YAAAAAY! 3 REVIEWS! That was all the encouragement I needed! And, yes, Kay is a bit of an oddity, but that's who she is, OK?
Chapter Two
Kay glanced round as she stepped onto Platform 9 & 3/4, for once in her life feeling totally astounded. Never had she felt so much magic surrounding her, enveloping her. It was the first breath of life. She suddenly felt she had the energy to run a thousand miles, swim across a hundred lakes and leap over 50 valleys. The busy crowd swarmed round her, jostling her this way and that, but she resisted against them. Who cared about getting in the way? This was... well, magical.
She had had this feeling before, but never as strongly. Her mother had the magic scent coming off her as well, but Ron had a stronger one. She supposed this was because he was from a pureblood family, though why Sarwin gave off a similar smell was inexplicable. Remembering her snake, Kay gently touched her cage to check she was still there, then sighed. A whole new world had opened up to her, and already she felt comfortable with it.
"Have a great time!"
Kay looked round, attracted by a woman's high pitched, emotional squeal, and suppressed a grin as she watched a highly embarrassed teen being hugged by his mum. He was struggling frantically against her, but her arms were like pythons, crushing him in his every attempted escape.
"Mum" he was muttering, his ears going scarlet "Mum, leave me alone! It's my second year, you promised you wouldn't make such a big fuss like you did last year!"
His mother only responded with a huge, slobbery kiss on the cheek, and Kay winced in sympathy. She only hoped her mum wouldn't act like that, and upon thinking that, she looked round expectantly, searching for flaming red hair and a frizzy brown one in the crush. She spotted a tall, lanky frame, and reluctantly squeezed her way towards it. Ron had his back to her, and she tried shouting out several times, but he didn't turn round. Growling in frustration, she shoved roughly through a gang of gossiping girls, and tugged his sleeve.
"Ron!" she snapped, then stopped abruptly as a total stranger swung round, glaring hard at her. This wasn't Ron at all! From the front, he looked nothing like him, this stranger had horn rimmed glasses and an irritable expression.
"I- I'm sorry, wrong person!" she gasped, and hurriedly dived back into the crowd, but the man called out "No! Wait!"
Kay sighed. Trust her to mistake her step dad for a pervert! She couldn't exactly ignore him though, and spinning back round, she called out "What?"
The man looked her over closely, and Kay stepped back, hating his penetrating stare immediately. Just as she was about to run for it, a familiar voice yelped out "Percy!"
The man snapped his head up at once, looking over her head. "Ron!" he called back, smiling jovially, and whipping round, Kay saw Ron dashing through a gap in the people, tugging Hermione along with him by the hand. She too was smiling and waving, though not at her. Kay felt deeply confused: what was going on?
When her parents reached the 'stranger', Ron hugged him like a brother. Ok, so evidently, they knew him. They hugged each other hard, then it was Hermione's turn, though her hug was a little more awkward.
"Percy!" she gasped, a little short of breath, "What are you doing here? We haven't seen you for years!"
'Percy' and Ron stood side by side, and then Kay clicked. Same red hair, same lanky frame, and (now that Percy was smiling) almost the same facial features. They were quite clearly brothers.
"I was just seeing off my little girl!" he said, and looked round, bemused "I would introduce you, but she's off somewhere with her mother."
"Ah, little Tuppence! How old is she now?"
"Fourteen."
"Fourteen! Good Merlin, don't they grow fast! Last time I saw her she was this high!"
Kay groaned under her breath, and gazed longingly at the Hogwarts express. So near yet so far to freedom... Only a couple of steps... if she wanted to she could run in there now, and no-one would notice... She had even started edging away from the little knot of adults, then jumped out of her skin when Percy pointed her out.
"This one yours then Ron? You never told me you had a daughter!"
An awkward silence filled the air, and Kay shuffled her feet. God, she hated it when this kind of question arose. She looked away like she hadn't heard, staring unseeingly at the squabbling girls, who were comparing shades of eye shadow. Then she heard Hermione say those blessed words: "Kay, why don't you hop on the train? It's going in two minutes." Then strong arms wrapped round her from behind, and her mum whispered in her ear "Have a great year. Don't forget to Owl us when you get there!"
