December 2006
Kiara ducked under the flying clothes that Haley had spelled to fold themselves into her trunk. She had one last look over her area before gingerly stepping in between random scatters of all of the occupants' belongings and setting her trunk by the door. She was glad Regulus convinced her to do a pre-pack before everything went crazy. Eleanor, their roommate, had left earlier to go bother Jonathan.
"Can someone help me find my sweater?" Quinn asked, her head poking out of her trunk.
"I just finished. I can look over here. It's the blue one right?" Kiara walked over to Quinn's area of the room.
"Yep. I don't think it's in here," she pointed back into her trunk, "but I've accidentally packed things before and forgot about them."
As Quinn disappeared back into her trunk, Kiara searched through the pile on the bed. After looking through the whole mess she got down on the floor to look under the bed. Kiara stuck her hand under the bed and swept it around, mentally thanking the house elves for their magnificent cleaning. The tips of her fingers brushed something soft, and, thinking it might have been the sweater they were looking for, Kiara reached her hand forward to get a firm grasp on it. However, the thing that was now very obviously not Quinn's sweater, moved out of her reach. Then the fluffy thing twitched and moved towards her hand. Kiara yelped and pulled her hand to her chest, backing away from the bed.
"There's something down there!" Kiara stood pressed against the far wall, gaze frantically switching between the shiny eyes peering out at her from underneath the bed and Quinn's shocked face. "What did you put under there?"
Slowly, a small furry face peeked out from under the bed. Its head looked like a dog, except it was dark green with swirling patterns on its fur. Its small beady eyes scanned the room and it shrunk back under the bed.
"Why is that here!" Haley screeched, dropping her scarf and jumping onto her bed.
Quinn rushed towards the bed to pull out the tiny beast, which had started emitting a high-pitched whine. "Oh baby, everything is fine. Mommy is here. She's sorry her loud friends are scaring you."
Once Kiara's racing heart settled a bit, she remembered their last transfiguration class earlier that week. Their assignment was to take a teapot and transfigure it into their favorite animal and then back. Her porcelain blue fox had taunted Eleanor's pig before Professor McGonagall forced them to turn the animals back.
"Quinn, please tell me that isn't your transfiguration assignment," Kiara begged.
"Of course not silly, this is Beatrice." Quinn pet the dog.
"Sorry, Quinn. I meant how did you um, acquire...Beatrice," Haley looked at Kiara like she was crazy.
"Avery gave her to me when he couldn't turn her back. We were trying to change her but I just couldn't. I mean look at this face." She brought up Beatrice to Kiara. "I told Avery I would take care of her. Ma will love her, and I even found a spell to make her fluffy like a live dog!"
The other girls looked at each other, silently arguing over who would deal with this week's Quinn disaster.
'You do it.' Kiara's eyes glared at Haley.
'I dealt with the last one.' Haley crossed her arms.
'No, I did. You got the one before that and Eleanor was stuck with the one before,' Kiara communicated with the raise of her eyebrows.
'Fine, but Eleanor has to do the next one.' Haley told her with a defeated sigh, before lowering herself off her bed and gingerly coming closer to Quinn, who sat playing with the fluffy creature, obviously oblivious to the whole nonverbal conversation.
"Quinn, honey, I'm not sure how happy your mum will be with an unannounced new family member." Haley tried to be indirect, hoping Quinn would get the message.
"That's a great idea! I'll go owl her now." Quinn set down Beatrice and rushed back to her desk.
"No, no. That isn't what I meant." Haley stepped in front of the girl. "There isn't a way to say this nicely but I don't think you should take...Beatrice home. You need to bring her to Professor McGonagall. She'll know how to turn..."
Kiara waved her arms in warning to Haley, over Quinn's shoulder, trying to stop her.
"But Beatrice is lovely," Quinn interrupted, "I can't turn her back into a plate. She'll be so sad. She'll miss me!"
"Quinn that th-"
"Haley, can I talk with you for a second?" Kiara didn't wait for a response before pulling the girl out of the room.
"We can't just force her."
"Well, we have to do something! I still have dirt on my sheets from the last 'beastie'. It's too much!" Haley exclaimed, leaning against the wall.
"I know that you're frustrated, I am too, but we stick by each other, even Quinn when she adopts strange things. We got you out of that detention and El from her horrible date and me from falling down the stairs with exhaustion. That's what we do, so you and I are going to walk back into that room and somehow convince Quinn to tell a professor. And if that doesn't work we are going to smuggle that dog home or so help me I'll...I'll..."
