RUN - James Potter

Chapter 21

So, when she went to bed, she was excited to tell Asterin all about it. She didn't care about Mr Jackson's romantic pursuit of Kitty Coleman, or Mr. McFishy taking thirty-one minutes to decide if he should sleep on her toes or behind her leg, and she didn't even care that the rain was louder than usual. She felt peace, and tomorrow, tomorrow would be her day.

It was not her day.

She was running late, very late.

'Antonella!', her mother yelled, if it was the first or fiftieth time, Antonella was unsure, but this time the door was slammed open, 'Get out of bed, you're late!'

The urgency in her voice should had provoked a level of fear, instead, she rolled over in her bed, pulling her quilt closer to her face and snuggling into Mr. McFishy, who had managed to slowly move his way up to sleep on her pillow.

Her utopia was destroyed quickly, forgetting that not only was she a Ravenclaw, but so was her mother.

Her quilt vanished.

The chilly air hit Antonella's bare feet, her stomach as her pyjamas had risen, and her face felt too exposed. Shivering, curled up into a ball, she knew she didn't have to glare at her mother, as Mr. McFishy was already hissing in frustration, obvious by his attempts to curl up tightly to avoid the winter's breeze that travelled through the room.

'Get up, we're leaving in thirty minutes.'

Antonella didn't response initially, until the smell of her mother's pastries hit her nose. Her mouth begun to salivate, her eyes widening and her stomach growling. It was enough to convince her to slip on her slippers and make her way to the kitchen, where her mother was elegantly dressed in a deep blue dress. Eyeing off the pastries in the middle of the table, she did not take her time jumping into her chair and grabbing her personal favourite, a halfie-pastry.

With her legs crossed under her body, her elbows leaning on the table, she didn't dare glance at her mother, keeping her eyes on the pastry.

'Good sleep?", Antonella asked, as her mother pushed her cup of tea towards her.

The grumble of her stomach was enough for her mother to start laughing, and Antonella dared to look at her smile, 'You can have one.'

That was enough for Antonella to dive in, grabbing one of her most beloved pastry, and enjoy potentially the only pumpkin thing she likes. Whilst she ate, her mother lectured her about being late, and how she won't be able to walk her in, since she has plans with one of her friends. Of course, Antonella didn't mind, how could she? She was eating fresh pastries.

Her mother left the table, muttering something about grabbing Antonella's belongings and a change of clothes for her to quickly put on. Whilst Antonella grabbed another pastry, screeching as she bit into it.

It was the Asian-fusion pastry. Antonella was in heaven.

Arriving just after 11am, Antonella was still giggling from wrapping her scarf around her neck incorrectly, out of spite of her mother, as she rushed her towards the communal floo station in Diagon Alley. And once she arrived, Antonella, as always, was amazed. As the snow was always the best part of Asterin's home, or well, her holiday home in Hokkaido. It seemed so much more magically outside of the grey glooming clouds in London and Hogwarts, each time she went Antonella would be decorated in snowflakes, her hair a painting of a fire in winter.

Chilling breezes slipped down her arms and down her cloak, the wind picking up her braided hair and sending a small giggle down Antonella's lips. Oh, how she loved the cold, and how dark the nights grew.

Antonella knew she was the last to arrive as one of Asterin's sister, Hiina, had welcomed her onto the property. The Hao household usually was filled to the brim, with a total of 7 daughters.

Antonella knew very little about some of Asterin's older sisters... including their names. To Antonella, Asterin only had 2 sisters, twins. The first one was Hiina and the other Marissa, both graduated as gold cloak students, somehow performing different classes, and gaining a perfect 99.95 score. The highest achievable.

Like Asterin, Hiina had long thick black hair, shorter than normal, and her eyes were piercing. But unlike Asterin, she had a front fringe, just like the rest of her sisters. Hiina was currently studying at some magical institution in Korea, and in all honesty, Antonella knew that Asterin had no clue what she was studying.

Whereas Marissa (Hiina's twin), looked nothing alike. Sure, she had the same hair, the same height, and the same eyes. But she looked completely different, whilst Hiina took time to apply makeup each day, Marissa spent the time sending letters to friends to go out to muggle town.

Asterin said Marissa was the closest any of her sisters had come to rebelling, and the only sister that could calm down their father when Asterin did something even more outrageous. By far, Marissa was Antonella's favourite, as she was the witch that taught her how to hold her wand perfectly. And she was studying advanced transfiguration in the French Ministry.

"Ella," Hiina greeted, and Antonella nodded, "Asterin and her lot is out back, let me take your bags."

Marissa stood next to Hiina, her smile curving into a smirk, 'When did Asterin have so many male friends?' She questioned, 'Papa nearly fainted.'

Hiina elbowed Marissa, 'He might faint if you start addressing him like a European!'

The two girls giggled and grabbed Antonella's trunk, floating it away and towards what Antonella assumed to be Asterin's lounge.

The kitchen wasn't cosy like Antonella's, but it was warm, and she could see Mrs. Hao with one of her other daughters in the kitchen, Antonella smiled a small welcome and continued to walk away from the fireplace. She knew exactly where Asterin would be as she was too predictable.

Walking outside to the frozen river, Antonella found the crowd of witches and wizards. All rigged up in sweaters that she assumed all came from Remus' personal collection. Matilda was the first to spot her, and she quickly ran over to give her a tight hug.

"Antonella!", she screeched, "I've missed you!!"

Rolling her eyes, "it hasn't even been a week-"

Forcing Matilda off her, she treaded carefully over the snow towards the group Asterin had invited to her annual 'Christmas' celebration, since her parents couldn't care to do big celebrations for such a commercial holiday. Asterin was in the centre, and suddenly she realised her plan.

She invited not only the Gryffindor boys, all the way from Finley Shacklebolt to Sirius Black, and all the Ravenclaw boys that Taylor hanged out with occasionally. There were so many boys, but luckily, there was more girls. Smiling wider, she could tell why Mr Hao nearly suffered a heart attack.

Asterin was next, rushing over to hug her tightly.

'How was it?', she whispered, low enough for only Antonella to hear.

A soft giggle came from Antonella, 'I'll tell you tonight.'

That was enough for Asterin to know that it was good. Deep down, the two girls had made this a code. Disclose immediately if it's bad, tell at night if its goods. Secretly, Antonella suspected Asterin made this rule so she could tell her all about her sexual conquests of the Slytherin girls.

Taking her hand, the two girls giggled louder from one another's freezing hands.

'Did your mama have to give your dad mouth-to-mouth?", Antonella mocked.

Nodding her head seriously, 'Oh yes,' Asterin tried her best to act seriously, 'It was really bad', she said, nodding her head lightly, 'Dad just stopped living when Potter entered with his 4 boyfriends.'