Ciara smiled at London and looked to see if everything had made it. Fin was in one piece, but he hated the Floo. She tried to pet him by he yowled and started to 'kill' one of the catnip nice, How cute! Thought Ciara sarcastically as she turned her trunk up right and rusted the ashes off the leather. London went to the sink and got a rag and then tossed it to Ciara. Ciara caught it and began to properly dust off all of the ashes.
"Yeah, No joke," said Ciara in response to London's remark earlier, "Mum was acting really funny when I left though. I am glad to be away from Wicklow, though. As she glanced over and London and shrugged.
"Parents are always doing that," she said in her smooth and perfect British accent, "never fail to make promises they don't plan on keeping," said London as she took two bottles of Butterbeer from under the counter.
"Thanks," Ciara said as London handed her a bottle, she took a long draught, "My mother hates Butterbeer, so she never keeps it around,"
"London shrugged again and same to sit on Ciara's trunk, "You can let Fin out, you know, Kadea wouldn't mind someone to play with and besides, she's missed Fin since June," London said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of Fin's cage.
Ciara nodded and took the two latches off of the bars and let the cat out. He slinked across the kitchen and though the door to the living room. London's Siamese cat, Kadea was watching from the leather couch, her almond shaped eyes, unblinking, watching Fin walk across the room. She stiffened in the Cleopatra position swishing her tail back and forth; suddenly, she pounced on top of Fin. Ciara and London didn't give the two felines a second glance.
"Hey let's go get school stuff! I got both of our letters this morning, I didn't know why and I was going to send it to you, but you dropped into my fireplace. Tabby also told me in her last letter that she, Ari and D'Vine would be there sometime this week possibly today," London said excitedly and ran her long, bony fingers through her perfect, blond hair. She got up off of the trunk and grabbed a handle, obviously waiting for Ciara to do the same.
"Brilliant, I can changed out of the ashy clothes and then we can go," she said and gabbed the other end of the trunk and heaved into the room besides London's. Which Mrs. Sorvez affectionately called, 'Ciara's Room', because Ciara lived there most of the summer. Ciara changed into cleaner, but more frayed jeans and emerald green Tee with the words "Leave Me Alone" printed on them in silver followed by her Quidditch hooded sweatshirt with the Wicklow Warriors logo and in the team colors, gold and jade green. And her high-tops, Muggle shoes Ciara was rather fond of.
Ciara left the room only to see London in her room. London was perfect, her family, her house, her grades, everything in London's life seemed to revolve around perfection. She had swept her wavy blonde hair into a high pony tail and let the black ribbon tail behind her. Over a black tank top she wore a brown corduroy jacket with the cuffs rolled up to her elbows. Her blue jeans with lightly sandblasted and they had no frays at he ends and her black brown clogs matched the jacket. The purse she carried was jean, almost identical to that of her pants. Ciara looked at her self in the mirror, Old jeans, hoodie, high-tops, chunky bag, straggly hair, thought Ciara grimly to herself as she watched London sweep black eyeliner on before join Ciara in the hallway.
"What?" she asked with a puzzled look. Ciara gave a Gallic shrug and followed London as she walked briskly down the long corridor.
"Mummy, Ciara and I are off to Diagon to get school stuff!" London cried to her mother at the door of their flat.
"Right honey, come back before dark!" Mindy shouted back and them from the parlor. She was cleaning; a rather large clan of doxies had made a home of the grandfather clock. Mindy Sorvez would never be caught dead with anything other than shiny cog-wheels living in her clock.
After an hour long walk to the Leaky Cauldron and few minutes remembering how to get by the brink wall in the back of the pub, they were on the bright, cobblestones of Diagon Alley. There were Hogwarts Students milling about, even though term was a good two weeks away. Parents shouted for lost children and people pressed their dirty faces to the glass of shops to examine the window displays.
London and Ciara saw fellow students they loathed. The scrawny Rachel Woods (Obnoxious Woods was better name for her), the waist-length brown haired Kem Capara (Braniac Capara), and Alex Dorelle (Dorkelle), all of the Gryffindor House. The trio made faces at Ciara and London as then walked into Madame Malkins. Ciara flicked them off. London muttered something about 'Dirty Blood'.
