Obsidian (Harry Potter Fan Fiction, Sequel to the Lazuli Trilogy)

Four - Cecelia

"Cece!" I heard my friends cry as I disembarked the train.

I looked down the platform to see them all huddled close to the station exit, waiting for me to exit the train and meet them. As I shuffled through the throngs of other students moving this way and that, I studied each of them carefully.

My cousins Dominique and Roxanne - both of whom were in Gryffindor - were waving frantically at me, to make sure that I didn't miss them, along with my other cousin Juliet, who was a Ravenclaw. Our three male friends - Lane Thomas, the son of Dean and a Hufflepuff, Jonah Zabini, a Slytherin with me, and Dom McLaggen, a Ravenclaw - waited with them, but it wasn't the three of them that caused me to catch my breath. No, it was the laugh of the fourth boy stood with them, sharing a joke with Jonah and Dom, his head of golden hair twinkling in the candle light as he threw back his head and laughed heartily. My knees felt weak and I let out a sigh as he looked my way, his green eyes finding me in the crowd and sparkling as he grinned at me and lifted his hand to wave.

Jacob Sinclair was a Gryffindor, whom I'd been hopelessly in love with since the second year. He was smart, athletic and caring, not to mention gorgeous, but I've never been one of those girls who can just waltz up to a boy and flirt, like Roxanne can, or bring them to me with a flip of my hair, like Dominique. I mean, I suppose I'm not shy when I get to know somebody, and if you get me started on the right subject, then I'll never shut up, but talking to boys, particularly boys like Jacob, tends to leave me lost for words.

Still, I managed to make my way over to them without falling flat on my face, and forced a smile for Jacob and my friends. "Cece!" Juliet exclaimed, pulling me towards her and hugging me tightly, even though I'd seen her a week ago for my mum's annual end-of-summer garden party. All of the family - yes, all 7 of my siblings and 16 of my cousins on both sides of the family, and all three of my sets of grandparents - Uncle Cedric, his wife Aunt Cho and their son Marcel, my mother's friend Damon and his husband, Professor Longbottom (although outside of school he let us call him Neville) and his wife, plus 100 others of my parent's closest friends, family members and colleagues had been in attendance, and I'd spent most of the evening sat by the well at the bottom of the garden with Dominique, Roxanne, Juliet, Jonah and Lane, drinking some fire-whiskey that Jonah had managed to swipe from his dad.

Nevertheless, I still embraced all of my friends as if I hadn't seen them all summer, and then I came to Jacob, and my heart flipped as he leaned down to hug me.

"Hello Cecelia," he said in his low voice, and I noted how he was the only person aside my grandparents to call me by my full name. Still, I loved the sound of it when he said it, and I almost told him this too, although I managed to hold my tongue at the last minute and smile slightly. "Hi," I replied quietly, my lips curving into a smile as I stared up at him.

"How was your summer?" he asked, leaning back against the wall and shoving his hands in the pockets of his black, gold and red Gryffindor robes as he spoke. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled half-heartedly. "It was alright, same as usual really. How about you?"

Jacob grinned as he ran a hand through his thick blonde hair. "It was pretty decent, actually. Dad took me out fishing quite a lot; I'm great now, just call me Ernest Hemingway."

I stared at him and blinked a few times. "Who?" I asked in confusion. Jacob nodded and hit his head with his hand. "Right, I forgot, sorry, having a muggle-born mother does have its disadvantages when nobody knows what you're on about most of the time."

I chuckled as he did, and then he progressed to explain that Ernest Hemingway was a famous muggle author, who was also a brilliant fisherman in his spare time. Halfway through his explanation though, Roxanne stepped between Jacob and I and linked arms with us both, tugging us in the direction of the carriages.