After the Headmaster leaves my father folds up the Daily Prophet and stands.
"Well if we want to make it to Diagon Alley, we'd better head out now." He says rushing us to the fireplace. I groan as I grab an extra pain potion from the table and place it in my purse that I took from the rack.
"Come on Lyn, your turn." My dad tells me as he holds out the ashy powder for me to take. I grab a handful and walk into the fireplace wincing as I bend.
"Diagon Alley!" I announce and make sure I keep myself from falling as I walk out of the other fireplace. Cedric and Mom rush to me helping me dust off as much as they can before I shoo them off of me. "I'm fine; I'm fine," I tell them. Dad places his hand on my shoulder signalling he was here.
"Come on, let's head to get your things." He says and guides me to the bookstore.
After getting everything I need I wander around not quite ready to head home yet. I stop at the Magical Menagerie thinking I can get some treats for Shade. As I head inside, I almost gag at the smell of so many animals in one spot. Any other week and I wouldn't have cared but since my sense of smell is heightened I get the full force of it all. The witch behind the counter is helping a young red-headed boy and his friends with a rat that looks to be old and sick. I grab a bag of owl treats and wait near a small cage of humming creatures. They are all yellow custard fur balls, Puffskeins! One smaller one was pure white and seemed to be staying on its own, but as I watch it tries to get closer to the others and they move away from it. I frown and get closer to the cage, once they sense me and get my scent they move to the back of the cage scared; they can smell the wolf on me. The small white one just stares up at me sadly, my frown deepens and I can't help but stick my hand in towards the white one. Its eyes widen a bit as I get closer to it. For a second it freezes.
"Come on little one," I whisper and hold my hand out more. It hesitantly jumps towards it and I coax again. "Come on." It jumps onto my hand and I pull it out of the cage and up to my face. "Hello," I say, smiling at it. My smile widens as it jumps and hums happily at getting attention.
"NO! CROOKSHANKS! NO!" I hear the shop owner yell from in front of the store and look up to see a big orange tabby cat on the table trying to get to the rat. I watch in horror as the rat runs out the door, the two boys chasing after it. I'm distracted for a second as the white little puffskein jumps from all the ruckus into my purse to hide and burrows under all of my belongings. After the dust settles, to my surprise the female friend that was left behind buys the cat when the lady explains that no one wanted the cat and he has been in the shop for several years. I look down into my purse seeing the puffskein barely peeking out.
"How long has this little one been here?" I ask as the girl leaves.
"3 years, her name is Marshmallow, the 1st one I've ever had that's white." She says as I place her and the owl treats on the counter.
"How much is she?" I ask, smiling as Marshmallow jumps around on the table. The owner smiles.
"3 Galleons. For her and the owl treats" I nod and count out the money. That left me with enough money to get Ced a birthday gift.
I make my way to the Quidditch shop and scan the many items and brooms. I knew how to fly and play, chaser preferably, but was not as good as my brother nor was I necessarily able to with my wounds.
"Can I help you find anything?" The shopkeeper asks.
"A new broom fixing kit, my brother's kit is old and he is out of a lot of items."
"Ah yes, they are right here. Is he an avid flier in school or does he need just a simple one for class?"
"He's the seeker on the Hufflepuff team so whatever he will need for that."
"Great, this one then." He smiles, getting the biggest one he has and pulling it up to the counter. "5 Galleons."
I see my brother walking towards the shop. "Done. Can you please wrap that quickly? It's a birthday gift and he's coming this way." I say, panicked as he gets closer. I place the money on the counter and the shopkeeper mutters a spell and the gift wraps itself. I grab it and shove it in my bag running out the door.
"Ced, let's get some lunch, I am starving," I tell him as I wrap my arm in his and pull him to a small sandwich shop.
"Lyn, I was going to go grab some items from the quidditch shop." He complains but I smile as he still allows me to drag him with me.
"You don't need anything from there, you have enough," I tell him as we get to the counter. He's about to protest but stops when I place our orders. We always ordered the same thing when we were here. I pay and we make our way to a table. "So Ced did you get everything you needed, all your supplies?"
"Yes, Mum." He says, rolling his eyes at me. "Except for my quidditch supplies."
"As I said you have enough of that stuff. Besides, you can't buy stuff for yourself right now because it's near your birthday. You never know what someone might get you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks, suspicious now.
"Nothing, nothing at all." I smile as our food comes.
My mind wanders with worry for the new school year as I pack for Hogwarts. Same worries as every year: would Jasmine hang out with me? Would I pass my classes? Would someone find out about my condition? I pack my class supplies neatly at the bottom of my trunk first, then turn to grab my uniforms. I pause as I see the wrong crest; I accidentally grab my Illvamorny uniform. I frown at them and grab 2 sweaters from the pile, a cranberry one and a blue one with the Illvamorny school crest on the right breast pocket. I could wear them on the weekends when we didn't have classes. I then pack some extra clothes, my toiletries and a few miscellaneous things I want to take. My mind wanders more as I remember what Professor Dumbledore told me. What would it be like to meet another werewolf for the first time? Would he accept me or just ignore me? Would he want to talk about it? How were we even going to deal with the Shrieking Shack issue? Would he share? I mean it was his first… I'm tugged from my thoughts by a small knock on my door. I can hear Ced's steady breathing and smell him standing behind the closed door.
