Cara only notice that there was a couple on the train arguing when she saw Connor staring at them. They were arguing about which of their two children should sit by the window. The woman thought the boy should, and the man thought the girl should. The two children were bickering and pulling at each other's hair, tugging on ears and crying when it got a bit too much for them.
Usually, she'd probably nudge him and tell him to stop staring, no matter the slandering she'd get for touching him, but the look in his eyes made her turn back to the scenery outside, pulling her hat further down on her head.
Ma and Da had insisted she take Connor to Kings Cross, but Cara knew Connor would absolutely refuse to go and would end up visiting Aunt Carol – who adored Connor, and despised Caroline, despise her being the one named after the cow. She was pleased everybody knew her as Cara, or Sparks.
Rowley meowed from inside his carrier, licking her ankle with his rough tongue. It was a bit weird.
Connor was plugged into his portable CD player that he got for his birthday, avoiding her eyes by staring out of the window. She took his attitude in stride and pointedly ignored him as well, she didn't even want him coming with her, she'd much have preferred Da and Ma instead.
They had to switch from Totenham Hale to Victoria Line to get to Kings Cross, which Connor managed to whinge about, almost losing his ticket amongst the rush of the Londoner's.
"It's not this bloody busy in Enfield." He grumbled.
"This is a fucking city." She replied, earning herself a snarl from the thirteen-year-old. They'd ignored each other for the rest of the journey, he sometimes pushed her hard enough to stumble and she felt tempted to punch the bugger in the jaw, but she knew Ma wouldn't be happy so she went for subtle tripping which had him falling on his face a few times.
When they arrived to Kings Cross, she stopped, placed her cases on the ground where she could see them and turned to Connor, handing him a twenty quid note "What for?" He asked, voice confused.
"Go entertain yourself, idiot." She told him, rolling her eyes "So you don't have to come with me. Or go to Aunt Carol's, I don't care."
He puffed his chest out, indignant and marched forwards into Kings cross, fast enough for her to lose sight of him quickly. Cara gathered her cases and ran after him angrily, heaving her suitcases onto a trolley and panting by the time she reached the platform between 9 and 10. Rowley was losing it when she arrived, wanting to be freed from his prison that made him dizzy.
"Connor?" She called, cupping her mouth, ignoring the irritated glances from strangers "Connor, where the fuck are you?"
"Here." He said, slapping her on the back of the head "Chill out, jesus."
"If you get lost, I'll be the one getting in trouble for it." She told him, massaging the back of her head then pushing him backwards so she could wheel her trolley back "Don't be a coward." She told him.
"What the hell does that mean-" She didn't let him finish, and they're both sprinting towards the wall before them, Rowley screeching in his carrier, Connor squawking and trying to back away and Cara, pushing forwards because there was nothing else to do but that.
And finally, they arrived to Platform 9 ¾ , she allowed one of the conductor's to take her trolley to pack away for the journey and waited patiently for her to let Rowley from his carrier to climb onto her shoulders.
"Cheers." She smiled at him when he nodded towards her. "There you go, Connor. Are you happy now?" She turned to her brother, and paused. His face was pallid, eyes wide and mouth slightly open; Cara had to admit, seeing him so openly troubled worried her. "Uh, Con, you alright-"
"This is so unfair." He muttered, gripping his hands into fists at his side, voice thick with something akin to anguish.
"You're the one who waltzed in here like you knew what was waiting for you!" Cara exclaimed, furrowing her brows.
He turned to her sharply, and she was shocked to find his eyes glassy with tears "You should have stopped me!" He yelled, raising his hands as it to attack her, but she quickly grabbed his wrists as Rowley jumped from her shoulders with a hiss. He turned on her, poking her on the chest accusingly "You should've known."
"Connor." She hissed "Stop it."
"You took this from me!"
"I didn't take anything from you!" She said lowly to him, still holding his wriggling arms.
