Characters: Fiona Kemp and Audrey Wadcock Setting: The Leaky Cauldron/Diagon Alley shortly after the Drama at Platform 9 3/4 Summary: After Fi is prevented from getting on the train back to school, she and Aud discuss whether or not going back at all is the best idea. Rating/Warning: G
Fi leaned back in her chair and nodded a thank you as Tom set down their tea tray. She watched him walk back behind the bar before she turned back to her girlfriend and gave her a tiny, forced smile as she started pouring and fixing up a cup for the both of them. “You could have gone,” she said again, pleased to have Audrey here with her, even if she would have understood the other girl going on ahead.
Settling back in her chair, Aud couldn’t keep the frown off her face. “I never would have,” she assured the other girl. “I’m not going anywhere without you again, Fi.” She reached out and gratefully wrapped her fingers around the mug, breathing it in.
Fiona’s smile easily grew from her forced one into a genuine one. She was so grateful to have such a wonderful girlfriend and to have her there, she didn’t think she’d ever know how to say it. Instead of trying to find the words she just reached over and squeezed the other girl’s wrist before she picked up her cup and sipped. “Well, since I’m stuck with you,” she teased, making a point to smile at Aud before taking another sip. “What should we do now?”
“Anything we want?” Aud suggested, frowning slightly. It was a little scary to think about, to face the reality of having nowhere to go. Audrey was good with money, she had a bit of savings but she wasn’t sure how long it would realistically last them. They’d have to find a place to live and food to eat. She was certain they could probably find help in the Muggle world, there were plenty of resources for homeless people and Aud let out a little noise, covering it with a long sip of her tea, as the realisation struck that that was a real possibility for them.
“Mm,” Fi nodded, keeping in the response that what she wanted was to be on the train heading back to school. She supposed they could manage between the two of them to get a couple of tickets and head back home to Edinburgh but then she’d have to deal with explaining everything to her parents and their reaction...and there was the ever increasing fear that it just might not be safe there.
Forcing a smile onto her face, that didn’t quite reach her eyes, Aud took a sip of her tea. “Maybe we could rent a room upstairs. You know... take a nap?”
Too distracted to pick up on the tone in the other girl’s voice, Fi simply shrugged and took another sip of tea. “There’s no way I could sleep now,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Though I suppose it’s either get a room soon before they are taken or try getting on a train home. Do...do you think that would be safe? Going home I mean. It’s just...well they know where we all live, me and the rest of the students they didn’t let on the train. Do you think that’s all they care about, us just not going to school?”
Frowning, Audrey shrugged, looking down at her tea. She didn’t want to think about Fi hurt but it seemed like something they both needed to think of. “I don’t know. Should we try to contact someone at school? Dumbledore couldn’t possibly have been behind this, right?”
“There’s no way,” she said, shaking her head firmly. “Dumbledore would never not allow someone back into the school! It’s Dumbledore!” Fiona plucked a biscuit off the small plate and broke it in half, dunking one side in her tea. “There is a Post Office in the Alley. We could go down after tea, they’ll still be open I think.”
“We’d know if something’d happened to Dumbledore,” Aud mused, pursing her lips and furrowing her brows as she set her tea down. The thought of everything they might soon have to go through made Aud’s stomach clench and all of a sudden she really did want to go get a room and hide away with Fi under the covers.
“Maybe,” Fi said before she mentally scolded herself for letting paranoia run away with her thoughts. People had already criticised the Daily Prophet for not being an unbiased organisation. She gave a small sigh before finishing her biscuit and washing it down with her tea. “Let’s see about trying to owl Dumbledore or Professor Sprout and then maybe we can get a room?” they could always figure out what they should do after hearing back, once they knew everything, or at least after they’d slept on it and were more clear headed.
Nodding, Aud stood, moving to kiss Fi’s cheek before crossing to the bar and asking Tom about leaving their trunks. He nodded his approval and Audrey got a little thrill out of waving her wand and levitating them into the corner by the bar. She moved back, picking up her cloak and wrapping it around herself. “Ready?” she asked, as she finished the last of her tea and wrapped her scarf around her neck.
Fi opened her mouth to question her girlfriend’s use of magic but realised she was supposed to be at school so it was likely to be overlooked. Instead she bundled herself back up and pressed close to Audrey, slipping her arm through hers as she led them through the back door of the pub, into the courtyard and opened the archway for them.
Sticking close to Fi, Audrey pressed against her, moving through the crowd, feeling quite conspicuous with her house scarf. She felt as though everyone were looking at them, wondering why they weren’t at school and Aud ducked her head, turning them into the Owl Post.
“Should we send an owl to both of them?” Fi asked as she stepped into the warm, bustling post office and looked around at all of the owls on their perches. She stepped up to a counter and pulled a piece of parchment and quill toward them. As she started to scribble a quick note asking for information and guidance.
