The Little Ladies United
“Mum!” Arlene shrieked as her mother, Cassiopeia Travers, shoved a biscuit in her mouth. “I'm not hungry!”
“Oh, but you will be,” said her mother, calmly, watching her daughter as she chewed the snack with great difficulty.
“I'm 𝘴𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯,” Arlene protested, frantically glancing around to see if anyone was watching this embarrassing exchange. Fortunately, no one was. “Practically, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 legally, an adult. I'll be a graduating soon—” She went on to continue, only to have her mother shove another biscuit into her mouth. “MUM!”
“Cassie, I suppose that's enough pampering to last the entire day,” Antonio, her father, said to his wife good-naturedly, a chuckle escaping his lips. He then glanced at Arlene with a wink. “She can take care of herself, can't she?”
“𝘉𝘶𝘵 she cannot ever wake up in time and finish her breakfast to save her life,” Cassiopeia supplied, pursing her lips. “Can she?”
“That's beside the point,” Arlene retorted, with a roll of her eyes, not missing a beat. Sleeping the night before her return to Hogwarts had always been hard; there was so much to look forward to — so many thoughts clouding her mind and keeping sleep at bay until dawn. Oversleeping wouldn't be a hard thing to predict.
Arlene quickly gave the both of them a tight hug. “I need to go now. I'll miss the train with your theatrics.”
“Be good, okay?” Antonio said, with a smile. “Stay out of trouble.”
“Write to us once you reach,” Cassiopeia gently reminded, kissing her forehead. “And take this packet with you!”
Arlene groaned, reluctantly taking the packet of biscuits along with her. Clambering on to the train, she waved at them before walking to the very first compartment. With all her luggage carefully stored in the chambers below their seat, this compartment had, since her very first year, been hers to reserve for her best friends and herself. It was a good strategy to acquire the best of the treats from the trolley witch.
Arlene plopped down on her seat and glanced at her snowy owl, Amaryl, who hooted in her cage beside her, as if reciprocating her excitement about starting fresh at Hogwarts. She couldn't wait for her friends to arrive.
( @emmaaveryrp @aliceburkerp )
Start of term has always been hard for Emmaline, she was excited to see her friends but that meant being away from her family whom she loved more than anything in the world and always missed them greatly. She hugged them all, deciding to hug her eldest brother last, he was her favorite, since both of her parents were healers, he had to look after them and take care of her and her siblings, so she developed a strong bond with him, leaving him at the beginning of each term made her feel sad. Her older brother, Davian, called out her name telling them they’ll be late. She reluctantly let go of her brother and pressed a kiss on his cheek, making him promise he will write to her before joining her brother and making their way into the train. She waved goodbye at her brother as he made his way to another compartment to meet his friends, her best friend, Arlene, usually came earlier than them to reserve a compartment, it was the best in her opinion since their compartment is the first stop for the sweets trolley. She slid the door open and at the sight of her best friend, she dropped her bag onto the ground and rushed to hug Arlene “ARLY! I MISSED YOU!”
Alice, her mother Sigrid, and their house elf Rigsbee arrived behind schedule at the Kings Cross Station. Alice was running along the station like there was a race while her mother and the elf were jostling to catch Alice’s pace.
“Alice Cerise! The train won’t leave you!” Sigrid exclaimed. The three of them finally nearing platform 9 and 3/4.
As Rigsbee had been placing Alice’s trunks at the train luggage compartment, Alice bid her goodbye to Sigrid and hugged her briefly but tightly. “You take good care of yourself, my darling.” Sigrid said, her hands cupping Alice’s cheeks. She will surely miss her dearest mother but she certainly did not want to cry so she gently took her hands off her face and replied “Of course I will mother! Now, finish your fresco painting back at home and stop worrying about me or else THE TRAIN IS GOING TO LEAVE ME!” One last quick hug and she hopped inside the train.
In her hands were pink boxes that were enchanted to fit more than it could. She had curated these boxes herself from her travels during the break. Alice has always been thoughtful towards her friends, she loved spoiling them and giving them a peek of what she experienced in her tours. Inside was a variety of food and random trinkets — chocolates, coffee beans, pastries, tea bags, lipsticks, socks, jewelry, head bands, scented candles, soaps, bath bombs, a pajama set, even small bottles of liquor, and other posh things you could think of.
