Annie woke early the next morning. She groggily clambered out of bed and scrambled around on her bedroom floor trying to locate her gym clothes and trainers. She slipped on her clothes, before quietly heading out of her room, down the hallway, into the porch and gently shutting the door of the house behind her. She set off around the never silent streets of suburban London, her feet rhythmically pounding on the pavement.
She recounted yesterday evening, the rest of the Finnegan Family had joined Niamh over at theirs for a welcome home dinner. It had been lovely to see them all again. Especially Niamh's dad Seamus who had taken quite a liking to her; although that might be partly due to her Quidditch ability and obsession with the sport. Mrs Finnegan was a quiet gentle sort but had absolutely no tolerance for her husband or children's incessant antics, so to have dinner with them was always entertaining. John, Niamh's older brother was unable to come yesterday as he was on a late shift in the Auror department, which was a shame as he usually told Annie of his adventures on his missions that were probably over- exaggerated but nevertheless entertaining.
As Annie ran, she passed the park where she and Fred used to play as children; a sad little smile appeared as she remembered all their antics as kids, all the trouble they would always get into. One time, a 7 year old Fred schemed to make it appear that Annie had fallen off her swing, she smiled at the thought, he was always one for the dramatics. As she lay there on the floor pretending to be unconscious and trying to stifle her giggles, their mothers rushed over in a state of panic and as they reached her, Annie sat up, shouting "Boo!" before her and Fred collapsed in a fit of giggles at their mother's faces. They'd both received a lecture afterwards but it was worth every second.
They were known as the 'troublesome duo' and according to their parents were "as thick as thieves", they were childhood best friends, but all of that had changed on the day before Annie left for France.
She fingered the leather bracelet on her wrist nervously as she stood next to the park gate, a tiny wooden Beater's Bat hung there. She was swarmed with dread and guilt as she thought about having to see him again. What would he be like? Would he talk to her?
She shook her head and turned to continue her run, no point about thinking about these things now, she would deal with it later, she deserved whatever she got, she thought before grimacing and continuing on her run.
As she ran she passed Imogen's house she made a mental note to pop in their later, and say hello.
Imogen was another old friend from her childhood but she was different from the rest, she was a muggle. She was one of the most patient people that Annie knew and it was always refreshing to spend time with her. Imm would always insist on Annie keeping up with Muggle music and fashion trends, which she was never able to do when she left for France.
Annie hadn't seen Imogen now for what must've been three years. She hadn't been able to visit as much as she wanted to after they moved to France, and so they'd lost contact after a few years.
She decided she pop over there later after she transformed her studio, and continued on her run.
Annie got back home an hour later, with cramp spreading all the way up her legs and a stitch in her side, but nevertheless feeling refreshed.
She walked into the kitchen and made a beeline for the fridge and after pulling out two cartons, one of orange juice and the other milk, she hastily closed the fridge with her foot, whilst balancing the cartons and now a box of cereal she had picked up from the counter, and rushed over to the table, placing all her items down as gently as she could trying to minimise any accidents.
As she was pouring her milk onto the cereal, Katie bustled into the kitchen looking like an entirely different person from yesterday. Her blond hair pulled back into a neat bun, her face looking fresh and soft as she smiled at Annie, whilst heading over to fridge to pull out ingredients for Pancakes, her father's favourite.
"Did you sleep well Ann?" Katie enquired, with her back to Annie as she dug through the fridge, desperately trying to find the butter.
"Yeah, like a log, it's nice to be home" she tried to say, but her mouth was currently so full of cereal that it sounded more like "yemph, ike anf ogf, iffs noicth toof beef homth"
"Oh well I'm glad" Katie said absentmindedly, seeming to understand her, before shouting "I found it" spinning round and clutching the butter triumphantly in her hand.
"Well done mum, although I'm not sure you need to announce it to the whole street" Annie said with a wry smile before turning back to shovel more cereal into her mouth.
Katie huffed before registering how her daughter was eating and began lecturing her how to eat correctly.
"It's not like there's other people around mum, I'm better in public anyways" she lied, knowing full well that she couldn't be bothered to eat politely most of the time, she just appreciated food too much. Belle had often marvelled at how much Annie could stuff into her mouth every morning at breakfast at Beauxbatons.
"Nevertheless, I would still like you to at least attempt having better manners when you eat, what if the minister for magic walked in just as you were stuffing your face"
"Mum, why would Matthias stroll into the house this morning?"
"Well he might" Katie protested, "Your father has a very important job you know, and I know that Matthias is very happy that Dean is back, he might pop over to welcome us home… plus he's Mr Johnson to you." She reprimanded.
Annie just smiled at her mother before turning back round to continue her breakfast in peace.
Katie sighed as she saw Annie stuff cereal into her mouth, but didn't bother to respond, knowing her attempts would be in vain. She turned back round to the counter to continue making pancakes.
Annie scooped the last flakes of cereal out of the bowl before drinking her glass of juice. Once she had finished her breakfast, she sat at the table, vaguely listening to her mother clattering pots around the kitchen and humming quietly to herself while she cooked. Annie smiled at Katie's habit; she knew she had picked it up as well, humming when she concentrated. All of her friends at Beauxbatons had refused to study with her in the end because she would hum which they would all find irritating when they were trying to study.
She relaxed back into her chair and started to mentally create a list of all the things she had to do today:
Finish unpacking her room
Transform the spare room into her studio
Visit Imogen
Probably help unpack the rest of the house
She decided she'd start by transforming the room as it needed to be done and then she would pop over and see Imogen after.
She stood up from the table, her chair screeching slightly against the stone flaw causing her to wince, and picked up her bowl which she then proceeded to dump in the sink.
