"But i'm also very smart, so I could be a Ravenclaw.. But on the other hand I'm just so courageous and Gryffindor worthy. Oh, but I'm so kind and loyal..! I'm also very ambitious, and I always get what I want, maybe they'll put me in all of the houses!" Athena rambled from Sage's bedroom floor as Sage painter her toenails, Cedric reading a book at the end of her bed.
"I think you're a narcissist, Athena." Sage giggled. "I think I'm just too honest for my own good." Athena sighed. "Oh, I just cannot wait another week until school starts, I want to know what house i'll be in." She frowned.
"I think you'd better try out for the Quidditch team as soon as possible, you're really good." Cedric looked up from his book. "You think so? Oh, I'm so glad you say that." Athena gushed. "Are you going to be on the Hufflepuff team?" She asked the him.
"I'm going to be team captain one day." He smiled confidently as Sage finished painter her toes. "Look, they're sage, like me." She smiled as Cedric inspected them. "What about your hands?" He asked. "I can't do my right hand, I have to paint with my left and it's impossible." Sage frowned.
"I'll paint your right hand." Cedric unscrewed the bottle of nail polish. "You've never painted nails before.." Sage was doubtful. "I suppose you have neat hand writing, which means steady hands.. ;) Go for it." She shrugged, and Cedric took her right hand in his, slowly stroking the brush across her finger nails.
His face was screwed up in concentration as he subconsciously moved his face closer to her hands, very slowly painting them, he was careful not to stuff up. "They're perfect, Ced." She beamed at her freshly painted nails. "Oh, I love them, you can paint my nails any day." She told him.
"Cedric, paint my nails!" Athena whined as Cedric got off the bed and sat beside her. "What colour?" He asked. "Oh! Purple, please." She held her hands out as Cedric got to work. Sage couldn't help but to smile while watching them, she adored how kind Cedric always was to Athena. Most of her friends just found her little sister annoying and egotistic, except Olive, of course.
"You should paint your nails, Cedric." Sage told Cedric when he finished. "Boys can't paint their nails." Athena looked confused at her sister's suggestion. "I think boys can paint their nails." Cedric smiled kindly at Athena.
"But I don't entirely want to." He shook his head. "I'd have to wait for them to dry, and they'd chip away very quickly with all the gardening i've been doing with father." He explained.
"Have you packed already, Athena?" Cedric eventually asked. "Yes, I must be prepared, i've been waiting for this for SO long." She boasted. "I've decided I'll be happy with any house." She concluded. "I'll be a star either way."
----
"And then I'll be able to get a cat." Athena walked ahead of Sage and Cedric, who were holding hands. "Athena, that's the platform." Sage warned her sister, who had strolled right past platform 9 3/4.
"This is it.." Athena walked back to them, standing in front of the barrier, preparing herself. "Ready?" Sage smiled at her younger sister. "Absolutely." She strutted forward, confidently passing between the barrier.
When Sage and Cedric passed through after her, Cedric released her hand, noticing Rowan and Harper who were making their way towards them. Sage looked down at Cedric's hand in disappoinment, but she said nothing.
"Athena's already made friends." Rowan pointed at Athena, who had rushed over to a pair of attractive Ravenclaw boys in their second year. "They're too old for her, she's only eleven." Sage frowned, taking a step forward to stop her sister, but Cedric grabbed her hand.
"She'll never forgive you if you embarrass her on her first day." Cedric warned, and Sage returned to her typical passiveness, though she kept a wary eye on her sister the whole train ride to Hogwarts.
