Welcome aboard, old and new readers.
We now have our first change in quote language!
It's a Chinese one because I'm totally not biased or anything towards my race/ethnicity (cough) I swear.
Currently un-beta-ed.
Pairings: Potential Hadria (FemHarry) x Tom Riddle, but more platonic than romantic, other pairings undecided.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Currently un-beta-ed. Let me know if you spot any mistakes, thanks.
Chapter 01: A Moment (or a Few) Between
"一寸光阴一寸金，寸金难买寸光阴。" An inch of time is worth an inch of gold but an inch of time cannot be bought by an inch of gold. — Chinese Proverb
Dear Draco,
I am back in Cornwall, so our owls should have an easier time delivering our mail.
I bought a bunch of mati pendants for everyone, which I'll be handing out when school reopens. I think our entire House needs them. I'll also be sending Holly over with a package of mountain tea leaves, for your mother. I think she'll like them.
Hadria
…
Hey Hermione,
I found that book you were talking about, but it took me a while to find the correct one. There were more books using "Khēmeía: Hen To Pān" as a title than I expected. You might want to start learning Greek, by the way, because it hasn't been translated.
Fluffy is doing quite well. They're currently staying with a really rich guy with a really big garden three times the size of the Malfoys'. I got to see his pet Griffin! She was so handsome and majestic (don't tell Draco, he'll think I'm straying) and I wanted to stroke her but we could only watch her from afar because it was her lunchtime and if you disturb her then, you might be mistaken as prey.
I'll tell you more when school starts. See you soon!
Hadria
…
Blaise,
What do you mean he's got a shrine? You can't just say things like this and not elaborate. I can't see your face, but something tells me you're having a great kick out of this.
Hadria
…
Hi Neville,
Happy Birthday in advance!
I got you a Giant Oyster Mushroom, since you mentioned you wanted to see if you could rear a tamer carnivorous plant. It's not a plant, and it's not very big yet since it's still growing, so it can only eat worms at the moment, but you can feed it larger bugs and small animals when it's bigger. I'm told it doesn't have a very long lifespan compared to some plants, so maybe you could try and improve that.
On that note, please do not send me any dangerous plants or fungi for my birthday. Gerwald is still rather upset about the hybridisation of the Self-Fertilising Fireseed Shrub. If you do in fact have any plans on giving me such a plant or fungi, wait till we meet again in school.
Hadria
…
"Writing letters?"
Hadria looked away from the letter she was writing to Pansy, and discreetly shifted Neville's letter so that it was well-hidden underneath the rest.
"I'm telling them all about our trip," said Hadria without batting an eyelid, and began slotting the finished letters into envelopes before sealing them.
Gellert surveyed the mess on her table before his gaze fell upon the large mass of fungi blossoming in plump brown rings like a rather discoloured overweight rose overflowing from the mouth of a shellfish, "I expect you'll be sending that Thing out with the letters soon?"
"Of course, it's Neville's present, after all," Hadria replied, giving the soft fungi a few pats.
The mass of fungi shook their caps at her in response, and a few tendrils of hyphae snuck out from the thick gnarled shell and curled around her wrist—though Hadria wouldn't be surprised if it were just sampling her flesh. It was a rather cute fungus regardless, but she didn't know how or when it had offended Gellert because he kept giving it the stink eye.
"Well, finish up your writing," said Gellert with a look on his face that suggested he'd prefer it if she left the table immediately. "The snake in your room is no longer in your room and appears to be sizing up Geist. I'm not sure it knows that Boggarts aren't edible."
"'She' not 'it'," Hadria corrected mildly, which got her another Look. This one said: I do not know if I want to know if you've harassed your snake in order to determine its gender from its hidden reproductive organs.
Hadria had yet to inform him that she could speak Parseltongue.
The snake he referred to was named Estía, an early birthday gift that only came to be after intense bargaining and negotiations regarding Hadria's collection of Dark creatures, and Gellert had finally informed her she wasn't to expect any birthday gift from him if he bought her the snake.
(The only reason Gellert had relented at all was because Ashwinders had a classification of XXX, much like the Jarvey she already owned—never mind the fact that it wasn't actually a common Ashwinder, or the fact that Hippogriffs and Sea Serpents were also under the same classification.)
It was bought from a store in Greece selling rare magical creatures specifically for Wizarding folk who wanted "fresh potion ingredients". The storekeeper had introduced the snake as an Ashwinder when asked, even though it didn't look quite like one.
