-Three Years Later-
September 1, 2020. 10:50am
Arabella Dursley
"Oh would you hurry up! I would actually like to get to Hogwarts this year! You lot being slow is not helping me on my quest." I genuinely think that sometimes, my family purposely annoys me. For example, today. We have ten minutes to get onto the platform, get out things loaded onto the train and also find the rest of dad's family, BEFORE the train leaves the station. But of course, Eliza had to have a tantrum before we left home, because we left her at home with Grandma and Grandpa Dursley, mum and dad decided that it was a bad idea to bring her this year, she got lost last year after the train left. I remember mum telling me about it in a letter she wrote to me.
"Now, now, hold your horse's young lady, we still have plenty of time." Dad lightly scolded me. I rolled my eyes but decided against 'holding my horses' as advised.
"Yes sure dad, we have plenty of time for me to get onto the train for my fifth year! This year however, we have ten minutes to run through the bloody wall, get our bloody shit on the bloody train and then see the bloody family AND factor in time for something to go wrong BEFORE the bloody train leaves. So that leaves us with, oh just under three seconds to breathe!" This time is was dad's turn to roll his eyes, and my mother's turn to give me the stink eye.
"Watch the attitude young lady, otherwise you will miss the train this year." I shrugged back at her and turned around back to my trolley, having stopped at the barrier to Platform 9 and 3/4. Taking a deep breath and lining my trolley up with the wall, and started off towards it. I closed my eyes as I got closer and when I opened them again, I found that I was in what felt like a completely different place.
Kids were running around like headless chooks, mothers were sobbing and scolding their charges, trying to get them to slow down before they fell onto the tracks, fathers were standing behind their wives, allowing the smiles to flow through at their wives' ranting to their children. I scanned the crowd for my rather large paternal side of my family. They aren't too hard to find, most of them have red hair, and that means that they stand out like sore thumbs all the time, much to the humour of those around them.
By the time I had located the Weasleys and the Potters, my parents and brother had joined us. I wordlessly pointed over to the rather large group of people and started over there.
"Good Morning everyone!" I said when we arrived to the group. I was suddenly attacked by a head of red curls. Rose attacked me with a bone-crushing hug, and me being the idiot, forgot to breathe before she reached me, therefore I started to struggle with airflow after about three seconds.
"Rose…can't…airways…dying…let go…please!" I wheezed out. She released me and I took a large, though dramatic, breath in and let it out. She rolled her eyes and smiled at me all the same.
"Good to see you Bella! How was Italy? It feels like it has been ages since I have seen you! But it has actually only been three weeks, which I guess you could count as ages, since you know, it was a while ago, but even then it wasn't that long, not compared to Sammy, because you know, she went back to America for the holidays and we haven't seen her in ages. She wrote to me yesterday and said that she would meet us on the train. Speaking of meeting us on the train, have you heard from Scorpius? I haven't heard from him in around a week when he was over at the Potter's to see Albus, I went over there with mum because she had to see Aunt Ginny about a recipe that she found in a muggle magazine. Speaking of muggle magazines…" Rose's mouth was covered by Albus in an attempt to shut her up. Something that happened regularly, having to try and shut Rose up, she just talks and talks and talks. Uncle Harry says that that is definitely a Weasley thing, being able to talk endlessly, and then, when Rose starts to talk, she is the perfect combination of Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron.
"Jesus Rose, are you trying to talk Bella into the ground? I mean, do you ever stop to draw breath?" I giggled and Rose glared at the boy.
"Sorry Rose, just this once, I do have to agree with Al, you talk way too much sometimes. And to answer your questions, Italy was good, I have to tell you about some of the boys, oh my god they were gorgeous, yes it has sort of been ages, but yes, not as long as Sammy, yes I heard from Scorpius the other day, he said that he would see us on the train, and I think that is it. Did you catch anything else Albus?" I looked to my sort-of cousin and he shook his head.
"I can't believe that you remembered all of the stuff she said! I think I got lost when she started talking about Sam!" Albus said in disbelief. I shook my head and smirked confidently.
"Call it a girl thing, and Al, you are always lost when it comes to Samantha." Rose and I giggled at Albus' reddening face. It was no secret that he fancied her, but then again, everybody knows that she likes him too, but they are both too stubborn to admit it to both themselves and each other.
"What do you mean by that?" He spluttered. Rose and I rolled our eyes at his obliviousness, or blatant denial, whichever one he prefers.
"Albus, it doesn't take a genius to work out that you fancy her, in fact even my dad can see it, and my dad didn't notice that I came home at the start of summer with pink and purple streaks in my hair for almost three weeks!" I giggled again and Albus' face went a deeper shade of red.
