The Cursed Ones

Chapter One: The Potions Mistress

Platform 9 and 3/4 is the same bustling chaos as it is every year. My cat Sabrina, a Peterbald with large, jade green eyes, rubs her body along my leg, purring all the way.

It's hard for me to imagine that this is the last time I'll be here for the beginning of the Hogwarts school year. I try to put it out of my mind, but it catches me here and there. Owls hooting in their rattling cages strapped to trunks that bump along the pavement, first years nervously peering around as they say goodbye to their parents for the very first time. I wonder what that feels like. As for me, I'm standing by my godmother Millie's side as she furiously scribbles onto a notepad.

I watch her, amused. I know exactly what she's doing. In the same moment, she looks up at me, her masses of pale golden curls ruffling into her face a little from the wind and her eyes twinkling with the same warmth they always do. She smiles the same sunny smile she's so known for. The beads of her dozens of bracelets clink merrily together as she reaches up to push her hair out of her face.

"What?" she smirks, though she already knows 'what'. I tell her anyway.

"You and that notepad," I simply say. She laughs, which is a tinkling sound that turns quite a few heads as it tumbles from her lips. I know she's a heart snatcher. I hide back a giggle as I watch a few people's eyes linger on her a little longer than normal.

The Hogwarts Express shrills its last call just then, and I sigh as Millie's eyes widen and meet my own ghostly silver ones.

"I'm gonna miss you, honey." Her arms are thrown around me and she pulls me tightly against her. Her long summer dress wraps around me a little as the wind ripples through it like it's made of pure water, and I can smell the scent of roses, fresh rainfall, and earth that always lingers over Millie.

I lean into the hug, reciprocating it. She holds me for awhile, and before she pulls away, she murmurs into my ear, pushing my hair behind it, "Be good, okay?"

I beam at her as we part. "I'm always a good girl," I drawl, my tone dripping with sugar.

She throws back her head at that and laughs hard. I roll my eyes and push her shoulder lightly. "Whatever you hear from the Headmaster about me is a lie," I fib playfully.

She straightens back up. "Right," she drawls. She holds out her notepad for me to take, just as she does every year. I accept it with murmured thanks, and I give her one last hug before I make my way to the train.

"I love you, sweetheart," she calls after me.

I glance over my shoulder and smile sadly. "I love you too," I all but shout, as the crowd of people also exchange their own goodbyes loudly. She waves, and I wave back. Then I'm on the train.

I wander the corridor until I see the familiar flash of pale blonde hair from a compartment to the left. I shove open the sliding door and stumble in, my trunk clunking behind me, Sabrina pouncing over it to get to the seats before me for first pick. I slide the door shut behind me with my foot.

I wrestle my trunk into the luggage compartment overhead and turn to frown at Sabrina. Her jeweled eyes remain leveled with mine. I can practically read her mind: Too fucking bad. Deal with it.

"Sabrina, you're a damn cat. You can fit into anything, and you still need double the room any of us take up." I lean forward and pick her up with one hand, twisting quickly and plopping down where she was just sitting before she can dart back to reclaim it. I hold Sabrina against me lightly and stroke her head to apologize for my usurping of the seat.

Draco Malfoy leans sideways to elbow me. "How was your summer?" he asks.

I sigh and think back to those warm and bright days spent in Millie's big manor and out in the gardens and forest beyond. "Perfect," I recall honestly. I peer over at him. "Yours?"