Thirteen years after The Battle of Hogwarts, two wizarding children are about to embark on their own adventure. They both have been lied to their entire lives, one to protect her from the wrath of the wizarding world, and the other to protect him fr...
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Bel glanced around her room in the Manor one last time. Her trunk was packed and on her bed, and the newly rechristened Nightlock was safely in his new cage on her dresser. Without her things strewn everywhere, the room looked a little sad and extremely empty. The clock read only seven thirty, but Bel had already eaten breakfast. I have never been up this early in my entire life, Bel thought distantly. She dragged her trunk out through the door, snagging the dark owl's cage with her other hand as she passed him. The trunk made a third set of tracks in the carpet in the hall and on the stairs down to the foyer. The two other sets of trunks and cages were against the wall next to the great oak door, and Bel's belongings soon joined them.
As Bel crept through the sleepy house, she saw all the dozing portraits and exotic knicknacks that had defined her life. So far. She found Scorpius and Cat sitting in the roots of their ash tree, and Bel hopped up onto the low fork that was her accustomed perch. Cat was tossing dried corn to one of the peacocks, and Scorpius was staring at the low grey clouds, twirling his new wand absently. "When are we leaving?" asked Bel, suddenly feeling excitement crash over her.
"Any minute now," Cat replied, not nearly as excitedly as Bel. She threw the last of the corn at the iridescent bird and stood up. Uncle Draco and Aunt Astoria appeared at the door by the veranda. She motioned to the children and Scorpius jumped up and ran towards his mother, followed closely by Bel and then Cat. Aunt Astroia smiled at Scorpius and said, "Your Grandma Greengrass wishes you luck, Scorpius." Turning to Cat, Aunt Astoria continued, "She also said to tell Catherine to stop worrying. So stop worrying."
Aunt Astoria was extremely nice, but sometimes seemed to set Uncle Lucius and Aunt Narcissa a bit on edge. She knew that something was a little odd about Bel, but she was certainly not privileged as to what it could be. The elder Greengrasses did not know that Bel existed at all, and Bel always had to stay upstairs on the infrequent occasions when they visited the Manor. Scorpius always got what they called "The Bel Lecture" before he went to visit his other grandparents.
Taking Scorpius' hand Aunt Astoria followed Uncle Draco back into the Manor with Cat and Bel trailing after her. "There has been a change of plans. Your parents will meet us at King's Cross," Aunt Astoria called back to Cat as she walked hurriedly along. She marched them through the hallways right to the open front door where Uncle Lucius and Aunt Narcissa were waiting. Bel could see Snowball's cage disappearing into the magically enlarged trunk of the Mercedes. The chauffeur shut the boot and climbed into the front seat of the car. Aunt Astoria and Uncle Draco continued out to the waiting car, but Uncle Lucius opened his mouth, presumably to warn them to stick to the story one last time.
"We know. Don't draw attention to ourselves," cut in Bel before he could begin.
"We all know the story by heart. We couldn't mess it up even if we wanted to," added Scorpius.
"You made us rehearse it over a hundred times. Since yesterday!" exclaimed Cat. And with that she followed Scorpius' parents and climbed into the waiting backseat.