Later, Hadria learnt that the Ashwinder was simply the closest word in English, and that the species was in fact a relative of the more commonly known Ashwinder. Unlike the common Ashwinder, these snakes had a lifespan of hundreds of years if raised well, and would thus supply many valuable eggs over its extended lifetime.
Legend has it that these snakes that were born from volcanic flame, had the lifespan of a volcano—they could live for a few months, or thousands of years. And it was easy to see the similarities. While common Ashwinders had scales pale-grey like ash and eyes red like dying embers, these snakes had mottled scales of grey ash and dark rock fractured by glowing veins of living fire. And their eyes were black glass reflecting an unseen flame.
Of course Hadria couldn't let such a marvellous magical creature become the egg-laying pet of some witch or wizard, so she bought her, and then, well, instead of leaving for the wild, the young snake had chosen to stay with her instead. And Hadria figured that having a snake meant having an excuse for when Scabbers inadvertently goes missing. After all, Hermione wouldn't be getting Crookshanks until a year later.
"How are you bringing that snake to school?" was all he had asked, since Hogwarts only allowed one animal per student. And Snag, whose prey included some snakes, was just as likely to eat the young serpent as the other way around.
"I won't," said Hadria, already making plans to foist the apparent "ownership" of the serpent to another Slytherin. Pansy or Blaise should be quite pleased to bring a magical snake to school.
Said snake was, indeed, as Gellert had reported, eyeing the currently-cat-shaped Boggart with a calculative gleam, when Hadria went to check on her.
:You will get a stomachache: said Hadria with much amusement.
She didn't know what would happen if the snake did try to eat the Boggart, but she didn't want to find out. It had been proven after all, that Boggarts, while not actually requiring sustenance like normal living creatures, could and would consume food if they so desired. They usually fed the Boggart fish, but she was certain it could eat anything.
For that matter, there didn't seem to be a single creature in their household that did not have snakes as a part of their possible diet.
Estía turned to give her a sideways glance and flicked her tail at her, :I'm not stupid.:
Hadria watched as the snake went back to staring at Geist, who was lounging all over the sofa like a large liquified cat. Then she decided she wouldn't trouble herself with figuring out what was going on there. That was Gellert's thing.
…
Hadria's birthday celebration was a quiet affair, like it had been the past few years. Of course, it wasn't quiet like it had been when she was still at the Dursleys, drawing birthday cakes in the dust. Both House Elves were always very enthusiastic whenever they celebrated her birthday, because Gellert was never home for his, and they loved any chance to show off their decorative magic—the only other occasion being Yule.
There was a massive birthday cake, so fancifully iced in mint green and gold and silver that Hadria was always at a loss as to how the cake should be cut and where she should start. There were also streamers and—balloons that made funny faces and Hadria was certain that at least half of them were actually one single Boggart named Geist.
The size of the cake meant that at least a third of the cake would go to Geist, while another third would end up in Noh's stomach—its actual stomach, because apparently Noh could and would consume anything organic, not just meat.
For that matter, Hadria found out that while perishables (and living things) do not die or expire while in Noh's storage stomach, anything organic that went in there would be sent for digestion—or however Noh consumed food because nobody could be certain how Lethifold anatomy worked—after a certain period of time. It is also for that reason that she would never risk leaving Snag or Estía inside Noh for any period of time longer than a few days.
After all, she'd left a potted plant inside Noh and forgotten about it. By the time she remembered it, it was two whole weeks later and all that was left was an empty pot. Frankly, she still didn't understand how it worked, but all she really needed to know was that poor Snag or Estía might just disappear one day if the Lethifold got hungry enough.
So some cake went to Noh, and the remaining one third was split between Hadria, Gellert and their two House Elves. Snag wouldn't get any, if only because while it was a magical creature, it wasn't an amortal creature, and was not exempt from the very mortal affliction called indigestion. And any professional or even non-professional could tell you that ferrets should not be fed cake meant for human consumption.
In the end, Gellert did get Hadria a small birthday present anyway, despite his initial insistence that Estía would be it. And he'd gotten her a collar and leash.
Hadria stared at the offending objects and gaped incredulously at her guardian who merely said, "For when we need to disguise you as a dog rather than a dangerous wild and probably illegal animal."
Unfortunately, he did have a point. Though they lived in a largely magical community, there was also a suburban Muggle town located nearby, and it would be hard to explain if she was seen running around in her Animagus form—something she had finally gotten around to re-obtaining over the summer break—not least because coyotes weren't native to Europe.
