Chapter 2
August 30th quickly came and by morning time I had all my stuff packed. Saying goodbye to my Father was an experience. He cried a lot, and it was quite discomforting. In the past, it was amusing watching Dahlia go off, and have father hug her bawling like a child, covering her in tears and unsavory nose fluids. Experiencing the twenty minutes of hugs and prying him off of us first hand, was less amusing. But after a couple of escape attempts, Dahlia and I were off to Lepus Manor where we were greeted by twins, Proteus and Brontes.
"My sweet beautiful nieces!" Proteus exclaimed, giving us his signature extremely tight hug, lifting the two of us up, spinning us around in circles.
"Uncle…" I said as I was getting dizzy while Dahlia was unhelpfully laughing.
"Proteus, that's quite enough. We need to take the girls to Diagon Alley, preferably not throwing up or strangled." Brontes interrupted, catching the collar of Proteus' shirt, stopping him mid spin.
"Okay, okay Brontes. Are you ready girls?" Proteus said turning to us. Before I could say anything, Dahlia happily chimed in.
"I'm more than ready!" Dahlia said.
"Are we using the Floo Powder?" I asked.
"Oh never! We're going to be flying instead" Proteus says.
"Isn't that quite a bit slower, Uncle?" I asked, with a questioning look.
Proteus looked at Dahlia and Brontes, chuckling with a familiar twinkle in his eye.
"Clover, don't you know? It's much better to take the scenic route, enjoying yourself, rather than taking an ashy overused way of getting to your destination!" He said.
"You and Frodo would be the best of friends with that type of ideology…" I whispered, half-jokingly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I suppose I should unpack my scarf then." I said, quickly rolling my crate to the guest bedroom.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley! A place of shopping, cobblestone, and wizards everywhere!" Proteus said proudly as we entered the alley.
"I've been here before, Uncle." I deadpanned at the overly excited man.
"Oh, well, this will still be awesome! You'll be getting your wand, a pet, books, and all your supplies! Oh, I can just see it! You'll be sorted into Hufflepuff like your favorite Uncle, and you'll have oodles of fun!" Proteus sang.
"And so I remember, once again, why you made a Dreadful in Divination. Proteus, you'll be shopping with Dahlia, help her gather what she needs. Or be there to carry her stuff. I'll go with Clover, since if we all stayed together, one of us would go mad and try to sell you down at Knockturn Alley." Brontes stated, before leading me away.
"Actually, I see Lucius, so I might actually just shop with him and his parents. You can chill here, or maybe go find a nice lady or something. I don't know, but I'll see you soon Uncle!" I heard Dahlia ramble before running off to our second cousin.
Brontes and I quietly walked picking out items from the list that had been sent out, and we eventually found ourselves at Ollivander's. Walking in, there was an older man behind the counter helping a boy and his parents. That boy seemed around my age, making me further analyze him. I noticed his shaggy black curls that seemed to have been lazily tamed by a brush, and he still held an air of aristocracy about him. My analysis was cut abruptly short by my noticing of the terrifying air his parents how both gave off.
"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Black. Do be careful during your time in and out of Hogwarts." The old man said, giving the boy a long box that presumably had a wand inside. Walking in at that word choice honestly made me think we walked in on some unsubtle foreshadowing. The family of three turned around, and gazed silently for a moment at my Uncle and I.
"Oh if it isn't Penelope and Seus' son, how are you?" The man politely said. Brontes walked up, giving the man a firm handshake.
"I've been doing well, Mr. Black." Brontes said giving what seemed to be as close as he could give to a smile. Mr. Black looked down at me and the assortment of books I had.
"Is your daughter starting her first year at Hogwarts?" Mr. Black asked.
"This is actually my sister's daughter, but yes, she is going to be starting her first year." Brontes said pushing me forward.
"It's a bliss meeting you Mr. Black." I said giving him a slight upturn of the corners of my lips.
"Well this is my wife, Walburga, and my son, Sirius. He'll be starting at Hogwarts this year too." He said, gesturing to them both.
As I was about to hesitantly greet the two of them, someone else opened the door to the shop, which was a cue for us to get on with our shopping.
"I'm sorry to cut this short, but we should probably continue our shopping. But please if you could owl my father soon, he would enjoy having you and your family for dinner." Brontes said politely stepping past the Blacks.
I looked at this strange family a last time, briefly meeting eyes with the boy, before walking past them.
"It was a delight meeting you all." I said politely.
"The pleasure is all ours." Mr. Black said walking out. Mrs. Black's nose rose about two inches as she and Sirius followed Mr. Black out the door leaving my Uncle and I to pick out my wand.
'Walnut, Cherry, Hawthorn, Elm, Ebony, Fir, Hazel, and Hornbeam…' Nothing seemed to work. If I didn't know better, I half thought that a wand meant for me didn't bloody exist. Eventually he gave me Black Walnut, and to make a boring story short, it chose me.