"I do not! We are just friends, what about you and Scorpius, Rose? Huh? Everybody can see that you two need around fifteen minutes in a broom closet!" Albus' clipped reply seemed to have shocked Rose because she stopped laughing and Albus started. However, he realised the error off his ways too late, as Rose's face heated in anger.
"Al," He turned to me as I looked between the two of them, "mate, I think you need to start getting on the train now." He gulped and nodded, half runny to Aunt Ginny and getting his trolley that held his trunk, broomstick, and his ferret, Arnold. I chuckled under my breath when Ginny looked at him questioningly, he quickly explaining what had happened, and then Ginny hitting on the upside of the head. That is probably the funniest thing, because Al is a good head taller than his mother, both he and James are. I turned back to Rose, who I noticed had seen the exchange as well, now had a smile on her face, but still held the deadly fire in her eyes that made me personally fear for Albus' life.
"C'mon Rosie, let's get on the train." I put my arm around her shoulders and we walked over to the group of adults.
"Hey mum, we are going to get on the train now. We still have to find Sammy and Scorpius anyway, and then I will probably have to find out if Albus has shat himself out of fear of Rose." I walked up to my mother and gave her a hug. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tightly.
"Take care of your brother will you? And don't get into too much trouble, study hard and try not to kill anybody, or yourself." I rolled my eyes and backed out of the hug. I smiled at her and went over to dad, who had just finished talking to Conner.
"Hey daddy." I said to him in a small voice. I always do this when I have to say goodbye to him. Total daddy's girl right here!
"Hey sweetheart. Make sure you work hard this term alright? I do not need to hear that you have been caught in the kitchens at midnight," I went to protest, saying that it was a legit excuse, but he cut me off, "I don't care if it was because Fred and James were just showing it to you, don't do it." I pouted a bit but shook it off when he opened his arms to give me a hug. I smiled and gave into the usual bear hug he always gives me. When we let go, I turned to the rest of my relatives and gave them hugs and reassurances that I will make sure that their children come back alive and in one piece.
After hugging the multitude of family members, I met up with Rose and we both walked over to the train, putting our luggage on the baggage cart and we clambered on board. We were walking down the hallway of the train, avoiding hyper first years, when we heard a shout. Looking straight ahead of us, we saw a couple, the bloke pressing the girl up against the compartment door. I looked to Rose, who was looking back at me and we both rolled our eyes at the sight. We continued to walk towards them, but as we got closer there was something really familiar about the bloke's hair, black and scruffy at the back. I turned to Rose and she looked like she was having the same thoughts as me.
"Hey Rosie, it that?" She nodded, for once in her life, she was speechless. I turned back to Albus and I looked harder at the girl. When I finally realised who she was, I gasped and then squealed in delight. Rose turned to me alarmed at my sudden outburst.
"Okay, so I get that the bloke is Albus, but who is the girl? Who does she look like? Well from what we can see of her anyway." I saw her squint in concentration towards the couple. After a moment she let out a similar squeal as me, only louder and higher. I covered my ears and Albus and Sammy jumped apart so far, you'd think that some morbidly obese sod had slipped in-between them. I'm not really sure why, but I found the situation incredibly amusing, therefore, I was in a state of laughter as Al and Sam turned red and Rose held a large yet creepy smile on her face.
I finally calmed myself down enough to address the elephant in the room, or on the carriage, whatever.
"So, was this a spur of the moment, or has this been going on for a while?" Albus and Sammy looked at each other sheepishly, but before they could answer, somebody else did for them.
"Oh, this has been going on for a while, I caught them in a broom closet in December, third year. They swore me to secrecy, and they turn red every time one of them is mentioned to the other, or if they happen to be in the same room, I can't believe that you guys didn't notice." We turned to the blonde head, sticking out of the compartment door that was right next to where the young couple were pinned only moments before.
"Gee, thanks Scorp. Way to keep the secret you idiot." Al said, breaking his silence for the first time. Scorpius sent him a sly wink and a shit-eating grin that almost every girl in Hogwarts find attractive.
"Well it isn't much of a secret anymore, I can't believe that only Rosie and Bells found you guys, the bang was loud enough, you guys weren't exactly quiet." At this, Rose fell into a fit of giggles, I smirked slightly and the red tint returned to the cheeks of the subjects of the conversation.
"Alright, as much as I like standing around and having a good 'ol gasbag, could we perhaps do it sitting in a compartment? My legs hurt and I am feeling really lazy." I complained, and the rest nodded, not fazed by my lazy tendencies. We all walked into the compartment, well, except for Scorpius, only because he was already in there. We all sat down and got ourselves comfortable.
