Two Doors Down

comment

When we arrived at the platform, the four of us made it our mission to find Piper. The pint-sized brunette seemed to be lost in a mess of coats and dark colored hats. Eventually, the four of us found her. She was standing with our older brother, his fiancée, and Blaise’s mother. Before approaching them, Blaise and I said goodbye to our two closest friends since their parents were most likely looking for them.

“Luke!” I exclaimed happily once my tall older brother stood in front of me.

He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around me at the same time that Blaise hugged his mother. I was instantly relaxed with the smell of sandalwood wrapping around me and filling my senses. Luke always managed to make me feel safe.

“Hanna,” Blaise’s mother began to say once I pulled away from my brother and slipped into her arms for a sweet hug, “You must be excited about the ceremony soon.”

“Of course I am.” I said sweetly once the hug was over before I joked a bit in order to lighten the mood we had all fallen into, “Your son promises that I will be very impressed with my promise ring.”

“You definitely will be. Blaise had it sent home for safe keeping after it was purchased for you.” His mother explained as Blaise looked down sheepishly.

A small honking noise alerted her and she cleared her throat before looking between her son and I. His mother always seemed just a bit more intimidating and controlling than mine did. It wasn’t hard to see why he gave into this relationship so easily.

“Well, say your goodbyes.” She said to Blaise before saying goodbye to us politely and walking away.

Before I really realized what was happening, Blaise had planted an unsatisfying kiss to my lips before saying goodbye and walking away. Once it was just the four of us, my older brother and his fiancée hugged both of us once more.

“How was your first semester?” Luke asked our little sister with a smile on his face as he looked down at the pint sized brunette beside him.

“Difficult.” Piper said to him with a small whine that made the three of us laugh a little bit since she was only in her first year.

“Don’t worry.” I told her with the same little laugh still lingering in my voice, “It’ll get easier when you go back in January.”

“Yup. Soon you’ll get tired of gourmet cooking and you’ll wish you could go back to Hogwarts for all the junk food that you could get your hands on.” Luke said teasingly, trying his best to make her feel better as best as he could.

“I definitely miss the chef at home.” I said with a loud groan as I helped Luke get the stuff in his car since that was his preferred method of transportation.

Much to our parents’ dismay, Luke was utterly infatuated with everything that had to do with muggles. If he had it his way, he would most likely be single, living in a muggle town, and teaching basic math at a local school. Instead, he was engaged to be married in a few weeks and he would most likely be forced to follow the Dark Lord like most of the pureblood families.

“Claire is amazing. I hope I can find someone that good when we get our place in a few weeks.” Lane said sweetly while she got into the passenger seat of the car.

“Are you excited?” I asked both of them as I fixed my seatbelt and looked between the adults sitting in the front of the car.

“For what? The wedding?” Luke asked me in response, trying to make sure that he knew what I was talking about.

“Of course.” Piper and I answered in unison.

“I can’t wait.” Luke said to us with a wide smile on his face as he adjusted the radio.

“It’s going to be beautiful. We already finished all of the planning.” Lane said with a smile stretched out on her face. “Now we’re just counting down the days.”

“You should take some notes. After all, the next wedding we go to will probably be yours.” Luke said to me with a teasing tone that made me groan.

“Oh, you must be so excited to get your promise ring! I still have the one that your brother gave me.” Lane said sweetly as she looked between my brother and I lovingly, turning around a bit so that it was easier for the two of us to talk.

“Of course I am.” I said to them both with a fake smile on my face that was most likely not fooling anyone in this car other than Lane.

Unfortunately, I knew that Luke could tell I was lying through my teeth due to the look he gave me through the rearview mirror.

He started to drive us home once we were all settled in the car. The drive seemed a lot longer than it should have been, mostly because I was nervously thinking about what my parents would say. I always had a funny idea that they would somehow know everything that had been happening outside of these walls. When we walked into the oversized manor, Piper ran towards our parents and I smiled when our father took his youngest child into his arms. She was always daddy’s little princess. Our parents greeted Piper and I sweetly.

“Come into the dining room. Claire set up a nice spread for brunch today.” my mother said after she pulled away from the hug that she had started a few moments ago.

“Brunch?” I asked her in a confused tone while looking over at the large grandfather clock in the entryway of the house in order to check the time, “Can’t you just call it breakfast, mom? It’s barely nine.”

“If you call it breakfast, it’s not socially acceptable to have wine.”

“Well, I guess it’s not a real meal unless there’s three bottles of wine involved.”

The four of us followed my parents into the dining room. The entire table was filled up with every food that I could have imagined for this meal. Everyone sat down at the seats where they usually did. It often felt like everyone had assigned seats. We started to pile the food on top of our plates while Lane made small talk with our mother.

“So, Hanna, will Blaise be joining us tomorrow? The last time your mother and I saw him was the last time we saw you.” My father asked in a curious tone, most likely wondering why he wasn’t here with us today.

“Um, I don’t know.” I told my father with a small shrug of my thin shoulders.

“You don’t know? Shouldn’t you know? Haven’t the two of you spoken about your plans for break?”

“We haven’t really spoken about our plans yet. I know he’ll be here for the wedding.”

“Right, well, what about your other friends?” my father asked again, making me bite down on my bottom lip in order to prevent myself from saying something about Draco.

“Well, Brittany is visiting family in Scotland and I’m sure Draco is learning occlumency.” I explained again with another shrug, “I’m sure they both want to come to the wedding.”

“The more the merrier.” My mother said happily before the room turned its attention towards Piper.

Well, everyone in the room except for Luke. My over-protective and always-worried older brother kept his eyes on me. When we made eye contact, he scrunched his nose together and gestured towards the stairs that led to the bedrooms. I nodded slightly, knowing that I had just agreed to speak to him in my bedroom later on. There was a big chance that I would tell him the truth.