Leaving London
Leaving London
I awoke to gentle sunlight warming my back and nothing but the soft sound of Barnaby's deep, even breathing as he slept. At first I didn't open my eyes, preferring to look through my extremely vivid memories of the night before. Perfect. It had been a perfect night. Surprisingly, better even than the first. I supposed not being nervous as I'd been the first time probably had a lot to do with that.
I stayed where I was and enjoyed feeling blissfully content for as long as I could, but eventually it started driving me crazy not knowing what time it was, so I reluctantly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Barnaby, awake and staring at me as if I was the most miraculous thing he'd ever seen.
"Good morning beautiful" he said smiling at me.
"Well good morning handsome" I giggled. "How long have you been up?" "Not long, I just didn't want to wake you, you looked so peaceful" he replied. I reached my hand over to stroke his bare chest and immediately got a memory flash of just how unbelievable he looked without his clothes on.
I sighed happily as he pulled me on top of him and starting slowly kissing my neck.
A shiver of anticipation rippled down my spine, and my skin began feeling hot. All I wanted was to shut out the world indefinitely and stay here with Barnaby in this deceptively comfortable bed forever.
But we had made plans yesterday before leaving Kings Cross. Everyone who was staying in London or near enough to Apparate would be joining us there at the Leaky Cauldron for breakfast. And probably soon I realised.
If it was just my former dormmates waiting then I would have been fine with being fashionably late, especially if I could be fashionably late because Barnaby and I couldn't get enough of each other. They had witnessed me slinking back into the dormitory in the early hours of the morning before and hadn't shamed me for it. However, knowing there might be an entire table of our other friends downstairs, waiting and gossiping is what finally drove me to roll off of Barnaby and sit up to grab my watch. 9:15am, yikes. Barnaby gave me his best puppy dog eyes when he asked if we were late. "Not yet, but if we don't hurry up we definitely will be." I told him.
With a heavy sigh he pushed the covers back and got up to dress. Yum, I couldn't take my eyes off him. I was so very tempted to say to hell with it and pull him back into the bed, but he'd already pulled on his jeans and headed towards the tiny bathroom connected to our room.
I dressed as quickly as I could but it was a very strange feeling for me, picking out Muggle clothing that went together instead of my usual Hogwarts uniform and robes. I settled on a floral babydoll dress with a white t-shirt underneath, a light denim jacket and Doc Martins. This would definitely take some getting used to but I thought I might start enjoying it more as time went on.
Barnaby returned fully dressed in fashionably ripped jeans, Converse sneakers and a tight black t-shirt with a green plaid flannel shirt open over top.
He stopped before putting on his silver rings and we eyed each other appreciatively, definitely thinking what a shame it was to have plans so early that morning. I tossed his wand to him and picked up my own and we began to undo our privacy spells with Finite Incantatem. When we had finished we left the room in it's generally unkempt state and hurried down the stairs to meet our friends.
The pub was already full of guests and travellers bustling around, having a spot of tea and breakfast before heading out to do their shopping in Diagon Alley. Fortunately Penny and Andre had arrived early enough to secure two of the larger tables that they had pushed together. Chiara, Diego, Jae, Tulip, and Liz were already seated as we sidestepped our way over to join them.
"Morning everyone, where are Merula and Ismelda?" I asked. Liz glanced back up the staircase and giggled. "I think they had a few too many butterbeers last night. They were both still out cold when I left the room this morning. Oh, and thanks again Samhain, and Barnaby, really. The three of us barely fit in that bed, one more and we might have broken it! It was right nice of you to let us crash. And nice to have one more night with my dormmates before I have to leave, although I didn't get much sleep, Ismelda snored like a mountain troll all night long."
We all erupted into laughter at that and I was grateful not to be the center of attention as Barnaby and I sat down with everyone. Andre and Penny had also thoughtfully ordered tea for the whole table, and by the time we were on our second cups Merula and Ismelda had dragged themselves down to join us.
"Full English for everyone, yeah?" Andre asked as Tom came up to take our orders. Almost everyone agreed enthusiastically, except for Liz. "Not for me I'm afraid, I've got a portkey to Brazil later on and they really do a number on my stomach. I'll just stick with toast for now."
At the mention of Brazil I snuck a glace at Barnaby, afraid he might be regretting his decision not to go to the Magical Creatures Reserve with Liz. But when I looked at him he caught my eye and smiled, and I heard his thought as if he had spoken it out loud to the whole table. "Not a chance."
I smiled back in relief and tucked in to enjoy breakfast with all my mates one last time before everyone headed off in separate directions.
We talked and laughed as if we were back at school preparing for another day trip into the village. Everyone was eagerly discussing their new jobs and programs and making plans for the next time we'd all be able to get together again, whenever that would be.
"Samhain are you staying in London another night or are you two off to see your parents today?" Penny asked me with a devilish smirk.
"Actually I need to send Nightspur to my mum and dad with a letter telling them not to expect us right away." I explained.
"We decided we're going to pay a visit to Rowans parents first at their tree farm. I never really got to meet them properly and I want to give them my Head Girl badge, and this letter from Dumbledore" I said, pulling the letter out of my pocket to show Penny.
It got passed around as I explained about how I felt the badge was really Rowans and wanted her parents to know she was the one who earned it.
"And I think they deserve to know the truth about everything that happened, and about the Circle of Khanna" I finished.
Everyone seemed to agree and most wanted to come with us, but unfortunately the timing couldn't be worse with people moving into their new flats and starting their jobs and further studies. In the end everyone decided to write a note for us to give to the Khanna's about Rowan. We promised to deliver them and it made me happy to have more to give them than just the badge and the letter from Dumbledore.
After breakfast we said our goodbyes again, Liz left first to catch her portkey. Then Merula, Ismelda and Diego stepped fearlessly into the large fireplace and zoomed off to begin their travels along the floo network. Chiara and Penny headed off next to St Mungo's for a tour of the facility, and Tulip accompanied Andre and Jae into Diagon Alley.
"I guess we'd better get ready to go then" I said to Barnaby. "I've got to send that letter to mum and we'll have to see if we can fit both of our trunks into my purse with an undetectable extension charm."
Barnaby nodded and wrapped his muscular arms around me. "Don't be nervous Samhain, we don't have to stay at the Khanna's long if it's too hard for you. We don't have to go at all, but I know you'd regret it if we didn't. Just remember I'm with you no matter what."
Knowing I had Barnaby with me helped keep the anxiety at a manageable level while we packed up our things. I knew what we were planning fell into the category of honouring Rowan and doing good. So my heart was considerably lighter as we Apparated into the nearest town to her parents tree farm.
It was a beautiful little area, small quaint houses and rich forests surrounding them. I wasn't exactly sure where the Khanna's lived and thought we might need to pop into a shop and ask for directions. But on our way through the town I spotted a large and handsomely carved wooden sign that said,
'KHANNA'S TREE FARM 1.2 km EAST
•Wand quality wood!
•Dozens of varieties to choose from!
•Don't pet the bowtruckles, they bite!
I laughed and pointed it out to Barnaby, "I guess we know which way we're going now. Shall we?"
Barnaby agreed and took my hand in his as we set off along the winding, pebble stone road under the warm morning sun.