"Come in, Ced," I say.
"Hey Yniee, Shade brought a letter for you." He says with my owl settled on his arm, a letter attached to his leg. I walk to them and pet Shade's head then untie the letter, it was from Katie.
"Thank you." I smile at my brother and his use of my childhood nickname. He was the only one I still allowed to even use it. He would only use it when he and I were alone. It was Lyn at any other time and place. Cedric was always so respectful. "Are you all packed and ready for tomorrow?" I ask him as he sits on my bed silently letting me know he wants to talk.
"I finished a while ago," He answers, the smile on his face faltering for a second.
"You have your books, clothes, toiletries all packed?" I ask remembering when he forgot something, I grin when he rolls his eyes.
"Yes mum," His tone was sarcastic.
"Good, now what's up?" I ask, sitting at the head of my bed leaning against the frame I swing my legs up.
"I just wanted to check on you, and make sure you were ready for tomorrow." His tone turns soft as his eyes study me. I nod but frown. Ced was the only real person I could talk to till I met Katie.
"I'm ok Ced, just tired and a tad nervous. Especially since I'll be meeting another…" My voice was low and I trail off at the end of my sentence. Ced nods, placing a hand on my knee and pats.
"I'm sure everything will go just fine. I mean wouldn't it be nice to have someone who knows exactly what you're going through?" He asks softly, trying to meet my avoiding gaze. He was right and he knew it, no matter how much my family tried to understand, they couldn't. Sometimes it led to awkward moments and a frustrating feeling of loneliness.
"I don't know! What if he just doesn't want to talk at all? I mean he is… what, like, 15-some-odd years older than me." I shrug still avoiding him.
Ced chuckles lightly. "Well then, you still have me. Speaking of, are you sitting with Cho and I or Jasmine and her friends tomorrow?" He asks, thankfully changing the subject.
"I'll spend some time with you and Cho, say hi, then find the others," I say smiling at him as he nods and gets up to leave. "Everything will be fine." He tells me as he leans over and kisses the top of my head. It's then I notice how tall he was getting even though he was my little brother. I smile up at him.
"Good night little brother."
"Night Yniee."
The next morning I'm awoken by my mom rushing me and Ced to get ready. We would be taking a muggle taxi to Kings Cross station and that would take an hour. Mom woke us up at 9 am but I wanted another 30 min to sleep, I always felt tired, so when I slept in Mom wasn't happy. Granted I had planned for this and made sure all I had to do was wash my face, brush my teeth and hair and get dressed. I would do my minimal make-up on the train. I put my shoes on and open my door to find my dad about to knock.
"I'm ready," I tell him, smiling as he politely takes my trunk from me. We go downstairs just in time to see the taxi pulling up. The taxi ride was quiet and spent in my head lost in thoughts.
I run with my mom and dad through the barrier of platform 9¾ and smile when I see the red and black steam engine. Deja vu meets me as I remember my first year here, it hits me then that this was my last year at Hogwarts. I turn to my mom and meet her gaze. She sees something in my eyes as she puts her arm around me and guides me to the luggage racks.
"Your first and last years are always the hardest. It'll be a sad yet exciting year for you so make the most of it okay." She tells me and I nod as I pull her into a hug. She pulls away then reaches into her bag and pulls out a small pouch that clinks as she handles it. "I made you some extra of everything, it'll last you for 3 months."
"Thank you," I tell her as she places the pouch in my hand.
"Now put that in your bag and say goodbye to your father." She tells me as she pushes me towards Dad. It was always hard for her to say goodbye so I did as she said and then turned to Ced so we could find his friends. When we do Ced and I jump on the train with them and turn to wave to our parents. The train whistles, signalling for all the remainder of the students to hurry.
"Arthur, quickly!" I hear a shriek from someone I recognize. Mrs Weasley was yelling at her husband. I look to where she is and see him talking with a tall lanky boy with messy dark hair. The boy turns and runs to the train as it starts to move, he makes it on with the help of the youngest Weasley kid, Ron. That's when I knew who the boy was, Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Ced has told me all of what happened in Harry's first 2 years of school. He must have felt me staring because he turns to me. I smile then let my gaze wander some more. I see the other families all "acting out" similar situations with their children. A small hint of sadness hits me and shake my head to clear it. I turn away as Ced pulls me to a compartment. I sit down in front of Cho and smile at the shy girl nodding a hello and pull out a book to read from my bag.