"Stop helping me study?" Haley said with a smile, her earlier anger slowly seeping away.
"That." Kiara nodded and marched back into the room, ignoring the muffled laughter behind her.
Her purposeful stride stuttered to a halt when she saw Eleanor conjuring a cage for Beatrice. The green dog wiggled into the padded enclosure before letting out a small happy bark. Kiara let out a happy sigh. They could always count on her to do the right thing with people.
"Thanks, El. Beatrice loves it so much. Do you happen to know where my sweater is?"
"You do know you're magical, right?" Eleanor shook her head. She swished her wand and an accio pulled a bright blue sweater out of one the piles in the room.
– o – ️ – o –
Packing settled down until all that was left was an assortment of random items they didn't end up packing. Once they had eaten their last dinner before winter break, they sat huddled together in a circle playing cards. They knew they probably shouldn't have stayed up so late because the train left right after an early breakfast to get them back to London before nightfall, but the girls didn't care.
"Go fish."
Quinn pulled a card out of the floating deck and pumped her arm, "Yes, take that, girlies! Three queens. I'm out"
"This game is stupid," Haley muttered, blowing her hair out of her face.
"You're only saying that 'cause you're losing." Kiara smirked, "El, got any aces?"
"Ugh, I'm sure you're cheating!" The girl reluctantly handed over the card. "Haley, do you have any threes?"
"Nope. Got any sevens, Kiara?"
"Yep, here I don't need them anyway. I'm gonna beat you right now," Kiara's competitive streak was the only thing keeping her awake, "Ellliieee, got any...threes?"
"No fair! You knew I had it," Eleanor pulled her cards close to her chest.
"That's the point, silly. Hand it over." Kiara victoriously stuck out her hand, Haley and Quinn watched in silence, wondering if the girl would give in.
"No!" Eleanor threw her cards underneath her pillow before sitting on it.
"Well, I guess the game's over," Haley happily announced, dropping her cards.
Kiara started picking up the cards before turning to glare at Eleanor, who was guarding her cards. "I need those Eleanor."
The Irish girl blew her a kiss and handed the cards over. They goofed off for a bit before the call for lights out forced them to settle down. They moved up to their beds and soft a nox turned off the main lights, except for the fairy lights they trailed around the room earlier that year. Kiara set an alarm for the morning and wiggled under her blankets. The room grew calm and silent, the warmth of their blankets and warming charms winning against the light chill from living in the basement. The silence was broken by Quinn's new pet's snort causing the girls to burst into laughter.
"Shhh, someone might hear," Kiara whispered.
A few giggles stuttered out until the only sound was soft breathing and rustling fabric.
– o – ️ – o –
Kiara ignored the conversation behind her as she searched for an empty booth. They were one of the last people on the train. Eleanor had woken up Haley with a last-minute prank and the girl still has glitter in her hair after three scourgifys. Kiara knew all the booths would be full till the end of the train but she was hoping she was wrong. The mess this morning had caused them to be late for breakfast and then late for leaving.
After nineteen full booths, they stumbled into an empty compartment. Quinn skirted the arguing pair to get to the window opposite Kiara. The two girls rolled their eyes at the stubborn ones of the group. They settled down a smidge from threatening to curse each other to just week-long jinxes by the time the train started pulling out of Hogsmeade station. In the, thankfully, quieter compartment Quinn stuck her hand into her bag and pulled out a strangely familiar shape.
"Why is Beatrice in your bag?" Kiara asked with a dismayed sigh.
"I couldn't just leave her in my trunk!" Quinn exclaimed.
"Well, you can't have her out here."
"Why not? The train isn't at school. I'm not breaking any rules. You can't say no to this puppy." Quinn pressed Beatrice up to Kiara's face.
"Alright, alright," Kiara shoved the happy dog away from her, " Just keep her with you. Don't let her make a mess."
Kiara watched the green puppy snuggle into Quinn's arms. If someone saw them they would all be in big trouble. The fact that the dog was a failed transfiguration assignment wouldn't help. Kiara searched her mind for a spell that would hide the bright thing. Her Latin homework popped into her head and she whispered abscondere oculorum aliorum pointing her cyprus wand at Beatrice.