Gellert had been rather incredulous about the whole matter when she had first brought it up, but had gradually warmed up to the idea once he realised it would involve Hadria being quiet for a whole month because she would have to keep a mandrake leaf in her mouth the entire time. It didn't mean she couldn't talk or get up to her usual mischief, but it certainly reduced the occurrence drastically as she couldn't risk swallowing the leaf lest she had to repeat the whole process again.
And as someone pursuing his wide research in magic, he had also entertained the idea of becoming an Animagus himself. However, he planned on shelving that plan for when Hadria was at school and out of his hair. He didn't think he could keep a mandrake leaf in his mouth for a whole month while looking after Hadria. It just wasn't possible.
Another parent or guardian might hesitate still, because it was an incredibly complicated piece of magic even for adults, let alone an eleven-turning-twelve-year-old, but Gellert merely had a moment of concern for Hadria's potential Animagus form. He wouldn't put it past her—or Fate, pulling divine strings—to end up with something like a Hydra. And he did not want to have to deal with a nine-headed serpent… anywhere. Though, given that they had been in Greece at the time, he would also have had to deal with the Greek Council of Magic knocking on the door of their temporary residence, if Hadria had spontaneously turned into a Hydra.
But thankfully for everyone in the country, Hadria did not turn into a giant nine-headed serpent. Of course, considering how she was still an adolescent—no, actually no one knew how large baby Hydras were, and Gellert doubted that anyone save Newt Scamander—and possibly that Hagrid Hadria's mentioned a few times before—would want to find out.
Instead, she was a nice normal-sized non-Dark creature. A black Eastern coyote, which wasn't very common, roughly the size of a Siberian husky and all the energy of one, but it was still a relief, all things considered.
On hindsight, Gellert realised Hadria's Animagi form wasn't very normal-sized as she was only just turning twelve, and should decidedly not be as large as an adult coyote. But she was. So it was hard to say how large she'll become when she's full-grown.
Nonetheless, Gellert had to make sure no Muggle ever saw Hadria in her coyote form, and if they did, he hoped to be able to pass her off as a Tamaskan dog. Either that, or some Obliviates would be in order.
…
Later in August, Hadria finally got to meet up with her friends in Diagon Alley to purchase their school supplies. More specifically, she met up with Draco, Pansy and Blaise. Neville had a seperate trip planned with his Grandmother, and would not be joining them. Hermione was there, however, along with her parents, and unsurprisingly, Blaise was the only one who joined Hadria in going up to greet them, likely because he was the only one without any complicated political or familial ties to consider.
That wasn't to say that Blaise liked her any more than her other Slytherin friends did—she was certain they all had their own opinions on Hermione the know-it-all Muggleborn—but whatever opinions he had, he kept them to himself, and if Hadria were honest, she suspected Blaise wasn't so much giving Hermione the benefit of doubt as he is watching and waiting for her eventual "Corruption" as Draco had coined it, a term currently only used on Neville.
Hadria wasn't sure why they called it Corruption when all she saw was tremendous improvement. Neville had more backbone than he ever had in the early Hogwarts years of her previous life, and he'd found a great talent and affinity with magical plants, which didn't necessarily make him more outgoing or anything, but it did boost his confidence and self-esteem. Hufflepuff, it seemed, was also good for him, and he no longer seemed discouraged despite the fact that his wand—a wand that wasn't actually his—was still working against him. And Hadria couldn't possibly claim credit for any of it.
So, Hadria and Blaise met with Hermione briefly, before they went their separate ways—Hadria and Blaise following Draco and Pansy to join the Malfoys, and Hermione and her parents heading off to meet with Hannah and a few of their other friends.
"I'd almost forgotten," Hadria announced, spotting the display of strange eggs through the grimy watermarked glass as they stopped outside the Apothecary, where they were to meet Narcissa after being given free reign for a short while..
("Father has gone to settle some matters," was all Draco had said when questioned about Mr Malfoy. Hadria suspected 'some matters' involved selling off some of the Dark artefacts they've got in their manor. And Hadria couldn't prod further because Gellert wasn't around either, and if asked, she could only say he'd also gone to settle some matters, because he certainly hadn't told her what he was off to do, simply entrusting her to the Malfoys while reminding her—or the Malfoys—that they would meet again at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.)
"Forgotten?" Pansy prompted, squinting at the window display of creature products—ingredients and materials—as if it could provide her with the answers to her question. Hadria was patting her robes, muttering to herself, when the answer emerged from her sleeve.