"Lord, you would think 'Obnoxious Woods' would eat over the holiday!" London said, halfway to herself. She massaged her temples with her perfectly manicured fingers. As the pair entered they heard a bell tinkle from the back of the shop.
"I know! And Capara! Look at her hair; if it gets any longer it might eat her! I think I'll cut it off in class sometime this year. Seems kinda pointless though, she so smart she could probably grow it back later!" said Ciara, almost disappointedly.
"Ladies can I help you?" the stout Madame Malkin emerged from the back of the shop and asked the pair. She was a dumpy sort of woman with curly brown hair and a kind face. She wore a tape measure around her neck like a scarf and a pincushion hanging from her sash.
"Yes, I need new Hogwarts robes," began London, crisply," Slytherin House my badges are right here," she took five Slytherin House badges from her purse and handed them to Madame Malkin. The woman nodded and pointed in the direction of two tall stools near the dressing rooms in the back of the shop. London gracefully walked over to them and hoisted herself to a standing position on the farthest one. Madame Malkin turned to Ciara
"For you, dear?" she asked Ciara as she placed the badges in her pocket.
"I just need a new cloak for Hogwarts," Ciara replied and shrugged.
"Right, I'll just fix her up," gestured to London with a hand," and then we'll fit a cloak for you," Madame Malkin said and set off in London's direction, her high-heeled pumps making a loud thumping noise ever time they hit the old ebony floor. Ciara followed them and settled onto the other stool. She absentmindedly ripped the hem of her jeans more and thought about the coming term. Fifth year was supposed to be the most challenging of them all, she didn't know how, between Quidditch and homework she would have time to do anything else. She shook the thought of no free-time from her head as Madame Malkin finished with London.
Soon after, London and Ciara left the shop, both with and armload of parcels. Ciara attempted to stuff hers into her bag, with little luck, she hadn't thought about how large the cloak would be.
"Flourish and Blotts next?" Ciara said as they passed the book shop. She loved the book shop; she was always getting books she would never need again.
The pair continued their shopping refilling potions kits, buying new books, London had to drag Ciara away from the Firebolt V3 that had just been released in the UK (Ciara was practically crying as she was pulled from the display), a quick visit to the stationary shop to get new quills and parchment, and finally a treat of a Raspberry and Vanilla shake at Florean Fortescue's. They continued along the alley until they came to Gringotts, which marked the end of Diagon. Ciara looked to her left and into the niche that opened in to Knockturn Alley.
Ciara stopped to look down the alleyway. It was raining, but it was bright sunshine out on Diagon. Ciara came to the very edge and watched the raindrops fall from the gloomy clouds. She held her hand out and a raindrop splashed on her open palm. It was freezing cold, she wiped it on her jeans, but the cold feeling remained on her hand. She turned away from the Alley.
"Ciara! London!" both girls turned back around to the alley. The voice was obviously a girl's voice due to the high pitch of the call. "Help me!"
Ciara gave London a sideways look and Ciara watched as she let her sleeves down. London may have been perfect, but she knew when it was time to get dirty. She took the ribbon out of her hair and shrugged at Ciara. Ciara grinned and took off down the alley. She put her hood up as she ran, but she could feel the icy cold rain on her face as she sprinted. Her calf muscles started to burn the farther she went. At the end of the alley she saw the voice's owner. AJ Seine, a friend and a fellow member of the Slytherin house, was surrounded by three not-so-nice looking figures all hooded and cloaked in black silk. AJ was an attractive girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. Ciara knew perfectly well why AJ was lurking down here, her parents owned Forbidden Texts Bookstore, and she knew that AJ had a job there.
She had just recently added the "J" to her name and insisted that everyone call her "AJ" instead of Ari with is what everyone had called her for three years, up until 4th year. London, being as stubborn as she is, still calls her "Ari", much to her distaste. Ciara, on the other hand, calls her AJ just to appease her.
"Leave. Her. Alone!" Ciara said to the three figures they turned. She noticed one sort of jump back when he saw her. Her eyes narrowed. "Now!" she said, her voice lowering to a dangerous tone. They stepped back from AJ's cowering form and began to run in the other direction. London we leaning on the wall just beyond this little scene and went to middle of Alley where the three were running to keep them from going any further.
