Draco opened his eyes and yawned. Stretching, he looked at the yellow clock on his bedside table. Five forty-six am.
His room was dark, and there was a big shape in the middle of the floor. For a second he was confused and wondered what it was, before a whole lot of emotions smacked him in the gut.
Today was the first of September, and in about five hours he would be ready to board the Hogwarts Express.
He tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but after tossing and turning for a while he decided to just get up.
He threw back his covers and stepped onto the fluffy green rug, and padded over to the window. He opened the curtains and peered outside.
The sun was beginning to rise in the pinkish-orange sky. Dewdrops gathered on the outside of his window, and one slowly rolled down the glass pane.
Draco walked over to the closet and put on a blue shirt and a pair of jeans. He opened his trunk to double check he had everything, and checked again just to be sure. His new owl, Mercury (a name his mother gave him) hooted at him.
He glanced at his clock again. Six twenty-five. Still too early for his family to be awake-they weren't morning people, unlike him.
On his bedside-table there were a stack of old comic books he had found under his bed yesterday, when he was looking for his other sneaker. They were a bit dusty, but otherwise seemed fine.
Draco picked one up off of the top of the stack and opened it. The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle-Volume Two.
Not caring it was the second one in the series (as he knew them off by heart, even though he hadn't read them for years) he opened it and started reading.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Leo. Leooooo." Celeste poked her brother's left cheek. He didn't stir.
Celeste huffed and poked him again. Leo grunted and swatted her little hand away, before rolling over in his bed so he faced the wall.
"Leo! Wakey wakey!"
"Go way'." He mumbled sleepily. Celeste poked out her tongue and wandered out of their room. She walked down the hallway into her parents' room and opened the door with a creak.
Her mother stirred a little a the sudden noise but settled down again, and her father was snoring very loudly. Celeste giggled and snuck up to the bed, and cannonballed on top of her sleeping parents.
Lucius yelped in fright and Narcissa's eyes flew open.
"CC!" She protested, yawning. Her daughter giggled and Narcissa pushed her morning grumpiness to the side and tickled her.
Lucius smiled and leant over, pecking his wife on the cheek. "Good morning, my love."
She smiled at him. "Morning, honey." She glanced at the clock. "Crikey, you'd better go wake the boys up if we want to meet the Weasleys' at the station."
Lucius nodded. He kissed Celeste on the top of her head and stood up. He put on his slippers and walked off to go wake up his three sons.
"How did you sleep, sweetheart?" Narcissa asked Celeste.
"Good! Can we have French toast for bekfast, please Mummy?"
"Yes dear, of course. Why don't you go get your Gran up and I'll go ask Dobby?"
"Okay Mummy!" She jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.
Narcissa poked her head into the twins' bedroom, where Leo was still asleep.
"Time to get up, darling." She said gently, and stroked his blonde hair out of his face. He scrunched up his eyes and stretched, yawning.
"Don't want to get up yet, Mummy."
"Dobby might make us French toast. But only if you get up now!"
He jumped up. "With strawberries? And ice-cream?"
Narcissa smiled at him. "Let's go ask him, shall we?"
She picked him up and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, clinging to her like a little monkey.
They walked down the stairs together and into the kitchen, where Dobby was getting out plates for breakfast.
"Good morning, Dobby!" Leo greeted happily.
Dobby's face lit up. "Good morning, Master Leo, and Mistress Narcissa."
"Hello Dobby. Leo has a special request for breakfast. Don't you, kiddo?"
"French toats!" He yelled, throwing his arms in the air and accidentally smacking Narcissa in the jaw.
"Ow!" She cupped her face in her hand.
Leo looked crestfallen. "Sorry, Mummy! I didn't mean to!"
"It's alright, Leo." She said, and kissed him on the nose.
"Dobby shall fetch some ice, mistress." Dobby bowed, and walked over to the fridge.
He handed her a packet of frozen peas, and she smiled at him gratefully.
"Thank you."
He bowed again. "Dobby shall start making French toast. Extra fluffy?"
"Yeah!" Leo yelled happily. Narcissa caught his hand as he threw it in the air, and this time she didn't get hit in the jaw again.
Leo laughed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Lucius poked his head in Draco's room.
"Draco, time to get-oh, good morning." He greeted his son, who was so absorbed in his book he seemingly didn't hear his father.
"Draco?"
Draco startled. "Oh, good morning, Dad!" He put his book down and greeted his father with a hug.
"Something smells nice." He said, sniffing the air.
"It does indeed. Do me a favour and wake Harry up?"
"Of course."
They smiled at each other before parting ways, Draco going down the hallway, Lucius going down the stairs.
Narcissa and the twins were sitting at the kitchen table, while their Gran fussed about in the kitchen while Dobby was looking a little frazzled.