"What'd you do to her?" Quinn asked, looking at her dog.
"It's a charm I read about in Magical Theory. It hides an object from people who didn't see the spell cast. It only works for three hours and two sevenths."
Quinn nodded at Kiara and went back to snuggling Beatrice. Maybe they could ask Professor Sprout for an exception. Having Beatrice might finally stop Quinn from attempting to adopt any poor animal she happened across. The pet was magical and wouldn't need anything but ambient magic to continue existing. Kiara smiled at the picture the two made before finally setting up for the long ride home. She enlarged her scarf into more of a blanket and placed it between herself and the cold window before curling up against it.
– o – ️ – o –
Halfway through the ride, Haley had drifted off and Eleanor left in search of Jonathan. Kiara was practicing some spells she hadn't mastered yet when the door to their compartment slid open. In the doorway was Remus Lupin, wrapped in a slightly too-small leather jacket. He stood there for a second like he was trying to find the words to say when a nudge pushed him into the room. He glared over his shoulder before looking back at Kiara.
"Um... Hi." He sheepishly waved at her.
"Hey? What are you doing here?" Kiara sat up and put her spellbook down.
"I was just... I came here to... Um... I wanted to..." A hand stuck out from behind the door and shoved Remus harder, "I wanted to apologize for before."
Quinn squeaked bringing their attention to her. She flushed and waved her hands at Kiara. She nodded at the red girl and stood up.
"Let's talk outside. You don't want to wake up Haley." Kiara shrunk her scarf and wrapped it around herself. The corridors between the compartments were freezing as they stepped out. A flash of black disappeared into the booth next to them.
"What was that?" Kiara asked, peering around Remus.
"Nothing," he answered quickly, "It doesn't matter. I came to talk to you about how I acted last month. I'm really sorry about everything I did."
Kiara grew confused, she couldn't think of anything he had done. "It's fine you didn't do anything. I was just being too pushy. I should be the one apologizing for bothering you."
"But you weren't, I was being a moron. I was rude and ignored you. I'm really sorry. I don't have an excuse and I shouldn't have done that. You've helped me so much. Your potions helped and you were kind and I was being a berk."
He was fiddling with the cuffs of the jacket but staring into her eyes. He looked horribly awkward but he was earnest and sincere. His apology had pushed the thought she was the one in the wrong. Her normal anxious reaction to talking to new people slowly faded out.
She smiled at him, "All is forgiven, you can't expect everyone to be perfect especially when they are in a stressful situation. Thank you for coming here though."
"If it isn't too much of a hassle could I," a spell shot out of the next compartment at Remus and he let out a sharp breath, "I mean, my friends and I hang out with you after the break? As thanks for your help?"
Kiara let out a small laugh, finally guessing who the person hiding from her was.
"I would be happy to see you and your friends after. You especially Sirius," she aimed the last sentence at the boy who slipped into the corridor with them.
"Of course, lovely. It would be my pleasure to bask in your presence," he proclaimed with a smirk.
A loud thud made all their heads swing behind Remus. Eleanor, James, and Peter were on the floor in a pile. A strange purple cloak was half covering the boys.
"Where did you come from!" Eleanor glared at the tripping hazards.
"What do you mean we were here the whole time? Where did you come from, Miss Let's-step-on-people?" James tried pushing himself up.
"Ouch James! That's my arm!" Peter shouted.
His shout spurred the trio observing out of their frozen state. Kiara rushed forward and pulled Eleanor out of the pile. Sirius and Remus stood there laughing at their friends on the floor, making no move to help. After much squirming and swearing the duo untangle themselves from each other and the cloak. Sirius threw his arms over their shoulders still laughing and dragged them off down the corridor.
"Sorry for that." Remus rubbed his neck. "I guess I'll head off now."
Kiara waved and headed back into the compartment with a snickering Eleanor behind her.
A sleepy, furious Haley was the first thing the two saw as they entered, "What was that? Can't a girl sleep without being interrupted?"
Happy holidays and New Year!
This chapter was kinda just fluff with a tiny bit of plot, but it is longer than normal so yay?
Sorry for the long break. I had my finals and then a family trip so I hadn't had the time to write. This chapter is partially edited. I'll let you guess where my editor stopped. You get a real taste of how bad my grammar is. I am so sorry for this.
Any questions are welcome. Please comment and vote. Thanks for reading!
- Natalie