ink - sirius black

chaotic reunions and cold prejudice

May 30, 1977
7:58 pm
Hogwarts Express

The little exposé that the Prophet had dug up on Anneliese about her expulsion from Ilvermorny and unfortunate lack of parents was circulating around the scarlet steam engine to finish off the school year with one last pain in the ass.

Because the lord forbid that I have a peaceful exit, Callaway thought sourly, her cheek pressed against the vibrating glass. That in itself would be too much to ask, wouldn't it?

At this point, she had just locked herself in the compartment with Remus, refusing to let any nosy fourth year or some Ravenclaw making fun of her in and tried to get some sleep before making the late night venture to Diagon Alley.

The ideally lush, rolling English hills that had met her eyes since ten in the morning had very gradually faded into the far away, grey cityscape that she saw now. Callaway found the city somewhat comforting, because it was the closest thing she was going to get to New York in this place.

At the end of Ilvermorny, Anneliese was always terrified to go back to the orphanage. It was a dreaded departure with many teary goodbyes to all of her friends, one that was always the worst part of her year.

But now, Callaway was glad to be rid of all this bullshit. She was too drained, and if Hogwarts had lasted for even just another week, she might not have made it.

But you did make it, Anneliese reminded herself. And that's all that matters.

"Can I have one of those?" she asked warily to Remus, gesturing to his pile of chocolate frogs. "Thank you."

This was how most of the ten hour ride had gone by. They would both sit in surprisingly not awkward silence, lost in their own thoughts, only speaking up for some feeble conversation or offering the other some food.

Well, mostly candy, but they both knew sugar was the only thing they had lived off for one particular week of the year when they had raided Honeydukes and had a competition for who could not eat a vegetable first (Frank won.)

Neither of them wanted to be alone, and they were also each the only person the other could possibly stand even looking at right then.

Anneliese opened up the five sided package and saw Dumbledore's patronizing, twinkling blue eyes staring back up at her.

Remus watched in quiet amusement as Callaway pulled a lighter from her pocket, caught fire to the edge of the pentagon, and then silently watched the card burn. Eventually, the flame got too close to her hand, and Anneliese threw it on the ground.

Dumbledore was reduced to ashes on the carpet underneath her purple converse.

"I feel like that was somehow sacrilegious," Remus mused mildly as he watched Anneliese casually brush the cinders off the bottom of her shoe.

"If Dumbledore is in any way sacred, then I have no hopes left for the world," Callaway replied wisely. "Well, I'm just about already there."

"Fair enough," Lupin said with a small shrug as the train slowed. "So, you're off to Diagon Alley, then?"

"That is correct," Anneliese said with a sigh, grabbing her bag from the rack above her seat with a small hop. "Hopefully I don't run into too many partying teens along the way."

"That's unlikely," Remus replied, wishing he could say something else. "We've gone every year before now, and we were never alone."

There was the silent implication of we being the Marauders. Although Lupin hadn't been there to witness it, the other three boys had endured quite the painfully long stretch of awkward and angry tension home.