Astray

Chapter 4

The next month all of them grew closer as a family. Coralie really felt like she finally belonged. She had grown envious of all the happy families she saw anytime she would go into town, but now she could finally get over that because she now had one of her own. She was especially close to James, he was like the older brother she dreamed of, so she had grown quite attached to him just like she was to Albus.

James had grown on Artemis as well. When he would ride on top of Coralie's shoulder he would sometimes try to hop back and forth from her's and James's.

The the days leading up to their first day of school seemed to drag on, each seemingly longer than the last. Until finally, it was the day before they got on the big red train and rode off to Hogwarts. Coralie was sitting on her bed folding her clothes and neatly setting them into her open trunk with an undetectable extension charm placed on it, courtesy of Euphemia.

Just as she had finished putting the last item of clothing in her trunk there was a knock at her open door. She looked up and noticed James standing there. "What's up?" She asked. Normally she would never say anything like that but she had grown so accustomed to his vocabulary that she had picked some of it up. Besides adopting his vocabulary, he had also brought out of her shell a bit, instead of her normal shy bookworm she was a slightly less shy bookworm now.

"I was wondering about when we were going to play that Quidditch match you had mentioned a while ago," he said unconsciously ruffling his own hair. It's a habit she had come to notice he had over the last month. She thought it made him look a bit pretentious, but who was she to judge because she had a habit of playing with her hair as well.

"Well, are you done packing?" Even though she was less reserved didn't mean she was any less of a goody two shoes.

"Oh come on! I'll finish when we're done, it'll be like a small break. I promise," he added after seeing her disapproving stare.

"Oh all right, but just one game!" She said with a stern glare that didn't look unlike a certain professor.

"Yes! Well come on, what are you waiting for?" He ran over and grabbed her wrist..

He dragged her out of the house and into a shed in the backyard. The shed was full of Quidditch supplies and things of that nature.

James pulled out two "Suncrash"s and handed one to her," We should warm up before playing. Wouldn't want to fall off of your broom, would you?" So she mounted the broom and took off in the air.

James followed suit and they started throwing the quaffed around getting warmed up. Coralie threw the ball at James but he was waving toward the sliding glass doors. "James, look out!" She yelled to get his attention, but just as he turned around the ball hit him and knocked him off his broom.

"JAMES!" She shrieked, before now she hadn't realized how high up in the air they had gotten. She flew quite quickly, but not quick enough. He was about hit the ground at full force from about 100 feet in the air when suddenly someone yelled "ARRESTO MOMENTUM!" And James stopped... and then fell the final few feet, face first, to the ground.

"Oww," he muttered but didn't make any move to get up.

Coralie looked towards the back door of the house and running outside was Fleamont with his wand out and pointed towards James. She then realized that she hadn't been breathing since she had knocked James off of his broom and took a big gulp of air. She sped towards the ground and landed.

She hopped off of her broomstick and held a hand out for James. He took it and she helped him up.

"OhmygodJamesI'msosorryIdidntmeantodothatIthoughtyousawitorIwouldnthavethrownit!" She took a deep breath to continue, but he raised a hand to stop her as he caught his breath from hitting the ground.

"In English, please," he said. She blushed and mumbled a quiet "sorry" and continued to twirl her hair around her right pointer finger in embarrassment.

"With an arm like that you should be on the Quidditch team in no time," she turned around and saw Fleamont, carrying Artemis, walking towards them. She smiled and gave an energetic wave to the pair and started to run over but her foot slipped out from under her.

"Ahhh!" She yelled as she fell flat on her back in the mud. "Ow..." she sat up and rubbed her head giving an embarrassed smile to James and Fleamont as they laughed at her clumsiness.

"We should head inside and get cleaned up. Euphemia is about to start on dinner," Fleamont helped her out of the mud, her clothes caked in the substance.

"Now, James, you said you would finish packing when we were done," she said with a stern wag of her finger.

"Alright, I'm going," he said trying to hold in his laughter because a girl much shorter than himself, covered in mud, with a kitten resting on her head was telling him off. It seemed as though his father was facing the same problem as he was struggling to contain the laughter threatening to spill from his lips.

They all walked inside and went their separate ways. Coralie went up to her room to take a shower, James went to go take a nap, and Fleamont went to help his wife with dinner.

Coralie came to a stop in front of her wardrobe. It held 2 outfits, one set of pajamas and her Hogwarts uniform. She grabbed the pajamas and walked to her bathroom. Once she had finished she turned the shower off and got dressed. She waltzed across the hall to see what James was up to before dinner.

"James!" She yelled through the thick oak door as she knocked. When there was no response she walked in any way and heard a groan and the rustling of sheets. The room was completely dark apart from the ray of light coming from the hallway and a small lion night light plugged into the wall.

"5 more minutes, please," he grumbled rolling over on his bed. She then realized that the ray of light was hitting him right in his eyes.

"Come on James! Let's do something!" She exclaimed jumping on his bed and picking up his spare pillow.

"No," he retorted shoving his face further into his pillow and pulling the blanket over his head.

"You leave me no choice," she raised the pillow high above her head and repeatedly hit him as she bounced on his bed.

When he had finally had enough he sat up and yelled," I'm up, okay? Are you happy now?" But before she had heard him she brought the pillow down one last time and hit him in the face.

He glared at her for a few seconds before they both burst into fits of laughter. A few minutes later Ginger came in to tell them that dinner was ready so once they had their giggles under control they went down to the dining room.

They took their seats and so did Euphemia and Fleamont. The food flew in and landed on the table. They piled their food onto the plates and dug in, when about half way through dinner James accidentally spilt his hot tea on Coralie.

"James!" She shrieked standing from her seat," This is the last clean shirt I have that isn't packed in my Hogwarts trunk!" Ginger came in and dabbed her shirt to get all she could off of it.

"You can just wear one of mine. Here I'll go get it," James took off towards the stairs with her following after. He, still having not finished packing, pulled a wrinkled gray and red striped hoodie from a pile of clothes on his floor.

"Thanks?" It came out as more of a question than a statement but James didn't seem to care he just waved her off. She went across the hall to her room and entered the bathroom. She put her t-shirt in the dirty clothes and pulled on his hoodie. It was really big on her but she didn't mind.

The rest of the night went by quickly. They played many board games and talked. Then in a flash, it was time for bed. They went to sleep early that night because they had to get up early to get to the train station. Coralie had trouble falling asleep that night, but the soft sound of Artemis purring and the ticking of the clock finally lulled her to sleep.