𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇 ── harry potter

iii | an unexpected name

ACT II — CHAPTER III
Aɴ Uɴᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ Nᴀᴍᴇ

⊱ ────── 𖥔 ✶ 𖥔 ────── ⊰

It had been exactly a year since Quinn first boarded the Hogwarts Express and met her best friends, and she found herself facing the same dilemma she had that day — she couldn't find her slippers.

She was tearing what was left of her room apart. She checked under her bed, in her closet, down the hall in the bathroom, and she definitely made sure to check her trunk in case she forgot she packed them again. All of these led nowhere. It was as if they had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

"Quinn, are you ready? We have to go!" Mary called from the stairs. Quinn walked out of her room and into the hallway.

"Mary, have you seen my slippers?" she asked. Mary looked up at her, an exasperated expression on her face.

"Again?" she questioned.

Quinn nodded, "Again."

"Did you check your trunk?"

"Of course."

"Under your bed? In your closet? Maybe the bathroom?"

"Already checked them all."

Mary sighed, "Em is going to strangle you when she finds out you're not packed. Again."

Quinn pursed her lips and nodded. This was the second year in a row that Quinn had told Emmeline she was fully packed the night before she had to leave. It was also the second year in a row that Quinn had lied straight to Emmeline's face.

"Quinnie, why are your slippers in the kitchen?"

The Fenwick girl's face lit up as she ran past Mary down the stairs and into the kitchen. Emmeline stood by the sink, brows raised, slippers in hand.

Quinn grabbed them from her grasp, saying a quick thank you and running back upstairs, ignoring the sleuth of threats Emmeline yelled behind her. She threw the slippers in her trunk and promptly closed it. She quickly straightened up her room, making sure everything was just neat enough so that Emmeline wouldn't actually murder her.

Once she was done, she picked up her trunk and Phoebe's basket and ran back down to the kitchen, meeting her mothers.

"Ready!" Quinn told them, a wide smile on her face.

They all piled into the car together and drove to King's Cross Station. Quinn's leg was bouncing up and down the whole ride. She talked Emmeline and Mary's ears off about how excited she was to see the all-together Train Gang again. She and Justin had been writing to each other pretty consistently over the summer, but she was lucky to get a letter with more than a paragraph from Kevin. He was even worse than Ron.

Upon reaching the station, the family of three made their way to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Emmeline was right about what she said a year ago — running at brick walls was the least bizarre thing she did at Hogwarts.

The most bizarre thing she did was probably sneak an illegal dragon off the school's grounds. Or maybe it was encountering Fluffy, a three-headed dog. Or maybe it was talking to her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who had He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named living off the back of his head. So many bizarre things. And she still had six more years to go.

Together, they all ran at the wall that separated the Muggle world from the magical one, and Quinn couldn't help but smile upon seeing the Hogwarts Express.

"Come on, Quinnie, let's get you on the train," Emmeline said, trying to guide her to the train.

"But the Gang and I agreed to meet before we got on the train," Quinn explained, "I thought I told you that."