The Legacies Only They Knew

Chapter 2 - Magical Travels

Coraline woke up bright and early compared to the day before as she was both too excited and too nervous for the day to come, so she barely got any sleep. Her mind was preoccupied with thinking about the endless possibilities of what the wizarding world would truly be like. So instead of staying in bed thinking, she started putting together all of her belongings into the trunk she had brought with her when she moved into the group home four years ago. 

As she fluttered around her room, putting her things together, she also made sure to set aside one of her nicer outfits to wear during their journey. Since Professor Fig mainly focused on general information about the wizarding world the night before, she was unsure of what to expect when they actually got to Hogwarts. Thus she decided to wear a slightly nicer outfit in order to hopefully give a good first impression upon her arrival.

Eventually, Coraline settled on a simple long-sleeved white button blouse with plain black buttons loosely secured under the collar of her blouse, a short dark red tie that stopped at about mid-chest. She donned a long dark red skirt that went down to her mid-calf and a thick dark brown belt securing the skirt to her waist. Lastly, she added a thin set of gray stockings and a small, plain pair of black buckled heels and set aside a thin, rugged tan leather overcoat to put on as she left the group home to help chase away the slight chill of the cool London morning.

Coraline mindlessly watched her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom as she twisted parts of her white-blond hair that extended down to her lower back and added the twisted strands around the large tight bun at the base of her neck. Right as she went to place the pins to keep the style together, her mind re-focused on her reflection, and she paused as she picked over her appearance.

Despite the progress Coraline had made in the past four years in learning to accept her altered appearance, the prospect of switching to an entirely different society caused her to hyper-fixate on every little imperfection on her face. Her eyes raked over her pale white skin dotted with very faint freckles. To her disappointment, her skin continued to lighten the longer she stayed in London due to its dreary weather. The only part of her appearance she actually liked was her bright electric blue eyes that she had inherited from her mother, as they seemed to sparkle a turquoise color in the light.

Her gaze lingered on the rough, jagged scars that covered the majority of her left cheek and traced the long, thin scar that extended over her left eye and ended about halfway up her forehead. Her fingers twitched and moved toward the bun at the base of her neck to undo the hairstyle before she paused once more. She hesitated, unsure if wanted just to keep her hair down to try to hide the scar for a bit to avoid the inevitable stares or if she should just leave her hair up since everyone was just going to stare at her scars eventually anyway. Her fingers twitched once more; however, this time, they nimbly added the pins into her hair to secure the bun.

A knock at the door to the bathroom pulled her out of her thoughts, and she quickly gathered all of her belongings. Once she opened the bathroom door, she was greeted by the sight of another of the young girls who lived in the group home.

"Your visitor from yesterday is here again, Coraline. Mentioned that he wanted to speak to you in your room. Shall I send him up?" The girl tilted her head to the side as she spoke, a small smirk on her lips.

"Oh, yes, please. Thank you."

"Hmph," the girl scoffed as she gave Coraline a once over before turning around and heading back downstairs.

Coraline returned to her room to pack away her personal items while she waited for Professor Fig to make his way upstairs. She had left her bedroom door open as she didn't see a point in closing it just yet. This allowed her to hear the subtle creaks of the stairs as Professor Fig arrived at her floor.
"Professor Fig, it is good to see you again," Coraline stated with a small smile and nod.