𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 [𝐑. 𝐋𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐧]

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍'𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄

Song:
Sober (Lorde)

Callisto walked down the King's Cross Station with Nicholas by her side holding one of the two trunks. Her head was ringing from all the high pitched voices surrounding her, the smell of sweat and cheap perfume mixed with the exhaust fumes from the train making her stomach jolt.

"Are you sure you can walk properly?" Nicholas questioned, taking the second trunk in his hands. She had appeared in front of his door yesterday morning with tear markings on her cheeks as she held a handkerchief tied round her hand. She didn't look like his best friend. No, she was nothing more but a shadow. Callisto hadn't said much. She just left her trunks in his room, asked to stay the night and left the room after thanking him. She appeared again the next morning, four hours before she was supposed to leave for the train station, completely drunk. Nicholas didn't pressure her; after all, it was obvious what had happened.

"Yes." She mumbled, pulling her injured hand closer to herself. Nicholas had offered to close the wound with magic since he didn't have the trace on him, but she had refused to do so. Instead, he cleaned the bite with rubbing alcohol as she bit down on her lip to stop herself from screaming in pain.

"If you can't, then I will walk you to a compartment and then I will leave." He insisted as she stumbled lightly. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I'm your friend."

"I said I'm fine!" She spat as they stopped in front of Hogwarts express. Callisto's eyes searched in the crowd a wave of dizziness overcoming her as she leaned against the wall and sank down on the floor, burying her head in her palms.

"You only drank, right?" Nicholas asked, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Look at me! Did you take anything else?"

"No..." She answered truthfully. Nicholas opened the water bottle and she downed half of it, looking up at him. She just wanted to leave away from that place. She wanted to go back to Bulgaria with him and Aunt Elena, but Durmstrang wouldn't accept her back after what she had done. No other schools had written back to her except for Hogwarts, but she didn't want to go there. This wasn't her home...

"You're going to go to a compartment and drink as much water as you can, okay? Try to sleep it off. Can you do that?" Callisto nodded and followed Nicholas to where her trunks would stay for the ride.

~ ~ ~

The four Marauders boarded the train heading for their usual compartment. Remus smiled at the sight of familiar faces, occasionally waving when he saw one of the prefects or any of their friends from Gryffindor. It felt good to be on the way back home. Hogwarts was the first place where he was accepted for who he truly was other than his family. A wave of nostalgia hit him as he realized that this would be the last time he would get on the train on September 1st. If only he could go back in time to tell his past self that everything was going to be okay. He was going to meet his three brothers and they were going to love him without caring if he had claws and sharp teeth or woolen sweaters and muggle books. He felt someone pushing him to the side and he opened his mouth to protest when the person rushed past him, long, blonde hair flowing messily as the girl headed for the bathroom.