"Where's the fire?" she asked calmly, her fists clenched at her side. She stood, her feet spread in a defensive stance, in the middle of the Alley, blocking their path. Ciara pulled one of them down the ground and ripped his hood off. Brown shaggy hair fell around his light violet colored eyes in a pretty sort of way.
"Keigan?" Ciara said in disbelief. London pulled the cloaks off of the other two revealing spiky black, blue tipped hair and platinum blond, straggly locks. "Kaine? Duran? I should have known when I saw the cloaks!" Ciara felt the black silk and turned it around to the other side. Think black fabric and a Hogwarts Crest were sewn on the right side. Ciara dropped it onto the ground and stepped on it. She watched Keigan's face as it soaked up the grimy water in the shape of Ciara's foot print; London threw the other cloaks to the ground, but didn't step on them.
"Come off it Ciara!" Keigan said as he leapt to pick it up off of the ground after she removed her foot. Keigan Rossi was her cousin on her father's side. Her aunt was his mother. He took after her mostly; his father's dark hair and eyes didn't come out in Keigan.
"What? Don't tell your mummy?" Ciara said in mocking voice. She stuck her lower lip out and made puppy dog eyes. He scowled and swept his hair into his eyes.
"Shove it, Saivien, it was just a bit of fun," Kaine retorted, his crystal eyes shining and his lips curled into a smile. Ciara had to make an effort not to blush. Kaine had been her crush from 1st year, but he wasn't going to hurt her friend; her hard look stayed and his smile dissolved and his mouth returned to his normal, tight-lipped scowl.
"Sure it was," London barged in, "but none of you had the consideration to think about who it was you were scaring," jabbing a manicured finger at AJ would stood behind Ciara, she quickly looked at the ground when she was mentioned, "a member of your own house—you're lucky we're not at Hogwarts yet, because when we are, if I had found you tormenting an other student, despite house, I would have taken House Points away," she said folding her arms. Her blond ponytail swishing at her back.
"Are you—," Kaine stopped and winced as Keigan stamped on his foot," Ow!—the new Prefect?" he asked, in utter amazement. Ciara wasn't sure if he was really amazed, or if this was just some act he was putting on.
"Yes, LUKAS," she spat at him, he winced a bit, London can be very imposing when she wants to, "all year long! Get used to it!" she sang at him, her cherry lips parting in her grin, showing her amazingly white teeth. Ciara felt a twang of jealousy; she ignored it. She saw Kaine's face, livid with silent fury. "Has Keigan not shared his news? I suppose I will tell you then, he's also your new prefect," London said; the joy at Keigan's slightly green complexion made Ciara laugh. She tried to hide it with a fit of coughing. Keigan tensed up, his fingernails digging into his palms so hard it looked as though they might start to bleed. Ciara's hand fell to her pocket in her hoodie, where her wand was hidden. Keigan came toward her and Ciara's hand was in and out of her pocket in two seconds flat. She had her wand pointed at his chest before he got any closer.
"One more step and your mother will hate me," she said and he backed off, but didn't relax. They all knew Ciara was a though girl, a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team four years running. She wasn't afraid to tackle anyone and if was you she was after, there was no hiding. Keigan had more than once witnessed her magic come from her that was more powerful than come adults he had seen. Ciara's temper was part of it; whenever she got really angry or experienced any sort of strong emotion at all, she was capable of killing people, perhaps she hadn't noticed; Keigan highly doubted it.
"Shove off you guys," London said and flicked a rather large beetle off of her sleeve onto Kaine's shirt. He screeched and danced a little jig to get it off. The boys gave all three of them death stares and walked deeper into the alley way towards the residential area on the other side, Switch Lane, it was called, a popular place to show off wealth amongst the pure-bloods.
"Thanks you two," said AJ gratefully, smiling a bit, "I'll see you on the train?" she said in the same tone of voice
"Don't mention it," said Ciara, emotionless, "by the way, AJ, why does it rain over here?" Ciara asked, nonchalantly, putting her hood up again.
"It always rains in Knockturn Alley," she replied with a grin.