A/N - Getting no feedback is rather disconcerting, wouldn't you say? If you like it, review it (please?). If you don't like it, just don't keep reading. Simple.
Sadly, I am not JK Rowling and therefore, I own nothing.
Diagon Alley was heaving, throngs of people ambling forward in a herd as noise filled the air. A young girl, no more than eleven, darted through the crowd, shoving past witches and wizards laden with bags, calling insincere apologies over her shoulder as her hair swept behind her. She halted outside her desired location, bouncing excitedly on her heels.
"Come on! Hurry up!" She called out to the boy that was trailing behind her, her face pink with barely controlled glee, "Could you possibly be any slower?"
"Why yes, yes I could." The older boy smirked, dramatically moving in slow motion as grumbling pedestrians pushed past him.
"Come on!" The girl cried out impatiently, her voice bubbling with excitement as she dived into the shop, stumbling through the threshold. Chuckling, the boy followed.
The boy watched in amusement, leaning back against a shelf, as the girl wobbled on her toes, peering over the edge of the counter.
"Ah, I was expecting you," A seemingly ancient man, with smiling eyes and unkempt hair, appeared over the other side of the counter, "I still remember selling your parents their wands,"
"Really? But that must have been ages ago! They're so old!" The girl exclaimed without thinking and the boy stifled a laugh.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, my dear." The man replied, smiling kindly at the young girl.
"That sounds like a waste of memory if you ask me." The girl replied, blowing her fringe out of her eyes as she stared up at the old man.
The man simply chuckled and disappeared behind a shelf, swallowed up by the darkness.
The girl turned to the boy, her brow furrowed, bafflement etched across her face, "He's a rather peculiar man."
"He's eccentric." The boy corrected the younger girl.
"Eccentric is just another way of saying loony." She shot back.
A laugh escaped the boy's lips, and he simply chortled in response to her remark.
Grinning, she opened her mouth to speak when the old man suddenly reappeared, clearing his throat and incessantly tapping her shoulder until she whirled around.
"Try this one – oak, unicorn hair core, ten inches exactly, bendy..." The man held out his palm, in which a wand rested.
Nervously, the girl picked it up with a shaking hand, before looking back up at the old man, "What do I do?"
"Just swish and flick." He responded, his warm gaze settling her nerves.
Taking a deep breath, she flicked her wrist, red sparks shooting from the tip of the wand, singing the old man's eyebrows.
The boy snorted, raising a hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter as the girls eyes widened in horror.
"I-I'm really so-sorry..." She stuttered an apology, hastily slamming the wand down on the counter before she could do more damage.
"Not that one then." The man simply said, a faint smile playing on his lips as he placed the wand back in its box, "Never mind, let's try another one, shall we?"
The girl nodded lamely, before glancing over her shoulder to the boy, who was watching her intently, amusement flickering in his eyes. Smirking, he gave her a lazy thumbs up and she couldn't help but smile at him in return, a blush dusting her cheeks.
"How about this?" The elder man interrupted her thoughts, thrusting a second box at her, "Holly with a phoenix feather core, twelve and three quarter inches, slightly springy...give it a try."
The girl nodded, tentatively removing the sleek wand from its box and curling her fingers around the wood.
"Swish and flick," She instructed herself in a whisper, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath as she swished the wand upward. Suddenly, everything flashed white; and then it was gone.
Astrid's eyes shot open, her hand darting to her pounding chest as she bolted upright, tangled in a mess of crumpled sheets. Panting, she ran her fingers through her knotted hair, which was plastered to her forehead with sweat. Blearily, she looked around the room with bloodshot eyes. Silver tinted streaks of moonlight filtered into the room through the towering windows, bathing the room in silver and illuminating the crumpled scarlet bedsheets. Her wide eyes darted from bed to bed, her heart fiercely beating in her mouth, rising in her throat as it threatened to pierce through her chest. Sighing, she wearily raised a hand to her scorching forehead, the only sound filling her ears being the thumping of her heartbeat as swells of blood rushed through her brain. Weakly, she shook her head, freeing herself of the dream. She smoothed her creased pyjamas as her accelerated heart rate began to slow. The other girls remained sound asleep, breathing evenly as they burrowed their heads into their pillows, clutching their duvets to their chests tightly. The low whistle of Katie's quiet snores filled the air, interrupted every so often by the soft snorts that erupted from Alicia as she tossed and turned.