"You took everything from me." He said shakily, then tore himself from her grip and marched off down the platform with his head pushed low to his chest. Cara felt her teeth chip from how hard she was gritting her teeth, and quickly picked up Rowley from where he was licking his arm and held him to her chest, wanting to run after Connor. Whether it was to comfort him or dropkick him, she didn't fucking know.
Someone whistled from behind her, earning a meek glare over her shoulder. Angelina stood, hands on hips with her lips pursed "Damn. He was not happy." She stated.
A rush of irritation sparked down Cara's spine as she stormed past the girl "Was it noticeable, Johnson?" She snapped and walked onto the train, only having the sixth year follow her on and into the same compartment, plonking down onto the seat opposite, arms crossed.
"Bit sour, eh, Sparks." Angelina mocked.
She deflated in the seat "It's really not a good time, sugar plumb." Cara groaned, falling forwards to cradle her head in her arms, trying to ignore how her eyes moistened. She felt a hand on her hair, carding through her hair comfortingly. Angelina sure could piss her off sometimes, but she could soothe her too. But she couldn't stop remembering Connor's words over and over and over.
'You took everything from me.'
Did she?
Did Cara really ruin her brother's life?
"Oi, whatever you're thinking, I bet it's dumb." Angelina warned from above her. "I'll find Thompson."
Her head shot up "Merlin, don't!" She groaned "He'll just fucking coddle me, try to feed me those horrible pasty's that Cho likes."
"Relationship going strong then." Angelina smirked.
"Bugger off. What about yours then? Which one'll you have this year, Fred or George?" Angelina stuck her middle finger at her.
"That was once. I was pissed. Get over it." Angelina said "Me and Fred, I dunno, I guess we're on rocky ground. But still, you daren't disrespect me, I'm a prefect." She pointed to the Gryffindor prefect badge with something akin to smugness that made Cara want to throw up.
"You can give me detention!" Cara exclaimed in horror.
"I can give you detention." Angelina's eyes glinted "I can take house points too."
'You took everything from me.'
The humour faded in an instant and she found herself gritting her teeth, staring at a mark on the glass, only jolting from her daze when Rowley hissed when she stopped stroking him.
"Who was that?" Angelina finally asked, watching as the girl cradled her head in her arms once more. It seemed to be somewhat of a comforting gesture for herself. "That boy you were arguing with."
"He's my brother." She replied thickly.
"Oh! I've never seen him before! Is he one of the younger years?" Angelina asked, but trailed off at how Cara's shoulders began to tremble. Had she spoken out of line?
The compartment doors slid open, and the twins and Lee Jordan peaked in with grinning faces which fell incredibly fast at the sight before them. "Not now." She snapped at them immediately, watching Cara with a sullen expression. "Not now." She said, softer.
They didn't move, looking a bit like deer in headlights. Frozen, as if one wrong move will get them killed. Perhaps they'd over-stayed there welcome, as Cara lifted her head and glared at them with red-rimmed eyes and with a sharp snap of her wand, shot them from the compartment with harsh flick of her wand and slammed the door closed once more.
All fight left her the minute they did, and she slumped backwards "Sorry." She coughed "That's your boyfriend I just attacked."
"Well, they should've fucked off when I told them to." Angelina grinned at her, and started a conversation about the upcoming quidditch games. Whilst Cara didn't play Quidditch as a sport, she flew as a hobby; so of course, she enjoyed watching them all on the field.
Angelina didn't stop in her ranting when she saw Cara wipe at her eyes with her sleeves. She didn't comment, she didn't ask, she just left it and Cara was grateful.
"Anything from the trolley dears?" The tea-trolley woman poked her head in with a kind smile.
"A cauldron cake please. Oh, and two chocolate frogs." Angelina quickly said, handing the money over and throwing the chocolate frogs at Cara, who didn't manage to catch them.
"I got two Dumbledore's." Cara told her, watching as the old headmaster smiled, eyes twinkling like he knew lots that others didn't – because he did - and then waltzed away.
"Add that to the hundred at home." Angelina smirked, taking a bit of her cauldron cake.
"Thanks, sugar plumb." Cara said.
