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✵ Chapter One ✵
:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧ *:･
Selena and Sandy sat at the small dining room table the next morning, Mr. Owens sat across from them reading the daily prophet, a cup of tea in his other hand.
As Sandy ground pepper on to her eggs she glanced up at her father, she placed the pepper down and frowned. "What's that on the cover?" She questioned, her face scrunched up in confusion as she saw something dark moving about on the front page below the headline; SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP
He raised his dark bushy eyebrows, before he cleared his throat. "There was a scare at the Quidditch World Cup Occurring on the 25th August," he told them before he began to read.
"A riot broke out when a large group of Death Eaters stormed Mr Roberts's campsite, destroying everything in their wake, torturing Muggles and Muggle-borns alike." He told them, before he suddenly let out a snort.
The two girls looked at each other before looking at Sandy's father with raised eyebrows.
Mr. Owens placed the paper down on the table, shaking his head as he mumbled to himself before taking a long drink of tea.
Noticing the girls staring at him, waiting for him to elaborate on why he snorted after reading of muggles and muggle-borns being tortured.
He lowered the cup from his lips slowly, and set it down on the table.
"Following after that bit of information, there was an article by Rita Skeeter," he sighed and folded his hands.
"The article written by Rita Skeeter blames the Ministry of Magic for the events at the World Cup, and criticises them for having lax security." He began and the two girls looked at each other with deep frowns.
"The article mentions the statement given by Arthur Weasley, who had impressed that nobody had been hurt, but the article is sceptical about how true this is."
He rolled his eyes before he continued, "Skeeter suggests that there are rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods. Which, if you ask me, is appsolute dragon dung. I highly doubtful that if there were deaths at the tournament, that Skeeter would be allowed to cover it."
"That's still horrible, those poor muggles didn't do anything to deserve to be tormented." Selena looked at the table.
Sandy nodded mutley as she focused on her food.
Sensing the tension that had swept over them, Mr. Owens cleared his throat. "Oh, would you look at that, it's going on 10 o'clock, we have to get ready to go to the platform." He stood up, setting his cloth napkin on his empty plate.
Sandy shoved the remaining portion of her eggs into her mouth, and pushed herself up from the table, dropping her napkin on her plate as well.
Selena watched as Sandy disappeared up the stairs, she turned to Mr. Owens.
"I'm glad none of us went there " He told her began picking up the plates without magic.
Selena nodded profusely, "I am too. Though I do worry for Sandy, because once we get to school, I'm sure that people will still be talking about it." Selena leaned back in her chair slightly as she thought of her friend who had been so quiet.
"Oh, I'm sure there will be. But that is why I am thankful she has you, I know you both keep each other sane. Which I do appreciate, considering you stay with us most of the time outside of school." Mr. Owens smiled, his forehead wrinkling slightly as he did so.
Selena grinned, before she left to finish getting ready to go to the platform.
As she entered Sandy's bedroom, she stopped as she saw the girl sitting on her bed, braiding her hair.
"I think we got away with sneaking out last night." Selena spoke as she crossed her arms and leaned against the dresser.
Sandy glanced at her, amusement in her eyes as she grinned. "We definitely did." She moved to her mirror to put lip gloss on.
Selena shook her head at Sandy as she smiled slightly, she went into her trunk and picked out jeans and a blue jumper to change into.
She changed and braided her long hair, she wrapped it around her head, pinning it in place before she folded and put her pajamas in her trunk, she fastened her watch on her wrist before she sat on her bed while Sandy went into her closet to change.
Selena slipped her sneakers on and began tying them, she looked up as Sandy came out of her closet with pajamas in hand.
"What time is it?" Sandy asked as she folded her pajamas and placed them in her trunk.
Selena glanced at her watch, "nearly 10:30." She and Sandy exchanged alarmed glances.
Sandy put the rest of her things in her trunk, before she shut it and began heaving it out of the room.
Selena quickly finished tying her shoes and jumped to her feet, she did a double check to make sure she had everything, before she grabbed the handle of her trunk and pulled it into the hall.
The two girls' trunks made thumps as they hit each of the steps on the staircase.
