"How the utter fuck did you get into Slytherin?"
~
"Your mark," she paused with a shaky breath, "is that why you don't love me anymore?"
In a perfect world, Draco Malfoy is not supposed to be falling for Nia Knight.
YEARS 5-7, GOLDEN TRIO ERA
OOT...
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Bustling New York was becoming more and more difficult to maneuver around as an abundance of wizards and no-maj's alike willfully decide to reside in the city as the years progress.
For Mrs. Knight, this newfound surplus of population was a negative. Rent was skyrocketing. The cost of living in New York, well America for that matter, was clutching onto her cheap faux leather wallet in hopes of eating up all her money. So since New York was changing, Mrs. Knight decided to change too.
"Nia! Hurry now, we're going to be late!" The older woman rushed her soon-to-be sixteen year old daughter into a generally small blue cafe with the scent of coffee creamer whirling in the air.
To the elderly couple sitting across from each other on the right side of the cafe, it was strange seeing a woman and a younger woman heading towards the back of the cafe with suitcases in hand and never coming back out.
To Nia Knight, the presence of floo powder sitting atop of the chimney in a jar at the back of the cafe set an uneasy feeling in her chest. Not because she's never traveled by the floo network, because she has, but because this will be the last time she'll ever be in New York for a while. She'll never return to Illvermorny or read about ridiculous spells with her best friend Jolene in the library ever again.
But Nia Knight and her mother weren't moving across the ocean just because of financial issues. No, Nia was running away from another form of evil.
The youngest of the two took a deep breath as she stood inside the chimney and watched some grains of the powder lightly fall from her tight grasp.
Goodbye, New York.
"The Leaky Cauldron!" Clear words slipped past Nia's mouth and soon she was being whirled away in purple and in a moment dropped back down into another chimney with her suitcases in tact but her emotions and brain not so much. As she struggled out the chimney and waited for her mother to arrive, Nia's brain felt quite the whiplash after traveling so far from thousands of miles away.
Nia Knight's head turned to look around The Leaky Cauldron pub and found witches and wizards decked out in all colorful sorts in conversations and sharing golden goblets with bubbly drinks oozing out. To the left of her she found a wizard passed out on the floor, too drunk to carry himself home. London has quite an interesting community of wizards, she thought to herself.
Suddenly green flames burst out the chimney and there Mrs. Knight stood dusting herself off with a chuckle. "Come, Nia! I'll show you to Diagon Alley. There's an entrance here in the pub."
Mrs. Knight guided them past the spirited folks and towards the back after greeting the bartender. Nia was met with a plain brick wall staring back at them. "I'm assuming it's behind this wall then?"
"Precisely," The older woman grins before gathering her wand from her coat and tapping on the bricks of the wall, three up and two across. Soon the bricks before them move leisurely to the sides so the duo can enter and find themselves in an utter chaos of people, but not as close to New York.
"We'll gather your school supplies later when I get my first paycheck," Mrs. Knight says over the crowd to Nia as she starts walking in the middle of the passageway, "let get to our place then!"
After about ten minutes of walking and moving past other magic folk, Mrs. Knight and Nia stood in front of a shop with a wary sign that read: Flourish & Blotts
"I'll be a sales clerk and a well rounded book expert if I do say so myself, here at Flourish and Blotts. They also offered me one of their apartments, or flats as they say here, above the store. I'm sorry it's not much Nia but it is–"
"It's great, really!" Nia dismisses her mom's worries because although they've never had much, she knows how fortunate they are to have a roof over their heads, "I like apartments. They're cozy."
Mrs. Knight wore a proud smile on her face because of the way her daughter turned out. Not like her ex husband. The woman marched inside the shop with her bags in her grasp and walked up to the front desk to be greeted by Flora, the manager of the shop, with a kind smile. "We've been awaiting for your arrival, Jessica Knight! Here's the keys to your flat. Go get situated and come back down so we can get a head start on your training."
"Yes ma'am," Mrs. Knight nods in agreement before ushering her daughter to follow her up the stairs to the flat.
"Here we are! Flat B." The woman stands in front of a green door with the paint faded and chipping off. The older woman unlocks the door and steps inside, followed by Nia.
It wasn't much, but it was just enough. A kitchen at the far left and a dining table to the right. A blue sofa to the left was next to the kitchen and a hallway next to the dining table, assuming it was the way to the bathroom and a bedroom.
"You've been rather quiet today," Nia's mom speaks up as she sets down her bags on the dining table.
"Yeah it's just the move. It's gonna take some time getting used to London. Even Hogwarts." Truth is, Nia was a nervous wreck about being the new kid in fifth year.
"Aren't you excited about Hogwarts? You get to meet new people!"
That was the opposite of what Nia wanted to do. She was supposed to be at Illvermorny, not Hogwarts. Maybe the Hogwarts library will be big enough to hide away from other people when she's not in class. It wasn't like Nia to want to hide away from other people, but the thought of being alongside people your age you've never even met before set a knot in her stomach. Nia was prideful and mindful and courageous. She hoped Hogwarts would change none of that.
When Nia appeared to be lost in thought, her mother speaks up again. "Just promise me you'll be a good person. Like you always have been."
A small smiles etches on her mouth. "Promise."
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It's good to be back with a new story!
I'm very excited to see how this story progresses, I've been wanting to write a draco fanfiction for a few years now so hopefully all goes well <3
