Raised by the Dementors

They never said anything about French

With love, 

Lily Evans."

This letter was shorter and down to the point and...desperate. I feel bad for Lily, she went through all of this alone, without another element to help her unlike me. I looked at the window as the sky lightened, letting in golden light into my room. Finally, dawn had come around and I could finally leave. As I checked the calendar on my bedside table, I realized that TODAY WAS SEPTEMBER FIRST AND I HAD NOTHING READY FOR SCHOOL. I'm dumb.

I was never huge on color, Azkaban uniforms didn't provide much after all. However, I liked simple muggle clothes a lot, and having the Black family bank account did make it a bit better than I thought it would. I put on a short, black dress with spaghetti straps and black boots with sunglasses before shrinking my trunk and putting it in a small silver chain I had on to travel. I ran down to the kitchen, grabbed some bread, said goodbye to Kreacher, and apparated to King's Cross Station. It was filled to the brim with muggles and undercover wizards bustling and struggling to catch their train at the right time while I walked around. When I got to an isolated corner where no one watched, I became a butterfly and flew through the wall, getting into Platform 9 3/4. But this time, something was off.

The people looked somber, weary, even. Kids were scared to leave their parents, parents were whispering to their kids in hushed tones, it seemed quieter than usual. As I looked at the walls, I found out why. There were posters all over the place, showing a picture with the same format as mine from when I escaped Azkaban, but instead of my face, name, and info, it was Sirius'. He did it. He did it, he escaped, he's free, HE'S ALIVE AND FREE! He was out, finally, he was out. I looked for an open window into an empty compartment to enter the train, and as I flew towards it, I saw a very Italian-looking family enter the platform, Blaise holding his mother's hand and glaring at his stepfather. 

As he looked up to stretch his neck, he saw me enter a compartment through a window. I transformed on the floor, magically locked the door, and closed the window blinds so I wouldn't be seen. Blaise and I had agreed to meet at the Hogwarts express to catch up after every summer rather than meeting at the school. Soon enough, I heard a knock on the door.

"Gem, it's me, open the door!"

I magically opened the door, pulled him inside, closed the door, and gave him a hug. He looked a bit older, even taller than last year, and somehow... good looking. But those were just the wonders of men's growth spurt during their teenage years. He was wearing black pants, a white t-shirt, and a suit jacket, something I doubted his parents approved of. 

"So... How was your family's trip to America? Was it as good as England?" 

His eyes lit up as he started to tell me all about the US and everything he did over the summer including going to a Muggle amusement park (the only redeeming quality about his new stepdad). He went on and on about what he did and who he met and where he went as the train moved out of the city and we were able to open the blinds to see the view of the countryside. We stayed silent for a while, just staring at the window. I had stayed in the same position for a while so I quickly turned around to stretch. As I turned around, I swore to see Blaise's gaze shift from me to the window, but it was probably an illusion. I never got why people stared at each other, was it something I missed while growing up... in that place?

Blaise POV:

She had grown prett- TALLER during the summer, yes, taller. The moment I saw her in her butterfly form, I felt happy, my best friend was back! When I saw her on the train, she was wearing a spaghetti strap dress that let me see how fit she really was, but also some of her faded scars from Azkaban. I never knew what they did to her there, but if she wasn't ready to tell me, I wouldn't insist. We talked for a bit before staring at the window for a while, but for some strange reason, I kept looking at her. Gemini had cut her hair short over the summer, now it reached just above her shoulders and had bangs that framed her face and showed natural waves in her white hair. It was a big change, but it suited her.