An Old End..A New Beginning (Open After Harmony)

[blakeit]

Blake stood with a sad look on her face in her dorm room. School was officially over. No more studying. No more learning. No more double potions class periods. Everything was done. She had three months of freedom. Hogwarts was her second home, and even sometimes her favorite. All of her friends, brother, a bit of her outside the house family. Everyone. Life was awesome at Hogwarts, and it seemed like when she got home all the fun stopped. Her father was always at work and her mother fussing to much about a really, really dirty hosue. But was that so surprising, she was a mom after all. Shaking the thought from her head Blake packed up the last of her possessions, her art supplies, and put all of her recent drawings in a carry on bag that she could actually go through on the train seeing as all of her friends had promised all of her other friends junk Blake was sure she would be sitting by herself.

Walking along the halls with a few other people who had started packing a bit late Blake waved to a couple of people and sent smiles to others. She was excited to go home, but bascially just sad to leave the slightly large freedom she got when she went to Hogwarts, and when she went home she was practically shut up in the family room, as is her older brother, so much that by the time they go back to Hogwarts they are white as ghosts instead of tan like everyone else in the school. Of course Blake would be exaggerating a lot if she ever told anyone this but obviously she hadn't because she didn't want people to really know about her home life because that would be slightly weird and discomforting. Heading down the stairs she walked and walked growing slightly resentful to the walk to a compartment, seeing as all of the ones would be filling up. It didn't take to long though, by the time she had arrived at seemed that everything had settled down, she hadn't exactly relaized she had been that late. Walking down the hall she quickly settled into a room and then smiled realizing no one else was in there, at least not yet.

Blake expected that by the time the train started up someone will have asked to join her and of course she would accept, she couldn't exactly just tell someone no, well actually she could, but she wouldn't. She isn't that rude, and couldn't be to people. It's just wrong. Seeing as she did have the room to herself at the moment though she took advantage of it and pulled out one of her over large sketch books to finish up a drawing of a person she had thought up in her head. And in her opinion it didn't look half bad, so far it was just an undon sketch, which was why right now she was touching it up. She didn't like to show people what she drew so as soon as she heard foot steps she would most likely be rushing herself and ruin the picture in the progress, but she would worry about that when the time came.

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony stared sadly around her spacious dorm room as her fellow Hufflepuffs continued to pack away at a hurried pace, just the odd titbits left over, strewn on their beds in masses of mess. Harmony smiled a little at their frenzies selves, before looking down at her own neatly packed luggage. She had always been very organised and careful, and the end of the year’s leaving process was never any different. Harmony felt sad departing the place she called her bedroom for over three quarters of the year, but she’d be back soon after two month’s worth of holidaying. Though his time, home would be a larger, detached house in the centre of Manchester, rather than a minute, cosy one in London. Things were going to change… They were already changing. Taking one last fond glance round the noisy, Harmony proceeded to give swift hugs and goodbyes to her dorm mates, before sticking out her wand and levitating her trunk and Dori’s carry case down the stairs and into the Hufflepuff Common Room, where expectedly, Aurora was waiting for her with an enthusiastic smile.

Harmony followed Aurora diligently out of the Common Room, their luggage flying obediently behind them like loyal dogs. They made small talk as they walked slowly down the Hogwarts corridors, filled with fellow students also making their way down to the station. Harmony felt nostalgia curl itself around her heart as she said a secret goodbye to everything she passed, promising to return in September a new and fresh fourth year Hufflepuff. Third year had passed in a daze, battling through rising loads of homework and filled with laughter and music, despite the sorrowful ending she and Ari had received from their mother’s death, equipped with Ari’s horrific injury straight after. Harmony smiled wryly to herself, and hoped that the following year would bring more joy than sadness. She really, really hoped life would let her lead a happier path.

Before she knew it, Harmony was down at the station, her eyes set on the magnificent crimson of the Hogwarts Express as it puffed and waited for the hundreds of students to board. Harmony separated from Aurora soon after, as her older cousin slipped away to find a compartment. Harmony was given the job of finding Ari and Leo in the mass of pupils wading around her life sluggishly, the noise levels rising to a crescendo. Harmony winced at the loud sounds, before struggling through some second year students, eyes cast out to look for her sister and cousin. Ten minutes later, Harmony realised she had most probably failed to find them, and they had perhaps already boarded without her. Sighing in frustration, Harmony didn’t want to keep Aurora waiting too long, and entered one carriage defeatedly. As she searched for her cousin, the train began to move, and Harmony had to cling to a rail to stop herself from falling over as the sudden movement shoved her off balance. Groaning inwardly, Harmony stumbled into the nearest compartment, swearing she’d find her family later, but for now, would reside in a free compartment if possible.

Spinning around, Harmony looked at who else occupied the compartment, to see a familiar face of a Ravenclaw girl in the year below. Harmony didn’t know her personally, and a shy smile graced her face as she gingerly took a seat, shutting the door behind her. “Um… Do you mind if I sit here a while?” Harmony asked nervously, eyes skimming quickly over the girl and the pad in her hands. “I’m Harmony Chan, by the way… Hufflepuff. Third year… or fourth year.” She blushed in embarrassment, before shutting up and letting the Ravenclaw do the talking. She didn’t want to make a fool of herself anymore than she already was doing, and her shyness didn’t help.

