Soul Love ~ ( Remus Lupin )

Chapter One

The station was almost deserted - apart from the one first year and his parents, who were anxiously fussing over him and his bags. Other than that, it was just Marigold and her house elf, Sooty, who was nervously scratching her ear. The elf sighed out a gentle goodbye, before looking up into Mari's eyes, letting go of her hand and apparating back to the manor. A long breath left her lips. In her left hand, she gently held her cat, Honey, who was both sweet by name and temperament. Her long, golden fur matched Marigold's own, warm, blonde hair, and her brown eyes were blinking slowly with sleepiness. With her right fingers, she loosely gripped the trolley carrying everything she needed for the year.

The train wasn't even on the platform yet, but that didn't matter to her – waiting at the station by herself was better than waiting at home. The cut on her back was a reminder of that. Anything was better than home really, and she felt as though there was nowhere better than Hogwarts, where, inside the walls, her memories seemed so distant they could've never happened and drifted away with her dreams. They still lingered of course, through the letters her parents sent her, through her friends, through her brother and his friends, but that didn't seem all too bad to her – she felt safe there.

Some other family walked through the wall onto the platform, she tried to take no notice, and haphazardly wheeled herself over to a bench that was stood in front of one of the many stone pillars. She wasn't able to reach the cut, that had been haunting her back for three days, to heal it; however, it hadn't been particularly deep or painful, and instead left a forgettable sting and scab that had slowly healed her over during the nights. So, when she went to sit, the suddenly overwhelming, burning feeling that cascaded down her back came as a surprise. Marigold, still hovering in the halfway bent position she was in to sit down, sucked in shaky breath, and cautiously sat down. The girl was careful to not touch her clothed back to the wood of the bench. Her school shirt seemed adamant, however, to stick to the painful area and caused a more intense stinging sensation. She wondered if perhaps the scab got caught on her shirt, and whether it was bleeding. What could she do now? Wait until she got back to Hogwarts for it to get healed – but she had never dared to go to Madam Pomfrey for a wound from home and didn't want to risk it now. Merlin. Why had she been so adamant on coming so early? She bit down on her cheek, hard, and accepted that she would have to just wait with the pain, until she could get back to her dorm and shower. Even if she was bleeding, the darkness of her robe would disguise it well enough. At least she could stay still and sit down for now, there must still be at least an hour until the train would arrive.

Fifty minutes later, the train had arrived, as well as a hoard of families, most of which were saying their goodbyes. Marigold's back was stiffly away from the bench, and, despite the distraction that was people-watching, the pain from her cut hadn't ebbed. She couldn't yet spot anyone she was familiar with, which only really included one of her only friends, Allegra Langford. That was lucky, as the girl had planned on spending the train ride in her own carriage, by herself. That was until she saw the Blacks. Her parents were suck-ups to the Blacks, which led to many forced interactions between Regulus, Sirius and Marigold and her brother, eventually all of them – bar her brother – managed to forge a bond. Her and Sirius became particularly close, not only because they were the same age, but also because of the fact that they were both the siblings each of their parents focused their anger onto. When Sirius joined Gryffindor though, Marigold was quickly banned from being seen with him. Regulus, however, was immediately indoctrinated into Mari and Ally's friendship. He was only friends with them because he was still too young to be accepted into the gang of pureblood Slytherins, all three of them knew it, but they were close still and appreciated the company regardless. Time was so constant, and Marigold was aware that every second they spent together was fleeting, all she felt she could do was wait until he got too old and had to turn on them. Still, she liked to think he enjoyed her company, she certainly enjoyed his.