the train ride
"uhm", the ginger started looking nervously at dahlia. "i'm ron, ron weasley," he muttered.
dahlia, either not caring or not noticing about the boy's shy demeanor, responded happily, saying, "well, i'm dahlia potter." she smiled and then pointed at the other passenger in the compartment, "and that's neville."
neville smiled and added, "longbottom, neville longbottom." properly introducing himself.
at those words, dahlia promptly burst out in laughter as her god-brothers introduction reminded her of the james bond movies her mother had shown her, leaving her friends confused.
"so," dahlia began as she calmed herself down. "do you like quidditch," the determining factor as to whether or not this newfound friendship would really work.
neville groaned as ron visibly brightened, muttering, "now there's two of them," before taking out a herbology book he had recently bought. sensing the conversation would now be dominated by the sport, he quickly immersed himself in the reading.
dahlia ignored his aversion to what was possibly the greatest thing in the world, not counting her father's pancakes, as ron nodded. ron began describing the games he'd play with his brothers, his favorite team - the chudley cannons (the declaration of which resulted in a groan from dahlia, which he ignored) -, and what broomstick he would love to own if he had the money.
dahlia responded ardently, mentioning the one on one games her father and her would have in the field of their house, which sirius would sometimes join. but, he preferred sitting on the field and watching as he heckled her dad. she also shared her favorite team. "the holyhead harpies," she stated proudly as ron replied.
"that's my sister's favorite," ron said. "she's a year younger than us," he elaborated.
dahlia grinned. "at least someone in your family has taste," she replied snobbishly as she pushed her hair back over her ear.
the occupants of the compartment burst out in laughter hearing dahlia's joking statement. this burst the slight awkwardness that still settled in the room from not really knowing one another, especially in ron's case. now the compartment burst with joyous laughter as the children teased one another, poked jokes, and made games.
they were currently trying their luck with a box of bettie bott's every flavor beans. neville coughed, and his eyes watered as he got black pepper. ron quickly spit out a dirt flavor one. now it was dahlia's turn, and the eyes of the two other passengers were on her as she picked up a suspicious-looking red dotted bean. putting it in her mouth, she took a bite as the other two waited with anticipation. she swallowed it and smirked at the two as she said, "strawberry."
the other two groaned as she laughed. however, dahlia's luck ran out fast as she picked up a nice-looking blue one on her next turn, which turned out to be soap. as she sputtered and tried to wash it down with a chocolate frog (getting morgana), her friends just laughed, and the fun continued as the sun went down and the train stopped.
noticing how quickly time passed, the three took turns changing into their robes. as the train came to a complete halt, dahlia looked outside. and promptly ran out of the train and onto the platform. the other two quickly joined her. neville latched on to her arm, telling dahlia, "you have to stop running off to places."
dahlia patted his arm in acknowledgment but didn't say anything as she was bursting with excitement. the two stood on opposite sides of her as they walked to the booming voice saying, "firs' years! firs' years over here!"
xx
sorry for the long wait. i recently started college and that has taken up my time. i appreciate you guys so much for enjoying the story and anticipating the updates. it means so much to me how much you guys love this story!
until next time,
k<3