Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has left a review. They really make my day and push me to write more chapters. And I hope you continue to enjoy the story. XO
All Aboard the Hogwarts Express
Elise and Nott strolled around Diagon Alley for a little while before returning to Gringotts with almost and hour left. They didn't have to stand around awkwardly since there was only one woman standing in front of Gringotts, seemingly waiting for someone.
She was a beautiful woman with sharp features and cat-like hazel eyes. She was wearing her evening robes with her dark chestnut hair pulled up in a loose bun with strands of curls framing her face. When those cat-like eyes landed on Elise and Nott, her sharp face softened up as she walked down the stairs to join them at the base, her heels clicking.
"You must be Mikhael," the lady, Kira, cried to Nott as she looked up and patted his cheek, tears swelling up in her eyes. "You look so much like your father. The hair and the build and the eyebrows." At this Kira looked away from Nott and patted under her eyes with her handkerchief.
"And you must be Mikhael's friend," she exclaimed as she grabbed Elise's shoulders and pushed her face up and towards the side. "My, aren't you pretty," Kira said as she stepped forward to kiss Elise's cheek, sending a waft of rose around Elise.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet us," Elise said, inclining her head as a thanks.
"How could I not? Mikhael is my only family," Kira said looking up at Nott with warmth in her eyes.
Something behind Nott's shoulder seemed to catch Kira's attention and she quickly excused herself as she went to speak with a man who was wearing, in Elise's opinion, really tacky looking floral robes with what looked to have unicorn hair embedded in the floral design.
"We should change our middle names to our actual names," Nott said out of nowhere. Elise whipped her head over to look up at Nott. He was standing half in the shadows of the building. Elise stepped in closer towards him and asked why.
"It's so if one of us slips up it won't be such a big deal because they're our middle name." Elise nodded her head and squinted up at Nott. They were both enveloped in the shadows and Elise was close enough to see the light beauty mark on his full bottom lip.
Realizing she was staring, Elise tore her eyes away and instead focussed on her hands. Kira soon came back and ushered them to an apparition point and with the familiar tug of apparition, they were in front of a roaring fireplace in a small, bright sitting room in a manor home. There were boxes and boxes of items in what Elise could see of the foyer. Kira ushered them towards a simple dining room.
Dinner with Kira wasn't as awkward as Elise had thought it to be. Kira kindly avoided topics about the war and instead talked about anything but the war. They went from social functions to the Minister of Magic to now talking about Hogwarts.
"So you both want to attend Hogwarts," Kira asked politely, sipping her wine.
Elise nodded, her mouth full of steak. Nott simply muttered a yes as he pushed his potatoes and steak around his plate.
"It's the only school that seems safe since everyone is saying that Grindelwald is too scared to even come near Albus Dumbledore," Elise replied as she elbowed Nott to eat his food. He instead gave her a cold glance and returned to pushing his food around before draining his glass of wine.
Kira poured everyone some more wine as she seemed to mull things over.
"I could get both of you enrolled at Hogwarts but I'm going to have to pull some strings as they don't let outsiders in that often," Kira mumbled as she pushed her chair back and clapped her hands to clean everything.
"But before we talk about Hogwarts, let's get you both to bed. I had my house-elf prepare your beds. Hopefully the Minister will let me be your guardian. If not, I'll have to talk to someone else but that is a worry for another day."
As the summer went by and Kira finally got them enrolled at Hogwarts, September the first was finally here and Elise was still confused about one thing. How were they going to be sorted? Nott didn't seem to share Elise's worries and it made Elise's mood more aggravated at how nonchalant he seemed to be.
As Elise was opening the bathroom door after showering, she saw Nott and she pulled him into the steamy bathroom and locked the door.
Pulling her towel more up she listened to make sure Kira wasn't around and to make sure she casted the silencing charm before turning to address Nott.
"What do we do when we get to Hogwarts? Where should we meet up? What house should we get sorted into?"
Nott stared at her face for a second before pushing a wet curl out of her face.
"You should get dressed. We can talk later," he said trying to push past her but Elise stood in her place.
"No," she said crossing her arms over chest, "I think we should discuss this right now before leaving for Hogwarts."
Nott sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before answering.
"Just try to get sorted into Ravenclaw again. I'll handle Slytherin. And I know a quite place where we can meet up. And remember to keep your head down until the sorting is over. When classes are done then I guess it's a mad run to whoever catches Riddle's attention first."
And with one last look at her, he left, rubbing the back of his neck slightly.
Elise dressed herself in a creme blouse that she tucked into her red skirt, after drying herself. She dried her hair with a quick wave of her wand and put on some chapstick.
