Bulla Aurea Puerorum

Part I: Bulla Aurea Puerorum

To Hogwarts

Steam bellowed out of the scarlet engine, the platform packed with families and loud pets. I had stayed the last couple weeks of summer with the Weasley family, and together we had gone through the barrier at platform 9 ¾. Beside me stood Ginny Weasley, my best friend, her flaming orange hair matching her brother's, Fred and George, as they stood on my other side, having come to see us off to Hogwarts. My trunk had been magically extended to fit the many many trinkets George had gladly given me, with my promise that I would carry on his and Fred's traditions. Together, we moved through the crowd and gave our trunks up to be loaded onto the train.

"Here. We thought we'd give you this, seeing as it's Ron's fault you haven't got them anymore." Mrs. Weasley handed me a brand new set of my favourite muggle book series "The Chronicles of Narnia." That summer I had brought my set along, where they'd fallen out of my book bag on the Knight Bus. Ron had accidentally split my bag by lifting it too quickly. It was very full. They'd slid, unnoticed, under our seats and left behind.

"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Weasley. You didn't have to. It wasn't his fault." I stammered.

"No, no dear, it's no problem. Take it as an early birthday present." She smiled as she lightly patted my cheek.

"Well, thank you."

I wasn't very good at accepting gifts.

"Ophelia! Hurry up before all the good compartments are gone!" Ginny called from the train, her head sticking out from one of the windows.

"Coming," I called back, and turned back to Mrs. Weasley. She gave me a quick hug.

"Now, you behave. I don't need another toilet seat incident, no?" She said, chuckling to herself.

I smiled.

"I always behave, Mrs. Weasley." I turned to go.

"One moment, Ophelia dear. Arthur and I were rather hoping you'd spend Christmas with us at The Burrow. If your parents don't mind." My parents were muggles, and didn't celebrate Christmas.

"Load of tosh, Christmas." My dad would say. "I mean, really, so much money and for what? No, I won't have it in this house."

I didn't complain much. At my house, you didn't complain unless you wanted a good, smart rap on the side of your head.

"They won't. I'll be there."

Mrs. Weasley sighed.

"Yes, well. You'd best be off, dear." She said.

I thanked her for the books again and made my way towards the train.
I bumped into a skeleton like man, his hair slicked back and his fingers long and thin like spiders. His eyes looked cold as I apologized. The way he moved, like he was floating more than he was walking, creeped me out as I watched him disappear into the crowd.

I stepped onto the train.

"Finally." Ginny whined, and she pulled me down the thin hallway. We waved to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and soon the train began to pull out of the station. We passed Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting in a compartment, and moved on to find Neville and Luna, sitting together in our usual compartment.

"Hullo Neville," I said as I sat down. "How's Hannah?" I smirked.

"Oh. Um. I'm not sure. I haven't talked to her...since..."

Hannah Abott had always fancied Neville. Everyone knew that. But everyone also knew that Neville was mad for Luna Lovegood. Everyone also knew that Luna was perfectly oblivious to the entire situation. During the summer, Hannah had written to Neville, confessing her feelings good and proper. Neville had ignored it, not purposefully, he was too sweet for that. No, he just didn't know what to say. He wasn't particularly used to that kind of attention, even with his parents being famous Aurors. He'd then run into Hannah in diagon alley where he'd hopelessly tried to make it up to her. It was very messy according to Ginny, who had been with him at the time.
Luna looked up at the mention of Hannah.

"Oh, Hannah? Have you talked to her recently, Neville? I do like Hannah. Very sweet, she is." Luna bobbed her head up and down. Neville flushed.
Ginny gave me a look that quite clearly said "Don't bring it up."

"Uh, anyway-" I quickly back tracked. "How was your summer, Luna?"

"Quite good. Dad and I went on a week long holiday, to visit mum's sister. Aunt Maryrose is quite lovely, you know."

"Is that the metamorphmagus?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, although she usually just sticks with teal hair. Boring, if you ask me. I think I'd go with every shade of blue if it were me, not just the one."

Neville snickered but hid it skillfully as a cough.

"Did you know she went to school with James Potter?" Luna continued. "She told me all about their adventures. My uncle, Regulus, well, he and his brother were quite close with him apparently. It was very interesting hearing about their time at Hogwarts."

"Regulus?" Ginny asked. "That's Sirius' brother, right?" Ginny looked at me.

We'd met Sirius before, when the Potters came to The Burrow for Christmas last year.

"I think so, he was telling us about Regulus." I agreed. "You're cousins with Edwardus Black then?" I asked Luna.

Edwardus Black was a boy in my year, in Hufflepuff with me. He was very sweet, and we got along quite well. I knew that his father was Regulus Black, but it was interesting to hear that he and Luna were related. They had the same brilliant silvery-blue-gray eyes.

"Yes, but we're not that close." She explained.

A silence followed, until soon Ginny started rambling about Quidditch and how she hoped Harry wouldn't allow any twats onto the team this year. I felt a pang of jealousy at his name. I knew that Ginny had fancied him for a while but it had never bothered me until this summer. They'd been dating since last Christmas, but this summer felt different. The jealousy had started when I'd seen the way she looked at him when he first visited The Burrow. How her eyes seemed to melt but blaze all at once, how his green eyes sunk into her chocolate ones. I wasn't sure why I was jealous. But I was.
We took turns to share how our summer holidays went, besides Luna.
I purposely skipped over the part where I had run away from home.

*

It wasn't unusual for my mother to scream at me. I had a habit of sneaking out early in the morning and returning late at night, just wandering the streets of London to avoid being at home. I was a disappointment. A burden. Something my parents frequently reminded me, and one particularly bad fight with them even resulted in a black eye on my part. This time my mother had been screaming at me because she'd found the bottles of firewhiskey hidden in my bed frame. She did weekly sweeps of my room, always locking me in without food until it was spotless. I had sat there staring blankly out the window while she yelled. The moment she'd stopped, I'd grabbed my still-packed-from-the-year-before trunk and left. The Knight Bus had taken me to The Burrow where I'd spent the remainder of the summer. Ginny hadn't asked why when I showed up randomly, but she knew it was something to do with my parents. That's what I loved about her. She didn't push.

*

I was pulled unceremoniously out of my reverie when the train pulled to a stop at Hogsmeade station. Rain began to fall quickly down as we unloaded our book bags from the luggage racks, Ginny holding on to her Pygmy puff cage, and Neville his toad. Luna had no bag, she instead clutched a strange looking mushroom in a brown pot. Neville noticed me looking at the plant in her hand and blushed.
We stepped off the train and Ginny quickly sat down on the nearest carriage with Harry, Ron and Hermione. She waved at me as it pulled off and Neville, Luna and I were left to sit in a separate one. We were soon joined by none other than Edwardus Black, an embarrassed Hannah Abott trailing behind him. Edwardus sat down next to me and Hannah sat across from Neville. His gaze burned into the ground as he felt Hannah's eyes upon him.
We rode up to the castle in awkward silence.

Without Ginny, awkwardness tended to fill most silences.