𝐜𝐫𝐲, 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥. || 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 ➝ 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬.

[SONG: Pumped Up Kicks • Foster The People]

"Moooom? Dad? We have to leave now or I'm going to miss the train to Hogwarts!" I dashed downstairs to find my mother still sitting at the wooden kitchen table. "Where's dad?" I asked.

Only then I noticed the exhaustion on her face.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up at me with dark shadows framing her steel blue eyes. "Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I just couldn't get any sleep. I was waiting all night for Aurelius to come back home, but I suppose he's still out, drinking with his pals."

I was fuming. Of course my idiot father couldn't even make it home early on my first day of going to Hogwarts, my now to be school of witchcraft and wizardry.

"But if dad's not here, how are we going to get to the train station? Neither of us knows how to drive the car!"

She desperately shook her head. "I've got no clue. Our fireplace isn't even connected to the Floo Network. Also you never learned how to apparate."

"Then teach me," I demanded.

My mother's eyes widened in shock. "Absolutely not! The Art of Apparition requires deep focus and skill, only experienced wizards are able to do it without any risks."

I remained persistent. "We both know I'm quite gifted, I'm sure I'll be able to apparate without major issues."

"Even minor issues can cause splinching!" she voiced, "I don't want to collect different body parts of my torn daughter from, Merlin knows how many, different places."

I paced around the kitchen counters, asking one more time. "Please, mom. There's no other option. You are the one who wanted me to go to Hogwarts, so tell me how to successfully apparate or I won't have the chance of becoming an Auror, the way you and dad always planned for me to be."

My mom was on the fence. "This is going to be the first and also the last time of me teaching you something as dangerous as Apparition." Thank god! I sighed with relief. "Thank you! But make it quick, the train already left and I don't want to miss the famous carriages, too."

-

After my mother told me all about the process of apparating and I repeatedly had to echo all the information about 'The Three Ds', range limits and visualization (which took a whole lot longer than I expected), I finally said my goodbye, trying to suppress the sceptical look on her face.

"Good luck, Juniper. Don't worry about your belongings, I'll get them transported to Albus as soon as possible."

This sounds so weird. No, it is weird. Who on earth would want to have their great grandfather as their school's headmaster?!

I gathered my thoughts and decided to focus on my task again.

As I visualized the Hogsmeade station (at which the train hopefully hadn't arrived yet), I determinedly told myself I had already apparated there.

I admit, it was kind of difficult since I hadn't been to this exact train station in over ten years, but I just hoped my memory of it when my dad took me there for a day trip was enough for it to work.

Yeah, back when he hadn't traded a healthy family for alcohol and anger issues.

I blocked out my intrusive thoughts and remained focused on apparating. Apparently, my distant memory was sufficient. I heard a loud crack and could see my view fading. I felt totally jammed, as if I got forced through a very tight rubber tube.