She quickly walked downstairs and sat down at the table, eating some coffee cake and drinking chamomile tea. Kira was pacing around the room, checking and rechecking everyone's luggage.
"Have you eaten anything," Elise asked Kira. Kira just nodded before going through her trunk one more time.
"Kira, take a deep breathe. We're just going to Hogwarts. And I'm sure you'll be wonderful. There is a reason why the minister chose you over everyone else for the job."
"Really," Kira asked, turning away from rummaging through her trunk to grip Elise's forearms tightly. Elise nodded at her and checked the time over Kira's head, looking at the grandfather clock.
"We better get our trunks ready. We'll be apparating to the station right?" Kira nodded.
"Because of the muggles dropping the bombs it's not safe to drive in those automobiles. Let alone, walk around in Muggle London," Kira explained. And with a wave of Kira's wand, Elise and Nott's trunks were shrunken down and Elise tucked them both into the pocket of her light coat.
"Mikhael," Kira called, "We're about to leave." Nott came downstairs and quietly stood by Kira's side and when Kira made sure they all had what they needed, they apparated to King's Cross. There weren't many people at the station as the train was going to leave in an hour but Kira had to drop off Elise and Nott off early if she wanted to see them off before returning to the ministry and then flooing to the headmaster's office.
"Now you two behave," Kira said as kissed Nott's cheek and straightened his coat.
"And remember, if you have any problems, just come and get me. I'll see you at Hogwarts." And with one more poke at Elise's hair to calm down the frizz of her curls, Kira apparated away after hugging them both, leaving Elise and Nott enveloped in the scent of roses.
It wasn't that difficult to find a carriage as they were some of the first people at the station. As they sat in the carriage, Elise immediately made sure that the time turner was tucked away in her lace handkerchief and stored in her little purse. Once she was sure that the time turner was tucked away safely, she took out the information that Dumbledore had provided them and looked it over one more time. By the time Elise was done marking and changing small details in the folder, more people started piling onto the train and Elise tucked the folder into her tiny purse and back into her trunk.
Elise got up to stretch, mindful of Nott following her, and as she walked down the hall of the train compartment; she ran into someone's broad chest. Elise groaned as she sat on the floor and when a hand went down to help her up she grabbed it and started thanking them.
When she saw who she was talking to, the first thing her eyes latched onto was the fact that this boy could be described as perfection itself.
His face was a pale color but with his dark brows and hair perfectly framing his perfectly symmetrical dark, almost black brown eyes, Elise felt like everything about him was disgustingly perfect.
Elise felt a silent, familiar presence behind her and she knew that it was Nott. Compared to the boy she ran into, Nott was abstract and full of imperfections with his beauty marks all over his face and his left dimple that sometimes showed when he was deep in thought or when he smiled. Or the rare moments when he would laugh and you could see both of his dimples.
Elise shook herself out of her thoughts about Nott and then noticed the shiny, green prefects badge on the boy.
"Oh, I'm very sorry. You need to get to your meeting right?"
The boy replied with a simple yes and moved Elise by the shoulders to the side. He stopped in front of Nott and Nott stared down at the boy before moving to stand next Elise, grabbing her hand. The boy's eyes caught the movement and he seemed to assess them before leaving with a sweep of his black robes.
"Can't believe we're already holding hands and you haven't even asked me out yet," Elise said with a gawdy wink. Nott smiled slightly and tugged on her hand.
"I saw Alphard so let's go say hello to him," Nott said tugging her in the opposite direction of the boy.
Elise and Nott walked in silence to where Alphard was standing next to his siblings. Walburga and Cygnus were seemingly looking for their friends and as soon as Walburga saw them, she left without a goodbye. When Alphard saw Elise and Nott, he started walking towards them with Cygnus and Elias behind them, the brunette and the blonde seemingly catching up by communicating through their eyes.
"Mikhael, Arielle, it is lovely to see you both. Please tell me you did end up grabbing an empty train car." Elise nodded.
"We did end up getting an empty car. Are Cygnus and Elias going to be staying with us then," Elise questioned with a slight cock of her head as she watched the two younger boys.
"Yes, they will be," Alphard said, assessing the look on Elise's face, "They are family and family looks after family no matter what." And with that Elise and Nott escorted their merry little 'gang' to their empty car.
As Alphard helped Cygnus with his trunk, Elise turned to Nott outside of their car. They stared at each other for a little while and Nott seemed to steel himself to spend time with the father he so despised. As he walked by, Elise squeezed his hand and in her head, she knew she had to be sorted into Slytherin so he could be sorted into Ravenclaw. Just to save him the pain of having to see the two men who have ruined his life every day.