"Aha! Guys, meet Estía," said Hadria with a flourish as a serpent that looked like a wyrm born of molten rock curled itself around her wrist and raised its head to survey them. "Estía, meet my friends."
There was a beat or two as her friends simultaneously took in the fact that she had another magical pet now, the fact that it was not just any creature but a snake, and one that looked like it could set her on fire, and the fact that all this was actually not surprising all things considered.
And there was another beat as Estía hissed and spat out a tongue of flame.
"She likes you guys," said Hadria cheerfully, despite the fact that her snake was literally spitting fire.
"Really?" Blaise's expression had changed subtly from initial wonder and appreciation to wry amusement.
"I highly doubt it," Pansy was more frank. "But that's okay. She's beautiful and deserves to have high standards."
Draco gaped, mouth opening and closing, before he shut it firmly, not saying a word, his face going on a journey that could only be described as constipated enlightenment.
"Well, I'm planning on bringing her to school," said Hadria, while glancing at him. "And Draco's already helping me with Snag, so—"
"It would be my pleasure to—" "I'll take her!"
They stared at each other for a moment, eyes narrowing with a competitive—threatening—light, before they straightened and turned back to Hadria, having reached some unspoken agreement.
"We should let Estía choose," said Pansy, while Blaise inclined his head in agreement. They were both evidently enamoured with her newest companion.
"Right. Estía?" Hadria extended the arm with the snake, palm facing upward. Another lick of flame flickered from Estía's snout as she slithered forward, onto Hadria's palm.
:I like the left one better: Estía inclined her head towards Pansy while giving Blaise a slow sideways blink.
The thing about Parseltongue, that Hadria never really noticed before, because there weren't actually many occasions in her past life where she could converse in Snake, was that it wasn't really just hissing. In fact, hissing was never meant for social interaction, but rather a warning. And in the same way cats meow only to communicate with humans, snakes hiss only to communicate with those not of their kind. Snake to snake, there were scents and tastes and movement.
Parseltongue was more like a magical ability, than a spoken language; the strange sibilant sounds made by Parselmouths more like spells uttered to convey meaning in a way that said I'm one of you, a snake, even though I have no tail nor the right scent or pheromones. And they in turn, could understand all the audible and non-audible "words" of a snake.
And while magical snakes—and actually most magical creatures in general—could understand humans and others to a certain degree, with those of higher magical order having greater understanding as a result of their closer connection with magic, the other way around was not true, simply because most wizarding humans were not as attuned to magic as magical creatures.
(There were exceptions, of course. Powerful wizarding folk like Dumbledore could eventually learn to understand the language of other creatures, or even just gifted ones, like Luna, had an advantage in these matters.)
So, instead of informing her friends that while Estía "liked" them both, she preferred Pansy because she was somehow wary of Blaise even though she hadn't any qualms about trying to prey on a Boggart, Hadria said, with a mischievous grin, "Congratulations, Blaise. She likes you."
:LIAR: Estía shrank back as Blaise raised an eyebrow, a wide Cheshire smirk blooming on his face.
"Really?" He had the look of someone who didn't believe a word but was merely humouring the other.
"Really," Hadria insisted as she passed the reluctant Ashwinder to her friend. It wasn't as if Estía was actually scared of Blaise, but she seemed to regard him as an uncertain entity, something akin to a potential threat. And Hadria didn't want to risk Pansy being bullied by the snake. A Jarvey could only cause so much damage, but a volcanic Ashwinder could probably burn everyone alive in their sleep.
"Well, that's—" Draco stopped abruptly, swallowing his words and made a strange face, before he seemed to steel himself again, for no discernable reason. "Well, that's hardly fair! Why does Blaise get a cool snake, and all I've got is an overgrown talking ferret?"
Hadria took one look at Draco, then a look at her snake, now coiled around Blaise's arm. She wasn't making a sound, but everything about her told Hadria that this was one human she'd thought of eating. But before she could say anything to Draco, now newly labelled by Estía as Large Prey, the door to the Apothecary opened with a startling loud croaking sound that wouldn't be amiss in a tropical rainforest.
"Draco, don't be rude, Snag is such a dear," said Narcissa, sweeping past them and leaving Draco spluttering, to which she added, "Don't splutter, it's unbecoming."
