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chapter thirty-three,
mean girl
Beatrice Salvatore looked vaguely around platform nine and three quarters — had it always been so noisy? Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Blacks arrive, Mrs Black barely holding Sirius back with one hand, meanwhile securing Regulus firmly by the collar of his shirt with the other. It was a rather peculiar sight, so much so that she almost laughed.
"Are you sure you're ready to go back to school, sweetheart?" Theodora asked softly, her eyes filled with concern.
Beatrice nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine."
"Are you entirely certain, though? I'm sure that your head of house would be entirely understanding if you'd like to stay home a little longer...?"
"No. I'm fine. Bye Mum, bye Dad, bye Massimo."
Beatrice didn't wait for them to reply. She picked up her school trunk and began to lug it towards the train when somebody hugged her from behind.
"Beatrice! How's my favorite Gryffindor girl?" Sirius asked loudly.
"I'm fine," she muttered.
Sirius frowned, "What's up? Why are you in a bad mood?"
"I'm not," she said simply, continuing to drag her trunk along the ground.
"Here, let me grab that—" Sirius began, but Beatrice held out a hand to stop him.
"It's fine, I've got it."
Beatrice Salvatore was not weak.
"Um, okay? At least hurry up, then. I want to make sure we get a good compartment, and you can't count on the others for shit," he said as they stepped onto the train and began to walk down the corridors.
Beatrice shook her head, "Actually, I'm going to go sit with Regulus now. Y'know, catch up. I'll talk to you later though."
Sirius frowned. "What? You can talk to him later — I've got big news. Remember those matching mirrors James got me for my birthday last year? The ones you can speak through? Well we spent almost all of August using them to plan this amazing prank where we'll—"
"Sirius," Beatrice interrupted carelessly.
"Yes?" he replied eagerly.
"No offence, but I really don't care. I'll catch you later, yeah?"
And with that, Beatrice turned to walk away. She stood a bit taller as she walked, her slight against Sirius was a distraction, and it felt good.
