Penny Wicks & The Knockturn Ripper (A Harry Potter fanfiction)

Chapter 2 | Bride and Prejudice

The bridesmaid's dresses were so beautiful. They were flowing blue Cocktail dresses embroidered with golden flowers. Hallie's mother, Ethel had given the girls hair clips in the form of golden butterflies, similar to the ones she wore in school photos during her days at Beauxbaton Academy. She came to England with her family after finishing school. Not long after arriving, she met a handsome recently graduated Hufflepuff, Bernard Lucklow. A year later They were married and expecting their first child, Hallie's older brother, Thackery. He was so much like their father, a handsome, modest Hufflepuff.

Five years later little Hallie was born. She and her brother were as different as night and day. Hallie was a headstrong and spirited redhead. Thackery was quiet, friendly, and hardworking. He was by no means cowardly but could come off as a bit of a doormat. During her first year at Hogwarts, Hallie found him being beaten up by a gang of fifth-year students. They stamped on his wand, gave him a bloody lip, and blackened his eye. Without thinking, she stormed up behind the leader and gave him a hard kick to the crotch. He crumbled to the ground and wailed like a giant baby. She was so busy watching the leader she hadn't seen one of his lackeys approaching her. He knocked her across the field, leaving a great black bruise on her cheek. Thackery jumped up and grabbed him but the Gang soon overpowered and beat the living hell out of him. The leader got to his feet and marched towards Hallie, pulling out his wand in a rage. Thankfully Professor Mcgonagall intervened and sent everyone to detention, including Thackery and Hallie.

The Lucklow children had often wondered what house Ethel would have been sorted into had she gone to Hogwarts. Would she have been a Hufflepuff like her husband and son? Or would she be in the same house as her daughter? Hallie had been so excited as she boarded the train at Platform 9 and 3 quarters for the first time. Along the journey to Hogwarts, she befriended other first-years as they bought sweets from the trolly and giddily talked about which houses they would all be sorted into. When they finally made it to Hogwarts and entered the great hall her heart was pounding. One by one the first years sat on the stool as the sorting hat was placed on their heads. She was surprised to see Sirius Black sorted into Griffindor. McGonagall continued calling students the stool. Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff the hat called out as she watched her friends skip to their tables. "Severus Snape" Mcgonagall called out. He was a pale skinny boy with greasy black hair and a beak-like nose. He looked sad.

"Slytherin!" The Hat called out. The Slytherins cheered as he sat down at the table, briefly glancing at the Gryffindors. The other houses didn't cheer as they had had for the other first years. They just looked on in cold silence. "Hallie Lucklow,"  McGonagall called. The room seemed to spin as Hallie Approached the Stool. There was silence as the hat was placed on her head. She could still remember the cold feeling after the Sorting hat called out "SLYTHERIN!"

She got up and walked slowly towards the Slytherin table. She felt like she was going to faint. Looking around at all the friends she'd made on the train. They either looked away or scowled at her. At the Hufflepuff table, Thackery and some of his friends smiled. They were the only other people besides her house that stood up and clapped as she sat down beside the cheering Slytherins. Hallie could only wonder what her mother would have done in her shoes.

"I'll be down in a moment girls, and you can tell me what you think," Ethal called out from her bedroom.

Hallie and Penny stood at the bottom of the stairs, excitedly waiting for Ethel to come down in her wedding dress when a scream followed by a loud bang echoed from next door. "Stop! Please stop!" someone cried. It took a moment for Hallie to realize that the voice on the other side of the wall was Regulus Black.

"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR!" Walburga howled.

"Please stop. He'll come back. Please just...ahh" Regulus cried out. The girls held each other close as they listened to Walburga's manic ranting and raving, causing another loud bang as she screamed in rage. How she didn't blast a hole through the wall was anyone's guess.