"It was just a dream," Astrid whispered into the darkness, her head falling back against the pillow as she tugged the duvet up to her chin. She closed her eyes, scrunching them tight as her dark hair fanned out around her. But inside she knew, no matter how many times she told herself it was a dream, it'd always be a memory.
~MischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanaged~
The Great Hall was packed when a bleary eyed Astrid Black stumbled through the open doors towards the end of breakfast. Several heads swivelled round to watch her as students nudged their friends, whispers echoing around the room. Raking her fingers through her unruly hair, her eyes scanned the Gryffindor table, looking for a place to sit. Her roommates were noticeably absent, and it occurred to her that they'd said they were planning on going to the Library after breakfast in search of a book Alicia had forgotten to pack in her trunk. Angelina had politely invited her to join them, but the only response that her mouth was able to form was 'sod off, I'm sleeping'. In hindsight, her reply wasn't exactly out of line. After all, she had been happily asleep, contently caught in a dreamless state, when she'd felt someone shaking her, roughly nudging her shoulder. Groaning, she'd reluctantly opened one eye to see Katie looming over her, peering at her with an unreadable expression as she shoved her once more.
"Finally! We've been trying to wake you for ages!" Katie exclaimed, jumping back to dodge Astrid's attempt to swat her away.
"I'm tired." Astrid mumbled, burying her face in a pillow, hugging it close.
"It's time for breakfast though," Katie pointed out, tapping her watch, "If you don't hurry we'll be late."
Astrid reluctantly raised her head, stifling a yawn as she stretched her arms out, "Go without me,"
"Are you sure?" Angelina asked, folding her pyjamas and tucking them under her pillow.
"Absolutely." Astrid's head drooped once more.
"Well, we're going to the library after we eat to get a book out for Alicia, it'd be really nice if you'd join us." Angelina continued, now crouching down to tie her shoelaces.
"I'll see you in lessons." Astrid's voice was muffled as she tugged the duvet over her head, "Now sod off, I'm sleeping."
Sighing, Angelina held her hands up in defeat and the other girls giggled, quietly retreating out of the room.
Now, Astrid was kicking herself for not getting her lazy arse out of bed, faced with the dilemma of being alone. Holding her head high, she approached the table, perching on the end of the bench. Eyeing up the array of food spread across the table, she lifted a nearby jug, absently pouring its contents into an empty goblet. She brought the goblet to her lips, taking a whiff of the strong scent of the beverage, and took a dainty sip. Pumpkin juice, she thought as the refreshing liquid tickled the back of her throat, oi, what I'd give for some firewhiskey right about now.
Firewhiskey? The voice piped up, seemingly chipper, steady on, Ast, it's only just gone eight in the morning!
Sighing, her gaze scanned the room as she took a larger gulp of her drink. Swallowing hard, she locked eyes with the red haired boy she'd spotted at dinner yesterday. She wondered why he seemed to have a fascination with watching her as she set down her goblet, waiting for him to make the first move. He grinned, his eyes sparkling with mischief, and she felt herself smiling back as she challenged him, daring him to look away first. He did, turning to whisper something to his twin, who was busy shovelling scrambled eggs into his mouth, yolk dribbling down his chin. His twin smirked at whatever the boy had said, roughly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked her way. His gaze hovered over her for a moment before he turned back to the first twin and shook his head. The first twin simply shrugged, a grin spreading across his face, and took a greedy bite of the slice of toast he'd been waving around. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, Astrid pondered what the twins could have been talking about, and more importantly, how it involved her. Shrugging it off, she swiped a blueberry muffin from the platter in front of her, tossing it in the air and catching it again.
