Another chapter already? I know! It's a miracle!
Disclaimer: I'm not writing this fanfiction to make any money out of it. I disclaim any familiar characters and/or any plots you read that are associated with Harry Potter. All rights go to the amazingly talented author of the books- JK Rowling. Any original plots/ story lines are mine, and any new characters that we may stumble across that aren't mentioned in the book or in the movie are most likely my OC's. This is a work of fiction. If, in any way, it resembles your life or someone's you know, it is purely coincidental.
Chapter 2: Name Change
Date: Monday, September 3rd, 1973
Time: 06:00
Beep, beep, beep
It will stop soon. Soon...
Why can't soon come faster enough?
Beep, beep, beep
If I just ignore it maybe it will stop ringing.
Beep, bee-
"MERLIN's BEARD!"
Grunting, the young girl threw a feather-filled pillow at her wand clock alarm system (similar to a muggle alarm, except it had a few magical traits) and smiled triumphantly when the incessant beeping finally ceased. She fell onto her bed with a soft thump, hoping to get more sleep before her mother decided she would barge into her room and yell at her to get up.
When she does, it's worse than the alarm wand.
"Ursula-!"
"Yes mother. I'll be down in a second, mother," she interrupted, annoyed, into the pillow that she had taken the liberty of squashing onto her face the moment she heard the awful woman trudge up the stairs. She had always hated the name she had picked out for her.
Oh, and her.
Once she heard the door slam shut with only the grace of an annoyed mother could produce, Ursula jumped out of bed and came face to face with Minnie, her house elf. She greeted her with a soft smile, gracious her mother hadn't hit her for the mess she had made with the alarm (which was currently lying in millions of fractured pieces on the floor). Maybe she should've thought it though first.
"Miss Ursula doesn't need to worry," Minnie said after the elf had followed the direction her mistress was looking at. "Minnie will fix it. Minnie will make it ready for Hogwarts today," she promised, eagerly, with a huge smile on her face. It was hard to say no to the kind elf, so she nodded and started to pack her things. That was, until Minnie stopped her with a loud gasp.
Only slightly irritated she asked, "What now, Minnie?"
"Miss Ursula does not need to touch her things!" she protested. "Miss Ursula needs to change and let Minnie pack. Miss Ursula cannot let her mother see her do work or will be in trouble!" Truthfully, she was getting sick of being called 'Miss Ursula' or 'Ursula' entirely. It was such an old fashioned, evil-sounding name.
No wonder she chose it.
An hour of eyebrow plucking, hair pulling, sharp prodding, and thirty minutes of make-up caking, found the young witch trying not to trip down the stairs whilst concentrating on a regular breathing pattern. The bloody corset was restricting her intake on oxygen and she was finding it a struggle not to faint.
And the stockings! They were so tight she was pretty sure that her legs are just about numb enough to fall off! Honestly, you'd think that after hundreds of years, pure-blooded women would stop wearing those bloody things and replace it with bras!
Merlin, was it so hard for witches to move on from the 18th century fashion?
At least her mother allowed her to wear a modern looking skirt and not some frilly gown to match with the awful corset. She hoped the woman knew what she was putting her through, because I swear to Merl-
"Ah, Ursula, darling, there you are!" the she-devil purred.
Mouthing a silent muggle four letter curse, she plastered a smile onto her face and swivelled round with as much grace as she (the most clumsiest person on this earth) could muster. Her mother, Walburga Black, stood before her, arms widened as if to hug her only daughter (but she didn't approach her so she dropped them), and her eyes glistening like she was holding back proud tears.
Her father, Orion Black, stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders and smiling down at his daughter proudly. He was the only one who understood her, she thought. Him and her older brother Regulus (who was also standing behind their father along with Sirius and their half-exploding trunks). Sirius was just a pain in the arse, in her opinion.
Okay, maybe he wasn't that bad when he wasn't teasing her about her lack of Black family features.
But he was right, she hated to admit.
Besides her dark eyes and aristocratic face, that was as far as my Black genes went. Ursula's nose was small, not pointed like her mother and father's. Her eyes were almond shaped and my hair was wavy and bushy (unlike her dear cousin Bellatrix's whose was curly and frizzy). Sometimes she thought she wasn't a Black.
Now that was a thought.
Their goodbye was an awkward affair as her father had left them to their mother, who both Sirius and she hated (which in all honesty was about the only thing that they both shared the same feelings on), claiming he had some 'official business' he had to immediately attend to at his office.
Her respect for her father lowered in a matter of seconds.
/*\\*/*\\*/*\\*/*\\*/*\\
Minnie dropped the siblings off at the train station a few minutes later, where Sirius had made a run for it, heading for his friends, and Regulus helped his sister get onto platform 9 and 3/4.
See? Regulus, despite his faults, was so much nicer than Sirius. Well, that's what she thought. But apparently, in 'Pure-blood society', a woman's opinion was overruled by men. It's sexist, really.