"No problem, buttercup." Angelina replied with a wide, genuine grin stretched on her face "Now, eat your frog."
"Still feels as wrong as it did the first time I had one. Like I'm swallowing nature." Cara commented, biting into the leg of the frog and savouring the chocolate melting on her tongue whilst Angelina choked on her cake, snorting about 'swallowing nature.'
Cara would lie and say she felt bad keeping Angelina away from her 'on rocky ground' boyfriend, his clone and their tarantula-carrying pet, Jordan. Alicia and Katie too, but really, Cara didn't give a single shit. Angelina was hers for the train journey, and the carriage ride to the castle.
They did end up sharing a carriage, with Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell as well though. Cara didn't hold any animosity towards them, but she wasn't really friends with them like she was with Angelina.
The Weasley Twins and Jordan tried to get on with them first, pushing and shoving whilst Cara and Angelina watched in disdain until they just moved away to another carriage and got on that one instead.
"We…We saw what happened on the platform. You okay, Cara?" Alicia asked, her voice soft and gentle, dripping with pity. It felt like an adder had wrapped around her neck, cutting of her breath.
"Always." She replied.
"You can be honest with us, we're mates." Katie Bell told her with a nod and a grin. All Cara could think was 'when was this confirmed?' Though, she appreciated all the concern, she wasn't the one in pain here.
Connor deserved this.
Maybe more than Cara did.
"Course." She replied airily.
Conversation was casual for the remainder of the journey, she ended up whistling a chipper tune whilst peering out of the window, laughter completely ruining it when she saw that Spinnet was bobbing her head along to the tune.
"What was that?" Katie asked.
"Bobby Caldwell. What You Won't do for Love." She told her.
"Is it a muggle song?" Alicia sounded intrigued "You'll have to sing it to us sometime, eh, Sparky?"
"That fucking nickname again, I swear to Merlin." The girls broke into cackling laughter that made her ears ring, but it was far more welcome than the other thoughts lingering in her mind, so she merely laughed with them until her heart soared.
oOo
The Triwizard Tournament seriously put Cara on edge. It was a Very - with a capital V - dangerous competition that was built up of three HUGELY DANGEROUS contests. Yet, they allowed teenagers to take part in them. She didn't see the logic in it whatsoever, but she had no right to speak against it, not when the filthy ministry (quoting Da, of course) had agreed for it to take place in Hogwarts, with Beauxbaton and Durmstrang alongside them. Three's a crowd, Ma always did say.
It was 1:32AM when Cara awoke from an uneasy slumber. She peered up at the neon green numbers hovering above the tip of her wand for what could have been minutes, hours even before closing her eyes again, pressing her clammy face into her soaked pillow. Since she'd went to bed, she had been toiling in the duvet, stomach rolling as the previous day's events made her truly feel sick to her stomach. Cara had been afraid that she'd throw her dinner up but fortunately, fell asleep on that thought.
Cara thought back on the day before, on how reuniting with Luna was one of the greater things in life. Of course, they'd hung out during the summer but Luna was busy helping with her father's newspaper and Cara had a part-time job when school was out. Luna prattled on about everything and anything that came to mind and managed to make it all sound like somethin she felt she needed to remember forever.
"Your aura's a bit sickly, Cara." Luna always pronounced her name Kah-ra, when everybody else said Kar-rah. She didn't really know how it was supposed to be pronounced, but she liked both ways so it didn't really matter. "Eat some liquorice. It'll brighten it right up."
Reuniting with Daniel Thompson was good but not great, necessarily. He'd pressed against her side, kissed her cheek and tried to feed her a pasty at the dinner table. There was no denying that he was a good guy, but he fancied Cho – not that the bugger had any chance, what with both Cedric Diggory AND Harry Potter fancying her too. Poor sod was stuck with little, old Cara Sparks.
Daniel was a sixth year, and dedicated his studies to Potions; trying to get on Snape's good side with little progress. He had short, shaggy golden hair and a warm, freckled face; some described him as a sun god but a bit more anti-climactic.