Kay nodded and hugged her briefly, said bye to Ron and nodded to Percy, who was looking completely baffled. "Was it something I said?" she heard him say confusedly as she left.
Yes, it bloody was something you said.
She was only too glad to heave her luggage on the train, away from the tense atmosphere, and managed to forget for a while that she was a brat, and had never known her father. She chose an empty compartment at the very end of the train, preferring solitude to company. She had always wanted time on her own more than anything else, as she had never been much of a socialist.
Finally, she was on her own, she could relax! She slid the door closed behind her, and heaved a great sigh, then dumped all her baggage on the floor, stretching her aching arms. Jees, that stuff was heavy! She heard a hiss of indignation, and bent down to see Sarwin, who was glaring at her in rage at being dropped bodily to the ground.
"Sorry Sar" she whispered, and unlatched the door. The great gold snake slithered out at once, stretching almost as happily as she had done. After circling the space three times, she finally chose a corner to curl up in, regarding her with intelligent black eyes. Kay grinned back at her, then kicked off her shoes, curled up on a window seat and produced a tattered paper back.
She settled down comfortably, and began to read, her eyes flicking quickly from line to line, moving steadily down the page. After about 5 minutes of tense reading, her entire posture started to relax as she became totally engrossed in her book. She wasn't here any more, she had been dipped into another place entirely, and every now and then her eyes would widen or narrow, her breathing taking deep, calming breaths. Sarwin too settled down, her head resting on her coils. Peace lay as thick as snow on the room, both inhabitants lost in their own world.
What happened next both annoyed and frustrated Kay right to her core. Anyone who has ever day dreamed knows the feeling of irritation when someone jerks you out of a lovely thought, by clicking their fingers at you or otherwise. What happened to Kay was that someone happened to fling open the door, causing a terrific 'BANG' as it hit the wall, and someone strode in, then stumbled over her abandoned luggage, cursing loudly. Kay was immediately sucked straight out of her mystery story, and brought back to harsh, cold reality, where someone was hopping round the room clutching their foot. Needless to say, she was not best pleased.
"Sorry! My fault! Didn't know someone was in- BLOODY HELL! A SNAKE!" The person had just noticed Sarwin, who also was extremely annoyed, and snapping irritably at the persons ankles. Obviously, she meant no harm in doing so, but the girl wasn't to know this.
"She's mine," announced Kay coolly, looking the girl over, who was now cowering against the wall. She was short and stocky, and had waist length blue-black hair. "And her bite isn't poisonous, so there's no need to look so scared."
The girl glared at her snappy tone, then plopped down into the seat opposite her, keeping her feet well drawn up out of Sarwin's reach all the same. Kay raised her eyebrows, then snorted slightly and buried her nose in her book again. Or at least that's what she tried to do. The fact was she was very aware of the girl staring at her, staring and staring. She just couldn't take in a word she read, and eventually she snapped it closed (after taking careful note of the page), and stared back at her. The girl didn't blink, or look away, abashed. She continued her steady staring, her eyes boring right into Kay's ones. She had very dark eyes, she noted, almost black, just like Sarwin's. They were even narrowed slightly at the corners, like Sarwin's were, giving her a very snake-like appearance, which went down a storm with Kay, as she loved snakes more than anything. She also had very pale skin, almost deathly pale, like paper, making her dark hair and eyes stand out even more.
"What's your name?" asked the girl, after several minutes had gone by of silent staring. Kay didn't bat an eyelid, though she felt rather odd, with the girl staring at her like that. It almost felt her mind was being probed. After considering for a moment, she replied "Scorch Mayine." Which was a total lie, but she wanted to see how the girl would react to this.
Silence. The girl furrowed her brow, then replied with a deadpan face "Cool. Mine's Chime. Chime O'Door."
Both of them knew each others names were false. But from that moment onwards they called each other Scorch and Chime, and quickly became, to Kay's surprise, brilliant friends. Best friends, one might even say.
She smiled. She had always thought 'best friends' only ever existed in the stories she read. But now she knew they were real.
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Urugh, what a smooshy ending! Sorry! Oh yeah, and Chime was stuck for a last name and the door was the first thing she looked at ok? Please review! Oh yeah, and triple chocolate muffins to bleeding-roses for a lovely review! Bye bye for now, and remember always have faith. In the power of reviews! (Dun, dun DUN!)
