Heart & Soul (The Untold Harry Potter story)

Chapter 25

"Are we still on for girl's night tonight?" Castor refilled her cup of coffee as she took a seat across from Harry at the table.

"Of course!" Ginny laughed. "Is Eliza coming tomorrow, too?"

"Yea, she said she'd find me there. I don't know how, the event is huge and there's going to be more people than I can probably count."

Eliza Nicole Perkins, roommate to Castor Mya Jones for the last 3 years had been a blessing from above after last year. When Professor Snape had, for whatever reason, told all of Slytherin house of her and Pollux's relation to Sirius Black, she'd openly (and quite loudly) told Castor at the end of the year feast that she didn't care who her parents were, and that her lineage should not reflect on her own personal character. Castor, who was definitely not expecting this from anyone who wasn't her usual group of friends, had teared up at her showcase of disregard for Snape's tactless act.

Over the summer, the two had grown closer. Not that they weren't close before, they'd shared a room together for several years now, but through many letters back and forth over the last few months, they'd learned a lot about each other. Eliza had learned about Castor's mother (though she left out the Voldemort witch hunt and that she was sent into hiding), her time spent growing up America, living in New York, and her brief years attending Ilvermorny. She asked questions with grace and didn't pry for information more than Castor wanted to give.

Castor, in turn, had learned that Eliza was a half-blooded witch, with her father being the muggle of the family. Her dad, Erick, had ran into her mother (literally) Elaine while on a holiday in France. He'd been biking through the streets of Paris, and she'd ran out into his path too quickly for him to swerve and avoid her. Erick had apologized more times than Elaine could count and offered to buy her something from the café on the same corner where the collision had occurred. They've been together ever since. Erick had not been very surprised at all to find out the Elaine was a witch and had taken to learning all he could about the Wizarding world.

"Hello!" Hermione's cheerful voice came through the front door. She was greeted by many hugs, several kisses from Molly and an excited rambling from Ginny about their plans to avoid the boy as much as possible.

"You can't just claim her for the night!" Ron cried from beside Harry.

"You have her all year!" Ginny cried back. "I think I can have her for one night, Ron!" And she grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her up the stairs to her room, the bushy haired witch sending and apologetic wave to her male friends at the bottom of the stairs. Castor followed after a few minutes later, she just had to finish her coffee first.

~

The next morning was absolutely hectic, with everyone running around and gathering their bags for their weekend at the Quidditch World Cup. Molly had triple checked that everyone had their things, and then just about exploded when several large handfuls of Ton-Tongue Toffees were claimed from the Twins' jacket linings. Arthur had yanked his children outside before Molly would commit murder on two counts.

The hike to Stoatshead Hill was long, and by the time the sun was all the way above the horizon, they'd been walking for a couple hours. The morning was a bit chilly, and they could smell the dew that stuck to the grass. Castor's boots sunk into the soft dirt beneath her, and her bag swung against her hip as she walked.

"Hey dad, where are we actually going?" Ron called from the back of the line. He and Harry had, to nobody's surprise, been the one's to sleep in the latest.

"Haven't the foggiest! Keep up!" Castor cackled from her place between the twins. By the time they were deep into the woods, Pollux couldn't recognize where he was. He'd been kind enough to listen to Molly's warning on his own forest adventures, and he'd never gone this far into the trees.