"I missed you, y'know." He told her when they were sitting together by the fire, Luna playing cards with three other Ravenclaw's at their feet.
"Did you now?" She replied.
"Yeah! It's a relief having you constantly fidgeting beside me again." He grinned cheekily, and pulled her closer. She'd almost fallen asleep there, cheek pressed against his shoulder but was crudely awoken by the anti-climactic sun god himself carrying her to bed.
"Sleep well." He kissed her forehead and ducked out of the dorm. Part of Cara wished he did fancy her instead of Cho, then maybe she could put everything she wanted into their sort-of relationship instead of giving up what she was willing for someone who would never be hers.
Cara had shot a hand out as some sort of wave goodnight, then promptly rolled onto her stomach and fell asleep. Her dreams were empty, hollow with the promise of no chance of remembering them, but she awoke troubled, stomach toiled with nausea. Rowley purred from beside her face, and kitten-licked her nose.
She blamed Connor for this, and a part of her hated herself for thinking it. But she did. Cara hated him for making her feel like this.
But she understood why.
She could hear the sound of rain pattering on the roof, telling her of the heavy storm that brewed whilst they slept and tempting her from her boiling bed. She put her slippers on, pulling a cardigan over her shorts and t-shirt, shoving her cigarettes and lighter into her pocket, wand in her sleeve and Rowley resting half-asleep on her shoulders before slipping from the dorm, into the common room and out into the dark corridors of the castle.
Cara quite liked venturing out after curfew. The paintings preferred to hold conversations without children eavesdropping, so the corridors were filled with soft, whispers and murmurs as some conversed. Of course, some paintings preferred to visit their sweethearts and got up to friskier business after dark, some hissed at her to get back to bed, some queried about her destination and other's smiled as if they knew something she didn't.
A peasant renaissance man wearing blue robes leant over, a pink rose held in his outstretched hand "It's an Eglantine rose." He told her "Should you not be in bed, young'un?"
"Duh." She said "You shouldn't be offering flowers to strangers." The man then said something about never offering his flower to anybody as it was his and then called himself a selfish but human man, before Cara trekked further away with meowing lowly as she made her way to the astronomy tower. She didn't dwell on what the man said, deeming it unimportant.
"It's nice, right, Rowley?" She smiled, and settled down under the moonlight, ignoring how soaked her arse would be afterwards, and lit a cigarette that rested between her lips. "How do I do it? How can I involve him without it seeming like I'm bragging about something he can never have?"
Rowley purred under her bent knee, taking cover. She took out her wand, and watched the clear, wobbly umbrella bloom from the tip and rested it on the ground so Rowley could be covered. He purred appreciatively.
She could see Ursa Major from here, the stars beautifully stark against the night sky. Usually, she thought that it was difficult to see the stars during the rain but despite the rainfall, the stars were clear. Cara pointed each constellation out to Rowley when she spotted them, as if the cat could really give a shit. Soon, he fell asleep under the protection of the umbrella and snoozed happily with his face pressed to her thigh.
The rain died down enough for her to reclaim her wand from the dozing cat, and consider for a second to cast a drying charm on her ruined cardigan and dripping wet hair, but instead a gentle trickle of light softly left the tip of her wand, a small butterfly blooming in the darkness and fluttering around her head and toiling around nearby, as if curious.
Cara inhaled as she watched it, exhaling with a new-found peace that overcame her. Something about the gentle flapping of the creature's wings settled her worries and nerves about her brother.
She was sort of like a moth to flame, or a cat to a laser; very easily distracted, eyes glued to the butterfly in the night that she didn't hear the footsteps slowly approaching from behind her. So distracted in fact, that when the source of the footsteps reached out and touched her shoulder, she lurched her from her daze, leapt to her feet and held the tip of her wand into the culprit's throat.
"Bloody hell!" Came the hushed chorus.
The culprits stood stock still, hands in the air with sheepish grins on their faces similar to two children who were caught with their grubby hands in the cookie jar. Of course, the two devious little bastards, up at this time probably pranking some poor, unfortunate soul; Fred and George Weasley.