That's impressive, the voice said sarcastically, teasing her, how about you try eating it instead?
Oh shut it, she retorted, taking a greedy bite of the muffin, crumbs spilling over her lap.
Someone's crabby.
I told you to put a sock in it, she thought back, chewing thoughtfully as she mulled over a better comeback. The voice remained silent, seemingly surrendering as Astrid polished off her muffin, her mind drifting elsewhere as she considered her classes for the day. Glancing around the hall, she caught sight of Draco, who was staring at her as if he'd walked into a particularly rotten smell. She frowned as she watched him excuse himself from his friends and saunter towards her. Oh frick. Without hesitation, she swung her legs over the bench, rising to her feet as she brushed the lingering crumbs from her clothes, and dashed out of the hall without a second glance.
~MischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanaged~
Fred Weasley watched the retreating back of the new girl, Astrid Black, as she leapt to her feet, almost spilling over her goblet, its contents splashing over the rim, and hastily darted out of the hall. She'd looked rather worse for wear this morning, her bleary eyes bloodshot as she yawned sleepily into the back of her hand. She'd caught his attention rather quickly, strutting into the hall decked out in uniform sloppy enough to make him proud – her swishing robes were open, revealing her creased and unkempt white shirt, untucked over a very blatantly rolled up school skirt that grazed her mid-thigh. Beneath the skirt, she wore thick, black and white striped tights, her look rounded off with her loosely knotted scarlet and gold tie and chunky, black, lace-up boots. He'd caught her attention rather quickly too, it seemed, her lips quirking up in a smile when she noticed him, her blue eyes lighting up her face. He didn't really know where the intrigue came from with this girl, but he knew he wanted to know more.
Breaking eye contact with her, he had turned to George, who was noisily slurping a generous helping of scrambled eggs off of his fork, and had nudged him in the side.
"She wants me," He'd whispered to his twin, a smug grin spreading across his face as he flicked his eyes towards the new girl, directing George.
Smirking, George set his fork down with a clatter, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked over at the new girl. His eyes lingered on her for a few seconds as he pondered what Fred had said. Tearing his gaze away from her, he turned back to his brother, his smirk growing wider as he shook his head.
"No way, mate." He chuckled, "You haven't got a chance."
Fred simply shrugged, brushing off the comment, and took a bite of his toast, his smile unwavering.
Now, Draco Malfoy stood only a few feet away, gaping at the spot Astrid had just occupied.
"Careful Malfoy, you'll catch flies," Fred called across the table, smirking.
Draco's mouth snapped shut, his head whipping around to locate the voice. His gaze settled on Fred and his eyes narrowed, a look of utter contempt marring his features, "Weasley." He said haughtily, his nose pointed in the air.
"Yes?" Both Fred and George answered, identical grins spread across their faces.
"Should have known you wouldn't be able to keep your filthy trap shut." Malfoy responded, his voice laced with disdain.
"Should have known you would take to harassing innocent girls." Fred retorted without missing a beat.
"Does the word creepy mean anything to you?" George chimed in.
Malfoy flushed, his cheeks tinged a light pink, his eyes wide, before hastily composing himself, "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Really?" Fred arched a brow, taking a bite of his toast, "Because it seems like you just can't get enough of the new girl."
"Jealous are we?" Malfoy sneered, "Want her all for yourself, Weasley?"
"Of course not," Fred responded, swallowing his mouthful.
"Just as well. As if she'd give filth like you the time of day." Malfoy responded, a smug smirk spread across his face, before marching back to the Slytherin table.
"What an utter git," George muttered, spearing a piece of bacon with his fork.
"Couldn't agree more, Forge, couldn't agree more." Fred replied, nodding his head in agreement and returning to his breakfast.