"Just aim and run," he said encouragingly. She gave him a doubtful look and saw him put his thumbs up. She nodded, bent over and ran through the barrier, praying no muggles saw her exit/entrance.
She felt like she had walked through a wall of jelly. A loud whistle was heard and huge puffs of smoke engulfed the platform. A yell of "Ten minutes!" reached Ursula's ears and she was pushed forward by a warm hand on her back.
"Regulus?" she asked. "What's-" she stopped, mid-sentence, as the smoke cleared and the red steam-engine became fully visible.
Regulus wasn't kidding when he said it was beautiful.
But he didn't add any more details as Sirius had hit him round the head and called him a girl, the git.
Most of the students were on board the train and all of the adults had gathered round the edge of the platform to see if they could catch a glimpse of their child(ren) before they left for the term.
No pure-blooded parents were to be seen (they had 'better things to do'), except the Potters. They were a nice family consisting of a beautiful, warm-hearted mother, a joyous father and just one child- James Potter, qualified prankster, Gryffindor seeker, and full-time git.
He was also Sirius's best friend, so Ursula made a note not to approach him.
Regulus helped her to put her trunk away, wished his sister good luck and left to find his own friends. After five minutes of searching, she found an empty compartment at the very end of the train and sat down. Sighing, she shut her eyes tightly, trying to control her stomach.
She was never good with long muggle transportation. Travel Sickness is what they (muggles) call it, according to the text book she had read up on in the Black library.
This was going to be a lon-
The compartment door slid open and a female voice reached her ears. "Oh, hello there." Her eyes snapped open and saw a pretty girl with vivid red hair that reached her waist, carrying an insane amount of books.
Helping her bring her books down onto the empty seat, they introduced each other. "I'm Lily Evans." She was smiling down at the young Black, holding out her free hand for her to shake.
"The name's... err..."
"Ursula?" Another person called, making her internally groan. Funny, his voice sounded familiar.
"Severus?" she asked.
It had to be him, hadn't it? He was the only one whose voice would match.
Lily sat down gracefully, next to her pile of books, and behind her Severus Snape stood, grin-bearing, head high and still wearing those horrible black clothes. Things never change with that boy, I swear...
"I see you've met each other," Lily commented, once Severus had sat down next to her. Her tone wasn't unpleasant, just curious.
Ursula told her when they had met (on a Tuesday, when Regulus had brought him round for a week during the summer time). And despite his lack of 'pure-blood', both her parents took a liking to him and let him stay. It was wholly unexpected to say the least. Sirius and she even shared the same look of open-mouthed shock his whole stay.
/*\\*/*\\*/*\\*/*\\*/*\\
"And you didn't know you were a witch?"
"Nope! You can imagine the shocked faces on my parents' faces when I gave them the letter. They thought it was a prank!" Lily reminisced, laughing lightly. Ursula laughed along with her.
"So this is your first year?" she asked, grinning when she nodded excitedly. "Word of warning, if you get into Gryffindor, you stay at least ten feet away from the Marauders. Nasty bunch, they are- James Potter especially."
"I know. My brother is in it. I can't stand Sirius," she said.
Lily cocked her head to the side, examining the girl in front of her. "You don't look like your brothers, no offence, Ursula."
She smiled broadly. "I'll take that as a compliment. Come on," she said, looking out the window. "We better get changed."
"And it's not Ursula," she added, once they had changed into their respected uniforms. "That's what my parents and those pure-blooded, supremacy-loving, gits all call me. And besides, it may be a Black name, but I find it so ugly I'm disowning it," she nodded, crossing her arms defiantly.
"So what shall we call you?" Severus enquired.
Ursula thought for a second before answering, confidently. "Hermione. Hermione Violetta Black," she said, holding out her hand for her new friend to shake. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Lily."
Now I'm pretty sure this has probably confused the hell outta all of you, but if you could just scroll back up and read the date of it and you'll find that it, in fact, doesn't leave off from where chapter one finished. Nope, you'll have to wait for chapter three for that ;). Yes, it's one of those stories that jumps from one time to the other telling two separate stories that come together to explain the whole thing at the end. Seriously, if you take a chance on this fic, the future chapters will make so much more sense to you.
I'm not so confident about this chapter as I was about the first, I don't know why. If you have any constructive criticism, that's welcomed, just review and I'll reply and take your advice.
Anyway, I'd just like to dedicate this to my first reviewer: Proud to be a Gryffindor. You Rock! Go check out her stories they are amazing!
And I would also like to say that you to those who favourite-d and followed this fic: Blackraven4400, HazelEyedShadowhunter, Proud To Be A Gryffindor, RayningRoses, Rude's Mom, Sirina Blackwolf, Sweetest-Time, ncass1990, samantha . wheeler. 507.
You guys are the best!
-Ebony'Wingz x