Chapter Two
Kay glanced round as she stepped onto Platform 9 & 3/4, for once in her life feeling totally astounded. Never had she felt so much magic surrounding her, enveloping her. It was the first breath of life. She suddenly felt she had the energy to run a thousand miles, swim across a hundred lakes and leap over 50 valleys. The busy crowd swarmed round her, jostling her this way and that, but she resisted against them. Who cared about getting in the way? This was... well, magical.
She had had this feeling before, but never as strongly. Her mother had the magic scent coming off her as well, but Ron had a stronger one. She supposed this was because he was from a pureblood family, though why Sarwin gave off a similar smell was inexplicable. Remembering her snake, Kay gently touched her cage to check she was still there, then sighed. A whole new world had opened up to her, and already she felt comfortable with it.
"Have a great time!"
Kay looked round, attracted by a woman's high pitched, emotional squeal, and suppressed a grin as she watched a highly embarrassed teen being hugged by his mum. He was struggling frantically against her, but her arms were like pythons, crushing him in his every attempted escape.
"Mum" he was muttering, his ears going scarlet "Mum, leave me alone! It's my second year, you promised you wouldn't make such a big fuss like you did last year!"
His mother only responded with a huge, slobbery kiss on the cheek, and Kay winced in sympathy. She only hoped her mum wouldn't act like that, and upon thinking that, she looked round expectantly, searching for flaming red hair and a frizzy brown one in the crush. She spotted a tall, lanky frame, and reluctantly squeezed her way towards it. Ron had his back to her, and she tried shouting out several times, but he didn't turn round. Growling in frustration, she shoved roughly through a gang of gossiping girls, and tugged his sleeve.
"Ron!" she snapped, then stopped abruptly as a total stranger swung round, glaring hard at her. This wasn't Ron at all! From the front, he looked nothing like him, this stranger had horn rimmed glasses and an irritable expression.
"I- I'm sorry, wrong person!" she gasped, and hurriedly dived back into the crowd, but the man called out "No! Wait!"
Kay sighed. Trust her to mistake her step dad for a pervert! She couldn't exactly ignore him though, and spinning back round, she called out "What?"
The man looked her over closely, and Kay stepped back, hating his penetrating stare immediately. Just as she was about to run for it, a familiar voice yelped out "Percy!"
The man snapped his head up at once, looking over her head. "Ron!" he called back, smiling jovially, and whipping round, Kay saw Ron dashing through a gap in the people, tugging Hermione along with him by the hand. She too was smiling and waving, though not at her. Kay felt deeply confused: what was going on?
When her parents reached the 'stranger', Ron hugged him like a brother. Ok, so evidently, they knew him. They hugged each other hard, then it was Hermione's turn, though her hug was a little more awkward.
"Percy!" she gasped, a little short of breath, "What are you doing here? We haven't seen you for years!"
'Percy' and Ron stood side by side, and then Kay clicked. Same red hair, same lanky frame, and (now that Percy was smiling) almost the same facial features. They were quite clearly brothers.
"I was just seeing off my little girl!" he said, and looked round, bemused "I would introduce you, but she's off somewhere with her mother."
"Ah, little Tuppence! How old is she now?"
"Fourteen."
"Fourteen! Good Merlin, don't they grow fast! Last time I saw her she was this high!"
Kay groaned under her breath, and gazed longingly at the Hogwarts express. So near yet so far to freedom... Only a couple of steps... if she wanted to she could run in there now, and no-one would notice... She had even started edging away from the little knot of adults, then jumped out of her skin when Percy pointed her out.
"This one yours then Ron? You never told me you had a daughter!"
An awkward silence filled the air, and Kay shuffled her feet. God, she hated it when this kind of question arose. She looked away like she hadn't heard, staring unseeingly at the squabbling girls, who were comparing shades of eye shadow. Then she heard Hermione say those blessed words: "Kay, why don't you hop on the train? It's going in two minutes." Then strong arms wrapped round her from behind, and her mum whispered in her ear "Have a great year. Don't forget to Owl us when you get there!"
Kay nodded and hugged her briefly, said bye to Ron and nodded to Percy, who was looking completely baffled. "Was it something I said?" she heard him say confusedly as she left.