"The way to make it fluffy is to add a dash of gin."
Narcissa sighed. "For the last time, Cassie, you're not adding alcohol to the family breakfast!"
"I was just giving pointers!"
"Beg pardon, Mistress Cassiopeia, but Dobby knows how to make French toast."
"Very well." She huffed, and sat next the Celeste, who was eating apple slices.
Despite the volume in the kitchen, the first thing Lucius noticed was his wife who was nursing her jaw with a bag of frozen peas.
"What happened?" He frowned.
She laughed. "Leo got a bit excited about French toast. His celebrations, however, were a bit too excitable."
Leo looked sheepishly between his mother to his father. He didn't notice his sister slowly creeping up behind him.
She put an apple slice down the back of his shirt and he yelped. She crawled under the table, giggling.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
After breakfast, Narcissa helped the twins brush their hair and their teeth.
"I want to choose!" Celeste yelled when Narcissa walked over to the closet.
"Okay, okay!"
"No, I want to!" she yelled when Narcissa picked up the pink tutu.
Narcissa threw up her hands in defeat. "Alright, alright, you do it then."
She turned to Leo. "Do you want my help, or do you want to be 'independent' like your sister."
"Can you help, please?"
After what felt like hours, the twins were dressed, their hair neatly brushed and their shoes tied.
"Go have a play for," she looked at her watch. "Twenty minutes, but when I say pack up, you pack up, okay?"
They nodded and ran off to the playroom.
Narcissa sighed when she realised that Celeste's horrendous tutu was on back to front.
"Whatever."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
"I don't remember my trunk being this heavy!" Lucius groaned as he heaved the trunk out the door.
"Dad, why don't you just use magic?" Harry pointed out.
"Fair point. I'll do that."
Narcissa, who had been listening from the stairs, gave a snort of laughter.
"Are you both ready? Have you got everything?" She asked them, straightening Harry's jacket.
The two of them nodded. "Yes."
"Certain?"
"Yes. Can we leave now?" Harry asked his mother.
"As long as you're sure you have everything-I mean, we can always send whatever you forget along to you, but I just want to be sure you've got everything you need."
"Yes! We have! Let's go!" Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her in the direction of the stairs.
"Someone's excited." Narcissa smirked.
"Someone doesn't want to be late."
"Alright then, come on."
0o0o0o0o0o0o
The family arrived at the station, where their familiar red-headed friends were waiting. Narcissa and Molly embraced, and Lucius and Arthur awkwardly shook hands.
The kids were jumping around, attracting a lot of looks with their carts full of strange things, and were desperate to get inside platform 9 ¾.
"Mum! Please, let's go in now!" Ron whined, tugging Molly's sleeve.
"Oh, yes, of course dear! Come along, everyone, the train leaves in fifteen minutes! You'll miss all the good seats."
Lucius took the twins through first, followed by Molly, Ginny and Gran.
Fred and George shoved in front of Percy and ran through together, laughing. Percy frowned, and followed them.
Arthur and Ron ran through, and Harry and Draco looked at Narcissa.
"You go first." She smiled at her sons.
Draco went through the barrier, and then Harry. They were greeted with a lot of noise, even more than there was on the muggle platform. They stared around in awe.
"Quick, come on! Let's get you on the train." Narcissa led them over to the rest of the group.
The twins were whining. "But Daddy, I want to go on the train too!" Celeste squirmed.
"Yeah, and me!" Leo agreed.
"Sorry, guys, but you're too young. Anyway, you need to keep me and Mummy company-the house will be way quieter without your brothers!"
Gran snorted. "I don't know about that."
Celeste poked out your tongue, and Gran pointed at her. "Put your tongue back in your mouth where it belongs, young lady, or it might stay that way when the wind changes!"
Celeste hurriedly put her tongue back in her mouth.
The train hooted. Narcissa gave Harry and Draco a big hug. "I love you. Have fun. Don't get into too much trouble. Write to us every day!"
Lucius hugged Draco, and the twins grabbed onto his legs. Harry didn't want to let go of his mother. He breathed in her scent-an unusual mix of peppermint and cinnamon.
"Love you, Mummy." He whispered. He hadn't called her Mummy for years.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Draco, Harry and Ron followed Fred and George through the train.
"Ah, look, this one's empty, you'll have it all to yourself!" George exclaimed, and opened the door for them. The twins helped them put their trunks on the rack.
"We're going to go catch up with our friends. See you at the feast!" Fred waved and followed George out of the door. He poked his head back in. "Oh, and watch out for the trolley witch-she seems nice, but she's a bit evil."
He walked away, whistling. The three boys exchanged nervous glances.
"Evil?" Draco said nervously.
"I doubt it. Fred's just pulling your leg."
The boys sat down and gazed out the window, awaiting to arrive at Hogwarts.