A/N: Well, J-chan here with the next installment of Unusual Couples. Shenaux was gracious enough to actually send me an update so that I could post. ^_^ Only joking! Shenaux and I have been extremely busy what with Jobs and hunting for ones and personal problems to boot…. Well enough about that, on with the story! Hope you enjoy and please leave a review. Ta!
Chapter 2 – When it all began
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"It's not fair! I wish you could come to school with me!" Ashleigh cried giving her bestest friend in the whole wide world a big hug good-bye. "But I have to go to a private school this year, mum and dad say so."
"I know! I wish we could go to school together too! But, I have to go to a private school too! Why can't we go to the same school still!" Kaylee pouted as she hugged her bestest friend in the whole wide world back. "I don't want to say good-bye. Promise to write everyday?"
"I promise!" Ashleigh replied. "You too?"
"I promise! Bestest bud promise!" She held out her pinkies.
Ashleigh linked her pinkies with Kaylee's before double-crossing their arms and throwing her arms once more around Kaylee in a farewell hug.
Sniffling, Kaylee hugged her friend back. "Will you be coming home for Christmas?" She asked her friend once they separated again. "I will and I hope you can too!"
"I think so, I'll ask mum right away tomorrow after she gets home from night shift before they drive me to the train station tomorrow morning." Ashleigh promised wiping tears away with the back of her hands.
"Write me as soon as you get the answer! I--" Kaylee was interrupted by her mum's voice.
"Kaylee! It's time for bed dear!" Cecilia, Kaylee's mum, called into the darkening night.
"Five more minutes mum! Please!" Kaylee called back.
"I'm sorry dear, but you have to be up early tomorrow morning so we can take you to the train station." Kaylee's dad, David called out into the night.
"Ashleigh! It's time to come in. You have to be up early tomorrow." Ashleigh's dad, Aiden called out from the house next door.
Sobbing, the two friends hugged one last time before going to their respective homes.
"See you at Christmas time!" Ashleigh called to Kaylee from her door before her dad shut it behind her.
"See you at Christmas time." Kaylee whispered sadly as her own father shut the door behind her.
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The next morning came way too quickly in Ashleigh's mind; she still couldn't believe that she would no longer see her best-friend everyday, both at school and at home. No, she Ashleigh Yume had to go to Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Ashleigh was what some people would call a "pure-blood" witch, meaning that both her parents were magically inclined and that it had been passed down to her. Still, she would have given it all up to be with her best-friend going to whichever private school Kaylee was going too. Kaylee and Ashleigh had met seven-years ago when Ashleigh and her parent's had moved next door to Kaylee's family. The girls quickly came together as friends when they realized that they were the same age, only about a month apart, and that they were going to be going to the same school.
"Ashleigh! Time to wake up sweetie!" Aiden Yume called from downstairs. "You're mother's going to be home in a few minutes for breakfast then we have to get going!" Ashleigh sighed then rolled quickly out of her bed and grabbed up her clothes that she had planned to wear. A pair or baggy Muggle jeans with frayed cuffs and a sleeveless dark blue t-shirt. Added to the outfit was a wide leather belt and a beat-up pair of FILA X-trainers, and Ashleigh knew that anyone looking at her wouldn't be able to tell if she was eleven years old or fifteen. As she headed for the bathroom attached to her bedroom to take a quick shower all she did with her long hair was pull it up into a high ponytail. As she walked out of the bathroom she found her mother sitting on the end of her still unmade bed.
"Momma, I didn't know you were home." Ashleigh said smiling and going over to give her mother a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting beside her to pull on her socks and shoes.
"I just got in." Alexis replied, smiling as she looked at the top of her daughter's head bent to the task on finishing getting dressed. "Your father and I wanted you to know how proud we are that you were accepted into Hogwarts and that we know it's hard leaving Kaylee behind, but you'll make plenty of friends and you never know maybe someone will be able to help you through the tough business of missing Kaylee."
"But I don't want someone else," Ashleigh sniffed. "I want Kaylee."
