Close your eyes and picture the sun.That's what it felt to love her; warmth.
— A t t i c u s
Hagrid's hut wasn't hard to find.
Not from the giant man that was usually spotted in front of the house - laying on top of the highest hill to be found on Hogwarts grounds brought its advantage to finding it.
But even hidden in the deepest place of the forbidden forest, in the darkest of nights, Victoria could walk towards the hut with her eyes closed. Visiting a certain place once a week had this advantage, she certainly was using then, when the usual short way seemed like a kilometer-long hike through the Arctic, because of the strong Scottish winds. Cold air kissed her skin, and danced through her hair, leaving both in a complete mask.
But this didn't really matter when she was finally able to introduce Cayden to one of her favorite people in the world. The siblings occupied their time on the way with chatting, even when it was more the boy telling her about his first week in Hogwarts. The friend he had already made seemed to bring a bright smile to either face. She didn't expect anything else from him than making friends faster than she did. He continued telling her about his first lessons, excitement bubbling when he finally reached the part of his first potion lesson. In the end, he mentioned the letter he got from their aunt Lola.
Victoria knew if one person would feel the pride of a non-Gryffindor Atkinson it would be Lola Wiliams. She had always been as quick as Victoria when it came to patronizing Cayden. And even when she found herself in the position of being Jacob Atkinson's best friend, a man mostly cold towards his surrounding, she had always been a ray of sunshine.
While the women wasn't their real aunt, she was still Victoria's godmother and a main figure in the family. Even when it had caused true chaos breaking out between the Atkinson's, she still took that position for her goddaughter. The witch grew up being best friends with Jacob Atkinson and even if the Quidditch player was very strict with the family rules, he named a halfblood Hufflepuff the godmother of his first born child.
And even if Kalina and Leathan Atkison did not agree with their son's decision at first, they looked away from it, because otherwise, their son had obeyed all family rules. That was what they had been telling him when they finally said yes. Truth was that they had been more and more criticized for preferring purity in blood, and dragging Lola more and more into the family picture ended those comments.
The youngest Atkinson told her about the letter he got from Lola, saying how proud she is of him being in Slytherin. She had rutted for Hufflepuff but was happy about not being the only not Gryffindor anymore. And the thought alone of the pride Lola would have felt when Cayden would be in Hufflepuff made a smile appear on both of their faces. A smile so bright to outshine the darkness of the howler received only this morning.
Just as the small pumpkin field in front of the small stone hut became visible, so did the hughe man playing with a puppy in front of him. Placing two fingers into her mouth, Victoria allowed the piercing whistle to cut through the air. In an instant, the black welp stumbled his way over to her, letting out one exciting bark after another.
"Fang! , "Victoria exclaimed, wearing the brightest smile while lifting up the couple-month-old puppy. Greeting him with the loveliest of belly rubs, the blond went on to the over 11 inches tall man, the shaggy black hair that covered most of his hair falling on covering his bright smile."Victoria. I'm glad to see you again. , "the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts said while hugging the smaller girl. Ending the embrace after a short while, Victoria was about to introduce him to Cayden when the man beat her to it. "Oh, you must be Cayden. You look just like the girl who told me so much about you." Victoria had told Cayden before about Hagrid, but she knew that seeing the half-giant for the first time is kindly intimidating. But she also knew that if you knew him for longer than 7 minutes, you knew that Hagrid was an incredibly warm, kind-hearted man, and would often forget his exceptional size and strength when patting people on the back.
"Yes, sir. , "Cayden almost whispered, stumbling as Hagrid patted his back.
"No need to call me sir. ," he waved off, not noticing Cayden's bewildered state to an authorized person not wanting to be called sir. "But come inside. I think the chocolate cake should be finished any second." Victoria already had Fang in her arm, as Hagrid and Cayden neared the hut.
"Chocolate? , "the blond boy repeated, an almost hopeful glimmer in his eyes. Truly, he hoped that it was chocolate because if there was one thing making everything better in the life of Cayden Jacob Atkinson, it was chocolate.
"Oi, it's my mother's recipe. Lovely women, if there was one thing she could do, then it was to cook." As if to underline her talent, Hagrid rubbed his belly, a satisfied smile on his face once small laughter spilled from the children's' mouths. "But come in first. You must be cold, especially you, Victoria. And while you're eating the cake, I'll tell you about the dragons. ," closing the door behind him, Hagrid watched as the siblings place themselves on the chairs.
"Dragons? ," Cayden asked, not noticing the smile on his sisters face. It was good to know, that he was like her - Rubeus Hagrid's hut would always be a little light when the world tried to force darkness onto them.
•••
There was more than one astonished person looking at the Slytherin table. Not because the houses lead for the house cup, or the couple excessively making out at the end of the table - 'Gryffindor's golden girl sitting at the Slytherin table with the brightest smile on her face. She had only sat down, but before she could engulf in any conversation, a young girl built up the courage to make her way towards the table.
"Ähm - Hello Victoria." Recognizing the hesitate voice, Victoria turned around with the smile, the Ravenclaw's shy smile greeting her. The girl had bright auburn hair with probably the most freckles in a face that could be possible. "I wondered if you could tutor me again next year?" There should be a no leaving her lips. Even when the girl possessed one of the kindest souls, the blond already tutored 3 other kids and had truly enough to spend her time with. But the 'of course' didn't even hesitate to pass her lips, and as quick as the girl had been there, as quick was she gone.
"And there we have her again, the perfect prefect." Victoria turned around, and towards the sarcastic young boy, sending him a playful glare, which successfully covered her hurt over the word of perfect.
"Yes, yes very funny. Shall I remind you who tried to tutor the frogs we had in our garden because he believed that they could understand what he was saying 'they just don't want to show it'. ," Victoria said with a triumphing smirk.
"Yeah, yeah, okay. ," Cayden mumbled as the two began to chuckle, the black-haired first year softly giving a high-five to the with. "Lovely sister, this is Oscar. Oscar, this is my sister Victoria Kalina Atkinson the second." Throwing her napkin at him, Victoria fake glared. The boy with even bluer eyes than Cayden- that meant something- greeted her, and as soon as the food appeared in their vision, they were already engulfed in their chatter.
•••
The hall started to fill. "Snivellus, how is it that I had to see you before lunch. It would be smarter to annoy me after dinner. At least then I would puck properly. ," James sneered as he and the rest of the marauder meet Snape while going into the hall. While Remus kept reading his book, Sirius and Peter chuckled at the comment.
" Potter. If I were you, I would be nicer to the person who can influence Victoria to be meaner to you again. ," Despite not showing it often like James, Severus could be at the same level of arrogance. Especially with Victoria liking him more than James.
" I still can't believe how someone like Victoria is friends with someone like you git. ," James said derogatory, almost spitting the words in the Slytherin's face.
He had to pull himself together for not hexing Severus right now. But for once Snape didn't need to have the last word. The greasy haired boy was about to return something when both heard a familiar laugh. Turning towards the direction where it came from, they noticed one particular Gryffindor sitting at the Slytherin table, laughing. James couldn't stop his smirk from falling as Severus went into the direction without another remark.
Being greeted by the bright smiling Atkinson and James seeing that, was triumph enough for the boy.