Selenophile // Marauders

|26| Summer 74

The Hogwarts Express arrived at King's Cross. Riley quickly got out of the crowd and spotted her mum waiting for her right outside the station.

She had missed her mum and sister, but Ivy was working, so she couldn't come. They got in the car and drove home. The town was the same town Riley knew.

There was a sign saying "Pine Road." Not so surprisingly, there were a lot of pine trees. Although it was June, the weather was still breezy. It was very quiet because it was getting late. It wasn't dark yet, but it soon would.

The houses were simple, almost each house was grey or beige. They walked over to their house. There was a bicycle right next to the door, there was mud on its wheels and looked old. It was Riley's, she used to ride it to school before Hogwarts.

She took her stuff upstairs to her room which looked cleaner than before, they always did this whenever she left for school. She flung her bags and trunk to the other side of the room and sat on her bed, opening music at full volume and unpacking. After an hour, she left the house and ran through the street.

She came to the house she was looking for, it was a slightly bigger house with a blue door. She knocked on it and the door opened quickly.

"Hello Riley, you're back from school?" a woman with a soft face asked. She had blonde hair and soft brown eyes.

"Yes, Mrs. Humphrey. Are they home?" Riley asked still smiling.

"Yes, dear. They're out on the back yard."

Riley ran around the house to the backyard. It was a small garden with a table and a few chairs. Two people were sitting, a girl with blonde hair who was talking to a boy with brown hair. Riley ran next to them.

"Riley! You're back!" the girl exclaimed.

"I missed you so much!" Riley said as she hugged the girl.

"Hi!" the boy said excitedly. Riley hugged him too and sat on a chair next to them.

It was Ethan and Penny, her childhood friends who were also entirely unaware of magic's existence.

"I wish you didn't go to the boarding school you're talking about... It's so far away we only get to see you on Christmas and summer," Penny said.

"Wait what was it called again?" Ethan asked.

"Erm — Boarding School of Scotland," Riley made up.

"At least you're here for my birthday!" Penny said.

"It's also my birthday, remember?" Ethan said as he rolled his eyes. He had soft brown eyes and hair that matched his eyes. He was wearing a zip-up hoodie with trainers. Ethan was the quieter one of the twins, Penny was more cheerful and talkative compared to him. She was also the more emotional one.

"So how's that school of yours? Boarding School of Scotland... never heard of it before..." Penny said.

"Uh — well, it's a bit different," Riley said.

"What do you mean?" Penny asked.

"You don't learn magic instead of maths, do you? How different can it be?" Ethan said. Riley fake laughed and Penny laughed as well. She wished she could tell them all, they never kept secrets from each other.

"Of course not," Riley lied. "It's just very far away, that's all."

"Who are you friends with?" Penny asked.

"There are a couple of people, I'm close with four of them."

"Do you like someone?" Penny asked smilingly.