As she turned to walk out of the kitchen Katie called "remember to put the juice and milk away as well please"
Annie groaned slightly before turning round and putting the rest of her breakfast things away before heading upstairs.
She bumped into Dean on the stairs. It seemed the smell of Katie's cooking wafting through the house had persuaded him to come down stairs. He ruffled her hair gently as he passed which made her smile before they both continued in opposite directions.
She arrived at her soon to be studio and stood staring at the room, contemplating which walls offered the best lighting… she could probably put some skylights in as well to add light to the room.
Annie reminisced to when she had started dancing while looking round the room. It had been at Beauxbatons in her first year. She was so distressed about leaving England that she had had a hard time controlling her emotions and she became volatile and unpredictable. Most teachers and students avoided her so that she wouldn't get distressed, but this made her worse. Eventually, her transfiguration teacher Madame Dubois suggested she take up Ballet. The school offered Ballet lessons, as the style taught control, elegance, balance and strength; all aspects that Beauxbatons looked for in their students. Her teacher signed her up for it, thinking it would be a good outlet for her emotions.
Madame Dubois was right. Annie took to it like a duck to water. She poured all her emotions into her dance, which made her temper more controllable. As she started to calm down, she made friends with many students and started to achieve much more in classes as she was able to focus.
She hadn't stopped dancing since. It soothed her in a way that words and comfort could not, the familiarity of the motions and the music swirling round her head.
As a result of years of obsessive training, she became one of the schools best dancers and represented them internationally, increasing her ever growing popularity.
Which was how she met Pierre.
He became her dance partner and they both grew close, eventually leading to them dating. They had both decided that they were going to try to maintain their relationship even though they were in different countries. Annie knew it was risky and was unlikely to work, but she trusted him and so far, although she only been in England for a day, everything was going swimmingly.
She refocused on her measurements for the room. She needed to get this built quickly as the more time rehearsing the better. She was currently working towards her final exam, and she needed to practice daily.
Annie waved her wand in a swirling motion counter clockwise whilst talking quietly to herself and visualizing the wooden spring-floor. Once the spell was completed she opened her eyes and smiled, seeing that she had been successful.
She repeated this for the rest of the room until she was standing inside a fully functioning dance studio, with three walls covered in floor to ceiling mirrors and the wooden floor under her feet, and the skylights above her head, showing what was turning out to be a glorious day.
She rushed next door grabbing her music system. It had been adapted especially for magical uses so that it could be used where electricity couldn't, such as Hogwarts. It was an ordinary wizarding radio but it connected to a muggle iPod via a cord that converts electricity into another form so that it could be used with the wizarding radio. These cords were still in short supply and Annie was extremely grateful to her father for tracking one down, it made her dancing so much easier without having to worry about her music.
After placing it carefully in the studio, she left the room and locked the door. She was extremely private about her dancing, even her parents had rarely seen her dance, both knew she was very talented but Annie had always managed to keep them from seeing it, apart from the odd competition that she hadn't been able to avoid telling them about.
Glancing at her watch that her parents had bought her for her 17th, she realised that time had flown by this morning and it was nearly 12 o'clock.
She dashed down the stairs, swiftly told her parents that she was going over to visit Imogen, who looked vaguely surprised but smiled and Katie reminded her that she had to be home before five as the Finnegan's were popping over again.
"Yeah yeah mum, anyway must dash" Annie called over her shoulder as she turned to head out the front door.
She heard a sigh from behind her which had undoubtedly came from her mother, shortly followed by a snort which she knew had come for her father. She smiled to herself before rushing out the door and down the road.
After a five minute walk, she stood in front of Imogen's house, gazing at it and feeling slightly nervous, she approached the door. She knocked twice and waited, the seconds seemed to stretch into hours, until she heard a set of footsteps coming closer. The locks clicked and the door was thrown back.
In the doorway stood a girl of Annie's age who was small, with jet black curly hair and hazy blue eyes, her mouth formed a comical 'O' as she stared at Annie, before letting out a shout and throwing herself at her, who in return laughed and hugged her old friend.
"Oh my word Annie I can't believe it's you! Oh look how pretty you are, mind you I always knew that was going to happen, how are you? When did you get back? Are you staying for long?" She babbled pulling back from Annie and looking expectantly at her.
"Let's see, yes it is me, thank you, you too look as gorgeous as ever, I'm fine, a little tired maybe, I got back yesterday, and I am staying in England… forever! … There does that answer all your questions?" Annie laughed while Imogen blushed but gave her a happy smile.
"Oh I've missed you so much Ann! I'm so glad you're back"
"Me too, it feels great to be home" Annie smiled.
"Well come inside then, we have so much to talk about!" Imogen said excitedly, before turning back and heading into the lounge, where they sat on the sofa and proceeded to talk about what had happened in their lives in the three years that they had not seen each other.
After at least an hour of discussion, the two girls sat relaxed on the sofa, each lost in the other's life.
"Wow so you're some hotshot dancer now then?" Imogen said appreciatively, breaking the contented silence.
"Yeah I guess, but look at you with your singing! Who would've thought singing into a hairbrush would've got you where you are now?! The next Beyonce or something…"Annie teased.
"Oh wow Annie I have to get you up to date with music, I can't believe your school doesn't have computers… you at least need to be dancing to good music" Imogen sighed.
"Come on then Imm, update me on what I've missed" Annie proclaimed, getting up and pulling an unwilling Imogen of the sofa and towing her out of the lounge.
"Fine, although you have to tell me how amazing I am…" Imogen pouted.
"You're amazing Imm, now let's go".