At one point, Selena nearly lost her balance as she walked down the stairs backwards, her trunk had tried to push her out of the way to knock Sandy down.
As the two girls made their way into the living room, slightly out of breath, they saw Mr. Owens leaning against the fireplace, he looked up at them and smiled.
His square glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, his eyes twinkling with mischief, his short salt and pepper hair fell into his eyes slightly as he pushed himself from the fireplace.
"I thought you had the day off." Sandy frowned as she noted her father's attire, his midnight wizard robes would surely draw unwanted attention from muggles at Kings Cross Station.
Her father sighed, his face drooping slightly. "I received an urgent letter from the Ministry, I have to go in right after I drop the two of you off at Kings Cross." He pushed his hair out of his eyes.
Sandy sighed, visibly disappointed because her father always overworked himself, but she nodded.
Her father walked over to the pair and extended each of his hands to them, Sandy clasped her Father's right hand tightly with her left, and gripped the leather handle of her trunk tightly in her other hand.
Selena gripped onto Mr. Owens' other hand, she closed her eyes as she felt the familiar sensation of being pressed very hard from all directions; she could not breathe, she felt as if there were iron bands tightening around her chest; her eyeballs were being forced back into her head; her ear-drums were being pushed deeper into her skull.
She opened her eyes as she felt her feet hit the pavement, she looked around to see they were standing on the side of Kings Cross Station.
She took deep breaths as she released her grip on Mr. Owens, she always felt slightly sick after apparating, she looked around, curious if anyone had seen them appear out of thin air, but not one Muggle glanced at them as they walk around the trio.
Mr. Owens brushed off his robes, he adjusted his glasses before he looked at the two girls with a bright smile. "Alright then, both of you have all your limbs?" He glanced at each of them, a small smile tugging at his lips, "good. Let's go and get you two sorted, come on now!" He said cheerfully and began to walk around the large building cheerfully.
He paused when he noticed that neither of the girls were following him, his brows knitted together and he turned to look back to see they were still standing where he had left them, their trunks on either side of them.
"Right," he nodded to himself before meeting the two teenagers eyes. "I forgot about getting you both trolleys, can't have you two getting crushed to death before even getting to the train, be back in a flash!" He turned and dashed into the train station, his arms moving back and forth as if that would make him run faster.
The two girls looked at each other, "I think my father has been having far too much tea." Sandy said as she looked to where her father had disappeared.
Selena snorted. "I am amazed he didn't trip over his robes, since he was running rather quickly."
Sandy chuckled, "well, he have any of the clumsiness I possess, so I suppose I got it from my mother. Though, he does have his moments of walking into things when he isn't paying attention." She shrugged, a bright smile lighting up her face.
Suddenly, Selena's smile faded as she looked to her friend. "I do feel bad about lying to him, don't you?" Her brows furrowed as she felt guilt tugging at her heart.
Sandy shrugged, her face becoming hard. "I mean, a little. But it's not like he noticed that we went anywhere, he is always far too busy with work to notice." She played with the leather handle of her trunk, running her thumb over a few loose strands of golden thread.
Selena frowned, "I hope you know that I only wanted to go last night, because of the free food." She looked at Sandy who laughed.
"I know. And I only wanted to go because I wanted to get some practice in flirting, I'm thinking about asking the Hufflepuff prefect, Cedric Diggory, out this year." Sandy admitted with a shrug.
Selena looked at Sandy with raised eyebrows, "are you joking? I didn't know you liked him, you always said he wasn't your type."
Sandy looked at Selena with a lopsided grin, "well, I changed my mind. Though I don't think I got much practice in flirting past night, since we both know how that went."
The two girls made eye contact and shuddered.
"I got the trollies!" Mr. Owens called as he raced to them with two trolleys stacked atop one another.
The two girls turned their attention away from their conversation, and watched as he rolled the trolleys over to them, and stopped, the conversation between the two girls came to an end.
Mr. Owens lifted Sandy's trunk onto one of the trollies, and then Selena's.
The two girls took hold of their respective trollies, Mr. Owens standing behind them as the girls shared a look.
Without another word, Sandy and Selena raced into the train station, Mr. Owens trailing behind them with a chuckle and smile.