Carina McGonagall is named after the constellation containing the second brightest star in the sky - and it just so happens one Sirius Black is named after the brightest. They've always had an interesting relationship throughout the years - pranks...
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18th June 1976
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
After the ending of the last day of term feast the previous day, Sirius had given up all hope of reconciling with Carina before they left school. She had met eyes with him across the tables towards the end of the night and simply ignored him, leaving the Great Hall without a second glance back at him afterwards.
Of course, the McGonagalls lived in Scotland, so Carina never really had to take the Hogwarts Express. Until now that was.
"I'm going to stay at my aunt and uncle's," Carina told Pandora tentatively as the two girls hopped up the stone steps onto the Hogsmeade train station. "You know the ones that live in London? Uncle Malcolm and Aunt Lucy. It's 'cos Mum is staying a bit longer up at the castle, to do some work for Dumbledore and she reckons it'll be good for me to have a change of scenery."
Winding trails of students wove around the platform like writhing snakes as the doors onto the Hogwarts Express were finally opened and students began to wander aboard. Swiftly, they all dropped off their luggage, and jumped on, desperate to find a free compartment to snatch up as quickly as possible.
Finally, they found the others.
Dorcas was sitting next to her sister and her friends. They were all in their seventh year and were leaving Hogwarts for the final time. They all looked a little melancholic at the sight of the train slowly pulling away from the station, chugging into motion as Hagrid waved them off from the platform. Alice and Frank were holding hands as the Hogsmeade station became a little more than a blur in the distance.
Marlene was grinning wildly and telling takes of the mischief she and her brothers normally got up to during the summer holidays: an incident involving Marlene, enchanted scissors and her hair that had been too long and annoying for little Marlene; an unusual situation involving a goat, a tree and her twelve year old brother; and a final concerning story consisting of a flock of ducks, some balloons and Marlene's brother wanting to see if she could fly. Overall a bit weird.
Lily was sitting in the corner, engrossed in some Muggle romance novel and completely avoiding eye contact with Carina. A pang shot through Carina's chest as she looked over at her friend. It felt..... unfair that Lily couldn't take being told she was wrong about the Marauders. But maybe Carina should've stayed out of it. Had it been her place to berate the other girl? Should she have just let Lily carry on hating James and Sirius, and left their friendship as it was?
Lily was just so proud. She had to be in some situations, of course, like over her blood status, but she took it too far. She was so used to being everyone's favourite princess that she couldn't fathom being in the wrong. Ever.
It seemed like everyone needed to do a bit of growing up over summer. Carina included.
Sighing she pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to think over how to reconcile with people. Her mind wouldn't stay out as thoughts carried her off at high speeds, leaping to worst case scenarios and anxiety ridden prompts for her to get up and run.
Stop, she told herself, over and over. Stop, it'sOKanditwillbeOK.
She hadn't realised she had been clenching her fists and squeezing her eyes shut until her mind began to phase back into reality and Pandora's soft questioning of if Carina was feeling ok made her aware of the feeling of her nails digging deeply into her palms.
Deep breath out. "Yeah... Just zoned out I guess."
Pandora's eyes told her she didn't believe her even if all she replied with was "OK."
Slowly, Carina rose to her feet. "I'm not feeling the best, so I'm just gonna go find the Trolley Witch now. She should be around and I think I want to get something sugary into my system," she told the others, more justifying it to herself than the others.
Lily still didn't look up, but Pandora and the others nodded and told her it was probably a good idea.
Carina slid open the carriage door with shaking hands and had to resist the urge not to just slump against it as soon as it closed behind her. Instead she slowly began to wander up the train. The sixth year Prefects had decided to take patrols on this ride so Carina nodded politely in acknowledgement of them as she passed them.
Eventually, as she found the Trolley Witch and the roaring echo of a thousand unwanted thoughts began to slowly become quiet, Carina's breathing began even and deep once again. With the few sickles she had in her pocket, Carina gathered a small assortment of her favourite sweets - a packet of Droobles' Best Blowing Gum, a couple of Chocolate Frogs and a handful of other stuff.
As she began to chew on her gum and let her mind wander again, Carina was stopped in her tracks by a familiar face standing in the middle of the corridor, just a few carriages down from where she was standing. Carina considered running but there was no use. He had already turned and saw her.
Remus.
He ran to her and Carina froze; her mind went blank, she couldn't move, she couldn't speak.
But her entire body relaxed as Remus's arms wrapped tightly around her and they hugged. "I've missed you," he whispered into her hair. "I've missed you, I've missed you, I've missed you." "Me too, Moony. Me too," she whispered in reply.
