Little Memories

The day was a bright, mild weathered late-Summer day and the sun was beating against the black taxi that Charlotte, Draco, and Gregory found themselves in. Had their parents found out they had made their way to King’s Cross Station in a muggle contraption, they would have been absolutely furious. The three that sat, cramped together in the backseat, their luggage and odds and ends for school in the boot. They had failed to put on their seatbelts; Charlotte by choice, Gregory and Draco by lack of understanding of the car. The taxi driver had been a bit surprised to see three “youngsters”, as he called them, dressed in expensive looking outfits, toting around trunks. He had commented on how “professional” they looked and how he wished his own children would dress like they did. The three feigned like they were listening, but were really too absorbed in their own thoughts and problems to listen to a blathering, old cabbie.

“Here we are,” he said in a gruff sounding voice as he pulled up to the curb, “King’s Cross Station. That’ll be eight pounds.” Draco and Gregory both pulled slight frowns.

“Come again,” Draco asked, staring at the man as if he were odd. Before the cabbie got the chance to reply, Charlotte spoke up.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it,” she said, pulling out a few bills from her small, black clutch(yet it was large enough to hold her wand in it comfortably) and handing it to the cabbie. “Keep the change,” she added sweetly, with a warm smile. He took note of how many surplus bills she had given him and grinned widely.

“Thank you, miss,” he said excited, “here…let me help you with your things.” He immediately vacated the car and walked around, opening the door for Charlotte before popping open the boot and beginning to remove their trunks. Draco and Gregory were more that ready to get out of the small, dingy, and quite smelly car, but Charlotte made no inclination to move. In fact, she was looking rather distraught as she watched the muggles and wizards alike walk in and out of the station.

“What’s wrong?” Draco asked her softly, placing a hand on her arm. Charlotte’s eyes turned to his and he could see the worry and sadness in them.

“It’s nothing,” she murmured before climbing out of the car. She took a few steps out onto the curb and flatted out the skirt of the black dress. Her long, blonde hair was pulled over one shoulder, exposing a bit of the scarring from when she wore that cursed locket, but not enough to cause any real gossip. She was certain that nothing would draw attention away from her being a Death Eater. The car door closed behind her and she turned with a heavy sigh and looked between Draco and Gregory. It was obvious by the looks on their face that her lie had been completely see-through.

“All done, then,” the cabbie said with a nod before he hopped back into the cab and sped back off into the London traffic. Charlotte watched as her only escape plan vanished with the cab. Draco glanced over to Gregory nervously, who was watching his sister closely, before stepping forward and placing a hand on the small of her back and leaning closer to her.

“I’m right here,” he whispered in her ear as he noticed her eyes were brimming with tears, “nothing’s going to happen to you if I’m here. I promise.” She looked over at him with a furrow between her eyebrows, yet didn’t say a word.

“Let’s just get this over with,” she said softly as she stepped away from Draco to fetch a trolley for their things. He kept his eyes trained on her as she picked up a trolley, managing to stand out amongst a rather curious looking bunch of muggles that were making their way into the train station. Rolling it toward Gregory and Draco, the boys immediately began loading all their trunks onto the single trolley, only slightly amazed that it had all fit onto it with as much as Charlotte had brought along with her.

Gregory watched his sister carefully and noticed exactly just how worried she appeared. He gave a heavy sigh and stepped over to her, wrapping her in a warm, unexpected hug that she willingly returned.

“You’re going to be fine,” he murmured in her ear. “no one is going to say anything to you.”

“But they’ll be thinking it,” she replied as she pulled away, giving her brother a particularly sad look before nodding to the large clock just inside the large glass doors of King’s Cross station. “We’ve got ten minutes to find a spot to sit in on the train and it’s going to be right crowded this year.”

“What do you mean?” Draco asked as he began to push the trolley toward the station doors. Gregory opened the doors for them to walk through as Charlotte constantly glanced around to make sure that no muggles were listening into their conversation. Muggles usually turned a blind eye to such things as a bunch of children and oddly-dressed adults walking into the train station toting around trunks and owls and bats.

“The Ministry’s made it so that all wizards and witches in England must attend Hogwarts. They no longer have the option of being home schooled,” Charlotte said as they continued on to the wall between platforms nine and ten. Gregory glanced over to her curiously.

“Why do you think that is?” He asked, glancing over his shoulder to the large digital clock with big red numbers that let them know they had eight minutes to find a compartment.

