The rain came the day after the World Cup and it relentlessly pounded against the windows of The Burrow for the next few days. Oriane had fallen into a coma of sorts for their first day back, and she slept through the entire day and night. By the next morning, she was up and acting like her usual self; a young girl excited for the upcoming school year. It was as if nothing had happened at all.
She spent a majority of her time inside with everyone else, as no one particularly fancied getting soaked from the storm. Her careful eyes would watch as Bill and Ron played against one another in a game of chess, or as Hermione talked about something interesting in one of their school textbooks. Charlie even indulged her in almost everything he knew about dragons, a topic she quickly learned was difficult to get him to stop talking about once he got started.
Mr. Weasley, along with his son Percy, didn't seem to have as much of a relaxing time as the others. News got around quickly about the 'masked intruders' that ruined the Quidditch World Cup, and many people were highly upset with the Ministry for a lack of security. Though Oriane could understand how upset they were, it was pitiful to see that Mr. Weasley had to bear the brunt of their insults.
As for Oriane herself, she remained a floater. All she did was watch and listen as the others enjoyed the remainder of their summer break. Not that she minded. It gave her time to think. It gave her time to heal.
Come the morning of the first of September, Oriane found herself shoved into one of four Muggle taxis. According to Mrs. Weasley, their original plan was to get cars from the Ministry, but with all the commotion going on, there wasn't any to spare to transport a handful of children. So, she found herself squished into one of the taxis with Ginny and Charlie where their trunks awkwardly shuttered in the back for the whole journey there.
The rain didn't let up, even in London. In fact, it was almost worse. By the time they had even gotten their hands on their luggage, they were completely soaked in the downpour. As soon as they were able to, everyone quickly rushed across the busy street and took cover inside King's Cross Station.
It felt odd being in the station without Esme. Really, it had felt like an eternity since she had seen her last. Oriane couldn't even recall their last conversation. She had been so tired, and everything had blurred together… All she could remember was that one moment she was walking to watch the World Cup with Cedric and his father, and the next she was suddenly walking through the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
Dark soot spewed out of the bright scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express, and a familiar buzz shook the air. Countless parents and students crowded the platform where they swarmed the train like hungry ants. Owl's hooted as they were perched in their cages, and Oriane could even make the distinct sound of a toddler laughing as it chased after a cat nearby.
"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," Charlie said with a grin as he gave Ginny a hug.
"Why?" asked Fred with narrow eyes.
"I sort of wish I was back at Hogwarts this year," Bill interjected, eyes stuck to the train. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it."
"A bit of what?" Ron asked, impatient.
Before either of the boys could answer them (though, Oriane was sure that they weren't going to, anyway) the first warning whistle blew. The children only had minutes to spare before the train would depart. Oriane turned her attention towards the train as everyone began to shuffle behind Mrs. Weasley. Yet as they neared the train carts, something in the distance caught her attention.
Two girls stood by a cart a few segments down from them. One had very short, platinum blonde hair, and the other had a mess of fiery curls; Charlotte and Emerald. Emerald was on the tips of her toes, nearly jumping up and down as she shouted Oriane's name and waved her down.
Smiling, Oriane turned to the others. "My roommates are calling me over. I shouldn't keep them waiting." Then, she turned to Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie. "Thank you all, for everything."
Mrs. Weasley gave her a warm smile, and even enveloped her in a quick hug. "Of course, dear. You're welcome over anytime!"
With a final goodbye, Oriane turned and walked to her roommates, who eagerly awaited her arrival. It looked as if they already had a compartment secured, as neither of them had their trunks. Another whistle blew from the train, and Oriane picked up her speed, refusing to be the reason they would get left behind.
"Come on! We've got a compartment already!" Emerald exclaimed as she quickly rushed up the stairs onto the train.
Charlotte took up the back of their trio as Oriane was led through the train. Instantly the familiar sound of children chatting away, their muffled voices bleeding through closed doors, surrounded her. It was a much different feeling from the first time she had ever boarded the Hogwarts Express. She was alone, and felt completely out of place. Now, people were wanting to sit with her, and she couldn't help but smile to herself as Emerald opened the door to their compartment.
She had expected the compartment to be empty, but she was greeted by a small, orange ball of fluff. It was preoccupied batting around a small ball on the floor, yet it did take a moment to look up at the girls as they shut the door behind them.
"Oh, don't mind him," Emerald said, reaching down to poke the creature on the nose. "This is Milo!"
Milo was a small, orange kitten that was more fluff than he was cat. His tail was long and scrawny, and his nose was bright pink. His yellow eyes looked almost completely black as his pupils grew as he focused on the toy he continued to bat across the floor of the compartment.
"Milo," Oriane repeated with a smile.
As Oriane busied herself with putting her trunk on the overhead luggage carrier, Charlotte took a seat and leaned forward to look at the cat as he continued to tumble around. Eventually, she leaned down and picked up the creature. She used both of her hands, despite the fact that he was small enough for her to use one. Her hands held him around his torso, causing his arms to stick out straight and the rest of his body to hang limp in the air. Annoyed that someone interrupted his playing, Milo looked at Charlotte and flicked his tail.