[blakeit]

Blake jumped a bit off of her seat hearing the sound of her compartment open. Yes she had expected to be interrupted, but not quite this soon. She flipped shut her sketch book and smiled politely. She recognized the girl as an older Hufflepuff, and wasn't surprised when she found she was right, as Harmony was in fact heading into her fourth year at Hogwarts. Whereareas of Blake was heading into her third in Ravenclaw. She told Harmony this and held back a laugh at Harmony's expense as she said her own name, "Blake Elliot," and then gave a small wave. Blake glanced around at the seat she was on and then silently slid her sketch book to the side, deciding it would be more polite to make conversation with Harmony than try to hide her picture while she gave it a bit more editing than truly necessary.

"So do you have plans later on the train ride?" Blake asked, seeing as Harmony had asked if she could sit here for a while and not just then ormal "Hey, you mind?" that Blake normally would have gotten. She truthfully didn't care though because she either had friends or she didn't, but for her they weren't exactly necessary. She lived without friends for two years after her brother went to schoo seeing as he is two years older than her, so she had to deal with being alone for a while during the school year. She could be a loner, and she could be someones best friends, but it didn't make a difference and it was always the other persons choice, she wasn't going to be someone's friend who didn't like her. That was just pretty darn stupid in Blake's opinion because in her opinion you were basically letting yourself be a doormat when you put yourself in that position.

Getting rid of those thoughts from her head she glanced back at Harmony, waiting for her to answer seeing as she had nothing better to do, plus she had been the one to ask the question. Feeling her brown hair start to fall from it's clippy Blake pulled out her wand using it most likely for the last time until september. She smiled and then waved her wand, watched it swirl back up and clip itself feeling to lazy to give her a hair a flip and swirl it up by hand, she'd have to that enough this summer. "Don't you just hate the fact we can't use magic at home?" Blake asked Harmony, asking herself more than the girl though.

[Harmony Chan H6]

((I'm so sorry this is so late! Forgive me!))

Harmony gave Blake a friendly smile as she sat down, murmuring a “Nice to meet you”. The Ravenclaw seemed the friendly type, for which Harmony was grateful for. She didn’t know what she would do in the face of hostility. Hence why she was afraid of Slytherins, who in turn labelled her as “pathetic”. Harmony didn’t mind too much though. She didn’t really care what others thought, a trait she had acquired from her mother and sister, and secondly, she was quite aware of how pathetic she was. Although this train of thought upset Harmony at times, she had generally come to accept it as part of her nature, and tried not to question it as much as possible. What with her mother’s death and father’s discovery, Harmony had felt more lost than ever, but she also felt that she would find herself soon again, and that she was stronger than ever now because of what had occurred. Harmony was scared, there was no denying it, but she knew she would learn to stand on her own two feet one day.

Harmony looked up as Blake strived to make conversation, and gave a small smile. “No… well, I was meant to meet up with my cousins and sister, but I don’t know where they’ve gone.” Harmony looked mournful, her tone worried, but it quickly faded as she looked up again with a bright smile. “I’m sure they’ll find me, or vice versa, soon. We usually go home together. What about you? Do you have any family at Hogwarts?” Harmony was sure she didn’t know much about Blake Elliot. She had perhaps heard her name a few times from other friends Harmony had in the same year and house, and of course seen her familiar face around school, but Harmony had never heard any drastic rumours, though that could easily change as you made your way up the school. Harmony wasn’t known for anything much, apart from being “that Slythie-Gryffindor’s sister”. Despite Ariane preferring to keep to herself, she was actually more gossiped about than Aurora, who knew literally everybody in their year well. It was because of Ariane’s cold, aloof attitude which had earned her reputation of being more of a Slytherin than a Gryffindor, and when she had become best friends with Aurora, the rumours had only gotten worse. Both girls took it in their stride though; Ariane was used to gossip about her and her odd ways, and didn’t pay them any heed.

Harmony gave a less coy grin as Blake asked her another question, and she decided that this girl was quite nice, glad to have made another friend. “Yes. It’s rather frustrating at times.” Harmony agreed with a nod of her head. “I used to live a muggle life before I came to Hogwarts, and it was so fascinating, magic… It took time to get used to. Then I went home for the holidays after my first year, and found myself dying to just perform a simple spell. Like doing my hair.” Harmony’s hand gestured at Blake’s newly done locks. “You just get so used to it being a part of your life.” Harmony laughed softly. “But I suppose the rules are meant to be followed. They are put in place for a reason.” There were still many things in her daily life that Harmony didn’t use magic for though, even if it was the truth that it was an integral part. Sometimes, Harmony forgot she could use magic for the simplest of things, and then when she returned home to a muggle life style, Harmony found herself missing the odd little things she could perform in a second with her trusty wand. It was like floating in limbo, Harmony decided with an amused smile, though not a too unpleasant one. Having some magic in her life was better than no magic at all, and she could wait till she was seventeen and of age before she was allowed to use it properly. That was the price one had to pay to become a fully-fledged wizard. Ariane and Aurora only had to wait a bit longer, Harmony smiled, before they would essentially be free adults.