They quickly followed behind her, Blaise chuckling and getting elbowed by Draco, while Pansy cast longing glances at Estía who had now made herself at home around Blaise's neck—Hadria wasn't sure if it was some sort of self-protective measure, holding his neck hostage as it were.
"I can't believe it. Am I her son or is it Snag?" Draco was whispering with vehemence as they headed to Madam Malkin's for a new set of school robes. Well, Hadria wasn't going to tell him his mother didn't actually like Snag as much as she claimed she did, and was merely appreciating the Jarvey's presence as a challenge—a continuous test—for Draco, as she called it.
"Hey," Hadria tapped him on the shoulder, distracting him from his whining. "Look!"
They had just passed by Quality Quidditch Supplies, where the newest Nimbus 2001 was on display, sleek black and silver. It was just as gorgeous as it had been in her previous life, even in the hands of the Slytherins she used to despise.
"Gerwald won't get me a broom. He thinks I get into enough trouble as it is," Hadria sighed, looking a little morose for a moment, before brightening up again. "But he did say he'll keep his promise of getting me one later, if I manage to get into the school Quidditch team, while staying out of major trouble for the school year!"
Draco, successfully distracted, raised an eyebrow at the racing broom on display, before turning to give her a self-satisfied grin. "Then you'll still need a decent broom for tryouts, won't you? The school brooms are a nightmare if you want to be any good." Here, he puffed up a little. "Fortunately, I have already convinced Father to gift a set of this latest model to our House team, and there'll be more than enough brooms for you to use one for tryouts."
And there was that. The reason why Hadria wasn't too concerned about having to use a school broom for Quidditch—there were 'decent' usable ones, mind you, no matter what Draco said, but they certainly couldn't compare to a Nimbus.
She thought, then, that there was something satisfying in being able to rely on Draco Malfoy to use his riches for their benefit… Though if he thought he could buy his way into the Seeker position, he was going to be proven very wrong. It wasn't that he wasn't good at Quidditch, because he was, and he was in fact a decent Seeker, but between him and her? He could try to pry that position from her cold dead hands.
"Which position are you trying out for?" Hadria asked, instead of voicing out any of this, because then she'd have to explain her confidence of being a better flyer than Draco, despite not having a broom of her own, and if he wasn't even aiming to be Seeker, there wouldn't be any point to this.
Draco appeared to look her up and down, then made a vague hand motion that might have been him trying to compare her size to his, discreetly but failing to be discreet, which is also not in character, so Hadria really didn't know. But, Hadria was, for lack of better word, small. Though she knew she would eventually reach—almost reach—average height for a British girl, and perhaps she would exceed that in this life, what with better nutrition and all that.
"I was thinking of playing Seeker, but," here, he surveyed her again carefully, as if once wasn't enough. "Are you thinking of Seeker?"
Hadria—Hadria has this intense feeling, a suspicion, that if she said she wanted to play Seeker, and he wasn't allowed to compete with her for it, he would hand the position to her on a silver platter and that was a very terrifying thought. No, that was just—not a delusion, but certainly a strange and warped fantasy of some sort.
"Yes, I am. I'll outfly you, don't you worry," she said, practically drawling in an imitation of a more-in-character-Draco-Malfoy. "What about you guys?"
Pansy shook her head vigorously. "No way. You two can go and win us the Cup, but I'll stay firmly with my two feet on the ground, thank you."
"Broomsticks are not my thing," said Blaise, while standing there with a strangely silly grin on his face like there was an inside joke that only he knew, and he was just barely keeping himself from laughing.
Hadria wasn't going to ask. Hadria had been feeling like something was slightly off-kilter ever since the day started, and if she said the wrong thing, everything would unravel beyond control.
Fortunately, although this feeling persisted all the way through buying new robes from Madam Malkin's, it dissipated like fog in the morning sun, the moment they approached the bustling Flourish and Blotts, decorated with a banner that said: GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12:30PM to 4:30PM, and pictures of his beaming face plastered on the windows above displays of his books.
The very dazzling 100-watt smile of Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to have straightened everything back as it should be.
It didn't mean Hadria felt any relief when she saw him—she didn't think she could ever forget how exasperating the man was. But she couldn't deny that she was suddenly filled with a sense of schadenfreude, and a grin was starting to form, tugging at the corner of her lips.
She surveyed Narcissa's cold expression, Draco's disgust, Blaise's thinly-veiled disdain, and Pansy's—Pansy had a calculative gleam in her eyes, before it gave way to indifference.