“I think so,” Aud trailed off as a tawny owl landed on the counter beside Fi, blinking at her. There was something about the owl that looked familiar to Aud, as familiar as owls could look and she frowned at it. “Fi, isn’t that a school owl?” she asked, as the owl hopped towards Fi and nudged her.
“I don’t need you,” Fi started to say when she felt an owl flutter down beside her. She only glanced up when Audrey mentioned something about school and she turned her attention to the bird. “I think it is,” she said, reaching out to stroke it’s chest and take the letter it held out to her. “It is,” she said as she read her name on the front of the envelope and flipped it over to show her girlfriend the school’s seal on the back. She hurriedly ripped it open and read the short note from Dumbledore before she handed it to Audrey and dumped a piece of candy out into her hand which she also held out.
Reading the note, Audrey looked back up at Fi, uncertainty written all across her face. “What...” she started, looking back over the note. “Do you want to go?” If they could get to them at King’s Cross, what made Hogwarts so safe?
“I...don’t know,” she said, glancing around at the busy office. She crumpled up the owl she’d been writing and chucked it in the bin before pocketing the sherbet lemon and letter and tugged Audrey outside. She wanted to discuss everything but not when surrounded by strangers. “Let’s get a room,” she said as they hurried back along to the pub. She was sure Audrey would understand she wasn’t avoiding the question, just postponing it until they were alone.
Nodding, Audrey took Fi’s hand and tugged her through the crowd, back towards the Cauldron. She had more money on her than Fi so she went and thanked Tom for allowing them to leave their trunks, then paid for a room for the night. As she handed the money over, she tried her hardest to act as blase as possible, like she wasn’t potentially on the run from school. Tom handed them a key and gestured upstairs and Aud smiled her thanks, turning back to Fi and nodding upstairs.
Fi dropped her trunk in the corner of the room after Audrey let them in and sat down on it with a sigh. She glanced around once before she started tugging off her cloak to settle in. It seemed like the most reckless, dangerous, insane idea to even contemplate not going back to the safety of Hogwarts but she couldn’t get it out of her head. Outside of the school they were on their own, underage, broke and unsupported but Hogwarts had Dumbledore and all of the professors who cared for them and were bent on protecting them and what they thought was right. Granted, things were starting to get bad and seemed like they could only snowball into worse but no one could deny Hogwarts was the safest place they could be. “...I don’t...we...I don’t think we should go back...”
Setting her trunk beside Fi’s, Aud dropped onto the bed. “Why?” she asked, not making a decision yet, just wanting to hear her girlfriend’s reasoning, though her thoughts were winding the same way.
“Well, it just doesn’t seem likely that this is going to be it, right? If they didn’t want us there so badly that they had TRAINED HITWIZARDS wait outside the trains I just don’t think they won’t mind if the muggleborns get back there anyway,” she explained, moving to crawl onto the bed beside Aud. “The Ministry has been weeding people out haven’t they? And now they are talking about protecting the superiority of magical blood? That’s just getting worse. And I think this will too.” She took her girlfriend’s hand and gave it a squeeze, watching her thumb brush against the other girl’s skin. “I don’t think they’ll stop at the train back, is all.”
“I agree,” she responded, after a moment, wrapping her arm around Fi and holding her close. “I just want you safe, baby, I’ll do anything to keep you that way,” she took a breath, squeezing Fi tightly. “I have access to my parent’s vault, it’s where I keep my money. If we’re going to do this, we need to go now, before I’m not at Hogwarts, any later than this and it’s going to be a problem.”
Fi wound around Audrey and hugged her tightly, burying her face against her arm. She felt it was the right decision, not going back, but now that it was decided the scariness of it all was unavoidable. “How much do you have?” She asked, lifting her head as she wondered if it would be safe to call her sister and ask to borrow some as well.
“I’m not sure,” Aud answered, hugging her closely. She thought for a moment, stroking her fingers along Fi’s hair. “My parents are gone, I don’t think they’ll be going into the vault any time soon, I guess …” she sighed and frowned. “I guess we could just take whatever’s in there?”
She frowned again and dropped her head to kiss Fi. “I’ll be back, baby,” she told the other girl, rewrapping her cloak around her and tightening her scarf around her neck before leaving the room for Gringotts.
Nodding, Fi watched with a pang of nerves as Audrey bundled back up and left the room. She knew it was too early for anyone to have heard about Aud staying off the train, get upset and start looking for her. It didn’t make it much easier watch her go however, she knew for the foreseeable future she’d only be comfortable when the other girl was with her.
Giving a small sigh she rolled off the bed and went over to her trunk, opening it to pull out a treat for her mouse before she started changing into something more comfortable, exhausted from all the worry and busy thoughts. She laid her cloak down over the arm chair and looked down when something fell from the pocket and clattered across the floor towards her. She picked up the sherbet lemon that the Hogwarts owl and brought and rolled it around in her hand for a moment before she tucked it and the letter in her trunk for safe keeping.