"Hello cat," Charlotte greeted him.
Oriane had secured her trunk just in time for the train to lurch forward. Sighing, she turned around to face the others, her eyes glancing back and forth between the two girls.
"Where's Calista?" she asked, sitting down.
"She's normally a bit late," Emerald explained, "she'll probably find us here in a few minutes."
Milo, who was now standing on Charlotte's lap, quickly dove off her knees and landed on the floor with a thud. After his tumble, he quickly got back up, and continued playing with his ball.
"He's not very smart, is he?" Charlotte asked.
"He's just a baby," Emerald defended.
"Yeah, a stupid baby."
Rain began to pound against the glass as the train fully exited the platform. It was almost as rainy as it had been the previous year during her first trip to Hogwarts. Though, Oriane hoped there would be less dementors that time around.
A flash of white ran past the door catching Oriane's attention. It was gone just as soon as it came, so by the time she looked through the window of the compartment door there was nothing there. However, moments later, the white figure came into view once more, ever so slowly backing up in the hallway.
"Calista?" she asked.
Her question was answered moments later as the door came sliding open. Calista was dressed very similar to what she had been wearing at the World Cup. A simple, plain white skirt that was perfectly pressed with no wrinkles, along with a matching blouse. Her hair was curled once more, and the dirty blonde waves spun around as she slammed the sliding door closed behind her.
Calista looked… angry. Angrier than Oriane had ever seen her. Any remnants of her usual bubbly self seemed to have vanished as she quickly swung her trunk up onto the seat next to Oriane. She began to mutter to herself as she quickly walked back over to the sliding door and pulled down the blinds, blocking their view into the hallway.
"Is everything alright?" Emerald asked carefully.
Calista ignored her as she began to undo the buttons on her blouse, her muttering only getting worse.
"Idiot he is…" Torso now exposed, she tossed her shirt onto the floor, nearly missing Milo. "Thinks he knows everything, trying to-" next was her skirt, which she quickly slid down her legs, "control me. I wish he would just-" another article of clothing tossed, this time on top of the poor kitten, "one of these days I swear…"
Calista white now stood in front of her three roommates, body only covered by what undergarments she had been wearing underneath her clothes. A bright red shade had completely taken over Emerald's face, and she quickly covered her eyes with her hands. Charlotte didn't seem to care at all, and instead helped get Milo out from underneath Calista's skirt, which he had begun to claw at.
"Calista!" Emerald exclaimed.
"Hold your horses! Just changing into something more comfortable, damn…" the girl whined.
She then turned her attention towards her trunk, which was still sitting next to Oriane. The lid came flying open and Calista quickly began to sort through various articles of clothing. Eventually, she pulled out her school uniform, and began to dress herself once more. And it wasn't like the girls had seen one another undressed before, as they had been roommates for some time. Yet, it was shocking to watch the girl strip down in such a public place with little regard for anyone who could be watching.
Once she was fully dressed again, Calista threw her trunk over head, setting it right next to Oriane's. Next was her hair, which she put up in her normal ponytail using the pink hair tie around her wrist. Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she plopped down next to Oriane with a heavy sigh.
"You can uncover your eyes now, Emi," she teased, a hint of a smile pulling at her lips.
Not even a second later, Calista had thrown herself around Oriane, pulling the girl in for a constricting hug. The amount of whiplash Oriane was experiencing from the last few minutes was beginning to make her head spin. Between Calista's muttering, her tearing her clothes off, and now embracing her, she couldn't tell if the girl was happy or upset.
"I'm so glad you're alright," Calista said softly before pulling away to look at Oriane. "I heard about what happened that night at the campsite. I can't believe something like that would happen at the World Cup."
Confused, Emerald tilted her head to the side. "What happened at the Cup?"
"Didn't you see it in the Daily Prophet?" Calista asked. "It's all anyones been talking about!"
"No, sorry, my Muggle family doesn't exactly subscribe to wizarding papers," Emerald retorted.
It was something Oriane had been expecting, especially from her roommates; questions about what had happened. She had tried to prepare her speech in her head several times, but no matter how she worded it, none of it seemed good enough. It was like there were gaps in her story she couldn't fully remember. But she couldn't exactly ignore their concern for her.
"Death Eaters attacked the campsite after the game," Oriane admitted, her voice becoming raw just saying it.
"Death Eaters?" Emerald repeated.
"Dark Wizards," Charlotte said, "followers of You-Know-Who. They hate Muggles and anyone who's Muggle-Born."
Whatever red tinge that stained Emerald's face from earlier quickly drained.
"They were dragging along a Muggle family when they came into the camp. They were floating in the air and the Death Eaters kept… toying with them. We ran into the woods to get to safety and…"
And that was all she wanted to say about it. She didn't want to talk about the Death Eaters she ran into, or how George was stunned protecting her. She didn't want to talk about the blood gushing from Bill's arm, or the anger Percy directed towards them for trying to run after the others…
"And we hid until they ran off," she finished.
