Petrichor

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I walk into Hogwarts with a couple of house elves trails after me with my luggage in their hands. I admire the halls that I haven't seen since I was 12. I squeeze my skirt with my two palms as I see my brother come near. I stop in my tracks as he walks up to me.

"Carmen, so good to see you."

My brother, Cyrus says as he stands in front of me.

"I missed you, sister."

He says as he motions me for a hug.

I smile as I stretch my arms around him. He smells like I had just remembered, only with a more mature cologne.

I haven't seen him for two years. Well, occasionally I saw him for the holidays when I came home from Beauxbatons. But other than that, I didn't really see him, especially this year's summer break since I decided to enjoy the summer at my friend's cottage.

"Merlin, you have grown."

Cyrus's friend, Ezra, says followed by a flirty whistle.

"That's my sister you are talking about."

Cyrus warns as we all begin to walk.

My eyes wander as the few people who are in the halls stare at me. My face remains it's usual face, emotionless and calm. I feel the few student's heads follow my move as I walk into the great dining hall.

"-And there she is! Welcome back, Carmen. "

Dumbledore says, his voice echoing the dining hall.

My brother, Cyrus and I stand at the front of the entrance as everyone's heads look at my way. Dumbledore motions with his hands to come up, to make a proper appearance. I oblige as I begin to walk up to the stand.

My eyes wanders to the gryfindor table. I smile at one of the Weasley twins, but he just looks down with a small blush. Harry looks at me too, but his awkward nature makes him shift around. I then scan my eyes toward the slytherin table, my house table. My eyes scans to Adelpha, an old friend of mine. She bounces up and down her seat as she waves at me with energy. I flash her a smile before my eyes got caught with another. His eyes stare at me, beyond me. I feel like I am caught in a web as our eyes meet. I continue to walk though, but it feels like I am not.

"A word to everyone?"

Dumbledore asks as I step up at the stand.

My eyes darts from the icy blond boy's eye to the entire crowd. My stomach is flipping but my facial expression doesn't even hint at it.

"My name is Carmen Estelle, nice to meet you again. As you may have already know, I attended her until my second year. It is glad to be back."

I introduce.

Someone raises his hand, someone from hufflepuff. Dumbledore politely hushes me with a hand motion.

"Aren't you Cyrus's sister?"

He asks.

"Do you want to answer?"

Dumbledore asks as he looks down at me.

I nod before saying,

"Yes, he is my brother."

I answer calmly.

Another person's hand raises, someone from gryfindor. I stare at him as he clears his throat. He is one of the Weasley twins, I recognize him from my two year stay at Hogwarts. Dumbledore points to him, motioning him to speak.

"Are you single?"

He asks, causing the entire school to burst into a fit of laughter.

I look down as I smile, quietly chuckling to myself. His twin brother shields his face with his hand, clearly embarassed.

"I'm serious, you see, my brother and a couple of other gryfindors kind of fancies you."

He says, to which causes more rupture of laughs.

"No more questions, anything that you want to furthermore ask, go to Carmen."

Dumbledore says as he dismisses me.

I walk down the stand, towards the slytherin table. My brother makes space by shooing people away for distance. I sit next to him as I look down, trying to avoid the stares.

"Glad to see you again, Carm!"

Adelpha says, or Adelph I used to call.

She climbs to the seat next to me, causing some people to groan with annoyance as they move to make space for her. Her face is just what I had remembered, bright and full of light. Her cheeks are less rosy as when we were 12, and her face has slimmed down.

"Merlin, I thought that you would never come back!"

She exclaims as she hugs me tight.

I pat her back awkwardly as she hugs me, I never was a touch person.

"You've gotten prettier."

She compliments as she releases me from her tight hug.

"Thanks, you too."

I reply, calm and neutral.

"Your spot is still open in my room, no new students were in slytherin. Are you going to stay at my room like old times?"

She asks, excitement beaming like a big ray of sunlight through her words.

"Maybe."

I reply as I look down at my food.

I begin to eat as people asks me questions. Most of them were normal and not out of the ordinary like: "How old are you again?", to which I responded with a simple, "I will turn 15 on October 24th."

"So, are you single?"

Ezra jokingly asks, causing Cyrus to punch him in the chest.

Ezra clutches his chest with pain as he chuckles. I stare at him and chew, entertained by his teasing nature.

"So?"

He asks, causing my brother to punch him again.

"Jeez, I was just asking."

Ezra says as he continues to chuckle.

"I'm single."

I answer, causing some people at the table who were chiming in to look at me.

I ignore the stares as I look ahead and eat my dinner. My eyes scan the dining hall, encouraging the nostalgia to wash around.

Dinner went by fine, nothing special.

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Draco stares at Carmen as he eats his food. His chewing slows down as Blaise and Pansy talks. Pansy stops talking as she notices Draco's attention to Carmen. She glares at Carmen's side profile, a nice profile that she envies.

"Draco? Are you alright?"

She asks, causing Draco to snap his eyes from Carmen.

Carmen didn't know Draco that well, especially during second year. They saw each other time to time during class. Carmen used to sit in front of Draco in almost all of his classes. He grew to have his first crush on Carmen at the time, even though they did not really know each other personally.

"I'm fine, I just have a headache."

Draco answers.

He turns to Blaise, the only person who knows about his past crush on Carmen. Blaise smirks at him, causing Draco to roll his eyes. Pansy ignores the boys as she turns to her friends, the ones who are girls.

"Skanky, isn't she?"

Pansy says, more like asking, wanting to gain assurance that Carmen is lesser than her.

Her friends shrug as they all begin to talk about something else other than Carmen. Pansy groans with frustration as she glares at Carmen. She despises how there is nothing tarnishing on Carmen, and she despises how Carmen grabs Draco's attention without trying when Pansy has been trying since the beginning of time.
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