“Why else? They want their views and beliefs to be imposed on young witch and wizard minds and that’s the only way of doing it,” she said, managing to keep her underlying disgust for the situation out of her tone. The three fell silent as they passed by platforms seven and eight and remained silent as they passed through the barrier to platform 9 ¾.

Charlotte stopped as soon as her eyes met the crowded platform and the scarlet train that was only minutes away from leaving the station. She bit her bottom lip nervously before looking over at Draco then to Gregory before looking ahead again. She lowered her head and began to walk toward the crowds of parents and students, knowing that one of them was more than likely to recognize her. Draco followed behind her with the trolley, Gregory at his side. They noticed that a few of the attentions of the parents had been drawn to the pale, blonde girl who had her eyes focused on the stone floor beneath her feet. She didn’t need to worry about running into anyone, since everyone was making way for the Azkaban escapee, as if they feared a mere run in with the girl. They all had fearful expressions, curiously fearful expression as that particular part of the station hushed as much as it could.

“What is she doing here?” One of the father’s snapped as he glared at the girl’s back. Charlotte kept her head lowered, but she could hear everything even over the steam billowing out of the engines.

“She’s a known Death Eater, why would she be allowed back in Hogwarts?!” A rather vulture-like woman asked not-too-quietly beside Charlotte. Smaller children were pulled closer to parents as Charlotte passed by them, as stoic as she ever was. Murmurs broke out through the crowd as Charlotte stopped beside the entrance to the Slytherin car. She turned to look at Draco, but caught sight of all the eyes that were watching her and felt her strong exterior slipping away. She was never one for negative attention.

“I’ll just…find a place for us to sit,” she said in a wavering voice before she turned and climbed onto the train almost immediately, pushing her way past a few of the students who stood idly on the stairs, watching her intently. Gregory wore a particularly ferocious scowl as he glanced at everyone who still seemed to be a bit in awe of the convicted Death Eater that had just walked on the train, making it clear that Hogwarts was no longer the safe place as it was seen. Well, as safe as it could be seen after the death of the previous, and perhaps best, Headmaster of Hogwarts.

“Let’s go put the trunks in the luggage cart, then get the hell into that compartment,” Gregory murmured through gritted teeth to Draco, who was all-too ready to oblige him. They cut through the groups of parents bidding their children farewell, some of them for the first time, and nearly shoved their trunks into the luggage car and made their way back to the Slytherin car. There were a few minutes to spare until the train left for Hogwarts and the platform was beginning to slowly clear out.

Draco and Gregory finally pulled themselves onto the car that Charlotte had disappeared into and made their way past the private compartments. There were students standing out in the walkways conversing with one another casually and a few new-comers looking quite scared and nervous. Normally, the three of them would have chosen to sit out in one of more open cars and talked with all their friends. But none of them felt like being very social, Charlotte probably the most out of the three. They passed by no empty compartments and couldn’t find Charlotte. It wasn’t until they spotted a compartment with the blinds draw shut that they knew the girl’s whereabouts.

“Do you want to go in there first?” Gregory asked, clenching his jaw afterwards. He glanced to the closed blinds then to Draco, noticing his hesitant expression. “I’m too angry right now and try to talk to Charlotte. I’ll only make it worse.” Draco sighed heavily and nodded, ducking into the compartment as fast as he could. Gregory leaned back against the door, crossing his arms over his chest as the whistle gave a far off ‘toot-toot’ and the train lurched forward. He heard giggling off to his right and looked up spying Pansy and Millicent Bulstrode watching him as they laughed outright before leaving the car altogether.

Once the massive bulk that was Millicent moved, that’s when he saw the dainty girl behind her. She had long, raven colored hair and wide, questioning blue eyes as she glanced around the car nervously, probably looking for an empty compartment to hide away in until she got to the school. The sun broke through the windows of the train and cast a yellow light on her milky skin. She had her arms precariously balanced full of books and her wand in one hand It was obvious that she knew no one and had been home schooled. Gregory thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen and was completely transfixed by her.

“I’ve been looking all over for you, Goyle,” Crabbe shouted behind Gregory, causing him to jump slightly, out of surprise, and turn to him. Crabbe gave a sidelong glance to the compartment and gave a extremely thoughtful look, almost bordering on a pained look. “Is that where Charlotte is?” Gregory gave a terse nod, stepping away from the door.

“You can go in. She’s not in a very good mood, but she likes you. So, it should be okay,” he said and Crabbe gave a nod, pulling open the door and entering the compartment. Gregory turned to where the girl he had seen once was and saw that she was no longer there. He pulled a frown, before sighing heavily as he mentally cursed Crabbe for his impeccable timing, and entered the compartment as well.