Outside of meeting the Blacks, the remainder of the trip was fairly uneventful. We eventually met up with Dahlia, Lucius, and Proteus.
"Lucius." Brontes greeted. Lucius gave a nod back.
"Is this Clover?" he asked in a slight disgusted tone.
"It's only been a couple years, Lucius. I haven't changed that much or anything…" I deadpanned, looking away.
"I see you still have the same awful attitude," he lightly hit the top of my head, causing me to swat his hand away.
"Slytherin will make a decent witch out of you." He said.
"Pardon me cousin-dearest, how are you so sure she won't be in Hufflepuff? I think she'd have a delightful time with the old black and yellow! " Proteus cheerfully replied.
Lucius gave him a pointed look, looked me up and down, then looked back to Proteus.
"I'll call it intuition." He stated.
"Oh quit it boys! Let's just hope she's happy wherever the Sorting Hat puts her!" Dahlia chimed in, diffusing a possible argument before it started.
"Hey I just noticed. Have you not been to Magical Menagerie yet? Here you three catch up, I'll take Clover and we'll meet you at Sugarplum Sweets Shop in 40! Thanks Uncle Pro!" Dahlia said dragging me off, seeming to ignore a call from Proteus saying "Give me back my galleon pouch!"
"Goodness, I love Uncle Pro to death, but he is too much, and he enjoys all this shopping too much as well." She said as we walked up to the pet shop.
As we looked at the assortment of animals I looked at Dahlia.
"Do I have to get an owl?"
"Why do you ask that, Clo?"
"Well, you have one, and Mum had one… So I just thought."
"Stop, just stop. No, you don't need to get one if you don't want one. If you want to mail home or something, just tell me, and I'll send Jane in an instant. " She said with a grin. Her grin faded a bit as she added, "But in return, just stop worrying so much about being like Mum. No one really expects you to be like her, okay?"
'If only you were right about that.' I thought. I gazed at her for a second, but started to feel like this moment was just getting too sappy and lovey for my taste. I promptly decided to try to end this conversation and talk about something less about myself.
"I can't believe you named your owl after Jane Austen out of all people, her books are so idealistic and unrealistic." I snidely commented, hoping to end the previous conversation. She blinked at me as if this were the last thing she was thinking I'd say. She shook her bed before letting me off scotch free.
"First of all, it was Jane Bennet. Second, that Jane Austen, glory be her name, was a genius! Pride and Prejudice was such a feminist empowering book for her time and-oh just go on and find a toad or something. It'd be most fitting." She said rolling her eyes, pushing me away with a laugh.
I passed quite a few toads that just looked slimy-no, mucus-y. Eventually I passed a cat who stared at me with knowing eyes. I stepped back to look at the cat again. It had black fluffy matted fur and intelligent olive green eyes.
"Well hello. I don't understand why I want to talk to you verbally, with you being a cat and whatnot, but you seem calm and collected." I said softly to the cat.
It seemed to almost nod at me, though it was more likely that it was just looking at me up and down. I stuck my fingers through the cage and scratched the top of the cat's head. He lifted his head, asking to have his chin scratched.
"Dahlia, this one." I said pointing at the cat who meowed almost on cue.
"Um, are you sure you want the mangy one? There's plenty of other cats here, like what about this Siamese? You used to sing that Siamese cat song from that one Disney movie all the time when you were younger!"
"This one has personality, he understands all. He is perfect, and I will take no other animal." I said with finality.
She looked at the cat, sighed, and proceeded to walk to the front where she proceeded to pay for the cat and the supplies involved with taking care of him (emphasizing the brush).
We walked together back to the group, where Lucius seems to have left. I couldn't blame the guy though. Uncle Proteus could be quite draining to be around. Dahlia and I used the Floo to get back to Lepus Manor, since, carrying all that while Brontes and Proteus were flying seemed dangerous, if not extremely stupid.
I ended up naming my cat Holden, because Catcher in the Rye was much better than Pride and Prejudice, and my cat was a rebel, I could tell.
The next couple days flashed by, and soon I found myself with Dahlia boarding the Hogwarts Express.
"Well, this is where we part ways, little sister. I sort of have a separate place to sit." Dahlia said.
"Okay." I said, not hesitating to turn around and head the other direction.
"Wait, aren't you curious to know why? Or want big sisterly advice? Anything?"
"If it's anything worth knowing, I'll figure it out eventually." I said, looking for an empty compartment. Holden began squirming in my arms, more than likely wanting to chase another student's rat or something. The thought amused me, and I was worried that holding Holden would possibly open up a door for conversation. I let him jump from my arms, trusting that he'd be intelligent enough to find his own way back to me eventually.
I found an empty compartment which felt like a miracle. I sat and took out a book I had been reading and began to feel myself defect from reality.