Yes, it bloody was something you said.
She was only too glad to heave her luggage on the train, away from the tense atmosphere, and managed to forget for a while that she was a brat, and had never known her father. She chose an empty compartment at the very end of the train, preferring solitude to company. She had always wanted time on her own more than anything else, as she had never been much of a socialist.
Finally, she was on her own, she could relax! She slid the door closed behind her, and heaved a great sigh, then dumped all her baggage on the floor, stretching her aching arms. Jees, that stuff was heavy! She heard a hiss of indignation, and bent down to see Sarwin, who was glaring at her in rage at being dropped bodily to the ground.
"Sorry Sar" she whispered, and unlatched the door. The great gold snake slithered out at once, stretching almost as happily as she had done. After circling the space three times, she finally chose a corner to curl up in, regarding her with intelligent black eyes. Kay grinned back at her, then kicked off her shoes, curled up on a window seat and produced a tattered paper back.
She settled down comfortably, and began to read, her eyes flicking quickly from line to line, moving steadily down the page. After about 5 minutes of tense reading, her entire posture started to relax as she became totally engrossed in her book. She wasn't here any more, she had been dipped into another place entirely, and every now and then her eyes would widen or narrow, her breathing taking deep, calming breaths. Sarwin too settled down, her head resting on her coils. Peace lay as thick as snow on the room, both inhabitants lost in their own world.
What happened next both annoyed and frustrated Kay right to her core. Anyone who has ever day dreamed knows the feeling of irritation when someone jerks you out of a lovely thought, by clicking their fingers at you or otherwise. What happened to Kay was that someone happened to fling open the door, causing a terrific 'BANG' as it hit the wall, and someone strode in, then stumbled over her abandoned luggage, cursing loudly. Kay was immediately sucked straight out of her mystery story, and brought back to harsh, cold reality, where someone was hopping round the room clutching their foot. Needless to say, she was not best pleased.
"Sorry! My fault! Didn't know someone was in- BLOODY HELL! A SNAKE!" The person had just noticed Sarwin, who also was extremely annoyed, and snapping irritably at the persons ankles. Obviously, she meant no harm in doing so, but the girl wasn't to know this.
"She's mine," announced Kay coolly, looking the girl over, who was now cowering against the wall. She was short and stocky, and had waist length blue-black hair. "And her bite isn't poisonous, so there's no need to look so scared."
The girl glared at her snappy tone, then plopped down into the seat opposite her, keeping her feet well drawn up out of Sarwin's reach all the same. Kay raised her eyebrows, then snorted slightly and buried her nose in her book again. Or at least that's what she tried to do. The fact was she was very aware of the girl staring at her, staring and staring. She just couldn't take in a word she read, and eventually she snapped it closed (after taking careful note of the page), and stared back at her. The girl didn't blink, or look away, abashed. She continued her steady staring, her eyes boring right into Kay's ones. She had very dark eyes, she noted, almost black, just like Sarwin's. They were even narrowed slightly at the corners, like Sarwin's were, giving her a very snake-like appearance, which went down a storm with Kay, as she loved snakes more than anything. She also had very pale skin, almost deathly pale, like paper, making her dark hair and eyes stand out even more.
"What's your name?" asked the girl, after several minutes had gone by of silent staring. Kay didn't bat an eyelid, though she felt rather odd, with the girl staring at her like that. It almost felt her mind was being probed. After considering for a moment, she replied "Scorch Mayine." Which was a total lie, but she wanted to see how the girl would react to this.
Silence. The girl furrowed her brow, then replied with a deadpan face "Cool. Mine's Chime. Chime O'Door."
Both of them knew each others names were false. But from that moment onwards they called each other Scorch and Chime, and quickly became, to Kay's surprise, brilliant friends. Best friends, one might even say.
She smiled. She had always thought 'best friends' only ever existed in the stories she read. But now she knew they were real.
00000000000ooooooooooooo0000000000
Urugh, what a smooshy ending! Sorry! Oh yeah, and Chime was stuck for a last name and the door was the first thing she looked at ok? Please review! Oh yeah, and triple chocolate muffins to bleeding-roses for a lovely review! Bye bye for now, and remember always have faith. In the power of reviews! (Dun, dun DUN!)