennedy, by chance?" Kayda had only heard stories of the O'Kennedys, leaders of the Avalonian Knights, but she took a wild guess.
"You got it. My name is Richard, but everyone, literally everyone, calls me Leprechaun."
Kayda couldn't quite the amused giggle that slipped out. "Why?"
"I'm not sure. It's just a nickname that stuck."
"Oh, Okay. My name is Ekaterina Riddle, but if you call me anything but Kayda, I'll have to hurt you."
Leprechaun grinned and shook his red hair out of his eyes. "Right, only called Kayda. I think I can handle that. Do you have any siblings at Hogwarts?"
"No, you?"
"I'm the oldest of three. I was hoping for some good school stories, but it seems I've been foiled again. I've been asking everyone I know about the Sorting Ceremony, but they're all absurdly tight-lipped."
"My mum wouldn't tell me anything either."
"Most infuriating of them."
Kayda hmmmed a noncommittal response. Leprechaun got the hint and grabbed a book of his own, Magic and the Druids in Roman Britain. Both settled down to read and for a few minutes there was a companionable silence in the compartment.
It didn't last long.
There was a tap on the glass door. A red-haired girl poked her head in and asked, "Hey, can we join you? The idiots in our compartment are being, well, idiotic."
Kayda looked at Leprechaun, who shrugged agreeably in response. "Okay," she responded.
The girl looked relieved. "Thanks, they were really getting on my nerves. I'm Lily Evans, by the way, and this is Severus Snape," she said, gesturing to the dark boy who had followed her into the compartment. He had already changed into his school uniform, and looked kind of stringy and surly, like a plant kept in the dark.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Richard O'Kennedy, called Leprechaun, and this is Ekaterina Riddle, known only as Kayda," There was a pause until Leprechaun broke the silence.
"So did you two know each other before today?"
"Yeah, we grew up in the same town," Lily, who was sitting next to Leprechaun, seemed rather nervous.
"You're so lucky. I'm the only one my age for miles," he replied easily.
"Tell me about it. I had to go to Muggle primary school. Not fun at all," Kayda had hated that place, right down to the ugly tile on the floors.
"Oh, we didn't go to school together. Different neighborhoods," Lily replied disappointedly.
"Gotcha. Whereabouts do you live?" Leprechaun was being nosy, again.
"Near Manchester."
"Hmm. Don't know any families from that area." Did he know everyone? Though, with a family like that, Kayda would not have been terribly surprised to learn that he did, in fact, know most of British Wizarding Society. The O'Kennedys were supposedly rather aware of things like that.
"Well, my parents are Muggles, so no one knows us," Lily replied, still rather nervous. And she had a right to be. Most wizards still disliked Muggles, no matter what they said.
"My mother was Eileen Prince before she married." Kayda looked at Severus, impressed.
"No way! My mum talks about her friend Eileen, whose last name I can't remember. I wonder if it's 'Prince'. They went to school together about a hundred million years ago. Well, maybe not that long," she added with a wink. Severus smiled weakly in return.
"Small world," Leprechaun piped up.
"So what House do you think you'll be in?" Lily asked her, evidently still searching for a topic of conversation besides Leprechaun's scary tattoos.
"Slytherin, it runs in my family."
"Mine, too. But Ravenclaw would be good. Lots of smart people," Severus chimed in.
"I agree, but I'll probably be Gryffindor. It runs in my family." Kayda couldn't tell if Leprechaun was teasing or not, so she let the remark slide. Severus smirked, so she knew he had caught it.
"So, who were you two escaping?" Leprechaun asked curiously, as Kayda opened her mouth to ask that very same question.
"Some idiots called James Potter and Sirius Black. And, may I ask you, who names their kid 'Sirius'? I mean, the poor guy."
"He didn't seem to be suffering from his weird name," Severus commented darkly. As if he was one to talk. "Jerk," he mumbled. Kayda guessed that Black had insulted him.
"The Blacks would name their kid 'Sirius'. Most of the Blacks are named after constellations. Bellatrix is a seventh year, Andromeda is a fifth year, and Sirius has a brother, Regulus, who's two years younger. His father is Orion and his uncle is Cygnus. Got all that? There will be a test later." Now Leprechaun was obviously joking.
"Good God, there's more of them? Save me!" Severus moaned melodramatically.
"I for one find it interesting that he's teamed up with James Potter. That family is about as law-abiding as they come, while the Blacks… well, they're big fans of Dark Magic. They're also big supporters of that pure-blood supremacist, whats-his-name, Lord Voldemort."
"Oh, I've heard about that. He wants to kick out all the Muggle-borns," Kayda said, with a surreptitious glance at Lily, who looked surprised, then angry. She nudged Severus with her foot.
"You told me that being Muggle-born didn't matter!" She glowered at Snape, who sunk down in his seat, guiltily.
"I didn't know about this Lord Volde-thingy," he protested. Lily didn't look convinced.
"Lily, relax. He's part of a fringe movement. The chances of something actually happening are fairly low. The vast majority of the Wizarding World doesn't care if you're Muggle-born, so long as you can do the work. And if someone gives you a hard time, Snape and I can break his nose for you," Leprechaun soothed her gently, with a glance at Kayda that made her seriously uneasy.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Lily asked him.
"My father's on the Wizangamot; that's like our legislative government. He tells me about what's going on. And we hear rumors and investigate them. I know lots of stuff that the general public doesn't," he explained importantly. There is was again, that knowing glance. Kayda decided to bite the bullet and ask.
"What kind of stuff?"
"Well, ever heard of a guy called Tom Riddle?"
"He's my father."
"Did you know that's Lord Voldemort's real name?" Kayda's eyes widened.
"That's a horrible lie to tell about someone!" She stood and was about to storm out of the compartment, but Leprechaun grabbed her hand, effectively anchoring her in place. He was terribly strong for a first year.
"Wait. Why should it matter? You're his daughter, not his copy. Just because our parents are good, or bad, doesn't mean that we are automatically the same. We are what we make of ourselves."
Kayda sat back down with a sigh. "I guess you're right. It's just kind of irritating to think that my father is a monster."
"Well, like Leprechaun said, he's part of a fringe movement. No one is going to care." Lily was trying to make her feel better, and it worked, sort of.
"Okay, let's not talk about that. What a depressing way to start to the term," Kayda said, with a shaky laugh, trying to turn the topic.
It worked. The conversation changed to what to expect in classes, and their various origins were forgotten. Kayda quickly forgave Leprechaun, knowing that he didn't mean to upset her. She was also intrigued by the shock that ran through her when he grabbed her hand. The rest of the ride passed calmly, and too soon Hogwarts loomed in the distance, beckoning them to a new year.
A/N: There you go! Please review because if I think there's a lot of interest, I'll post stuff faster. If no one is reading this stuff, I won't make as much of an effort.
In case anyone cares: I realize that everyone sounds a bit grown up, and normal eleven-year-olds think of their parents as 'mom' and 'dad', not by their names, but I think they would be trying to show how grown up they are at this point. That's also why Leprechaun sounds like a bit of a jerk. He's going off to school and thinks he's a 'big man' all of a sudden, so it comes out in conversation.