OCEAN AWAY - R.Lupin [Misfortunate Series]

One: Deja Vu

"So when you gonna tell her
That we did that, too?
She thinks it's special
But it's all reused
That was our place, I found it first
I made the jokes you tell to her when she's with you
Do you get déjà vu when she's with you?"

- Olivia rodrigo

—————It's been a year since she last stood at the crowded platform. Parents and children, friends and family had gathered around to bid their loved ones goodbye and joined their companions onto the scarlet train. Everything seemed heartwarming, and she couldn't help but let the familiar envy slowly rise up within her.

Her golden-brown eyes squinted through the group of people in an attempt to search for her sisters, but to no avail, Cress Celestine was alone. Again, like she always does.

Sighing, she turned to move ahead towards the train, when all of a sudden two pairs of arms engulfed her into a tight embrace, and a small smile finally etched onto her lips at the familiar high pitch squeal.

"Oh, you're back! I can't believe it – I thought you would never return to Hogwarts again!"

"Audrey, give her some room! You're suffocating her."

Cress chuckled and eventually returned Audrey's hug after letting go of her trunk. "Hello, Audrey." She greeted weakly, her voice muffled against the cocoa skinned girl's hair. She then moved to hug Matthew who stood to the side and had watched the two girls' reunion.

"Cress." He greeted her before pulling the girl into his arms, slightly swaying out of habit. "It's great to see you finally standing and out of the house." He teased. "How are you?"

"Good." Cress breathed out. "Although, it's a bit hard to breathe here in this crowd."

Audrey looked around and nodded in agreement. "It is getting a bit stuffy here.. Let's go find an empty compartment, then we can continue our conversation." She began to pull on the brunette's arm in excitement. "Oh, I can't wait to hear more about Paris! You have to tell me everything!"

All the way to the compartment, Cress had kept her eyes on her shoes, watching every step of hers carefully as Audrey's voice drowned from her ears while Matthew led the way. Every once in a while, she would see other students pass by and greet her two friends and would also take a curious glimpse at her.

First, second and third years gazed at her in wonder, and even waved at her warmly, but the ones who knew her since she attended Hogwarts till her fourth year, would whisper of her returning and no doubt it'll spread throughout the whole student body.

Cress shrunk further until she wished the ground would just swallow her up. She used to love the attention, but now she absolutely despised it. All because of the infamous incident that had created a nasty rift between her and a certain group of Gryiffindors.

Matthew finally found them a compartment and held the door open for the two girls before closing it behind him, then placed their belongings away. Once everything was settled, the two began to fill her in on the events that happened while she was absent through fifth year.

She nodded every now and then to pretend she was listening. She used to enjoy listening to the latest gossip... Not anymore. Her mind was completely overwhelmed by her thoughts instead, and she kept shifting in her seat uncomfortably. She was nauseous – probably because she had an empty stomach, but something's telling her it wasn't it.

Just then, when Cress was in the middle of telling Audrey and Matthew about her stay with her aunt Majorie in France, the compartment door opened, and the quiet atmosphere was disturbed by the loud roaring laughter.