Elektra Black I

Chapter 14 | The Return to Hogwarts

"If you take any longer, you will be late." Sirius impatiently called out from down the stairs of their home at 12 Grimmauld Place. El was getting ready for her fourth year at Hogwarts. Since they were already in London, it didn't take long to get to London Kings Cross, but they were leaving it a little late. Saying goodbye to her room, making sure Newt was tucked away in her pocket (that was a story for later) she rushed down the stairs with her brown leather bag in hand as fast as she could. "Ready?" Sirius asked, watching her over. El nodded excitedly picking up all of her belongings as her dad couldn't carry anything whilst he was a dog. "Remember, I can't go through the wall as an animal, so I shall say my goodbyes now." Sirius pulled her into a tight embrace, resting his head on hers. "You'll be back here before you know it." He said, kissing her forehead lightly. "Will you be okay here... all by yourself?" El worryingly asked, as they let go of the embrace. "I did Azkaban all alone, I can do this place too. Don't you worry about me! You're off to Hogwarts to be with your friends!" Sirius' renewed enthusiasm was showing a little too much, El thought. But deep down he was dreading being all alone with the fear of being sent back to Azkaban after his plea. "I'm only a letter away." He reminded her, taking his hand and resting it on the side of her ruby red cheek. "Keep me up to date with your plea. I know it's a few weeks away but-. El asked, trying to not let the thought of her dad loosing the case become too overbearing for her. "Both you and Remus will be kept informed." Sirius smiled at her, "Remember, if you feel any different or something within you makes you feel as though you cannot control it, you're to go straight to Remus or Dumbledore, regardless of what time it is. Don't fight this yourself. Do you understand me?" Sirius had told her, for what felt like the hundredth time to El. "I promise." El ensured her worried father and with that, they were off to the train station.

Elektra ran as fast as she could and kept glancing at her silver watch, that Sirius had gifted to her, (who was gleefully trotting) to make her train on time. She hadn't noticed any of her friends or any Hogwarts students at all! "10:50!" El nearly screamed as the gate closed five minutes before boarding at eleven! They both ran up some stairs, and then down some, around a few corners until her clock read "10:53" She could see the platform nine and ten and saw the wall in-between it, where platform nine and three quarters lay hidden. She sprinted as quick as she could, Alaric flapping about in his cage out of panic, past a few large crowds of people waiting for a train to Peterborough and stopped abruptly at the wall. "Bye dad!" She whispered to the dog who had just caught up to her. Her dad barked a few times at her, tail wagging very fast. "I-I love you." She stuttered, feeling a little awkward at her first time saying it back to her dad. Sirius' tale stopped wagging suddenly for a split second before wagging even faster than it had been before. He barked again and nudged her knee sending her backwards into the wall that was thankfully still open. When she got to the other side there were no passengers on the platform and everyone was onboard! She raced with her luggage, popping a hand onto her pocket feeling for Newt, who was thankfully still wriggling around in there and hopped onto the train.

The inside of the carriages were packed, and very full. She had jumped onto the very first part of the train, where no one that she knew were sat. Mostly first years. It wasn't until she'd reached 3 carriages down, bumping Alaric's cage a little on the way and apologising profusely to a very grumpy owl, she had found the compartment she was looking for. In the red seats sat Hermione, Ron, Harry and- she stepped around more revealing herself fully and saw the beaming eyes of her best friend Jada! Harry noticed and immediately got up to open the glass sliding doors, "There you are." He kindly took Alaric off of her and sat him down on the carriage floor near his owl, Hedwig. "Hello, you" El happily whispered to Harry, but it wasn't long until Jada had screamed, which could be sounded from the rest of the carriage, and shot up to pull her best friend into a rather tight hug. "I MISSED YOU! We were just starting to worry if you'd got on alright or not." She squealed, not letting go of her. El giggled into her chest, as Jada was very tall now. "I've missed you as well! How was Australia?" El asked a beaming Jada, who had collapsed dramatically into her seat. "A-ma-zing. But, it sucked not being able to write to you lot. I have so much gossip to catch up on, it's unbelievable! Hermione was just telling me all about her trip to Venice. I bet there were loads of hot guys! There were tons in Australia, even El would have been tempted!" El shot a talkative Jada a look of disgust, and sank into her seat that was between Harry and the gossip queen herself. Hermione had awkwardly giggled at Jada, not being that keen on boys yet all that much either. Ron rolled his eyes and Harry became tense under his thick grey jumper. "What's so special about European boys anyway? What's wrong with us British lads?" Jada laughed aloud at Ron's jealousy, "Take a look around, Weasley." Jada motioned to him and Harry and El couldn't help but snort at the sarcastic remark. It was so loud that Harry had thought something were the matter with her. Hermione lent over and high fived a smirking Jada as Ron crossed his arms and sunk into his own seat, staring out of the window miserably.