"Oh, sweetie! Don't worry, I'm almost positive that once we get you on that train, you'll totally forget about missing you're best-friend and your father and myself and all that you'll be able to think of is the mischief that you'll be able to get into." Alexis said smiling. "But I'm up here for another reason too. When I was accepted into Hogwarts' my parents gave me a gift, it was a magical diary set. I took one and gave the other to my best friend at the time, Sasha, who had been accepted to Beauxbaton. So whenever we wanted to talk to one another we'd just write in the diary and then tap it with our wands and say 'Send!' and it would appear in the other diary. Whenever we got a message we'd say 'Receive!' and the message would appear and we could read what was going on with each other. You can even put a special charm on it so that only you and the other person can read what's written in the diaries, because it'll only respond to your voice. Now, I'm giving you these, and I want you to find someone on the train and give it to them! Hopefully, you'll be placed in the same Houses together but if not then you'll have a way to communicate with each other." Alexis pulled out the two diaries and handed them to her daughter smiling at the obvious delight in Ashleigh's face. "Now, come on! You're father has been slaving over a hot-stove all morning and I wouldn't want it to go to waste." Ashleigh giggled at this and stood following her mother downstairs to the kitchen.
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Meanwhile, over at Kaylee's house, her morning was progressing somewhat differently. Kaylee who was, what she would find out later, a Muggle-born witch. That meant that both her parents didn't have a magical bone in their body. So when the letter came at the beginning of the summer inviting her to attend Hogwarts' they were all shocked, but greatly pleased. Now, though, Kaylee was regretting that she was a witch because she then wouldn't be able to see her best friend until Christmas. Which was a new experience since they were always together.
"Kaylee! Wake up! It's almost 9:30 a.m. and we have to leave soon for the train station! Your school train leaves promptly at 11:00 a.m. and we won't have time to have breakfast if we don't get up now!!!" Cecilia Young cried out in slight panic at realizing how late they had slept in.
Kaylee, who had been having a great dream about flying monkeys, awoke with a rude start. "What! My alarm clock didn't go off!" Kaylee scrambled out of bed and hit the floor quite hard when her feet got tangled up in her comforter. "Not good! So, not good!" Kaylee muttered to herself as she scrambled into the bathroom across the hall from her, to take the quickest shower in her life. Afterwards, she scrambled into the clothes that she had thankfully laid out the night before, a pair of loose jeans and a sleeveless green t-shirt with a rainbow-striped seat belt buckle belt as well as her beat-up Nike X-trainers.
As she rushed downstairs with her backpack slung over her shoulder with little last minute items she had packed before going to sleep the night before she saw both her parents standing at the bottom of the stairs looking only slightly less troubled by their "predicament". There sitting beside her trunk was a cage with an owl in it, the sight of this caused Kaylee to trip down the last few stairs, only to be caught by her father, who grinned at his daughter's obvious excitement at the sight of her surprise.
"Oh! Dad! Mum!" Kaylee exclaimed, dropping her pack to the floor to give her two parents a quick hug. "Thank you!"
"No problem sweetie, do you like her?" David asked, as he handed his daughter the piece of toast he had quickly made to help her get through the morning without breakfast, that is until they got to the train station.
"Yes!" Kaylee exclaimed, picking up the cage and looking at the owl.
"Good, we weren't sure if we should get you her or a cat." Cecilia explained smiling at her daughter's delight. "And as much as I know you normally don't care what people think of how you're dress, I think you might want to take the towel off your head."
"What?" Kaylee asked putting the cage down and bringing both hands up to feel the towel, which she had wrapped around her head to help soak up some of the water, still there. "Oh! Right." Kaylee quickly unbound it from her head and shook out her chin-length hair before running her fingers through it. "There! Good to go!"
"Ok, then let's hit the road, Doodlebug!" David laughed as he picked up the trunk with al of Kaylee's clothes and books and such in it, only grunting a little at the weight.
"Dad!" Kaylee giggled at the theatrics. Taking one last look at her house the family left to head to King's Cross train station.
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A/N: So, how was it? Good? Bad? Hideous? Please let us know! ^_^
