Eyeliner
September 1st 1977, Potter Manor
This past summer marked 2 years since Sirius, Regulus and I had left Grimmauld Place. I couldn’t believe how drastically our lives had changed. Monty and Effie had been nothing but welcoming when we arrived on their doorstep in the middle of the night and immediately assured us we had a home with them. The only problem, for me at least, was James.
Don’t get me wrong, he took the appearance of Regulus and Sirius graciously and put up a good front for his parents when it came to me. But when they weren’t around he tended to act like I didn’t exist. But whatever. This didn’t bother me at all.
Although we had escaped to the Potters, the war was still happening. Voldemort was growing more powerful and more people were turning to his side. You could feel the shift in Hogwarts as well. People went everywhere in groups, professors could be seen walking the corridors more often, curfews were more strict than ever, and the general consensus was to avoid most Slytherins. However, this didn’t stop the excitement coursing through my veins as I packed my last few things into my trunk. Just as I was closing the lid there was a knock on my door.
“Oi! We're ready to go. Effie and Monty will side-along James and I first then come back for you and Reg, okay?” Sirius said as he popped his head in.
“Yea, that’s fine.” I responded. “Can you help me carry this down? It’s quite heavy this year.”
“Must be your massive makeup collection. Honestly I wish Mary had never shown you eyeliner.”
“Huh, do you? Because if Mary hadn’t shown me, then it's likely you wouldn't have ever found out about the joys of eyeliner and Moony probably wouldn’t be as obsessed with you as he is now.”
“Are you saying it’s thanks to you that Moony and I are going out now?”
“I guess I am.”
I wasn’t sure how Sirius would react to that last comment so I bolted out of my room and down the stairs, letting him deal with my heavy trunk on his own.
“Hello darling!” Effie called as I came into the kitchen, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Are you all packed and ready to go? Grab a scone they’re fresh out of the oven.”
“Yup, Sirius is bringing my trunk down.” I grinned back.
I grabbed a scone and leaned up against the kitchen counter and surveyed the rest of the kitchen. Effie was finishing up the dishes and handing them to James to dry and Monty was sitting at the table sipping a cup of coffee and talking with Regulus, probably about potions.
As James was drying the last few plates a large crash came from upstairs. Knowing that Sirius had probably just dropped my trunk I rolled my eyes.
“Regulus, be a dear and go help Sirius will you? We’ll just take James and Cassiopeia now and be back once you’re down the stairs.” Effie explained.
Regulus nodded and headed to the stairs mumbling ‘idiot’ under his breath as he went and I started to protest.
“It’s ok! I’ll go, it is my trunk after all.”
“Don’t be silly.” Monty laughed. “Let your brothers do the heavy lifting once in a while.”
I nodded and my eyes travelled to James’s. He made a face I couldn’t read and then looked away coughing. We all got our coats on and Monty yelled up the stairs saying they would be right back for them. In a few moments we were standing outside of Kings Cross and heading onto platform 9 ¾.
“Alright we’ll be right back with your brothers and we’ll send along the trunks as well.” Effie smiled, squeezing my hand one last time.
As they walked away an awkward silence filled the air. I looked around the platform but I couldn’t spot any of my friends yet and it seemed James couldn’t either. I rocked on the balls of my feet and looked up at James to find him already looking at me. I quickly looked away and then back again to find him still looking at me.
“What?” I asked with a laugh.
“Nothing.” He said calmly. “Are you ready for 6th year?”
“Yea. I mean I think so. Ar-. Shit!” I gasped.
“What? Did you forget something?” James asked, confused.
“No, I- I just realized that it’s your lots last year.”
“Oh. Yea. I mean I’m excited but I’m going to miss it. I was going to ask you if maybe you wanted to sit-”
At that moment a flash of curly blonde hair was all I saw before being nearly toppled over by one of my best friends.
“Pandora!” I screamed, completely forgetting what James was saying. “Have you seen the others?”.
“Lily is already on the train, I haven’t seen Mary yet, and Dorcas was talking to that girl from Gryffindor. Oh hello James!” Pandora said quickly. “Oh look, there's Regulus!”
Effie, Monty, Sirius and Regulus joined us and Pandora said a quick hello before excusing herself so we could say our goodbyes. Effie gave me a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek followed by another hug from Monty. With a final wave, I grabbed the carrier containing my cat from atop the trunks and made my way towards where Pandora, and now Dorcas, were waiting for me. Once the boys joined us we all took the trunks to the proper compartment and then headed our separate ways. Regulus went with Dorcas to find Barty and Evan, Pandora and I went to find Lily and Mary, and James and Sirius were off to find Remus and Peter. As I followed the others heading for the back of the train, I couldn’t help myself from taking one final peak at James and Sirius. I mean this is their last first day of school. As my head turned, grey met hazel. I bit the inside of my cheek when, for the third time that morning, I found James already looking at me. He looked away when Sirius called his name and I turned back to my friends.
“You okay?” Pandora asked me, nudging her elbow with mine.
“Yea. I just have a feeling a lot is going to change this year.” I replied as we entered the compartment with the rest of our friends, the door sliding shut behind me.