"So, now that we have the couple reunion out of the way, how was everybody's holiday?" Scorpius opened the conversations. Rose started first and we went around in a circle detailing our holidays to the group.
After hours of talking, eating junk food and playing useless games, the Hogwarts Express pulled in Hogsmeade station. We all got up and collected our belongings before making the harrowing dash to the exits of the trains. Us girls, however, were slightly slower than the two boys, only because we were making sure that the poor first-years were not injured after the boys pushed through them, some making the mad dash to hug the floor. Once we got them all off the train, in one piece and only minorly scarred, we piled off as well. However, instead of gracefully disembarking the train as a young lady, I decided to take the less co-ordinated route and fall down the small steps. Just as I was expecting to hit the ground, I fell, rather gracelessly into the arms of someone.
"Whoops. Nice job there Arabella, your grace is astounding." The unknown person, now clear to me to be male, joked. However, he did speak many a truth. It was known throughout Hogwarts that I was clumsy, I was always banging into things and falling over other objects. I turned to see who my 'saviour' was, and I found that I had to tilt my head up to see the face of Lachlan Wood, the son of Oliver and Katie Wood, and beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Lachlan had brown eyes, light brown hair and a toned build. He was quite the looker and every girl in school knew it. He also had a brother, Benjamin who was in seventh year and captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, as well as keeper (he made his father very proud).
"Ah well, you know me. It has been a while since I have done some connecting with the floor, so you know, we have been having a catch up. Thanks Lachlan!" I smiled brightly. He righted me again and I brushed my robes down. I looked up, momentarily forgetting that we had company in the form of the creepy shits staring at me like I had just won the lotto. I rolled my eyes and looked back towards Lachlan. I had to contain my laughter though when I saw his face.
He had obviously caught on to what I was looking at and turned to see Rose and Sammy ogling at his arms. He now looked very concerned and had looked to me for help. I shrugged and then walked over to the other two and hit them over their heads. The squeals of pain that came from the both of them felt strangely satisfying.
Walking over to pick up the belongings that I had dropped on my trip off the train, I turned to the group, who were still watching me and smiled innocently.
"So, what are we all waiting for? Let's go to the carriages!" I said in an overly enthusiastic voice. The rest nodded and picked up their stuff. We walked up the path towards the carriages. After getting in and the carriage started moving, the conversation turned to Quidditch. All three boys are on the Gryffindor team, Scorp plays chaser, Al is the seeker and Lachlan, beater.
When Scorpius came to Hogwarts, there was an automatic expectation that he would be in Slytherin, however, on the train, he had confided in us that he wanted to be in Gryffindor, saying he wanted to 'shake things up a bit'. So we were probably the only ones who were not surprised when the Sorting Hat announced his placement in Gryffindor.
Rose was sorted into Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat took almost five minutes to sort her. Albus was much the same, got into Gryffindor, but took a bloody long time. Me on the other hand, the second the hat touched my head it was shouting Gryffindor, which people have always told me was odd because I was Muggleborn and that doesn't happen often even with half or pureblood wizards. Sammy also got into Gryffindor but she took a normal amount of time to be sorted. So all in all we all ended up in Gryffindor, and the family was pretty happy with that, even the Malfoys, which I have heard was strange.
The carriages bought us up to the castle and we all disembarked, and started strolling up to the Great Hall. Just as we entered the Entrance Hall, I took a deep look around. So much history in the walls, the glow of the hall in front of us radiates the welcoming heat of the school. I mustn't have notice that the others had walked in because I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking up, I found that it was Lachlan, smiling down at me, I smiled back.
"C'mon, I don't know about you, but I am starving." I rolled my eyes but nodded.
"Yeah same, I wonder how many chicken legs Scorpius and Albus are going to eat tonight. I bet that they are going to have a competition." I pondered this as we walked into the hall.
"Well if they are going to have a competition, then I will just have to join to show my superior eating abilities." I giggled, something I never do, and shook my head.
"You do that, but I have to warn you, the one you have to look out for is Rose, believed me, she can eat those boys through the ground, I think it is a Weasley thing." I informed him of this and he nodded his head and scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Eh, I reckon I could beat her. If not at least the other two. If I do, you have to let me take you out on a date." I was caught off guard at this.
"And if you don't? What happens then?" I asked him slyly. He just grinned.
"Oh, you go out with me regardless." I laughed at that then nodded.
I hope he does win now, or at least loses with a little dignity.
He lost. But that's okay. He is still taking me out. I don't think he minds. Nor do I really.