Chapter Sixteen - Fond Farewells
As Skye entered the Great Hall with Tabitha, she grinned as Mikey came running up to them from the Hufflepuff table.
"Someone better call the pet protection agency," Mikey decreed with a grin.
Skye rolled her eyes, regretting the fact that her stunt was getting as much attention as a midnight Quidditch match. Apparently, the entire student body could recall some sort of run in with Mrs Norris, making them wish they had immobilised the cat themselves. Mrs Norris herself had not been happy at all, hissing whenever she caught sight of Skye in the hallway, earning herself deadly glares from Mr Filch.
"Have they managed to charm the fountains back, yet?" Skye shot back.
It turns out that while everyone had been busy scrambling to return to their common rooms, no-one had remembered to remove the charm on the fountains so that they stopped spouting hot chocolate. The entire Hufflepuff table had looked horrified with themselves as Hagrid had bustled in for breakfast, asking if Professor Flitwick could take a look at it with an amused smile.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish we could stay at school this summer," Tabitha sighed.
"Me too. I'm going to miss you guys so much," Skye sniffed.
"We'll all write to each other though, yeah? Make sure we keep in touch?" Mikey asked them.
"Of course. How else am I supposed to keep you updated about my busy life?" Tabitha scoffed.
With that the students were called to settle into their seats, Albus Dumbledore gazing at them over half-moon spectacles, a silvery glint in his eye.
"All too soon another year comes to an end at Hogwarts. Hopefully, we can each take something from this year, whether it be a small piece of knowledge or a fond memory," at this the old man's eyes twinkled, leaving Skye to wonder if he was thinking of anything in particular. "But before we can go off gallivanting, the House Cup stands to be awarded."
Everyone was already well aware that Slytherin had won the House Cup, the snake emblem dominating the furnishing of the Grand Hall. Unfortunately, their midnight stroll around the school grounds had not gone completely unnoticed. Many had been caught by Snape and Filch, yet somehow the Slytherin hourglass looked just as full as it was before. Tabitha suspected Snape had turned a blind eye to any roaming Slytherins that night.
However, Gryffindor was far from letting a mild inconvenience, such as coming last place, ruin their fun. They clapped and whooped, bringing a smile to the face of Albus Dumbledore, who had to hush them to announce Ravenclaw in third place and Hufflepuff in second.
Skye spent the last few hours of her first year laughing with her friends, silently conversing with Mikey from across the room, while Tabitha pulled faces, and joining in with glee as the Weasley twins decided to break out in a rendition of the Hogwarts school song. Never before had Skye felt so bitter-sweet, cherishing her last moments of first year, she and Tabitha bid Mikey a fond farewell before heading up to bed.
XxX
"Honestly, Skye. Cheer up," Tabitha commanded, grasping Skye's cheeks in an attempt to mould her face into a smile.
From the moment the train had pulled away from the station at Hogsmeade, Skye had stared outside the window, glum.
"Yeah, don't waste the last few hours we've got together all miserable," Mikey teased.
"Sorry," she sighed. "It's just that I've never really had a home before. Hogwarts has felt like the closest to one that I've ever had."
"What do you mean you've never had a home before?" Mikey asked, hesitantly.
"My dad died when I was kid and my mum's not very well, so I live in a kids home," she explained. "Sorry I didn't tell you."
Tabitha responded by wacking her on the arm.
"Don't apologise. You have nothing to apologise for. It's none of our business, not that we don't want to know, but you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I mean, we kind of suspected you didn't have a normal home. Ah, not that where you live isn't normal," Tabitha rambled on.
Skye giggled as Mikey face-palmed, followed by a shake of his head.
"What Tabitha is trying to say is that it doesn't matter if you don't have a proper home. Your home is with your family, and that's with us." Mikey smiled sweetly.
"Thanks, guys. So you knew the whole time?" She inquired.
"We guessed. The only person you ever really seemed to talk about was Helen," Mikey shrugged.
"Yeah, and I felt so awful when Mikey mentioned it to me after Christmas. I can't believe how oblivious I was. I felt so guilty, especially when I realised that if I'd noticed sooner you could have come home with me. But let me make it up to you, okay? Maybe you could stay with me for some of the summer? We could all meet up!" Tabitha blabbed, excitedly.
"Seriously?" Skye gasped, hardly believing her luck.
"Of course! I'm sure we could sort something out between us. I could teach you how to play Quidditch!" She enthused.
"Erm, well I'm not sure about that, but I would love to come. Do you think your parents would be ok with it?" She asked.
"It's a done deal, Skye. My parents don't stop asking about how you are and I don't think my brother was joking when he said he wanted to swap us…" Tabitha scowled.
"Brilliant," Mikey grinned.
As the three chatted happily about how they could all meet up over the summer, they barely noticed two heads peering in through the window. At the sliding of the door, they paused, watching as the Weasley twins entered the compartment.
"Hey, guys. Want a sweet?" Fred chuckled as he held up two familiar chewy sweets, one red and one blue.
"Even if I hadn't fallen for that before, I'm well aware not to accept anything from to two of you by now," Mikey scoffed.
"Look at our little Mikey, Freddie. All grown up," George boomed with pride, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye.
"How about we make this a little interesting," Skye suggested with her best impression of Tabitha's evil grin.
"Oh, I love it when Skye schemes," Tabitha sighed, amused.
"How about a little Russian roulette. I've got actual sweets that look just like these," she informed them.
"Now we're talking," Fred accepted the challenge, rubbing his hands together.
Soon enough they were all facing off against each other, five identical looking fruity chews in hand. Three of them were your typical flavours; strawberry, cola and orange, while the other two were the magical variety; one of green packaging and the other purple.
"Ready?" Mikey asked. They all nodded. "Three, two, one, go."
They all popped their chews into their mouths, each of them studying the other for any signs that something was wrong. The first to react was Tabitha, her face began to scrunch up as if she had been sucking on lemons, her skin becoming a shade to rival The Hulk. A second later, Fred's face started to slacken, as if his muscles became paralysed, his skin rivalling Barney the Dinosaur. As his jaw dropped open, he started making a long and dopey 'duhh' sound that would only go away if he forced his mouth shut with his hands. As everyone burst out in laughter, a high pitched titter came from Tabitha.
"Guys, I think my face is stuck," she squeaked as if she had been sucking on helium, face still scrunched up.
Wiping away the tears in her eyes, Skye Knight could hardly contain her laughter, forever grateful that in a small train compartment of the Hogwarts Express, she had managed to find her family, her crazy, delirious family, all by herself.
Authors Note
Hello! I eventually glaze over at author's notes on each chapter, so I thought I would do an end one. First of all; thank you so much for reading this story. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did you will be pleased to know the Year Two story is now up, so please check it out if you're interested - s/12957368/1/A-Knight-to-Remember-Year-Two-Hogwarts
I would like to dedicate this story to my commenter who goes by Potatoes! Your comment made me happy enough to finish the whole thing off and do a big edit. Good luck with your exams, my friend.