Chapter One:
A few copper colored leaves flew into the window and were caught up almost instantly in the gutter of the Trelawney residence as Royce looked through her window. From her room (more commonly known as the attic) Royce had a perfect view of the gutter. Such a view as this would seem depressing to most people...and Royce was no acceptation. It wasn't as if the neighborhood she lived in was particularly pretty, nor pleasant...not even a bit homey, but almost anything in it would be a better view to wake up to in the morning than a filthy gutter. This morning though, Royce didn't really mind seeing such a gloomy sight. Today, she was actually getting out of the house and attic for that matter.
Royce's great auntie Lavinia was taking her to Diagon Alley to purchase her needed school supplies. Not to mention, she was going to see her best friend, Francesca Paolini, a rather good looking (not to mention spirited...to say the least) red head. The two of them got along absolutely famously for the most part. Royce, being more introverted and jumpy made a perfect companion for Francesca who was neither of these things.
Francesca was a definite extrovert, funny, outgoing, usually in some sort of trouble... and actually a bit of a pervert. So, with Francesca having enough enthusiasm for both of them, and Royce having enough sense for both of them, they evened each other out perfectly.
Francesca had what you would call a normal childhood before coming to Hogwarts. She came from a very well to do Italian family of muggles. Her mother, Elaina Paolini was a lawyer and her father, Dimitri Paolini was a dentist. She had four brothers, Hector, the oldest who was currently in college on a football scholarship, Vinny was the second oldest, and the most handsome and charming, Dominic was the third oldest and a bit of a lecher, and then there was Angelo, who was four years younger than Francesca and what she liked to call an annoying brat of a brother. Francesca and her four brothers also happened to not be un-fortunate in their looks in the least. The four boys had the typical Italian looks; dark hair, olive skin, brown eyes, and strong builds. Francesca did have the olive skin and brown eyes but also happened to have silky lighter brownish red colored hair that fell almost to her shoulders. She was definitely not tall, but not short either and had a girlish figure with a bit of a tomboy twist to it. Francesca happened to be a bit of a tomboy and could usually be found wearing a t shirt (a well fitted one mind you) and a pair of pants rather than a skirt...unless she felt like showing off her legs... Along with her outgoing personality, Francesca's looks snagged her quite a few boys throughout Hogwarts.
Royce, on the other hand most definitely did not have what you would call a normal childhood. Her mother, Matilda Trelawney came from a long line of seers...although the last actual seer was three generations ago... Matilda unfortunately did not inherit any sort of insight to the great beyond what so ever, which made her relations with the rest of the supposed seer Trelawneys a bit rough. So, like any other ungifted seer, Matilda decided to become an expert on magical beasts. Royce's father, Brendan Hobs was a rather average wizard who was also interested in magical creatures. Obviously, both Brendan and Matilda met, got married, and had a daughter, Royce Olwyn Hobs. At the age of six, Royce's parents decided to go on an expedition to Greece to study the wild manticore. Sadly, the wild manticore caught them observing it and horrible mauled the both of them. So, a very shaky and upset Royce was sent to live with the only living relative who would take her in (for her parent's money...) her mother's aunt Lavinia.
Great auntie Lavinia was a horrible woman. With wild grey hair that sprouted out of an odd shaped head, many folds of hanging skin off of her face, and horrible beady eyes surrounded by a pair of tasteless green frames, her looks were not deceiving. She hated muggles, half breeds, magical creatures, and dabbled in the dark arts, not to mention predicting the deaths of many of the people around her. Lavinia lived in an un- naturally tall and run down Victorian that was undoubtedly being help up by magic.
After arriving, Royce was forced to live up in the attic that was fourteen flights of rickety stairs up (another had to be added to avoid thirteen) and resembled a vacated tea house. All year round, the attic smelled heavily of tea leaves and burnt incense and also was very warm year round.
Even through all the things Royce had put up with for the past five years, by the time she entered Hogwarts, she was still mentally stable and had surprisingly not acquired any mutilations. Fortunately for Royce, she had inherited more of the Hobs's looks than the Trelawney's. Even though her features did stand out, they didn't do so in a bad way. Royce stood at about normal height and had a mix of peachy, strawberry and whitish blonde straight hair that fell almost to her waist. She had a rounded face, bow lips, and rather large amber brown eyes that stood out from her pale complexion.
To go along with her un-common looks, Royce was dressed in a very odd way...against her will. The clothes provided by Royce by Auntie Lavinia were pastel colored skirts that feel down to the knees or a bit above (that were frayed from use) a pair of stockings (with the occasional run or rip in them) buckle shoes (that were scuffed up considerably) and pastel colored shirts and antique hair pieces.
This day, Royce was attempting to put together a somewhat decent outfit, seeing as she was going to most likely run into people she knew from school. After picking out a peach colored skirt with floral stockings and pale lime colored ribbed sweater, Royce picked up her already packed school bag and carefully walked down the rickety stairs from the attic. Sitting in the kitchen was auntie Lavinia, who seemed to be deep in thought while looking into a cup of tea. Upon seeing Royce, she slowly lifted her beady eyes from the tea and gave a look of despair.
"My child... oh, I fear this journey...your days- they are numbered."
Upon saying this, auntie Lavinia gave an odd clucking noise and very solemnly downed the cup. To most people, having your great aunt predicting your death as the first thing she says to you might come as a shock. In Royce's case, this was an everyday event. Actually, Lavinia was being quite tame with the prediction. Last Tuesday, she had predicted that Royce would surely die of decapitation. After a minute or so, auntie Lavinia's sullen mood seemed to have passed, for she was soon stuffing her face with an assortment of muffins and making an odd grunting sound. The odd noises and muffin remains definitely curbed any appetite that Royce could have and the only drink on the table seemed to be the "tea of death". So, Royce found a cup without anything in it that could cause auntie Lavinia to see her death in it and poured her self a glass of water. Ah, to be leaving the house and all omens of death...