The Fools Who Dream

Chapter 3

The instant they were on the train and it had started pulling away, James dropped Cynthia's trunk down onto the floor.

"Why don't you go and try making yourself some little friends?" he sneered as the trunk landed on her toe and she jumped back in shock. "If you know how."

He and Sirius snickered and high-fived each other, quickly turning around and walking off in the other direction, leaving Cynthia to pick up her heavy trunk and start to try and find herself somewhere to sit.

After many minutes of walking through the carriages, she found a compartment that was empty and decided to take advantage of it. She slid the glass door open and, now feeling sick to her stomach, placed her trunk on the floor and sat straight down on one of the comfortable padded seats. The cool glass window was refreshing on her warm forehead, she thought as she leaned up against it, and she pulled her knees up and hugged them to her chest, her eyes closed, taking deep breaths to try and keep herself calm.

For a while, no one disturbed her, and she was just about to fall asleep when she heard the door slide open and jumped up suddenly, startling the redheaded girl who had just come in.

"Sorry!" said the girl hurriedly. "I didn't mean to wake you, I just wanted to see if you were okay. You look as if you're going to be sick."

"That was about an hour and a half ago." said Cynthia, trying to make a joke, but it just sounded hollow and empty.

"Are you a first year?" asked the girl, and she added when Cynthia nodded, "Nerves?"

"More my idiot brother pulling a 'hilarious prank'."

The girl smiled slightly and came and sat down opposite Cynthia; her green eyes seemed to be laced with worry, and rightly so, as Cynthia did honestly feel like she could throw up again at any second.

"Is your brother already here?" she asked.

"Yeah." muttered Cynthia. "He's a fourth year."

"Oh, so he's in my year then." said the girl.

"Are you Lily?" asked Cynthia suddenly, as if the piece of a puzzle had suddenly clicked in her brain.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows.

"How do you know that?"

"Oh – uh – my brother never shuts up about you." said Cynthia, blushing slightly.

The girl's face fell.

"You must be James Potter's little sister." she said. "I heard him talking about you last year. He didn't seem to be thinking about welcoming you with open arms."

"I'm nothing like him." said Cynthia hurriedly, and she sat up slightly so she could properly talk with the girl – Lily. "I promise. I hate him probably more than you do."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't judge anyone based on their siblings." said Lily, grinning. "But I don't know if there's anyone who can hate James Potter more than me. He's been annoying me since first year."

"I've had almost twelve years of it." Cynthia pointed out.

"Good point." said Lily. "How did he prank you?"

"They put something in my food that made me throw up." said Cynthia, sighing. "It sucks."

"Who's 'they'?"

"Sirius was over at our house for the last two weeks."

"Oh wow." Lily reeled back. "That's horrible. I can't imagine being stuck in the same house as both of them. Don't your parents do anything?"

"Well... not exactly." Cynthia muttered. "They... they aren't around much."

"How do you cope?"

"Hide away in my room usually." said Cynthia, biting her fingernails. "They don't go up there most of the time."

There was a sudden knock at the door before Lily could respond, and a boy with long, black greasy hair pulled it open. Lily smiled at him.

"Hey Sev." she said. "You alright?"

"Been looking all over for you." said the boy; his voice was just as greasy as his hair.

"This is -" Lily suddenly stopped and turned to Cynthia. "I just realised I never actually asked your name."

"Cynthia." she said, smiling slightly.

"This is Cynthia." said Lily. "Cynthia, this is my best friend Severus."

"Nice to meet you." said Severus, nodding jerkily at her.

"You too." said Cynthia awkwardly.

"You coming Lily?" he asked, turning away from Cynthia and looking at Lily.

Lily glanced over at Cynthia.

"Will you be alright?" she asked.

"I'll be fine." said Cynthia, nodding and smiling slightly. "I – I think I'm just going to sleep anyway."

With a sigh, Lily got to her feet and went to follow her friend, but stopped and turned in the doorway to look back at Cynthia.

"If you need anything, let me know." she said. "Just come and find me. And make sure you're in your robes before you get off the train."

"Thank you." said Cynthia gratefully.

Lily left with Severus, closing the door behind her. Cynthia sighed, letting out the air in a long, rattling breath, and pulled her soft, black first-year robes out of her bag, but rather than put them on, she curled up on the seat and laid the robes over her.

She stayed awake for a while longer, staring out of the window that was just above her head, watching the clouds waft gently across the beautiful blue skies. Occasionally, she would see the emerald green of the trees as the train sometimes sped through woods, but eventually, the clouds began to hypnotise her into a deep trance, and she found herself drifting off into gentle sleep, lulled by the rocking of the carriage across the rails.

Click, clack, click, clack, click, clack.

The constant rhythm of the train soothed her as she slept for many hours, finally relaxed and at peace with herself, despite the group of four boys who were no more than eight compartments away from her.

Most children missed their parent already by the time they were on the train. But Cynthia could rest peacefully knowing that she wouldn't have to see them, or indeed go anywhere near them, for many months to come.

A/N

Oh wow I haven't updated in so long... sorry...

With Covid and stuff it's all been a bit crazy and I haven't mad much time for writing. That's a lie, I've been writing loads, just not on this. But I'm going to try and keep on top of it, just please remember that I'm currently writing about 10 stories and trying to update them all simultaneously, so if I don't update, please be patient, I really am trying. 

There's another chapter coming after this one tonight (or is it this morning cuz it's technically 2am?) to try and make up for it.

Hope you're enjoying the new story!