"Did anyone get hurt?" Emerald anxiously asked.
"Well, there were tons of injuries, but no one… died… if that's what you meant," Oriane said.
"Though, Rita Skeeter would have you think otherwise," Calista butted in. "Sorry excuse for a writer who doesn't know how to actually check her facts before publishing an article. Only cares about creating drama. But… I'm glad you're alright."
A long stretch of silence ensued as the girls sat and thought about the events. Milo, who was none the wiser to the turmoil going on around him, trotted up to Emerald where he began to gnaw on her shoelaces. A part of Oriane wanted to ask Calista about her experience at the World Cup, and if she had been there during the fighting. But then she remembered the barking tone of her fathers voice, and the bored eyes of her mother and decided against it.
"So then…" Calista spoke up, a devious glint in her eyes, "tell me about everything else then. I told you I wanted every detail of you going with Cedric."
The change in topic was just as headache inducing as it was earlier, but really, Oriane wasn't going to complain that much. She was just glad that for the first time in a few days she had something else to talk about than the actual attack itself.
"It was good," she responded stiffly.
"...good?" Calista repeated, turning her attention to Charlotte and Emerald. "Did you hear her, it was good. Come on, Ori, we need more than that!"
Oriane only sighed as she received a gentle shove on her arm from Calista. "Alright, well, how about you ask me what you want to know, then?"
"Well, I want to know if he was a gentleman to you or not. You know, did he buy you anything, and keep you fed? Maybe, oh I don't know, protect you as you ran away from masked weirdos perhaps?"
She couldn't help but shake her head at Calista's childish questioning. "Cedric and I had gotten separated when the fighting broke out. But he was a gentleman."
The more she thought about it, the more she realized just how fitting that word was for describing Cedric Diggory. Between him lending her his coat, checking up on her after they were reunited, how he ran after her after she left the tent… Even before the World Cup he had been watching out for her in some way. Stealing food from dinner after she had skipped it, leaving her flowers after she had been injured…
"That reminds me," she spoke up suddenly, "I have to return his jacket."
And that sentence was just about the worst thing Oriane could have said at that moment. Calista's eyes went wide, and her hands instantly reached up to grip Oriane's shoulders. The violent shaking came next.
"He gave you his jacket?" she asked.
Oriane did her best to steady herself, but Calista's grip was much stronger than she expected. "He let me borrow it," she corrected.
"Ori, darling, when a boy lets you borrow his jacket, he doesn't actually intend on getting it back," Calista explained.
"You're reading too much into it. He was just being nice! It was just really cold that morning…"
Frustrated, Calista threw her hands up and she looked upwards, almost as if she was pleading with some higher power. Charlotte, who had stayed mostly quiet while the others talked, couldn't help but look at Milo. He was now on top of her feet, and was using the fabric of her jeans to climb up her leg and onto her lap. Just like she did earlier, she picked him up and looked him right in the eyes. Small, creamy paws reached out and patted the tip of her nose.
"Looks like you're not the only stupid idiot here," Charlotte cooed.
"Stop calling him that," Emerald muttered, taking the kitten out of her hands. "He's just a baby."
"A stupid idiot baby."
"You're keeping that damn jacket," Calista ordered, pointing a finger at Oriane.
"He's going to want it back," she retorted.
"He doesn't want the damn jacket back," Calista said, exasperated. "I can tell you exactly how that conversation is going to go. You're going to give him the jacket back, and he's going to tell you that you can keep it because he never intended to get it back, and if you insist you're going to break his little heart."
"Just agree with her already. I'm getting a headache," Charlotte begged, leaning her head against the window.
"How would I break his heart?" Oriane asked, ignoring her.
Calista paused for a short moment as she took a deep breath. "Because you're a catch and he's trying to reel you in? He's dehydrated and you're a tall glass of water? He's a puffskein and you're a booger up some poor man's nostril! How many metaphors do I have to throw out before you understand?
"I mean, look at you! You've got this beautiful silky hair, and these cute freckles. You're kind, and most of the time you're pretty smart. Any boy would be lucky to be with you!"
The more she spoke, the more Oriane's face began to turn a bright shade of pink. It took everything in her to not hide her face with her hands. Instead she looked away from the others, doing her best not to look at any of them directly. She didn't really care if Calista was right about that or not, but she couldn't help but feel such utter embarrassment from it.
And a part of her was scared that Calista could be right. That maybe Cedric did really like her as more than a friend. The only romance she had experience with was in old stories and bad poems. Even more terrifying was knowing what she was, everything she was capable of, and the type of people trying to track her down because of it.
No. She decided Cedric couldn't love her. Loving her was too dangerous.
"Alright," she finally caved in, doing her best to diffuse Calista's crusade, "I see your point."
Triumphant, Calista grinned as she leaned back against the seat, and for the first time in a few minutes the room was quiet. Rain continued to pound away at the window, and deep thunder began to roll in the distance. And while Oriane's eyes were focused on the scenery around them, her fingers couldn't help but play with the ribbon around her wrist.
