Venom in the veins

Tracks to destiny

The smell of steam filled the platform as Evie Lestrange took a deep breath, What an amazing smell, of journeys and legends untold.

"W-well," sniffed Kaylah Black, her mocha-brown eyes crinkling as imaginary tears cascaded down her chestnut skin.

"Well, what?" asked Ava Granger, concerned as always for her friends, her lily-green eyes shining with concern. Unbeknownst to her, Jeremy the Pygmy Puff was climbing through Ava's long, glossy umber hair.

"Well Ava, Jeremy is um, how do I phrase this? Stuck in her hair," Evie pointed out, nervously wiping her wire-framed glasses on the sleeve of her turquoise jumper- it was a habit she knew was pointless but she couldn't be bothered to stop.

Unlike her friends, Evie stood tall and gangly, her dirty-blonde hair always slightly frizzy, giving her a perpetually dishevelled look. Her clothes, worn for comfort but not to impress were well loved and a bit oversized, only emphasised her awkwardness.

"Oh God, Jeremy!" Ava shrieked, her pale hands carefully rescuing the periwinkle-blue Pygmy Puff from her hair. Jeremy squeaked as if to say: Why'd you do that, I was fine, y'know loving life!

"W-what if w-were n-not in t-the same HOUSE!" Kaylah bawled, real tears sliding down her hot-chocolate coloured skin and soaking her hickory coloured hair. Her emotions were prominently on display drawing people in like an electromagnet.

"My God. Kaylah, we are NOT being sent to the other side of the flipping universe,"Evie reassured. Kaylah, seizing an opportunity she attempted to blow her nose on Evie's hair only to be foiled by Ava who swatted Kaylah away and rolled her eyes.

"Oi! Kaylah, are you just going to leave me to slave over getting Tawny's cage onto the train?" yelled Scarlet, struggling to heave the owl's cage. She was like a smaller, nine-year-old version of Kaylah, already showing signs of the same striking features.

"Oh my GOD!" Kaylah screamed, "This thing was less than your hair and you hair weighs like NOTHING, nada, zilch"

"Fine," spat Scarlet, gingerly touching her afro, " I won't tell you what I've heard, which is quite frankly amazing, darling."

"There's going to be," whispered Scarlet theatrically, "a Weasley in your year."

Evie's skin went even paler, if that were possible. "I knew it—too good to be true."

Ava blanched. "Let's go back to the cabin."

*＊✿❀ ❀✿＊*

About fifteen minutes later, they sat in their own compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Evie shut the curtains while Ava carefully hung up fairy lights, the soft glow accentuating her flawless skin. Tawny, Kaylah's owl, hooted from the corner of the table. Jeremy scampered up and down between the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and the Pringles.

"Should Jeremy be eating those?" Evie frowned, watching the Pygmy Puff nibble on a crisp. "Wait, has anyone seen Nightshade?"

Nightshade, Evie's fluffy, charcoal-black cat, had hunted Probus' rat population to extinction alongside Tawny and Titan. Titan, Liv's Siamese cat, was the laziest thing in existence except when it came to hunting vermin.

Nightshade prowled into the compartment, making a beeline for the hairband on Kaylah's head. The cat hissed, but the girls were too busy to notice the red-headed figure silhouetted in the doorway.

"It's okay, Nightshade. I hope we have nothing to do with that Weasley—they'll probably be a huge prat," Evie muttered, just as the bee snapped off the metal coil on Kaylah's headband and smacked Percy Weasley squarely in the forehead.