'One thing I always enjoyed about books is that it gave me a chance to not be myself. Like being able to see what it's like to openly act on one's feelings. It's pleasant to see what it's like to feel and trust emotions. While most of the characters I experience this through tend to not be the brightest, and having everything ruled by sentiments is the key to an unhappy life, it's interesting.' I thought to myself in what felt like a cliché inner monologue.
I shook my head, quickly growing bored of this sappy book of pride, love, letters, prejudice, annoying characters, and unlikable rich people. I proceeded to take out my Herbology book, deciding to do some early studying. I sat undisturbed for what seemed like a few minutes. As I was fully beginning to lose myself in my studies, someone loudly knocked on the door, and opening it without giving me the chance to say anything.
I glanced up and saw a familiar boy. Familiarity shone on his face as well, when I realized where I had seen him. He was the quiet kid from the wand shop.
Him and another boy rushed in both with dirty hands, quickly closing the door, and ducking out of view from what seemed to be an angry Slytherin passing by looking through my window.
"What do you two think you're doing?" I asked, looking back down at my book.
"Look we just need hide here for a few minutes, is that okay?" Black said.
"No. I don't know either one of you, I don't like either one of you. Please leave." I answered, looking up at them, giving them a signature icy green-eyed Lepus glance.
Black and the other boy looked at one another. The unfamiliar boy, peeked up, apparently seeing the Slytherin right down the hall.
"Hello, I'm James, James Potter. Now, we know each other, we're friendly now. Can we please hide out, at least until the Slytherin gives up on finding us?" The boy with rounded glasses said with a confident smile, and offering a handshake.
I looked at his filthy hands, covered in what I assumed to be dung bombs residue.
"I'd rather not, and I'd rather you both leave." I stated, getting back to my book, ignoring his attempted handshake.
"Come on, Potter, we'd be better off looking for some other compartment. She comes from a family full of Pureblood supremacists, and with how bad her family is, I'm sure she's just as bad as well" Sirius sneered, finally speaking up, giving me what seemed to be his version of a burning glare.
"Yes, yes, my family is dreadfully blood racist. Can you both leave now?" I waved them off. They looked through the window, and quickly left, leaving me alone finally.
The remainder of the trip went by rather quickly, since I was no longer distracted by two dreadful outside existences to deal with. Leaving the compartment, Holden jumped straight into my arms without a moments notice.
"I bet you had a better train ride than I, Holden." I whispered, petting the black fluff. The boat ride was quite interesting. The boats seemed to steer themselves, and the people around me were less annoying than Potter and Sirius. I became fairly acquainted girl that proudly proclaimed to me she was born of two after starting up a conversation with about missing her family. She didn't seem ashamed, so I could tell if she was ignorant or if she just didn't care what people said to her. Her name was Lily, and she was one of the very few people I met that day that I halfway got along with.
"So what's your cat's name?" she asked, reaching over and petting Holden.
"His name is Holden." I answered shortly.
"Really? Like The Catcher in the Rye protagonist?"
I looked at her with genuine surprise, which was quite rare for my mask of indifference to change to anything else.
"Yes! My father's a literature professor so having an extensive knowledge of books is practically hereditary." She said proudly.
"I see, that's very interesting." I stated.
"It's weird isn't it? I know most people think that it's a bit boring and-"
"No, no, no. it actually is interesting. Once I run out of things to read, I hope that you will give me a suggestion or two." I said, attempting to reassure the girl.
'Smart, and capable of holding intellectual conversation, which is a rarity in my fellow age group. She's nicer than I could ever hope to be, which is easy to see in her demeanor. She's hiding insecurities it seems to be maybe her looks or whatever else girls get all tangled up about. She'd possibly be a decent acquaintance.' I thought, not being able to help analyzing the girl. Honestly, at the time, I didn't know if I actually wanted to be anything resembling a friend to the girl, or if I was just relieved to see that I wasn't completely surrounded by utter twats.
I began to gaze at the castle I'd be completing my schooling at, and saw potential. I didn't know what I expected there either. Maybe to be sorted into Slytherin, live out my days in the shadow of Dahlia, and find life's meaning in some idiotic relationship or evil organization. I didn't know what to find, but I had a feeling in my stomach that said I'd find purpose here, and maybe find new things about myself here as well. I then realized that my life at Hogwarts had the potential to be something truly fascinating. I was excited for something, for the first time in recent history. It felt...
And there's the end of that chapter! I would have uploaded sooner but Document Manager has sure been acting up the past few days! So please leave a review, favorite, follow, and all that nice stuff! Have a fantastic morning, day, evening, and night!
P.S. I hope you don't mind the slight brattiness that I'm depicting in Sirius and James! I love them both, and they will be better. Just from the books, I imagine them as little shits until they mature and grow up some. And I mean lots of people I know started off as little shits, and changed to be better people because of it! So I guess what I'm saying is to have some hope! Everyone grows, and everyone changes! It's one of the most beautiful things about human!