Enchanted | James Potter

Chapter 16: The Summer of 1976.

It was six in the evening and Flora was helping her sisters get ready for a party. Karla was taking them to a party organized by one of her socialite friends and she had given Flora the responsibility of fixing their dresses and their looks. At Least she would have the house to herself for a few hours after they leave, she thought. 

It had been only a fortnight since Flora came back and she was already tired of them. She could not wait to get away from the madness. Karla was driving her insane. She was taking her daughters to the party of the Dursley's and she wanted to set one of them up with their son, Vernon Dursley. Since the morning, she had been ecstatic about getting everything right and making her daughters as beautiful as possible. "Just a few more days," Flora sighed.

After they had left, Flora sat on her bed and took out her secret stash of all the candies her friends had sent her. Karla was making Catherine and Kimberly go on a strict diet but to make them feel better about it all, she had insisted that Flora follow it too. Flora already didn't get enough to eat and this diet would have made her sick but Karla didn't know what was hidden in the floorboard upstairs. She had no idea that Flora was not following the diet at all. Flora had sent her owl to all her friends with pleas for help and they had risen to the occasion magnificently, and thankfully for Flora, without asking many questions. Her owl had returned from Lily's house with a large box of choco chip cookies. Mrs Fortescue had sent her an enormous fruitcake and Marlene had sent her some of her favourite candies along with some cupcakes she had baked with her younger brother. Flora was glad to have friends like them.

She was in constant contact with all her friends. Lily and Marlene were already planning to meet up at the Diagon Alley with the rest of them. Mathias and Remus had written her letters throughout the vacations, Mathias constantly talking about Evannaand Remus telling her about his little trip to Cornwall. Even Peter had written her a letter telling her about his father's sickness. She sent back some of her home baked cookies with her reply to make him feel better. As was expected, she did not reply nor read the two letters sent by James Potter. 

Flora had been impatiently waiting for her OWL results, when she saw an owl which belonged to Hogwarts fly through her window. It was carrying a large square envelope. She took the envelope and opened it with trembling. She opened it quickly and read the parchment inside.

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

FLORA ISABELLE ABERNATHY HAS ACHIEVED:

Ancient Runes:                                         E

Arithmancy:                                             E

Care of Magical Creatures:                    O

Charms:                                                    O

Defence Against the Dark Arts:            O

Divination:                                              A

Herbology:                                               E

History of Magic:                                    A

Potions:                                                    O

Transfiguration:                                     O

Flora was ecstatic. This was the best day of her entire summer. She packed a picnic basket with some of her secret food she got from her friends and went to the nearby lake for a picnic. During that she wrote letters to all her friends including Severus. 

Soon it was 20th August, Flora's 16th birthday. She received many gifts from all her friends and Professor Mcgonagall sent her a special birthday cake. Although she spent it alone, she had a good time.

The girls had made plans to see each other 1 week before the school started to get their books at Diagon Alley.

"Flora!" Alice shouted from her spot outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where she was sitting with Lily and Evanna. Marlene soon joined them and they started shopping for their sixth year. They went to Flourish and Blotts, Madam Malkin's, Eeylops Owl Emporium and Honeydukes. Flora spent at least ten minutes staring at the new broomstick mounted at a podium on display of Quality Quidditch Supplies. It was the latest and most advanced broomstick and many World Cup teams had already placed their orders. A crowd had gathered around it of passionate Quidditch players and watchers. Flora turned around to leave when she saw James Potter standing there, staring at her. Sirius Black was standing next to him. She had learnt from the letter by Mathias and Remus that Sirius had recently run away from his home and was living with the Potter's. Flora felt bad for him and wanted to talk but after what happened with Edward she had stopped talking to all three of them. Mr and Mrs Potter were with them too. She turned, gave Sirius a small smile and a nod and left. That was the least she could do.

James was once again sad. Much planning was done so that James could come to Diagon Alley at the same time as her. He learned from Mathias that the girls were planning to meet one week before the school started so he convinced his parents to take him to Diagon Alley on that day.

He somehow knew Flora would come to Quality Quidditch Supplies. He knew about her passion for Quidditch. However, she didn't even look at him. She simply smiled at Sirius and left. Why did she smile at him? He wondered. Sirius gave him a sad expression and they continued their shopping and Flora once again ignored them when Mr and Mrs Potter stopped to talk to Marlene. They were good friends with her parents, she later got to know.

The shopping was done and Flora got back home just for one week. It went away, too slowly, in Flora's opinion. Soon it was the 1st of September. Flora took a taxi to Kings Cross to go to Platform 9 ¾.