Sorry I've been gone so long! Sixth form bit me in the arse… Expect a few more updates soon!
Chapter 3: Lying to Live
"No, we aren't waiting for Cho," Draco said, determinedly not looking anywhere near any Muggles, as if they might corrupt him. "Straight to the Platform-"
Selene laughed, glancing over to where a large diesel train was pulling into Platform Nine. "You can't tell me you're not even a little bit interested," she teased, with a grin. "Just a little?"
"By Salazar, must I always mind you?" the boy sniggered, ignoring the girl's fascination with the Muggle trains. "You're supposed to be the older one..."
"Shut up, Draco," the girl glared - somewhat playfully - at her brother. She glanced across to where a large familiar group of redheads were waiting, and Selene scanned them quickly, trying to ignore the suspicious glances from the youngest son and the two identical twins, who, along with Harry Potter, were watching Draco with outright hostility.
"Ready to go yet?" Draco said, blissfully ignorant of their audience. "Or are you going to try and chat up a Muggle?"
Selene shot Draco a stern look, and shook her head cautiously, worried in case that her parents were watching them somehow, as they inevitably were.
Even though they had officially left the two of them alone fifteen minutes ago.
"Of course I am," she said, deadpan, pulling Draco back to let the Weasley family (plus the two extras) through the barrier first. "Muggles are the only decent shags I've ever had."
"Why are we letting them through first?" Draco glared, giving his sister an insulted glance. "They're Blood Traitors. If only father could see you now."
"Because it's polite," Selene snapped, taking his hand. "And don't call people that. It's a term we should be above. Just like Mudblood, and you know that."
They were getting some very nasty looks from the redheaded family, especially from the youngest - Ron - who was glaring at Draco like he'd eaten his Puffskein. Harry Potter didn't seem very pleased to see him either, honestly, although Selene could hardly blame him, judging by the intense rivalry he always seemed to have with her younger brother.
The Weasley matriarch, on the other hand, evidently not recognising either of them, gave Selene a bright smile. "Thank you, dear," she said cheerfully, and Selene gave Draco's hand a meaningful squeeze. "You know what it's like… Seven children, it's such a hassle."
Selene nodded politely, smiling back as the woman began to bark instructions at her brood, pairing them all off and instructing them to go through. Selene pulled Draco's arm back, just in case, and waited patiently, feeding her owl a couple of treats, ignoring the sharp nips on her fingers.
It took a while, but finally all the family were through, the mother with another final bright smile and sentiment of thanks, and she finally let go of her brother.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Draco just scoffed, pushing himself and his trolley through the barrier, Selene following suit a few seconds later.
"Selene!" Cho grinned, running over to her friend the second she saw her. "You're late!"
Selene checked her watch and laughed, shaking her head. "So," she began, pulling her trunk off the trolley and moving her owl off the top. "Fifteen minutes before is late now?"
"You said you'd be here at least thirty minutes before, in your letter!" Cho complained, grabbing the other side of Selene's trunk and helping her friend shift it onto the train. "I should know better than to trust you, you liar!"
"Mother wanted to make sure we were okay," Selene explained, summarising the fifteen minute hugging session that her mother insisted upon (not that Selene was complaining) in as little words as she could. "And I had to make sure that Draco had packed everything as well."
Cho just rolled her eyes, gesturing to the trunk - now lying right in the middle of the corridor - and looking meaningfully at her friend. "We might need to shift this," she said, raising one eyebrow.
"Allow me, ladies," Roger Davies cut in from behind them, giving Selene and Cho a winning smile and pulling himself up onto the train in front of them, picking up the trunk in one fell swoop and moving it into an empty carriage.
Roger was a Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, along with Cho, and fancied himself quite the playboy. The problem with this was that his enormous ego was well-earned, as he had dated half the Ravenclaw girls - which, unfortunately, had included Selene, some time ago. Even now, he still did occasional favours for her, for reasons she didn't quite understand but accepted all the same.
"Thanks Roger," Cho called, grinning sideways at Selene. She never lost an opportunity to play the field either. "So, what did you do over the summer?"
Selene had no interest in what Roger Davies had done over the summer, so she turned away, looking back onto the Platform, picking out individuals with her eyes and recognising them. Vincent Crabbe was being kissed goodbye by his slightly trollish-looking mother, whilst her brother was talking to Theodore Nott - a deeply unpleasant individual with a perchance for nasty curses.
They all looked so... So happy. None of them were plastic, or transparent, or just robots pretending to care. Her stomach squirmed uncomfortably.
Normally her parents would be here, on the Platform as well, but her mother was taking a Portkey to Berlin for an important gathering of society women, and her father most likely had to meet with the Minister. Selene shivered at the thought - not only did Fudge give her the creeps, but after the World Cup she didn't even want to imagine what lies her father was feeding him.
"Come on!" Cho called, startling Selene out of her daydream. "I have some fortune tellers I want to try on you!"
So, Selene turned away from the families kissing their children goodbye, the families that made the feeling stir in her stomach, and towards the Hogwarts Express, smiling quickly at Cho to disguise her earlier expression. It wasn't wholly fictional, her smile. Going to Hogwarts again always made her smile. But there was a hint of insincerity in it, a sprinkling of sadness as Selene climbed onto the train, trying not to wish for a mother that wasn't too busy organising society events to see her children off, and a father that didn't lie to live.