"He's quite a looker, but it's a pity he can't compare to Mr Grinsen," she said, wrinkling her nose. And Hadria couldn't disagree.
But here was a thought: Could the Lockhart Infatuation be cured just by having met Gellert before? Though admittedly, Gellert didn't have books written about the accomplishments he has achieved… Well, he did, but they are all incriminating and nobody is supposed to associate them with him in the first place.
"We're… not going in there, are we?" Draco said, looking very disturbed by both the banner, the posters, and the crowd.
Narscissa gave him a thin, almost malicious smile. "Oh no, dear. Your father has already volunteered to get the books for us. Come, we're to meet him near the entrance."
They followed her to the entrance of the bookstore, careful to avoid the people still struggling to enter. There was at least one straggling reporter trying to force their way in. And they didn't wait very long before familiar faces appeared—a family of redheads making their way to the door.
"Why, if it isn't ickle Hadria and friends!" Fred greeted them cheerfully. "We've been thinking of stocking up on Dungbombs."
"It'd clear this crowd, for sure," said George, sticking his grinning head out of the crowd, before the rest of him followed. "Have you heard? Gilderoy Lockhart's teaching DADA this year."
"Don't say we didn't warn you, we reckon we're gonna need more than Quirrell's old garlic-filled turban to get anywhere, if this crowd's any indicator," Fred added, clapping his twin on the shoulder before they left without giving them a chance to get even a word in.
The rest of the Weasleys soon spilled out of the store, Mr Weasley first, looking rather frazzled and more focused on keeping the twins in sight than anything else, followed by Ron, whose face changed colour the moment he saw them, then Percy, Ginny, and Mrs Weasley, bring up the rear.
Hadria had fully expected Draco to make some comment about the Weasleys being able to afford books, but he remained surprisingly silent, a quiet sort of horror etched on his face.
"Surely not," he said, when their eyes met.
"What?"
"I think he means he's having a hard time imagining attending Hogwarts with a Professor who has fans screaming for autographs everywhere he goes," said Pansy dryly, and patted him on his back. "There there. At least he doesn't look half bad."
Draco gave her a look of utter betrayal.
"Well, well, well. Arthur Weasley."
They turned as one, recognising the voice of Mr Malfoy. He was standing near Mr Weasley, on the other side of the store entrance.
"Lucius," they heard Mr Weasley return, coldly.
"Should we head over?" Hadria asked.
"There's no need for that," said Narcissa, before her friends could say anything, her lips curling in an imitation of a smile. "Lucius will come over, once he's done… posturing."
And then they watched as the "posturing" devolved into two full-grown gentlemen brawling like a pair of school kids. The twins were cheering at the side, while Mrs Weasley tried—and failed—to get ahold of her husband, and some poor shop assistant came and tried—and failed—to save the books on display.
Hadria suddenly saw, with the amused detachment of a bystander, why Narcissa thought Snag to be good training for Draco.
A box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans appeared under her nose, the hand holding it connected to Blaise, who gave her a quick grin. "Want some beans? Pity we haven't any popcorn, but this'll do."
Draco made some unintelligible sputtering sounds in protest, which was jointly disregarded by the girls, who helped themselves to a handful of jelly beans.
"Don't worry about it," said Blaise blithely. "It's not like we know him."
Narcissa sniffed in response, looking like she would indeed declare herself a Black Widow—quite literally—if anyone were to ask.
And they did end up leaving before the fight was broken up.
"We'll Owl the books to you later," said Narcissa, when they met up with Gellert, Lady Zabini and the Parkinsons at the ice-cream parlour, after which they would be going their separate ways.
Everyone tacitly ignored the fight happening just diagonally across the street.
(Blaise nearly made off with a half-asleep Estía, likely to see if he could, but Hadria did remember to retrieve her back in time.)
That's all for now~
I am spoiling you lot, aren't I? I don't know how many of you are new readers, but you're being deceived. This is a scam. I do not usually update this frequently...
Anyway, Chapter Two will be up in a week or so, as it is currently half-written. It will be mainly about Ginny, so don't expect much plot progress. We'll get back to the gang on the Hogwarts Express in Chapter Three.
Feel free to ask any questions~ You may leave a review here, or ask my on Tumblr, or join our very small and quiet discord group. It's really small and quiet. Just a few of us huddling in a corner whispering.
But yes, if you're interested nonetheless, you can DM me about it. All my social media info are on my profile. I'd publicise the discord group out here, but then it's also kind of embarrassing since we are small and quiet XD