-ˋ 06

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by hvgwcrts

by hvgwcrts

CHAPTER SIX
✧
-: seventh year :-

── IN WHICH THEY RETURN

. . .

"I feel like I'm seeing ghosts." The Howell girl announced as she slipped through the sliding door and into the compartment that Marlene, Lydia and Lily were sat in.

"Hm?" Lily looked up, as did the other two. They watched as Tiger sat down in one of the corners, wrapping her arms around her stomach, looking rather uneasy.

"What do you mean?" Marlene asked, and the three girls appeared rather concerned as Tiger shivered in her seat, but sitting up a little more and trying to replace her look of shock and apprehension with a smile, shrugging away any of her own concern.

"I was walking up here and I feel like I saw someone really familiar." Tiger looked frankly horrified for a single, fleeting moment, then confusion took over her features as she shrugged it off.

"What, like Olivia?" One of them asked, but Tiger only shrugged once again, looking uncomfortable.

"Nevermind that, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, I'm probably imagining things - paranoid from what happened with Olivia." Tiger shrugged, remembering how they had returned from Christmas break on that very train, and she hadn't even noticed that the girl from her old school was on it with her.

"Ok, so what happened with Luke?" Tiger said quickly afterwards, and the atmosphere lifted. "Don't go all shy on me, McKinnon! We all saw you with him on the platform - assuming that is him of course?"

"Of course it was him. We all know Marls isn't one to go around kissing random boys.. are you?" Lydia turned to Marlene, who instantly shook her head. "See, I told you." Lydia looked smug at her small victory, getting comfortable in her seat.

"No, I'm not the type to go around kissing random boys. Meaning that yes, it was Luke." Marlene paused as the girls reacted, a smile on her face.

"So what happened? I only got very brief snippets of the occurences between you and this Luke dude from your letters." Tiger asked, and Marlene launched into the story of how it had all occured.

Marlene had returned to the village she lived in, a rather small one by the sea. The next day she decided to go and see whether or not Luke was still working at the cafe like he had been during the Easter holidays.

He had been, and in the very first words he had said to Marlene, he revealled that he was in fact a wizard - "He said to me 'How was your term at boarding school, I hear Hogwarts is rather beautiful that time of year', and I hadn't told him the name and so-" Marlene had gushed, a smile on her face.

Marlene and Luke had spent the rest of their summer together, and had gotten closer quite quickly. According to Marlene, they had spent a lot time talking about their pasts, and so Luke knew all about Marlene and her friends.

Luke had been travelling for a year or so, apparently. But he was originally American - and hadn't attended Ilvermorny, to Tiger's delight. She could do without a year of torment from another one of her ex-classmates - she could really do without it for her entire life.

The three girls were so happy for Marlene, who truly seemed filled with joy as she spoke about her now boyfriend. It was clear that he was a really nice guy, something that was getting harder and harder to find.

Soon enough, their discussion ended and Tiger was tugged into the closest bathroom by James who had some rather.. pent up feelings to relieve. Tiger was more than happy to help, although when they emerged without having changed into their robes, they did get some rather funny looks.

The entire group would disperse into various bathrooms and changing rooms to switch from their normal clothes into their uniform. Not long after that, as the Scottish countryside darkened into the night, the train came to a stop at the dimly lit Hogsmeade Station.

"Ladies first." James said, and Tiger rolled her eyes, but still taking the hand he offered to balance herself as she climbed up into one of the Thestral-drawn carriages.

It set off at a steady pace, and despite this being the third time Tiger had done this, she still lent forwards as they rounded that one particular corner, being filled with this specific, special feeling from seeing the Hogwart's castle for the first time.

She was back home, for yet another year.

✧

a/n
this is technically
the 100th chapter
so wow holy shit
but the actual 100th
chapter of the
actual story is in
four more chapters
but whatever