Nix Norton
Pit.
Pat.
The soft pitter patter of water droplets that hit the bottom of the boat awoke Nix, her dull blue eyes looking around the area for a few moments. She looked over to the crate next to her hammock and grabbed a pocket watch, checking the time as she swiftly slid off the woven bed, which hung off of the support beams of the boat.
She straightened her trousers and fixed the collar of her dress shirt, re buttoning her vest after making sure her corsets were in the right chest. It was a long trip to get from Norway to London. It was quite boring, especially since she hadn't received one letter from her cousin, Eon Romanov, who was currently a student at Durmstrang. He'd tried to convince her to join him, saying that he'd rather his favorite cousin be with him instead of alone all the way in Hogwarts. She brushed him off each time, saying that she'd prefer death than being stuck with him a moment longer.
If it were up to her, she'd send him all the way to Azkaban for existing.
After a while of sulking in the cabin, she decided to go out and get some fresh air.
"Professor Fig, how long till we reach London?" Nix asked the old man as she walked up the stairs, being greeted by the sight of a storm. Actually, It wasn't a storm. It looked like a hurricane. The sky was bright red for Merlins sake.
"A few more hours at best." The old man dressed in elegant robes replied as he stood next to the captain of the ship. Professor Fig was a gentle old man, always treating her with the utmost care while he trained her with a practice wand. Nix was a fast learner, taking to the wand almost immediately after it was placed in the palm of her hand.
"A lee shore is coming, ain't it? The sky looks rather rough today." Nix said as she tied her curls with a dark red ribbon. She wasn't exactly pleased with traveling during a storm. If it was her steering the bloody thing, she would've docked the ship at a nearby island and waited for it to pass.
It wasn't like they couldn't stop. The school wouldn't start for at least another week or so. Nothing was stopping them from taking it slow, and certainly, nothing was rushing them either.
"Nix, might I ask if you meant a storm is near? I'm still not that well versed in your vernacular."
Nix completely ignored the man's question, deciding not to even try to explain what she meant by a 'lee shore', she sighed, taking a few spins around the deck for a moment, before heading back down into the cabin.
Nix still wasn't used to not having her father around. He'd always been next to her for as long as she could remember, and not having him around was quite the change of pace.
"I'll be heading back down." Nix called out as she walked down the creaky wooden steps of the ship, finding a rather unlawful annoyance in everything that had been happening for the past two months, she walked past a few crew members here and there, making small talk with one of the boys as she made her way towards the area she slept in. She opened the door and promptly slammed it shut, making sure to use both the latch and the key lock before she placed the next to the oil lamp.
Nix was laying back in her hammock, feeling the roughing crashes of the waves hit the sides of the boat, making the hammock sway with an increasing force each time. She groaned, propping her legs onto the crate so she could keep the hammock from swaying harshly till she pitifully flung off. Nix looked over the crate and saw the Hogwarts acceptance letter.
She had received it during one of her crusades with her father, a man who couldn't sit still in a place for long. He'd traveled from sea to sea, barely touching the earth long enough to even be considered
"Your mother was a siren, Nix. She lured me in, and I walked away with you."
She'd rather think it was merely a little story he used to hide why she was raised by him alone, a reason as to why he never re-married. Knowing how he was, and the way hed traveled the seven seas as if he were blackbeard himself,
It might as well be true.
His descriptions of her mother were always ever changing. Sometimes, he'd say she was as sweet as the smell of freshly baked pie, and some days when he drank too much ale for his own good, he said that her mother had talons like a harpy. The only consistent piece of information was the fact that her father kept calling her mother a siren.
With a sigh, she looked at the letter again, her eyes squinting ever so slightly as the latern sat still on one of the barrels of mead as she held the envelope.
She decided to re read it, leaning over to grab the crisp white envelope, opening it gently as if to not crush or break the soft paper it was made out of.
"Nix Norton,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Since we are aware you will be starting your schooling as a sixth year, you will be escorted by Professor Eleazar Fig. Who will teach you most of the spells needed for you to be up to speed with the other sixth year students. We are well aware that both you and your father are sailors, and we are well aware of the fact that you currently live in Norway. After a couple meetings with the Ministry of Magic and the school board, we've agreed to send a boat to initially get you to london, you'll be able to take a flying carriage to Hogwarts soon after your arrival. We wish you the very best of luck on this new adventure you are about to embark on, Hogwarts eagerly awaits your arrival.
- Headmistress Matilda Weasley
Nix put the letter back on the crate and groaned,her arm over her eyes as she leaned her head back, taking a deep breath as to calm her nerves. The nurse walked in to tend some wounds she'd received the day prior to boarding the boat to london.
The old nurse, a gentle woman named Agatha Bleuwmont, walked in. Holding a bucket of fresh water and a few rags, setting them down next to her as she helped Nix take off her blouse and un do her tie. The nurses hands were gentle against the skin of her back, making sure not to aggravate the wound even further as she bandaged the injury once again.
Nix decided to sleep right after the nurse left, hoisting her legs up as the ship rocked from side to side.
The cabin was cold, the lanters were starting to turn off, and the smell of smoked meat filled the air, probably from one of the shipmates' hasty cooking.
Nix wasn't dense, and. she sure as hell wasn't going to miss a moment to doubt whatever the fuck hogwarts was telling her, "Do they take me for a fool?" She thought as she drifted off into sleep. The Headmistress wasn't exactly treading lightly with her words, and Nix knew that there must've been something going on of the school was willing to accommodate her as a sixth year.
And with that, she was lulled to sleep by the sounds of the waves and the rocking of the hammocks.