Alice waltzed towards the usual compartment of the little ladies. Her face radiated upon seeing her friends already settled. She was struggling the open the cabin door so she kicked it aside for it to budge a little and used her bum to slide it open. Looking haggard but still fashionable, she greeted her friends in a cheery tone, “Hello girls! Miss me?”
She then sat on the seat across Arly and Emma before handing them her presents.
“It’s just a little something, a little token...” she grinned.
Arlene grinned as the door of their compartment slid open to reveal Emmaline walking in with her luggage. She couldn't help but laugh at how dramatically her best friend dropped her items and rushed to hug her. Emma and her theatrics were both always precious.
“You saw me only last week in Diagon Alley,” she said, with a giggle, as she got up from her seat and embrace the blonde. “But I missed you too!”
No sooner did she step out of the hug than the door of the compartment slid open again, and in came her other best friend, Alice, with great difficulty.
“Whoa, Ali,” Arlene laughed, giving her a quick hug before the three settled down. Considering how her fiery red-haired was all over the place, it wouldn't take a seer to predict that she had been rushing — as usual. “Did you run all the way up to the train or something?”
She smiled, glancing at the small rose-pink boxes as Alice handed them their presents. The ladies had a tradition of exchanging gifts every year at the onset of their academic calendar — a token of love for each other. She was glad the war hadn't wiped this tradition out.
“Oh, come on,” she said, with a grin. “We know it's not little. You always go over the top.”
She then reached for her satchel from beside her and produced two small black velvet boxes before handing them to the girls. One of them featured a tiny, four-petal pendant with glistening pink diamonds, dangling from a rose-gold chain — for Alice. The present for Emmaline had a charm bracelet, featuring a sea turtle with an aqua-blue cut-out diamond as its belly. Both the jewelry items were made of rare diamonds, and she had them custom-made according to the likes of her best friends.
Julliet Hansen:
Julliet finally made it to 9 3/4 up to the Hogwarts express. "you'll write to us, right kitty?" Derek said still cynical about all of this. He knew what his baby sister had been through after the war and he didn't want her ptsd to take over. "yes, puppy. You know, I will" She said sweetly before hugging him. Derek clasped his sister in his embrace and kissed her temple before hesitantly letting go. "Take care, bunny." Evan smiled towards his younger sister. "I will, moose" she said softly with a smile towards her huge figure of a brother. That's where the nickname came from. They gently hugged each other and again, reluctantly let go. "I'll write to you the second I step into my dorm." she reassured them. "Alright. Bye, kitty. Stay safe" Derek softly told her. "Noted, Bunny. Now go educate yourself" Evan chirped towards her. She grinned at them and made her way into the train. The compartments were already filled with students.. That's what it takes for being slightly late. You won't find an available compartment just for you and the quiet. Due to Juliet being anti-social, she wasn't one to come up to you and ask if it's OK to share the compartment. But.. Luckily... She already saw a familiar red-head in a compartment close to the sweet-trolley. A bright smile curled up before she gently slid the compartment door and held a nervous smile while feeling her heart beating with nervousness. "Urm. Hi... All the compartments are filled. Would you mind if I stay with you 3? I won't be a bother, I promise" she said quickly and nervously but quite in a gentle and apologetic tone.
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Emmaline Maeve Avery:
Emmaline smiled sheepishly at Arlene when she said that they only met last week, it felt like forever, she was used to seeing them more often than that and she missed them so much. She whipped around when she heard Alice’s voice and let out a squeal before rushing out to engulf her in a hug. After she was content with the hug, she let go and took a seat beside her friend. She felt her heart warm as they both exchanged gifts, she reached into her bag which had an undetectable extension charm and pulled two glass domes with enchanted flowers in them, charmed by her eldest brother to never die and always look fresh and smell fragrant. “I hope you like them. Tommy enchanted them to stay like that forever” She handed the violet flowers to Arlene and the Pink flowers to Alice. She then proceeded to open her own gifts, they were so beautiful, it made her feel giddy to have such amazing friends. She then opened Arlene’s gifts, her jaw dropping at them all. There was so much of it! Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she heard the compartment door sliding open. Who were they? And why were they interrupting their time, her eyes softened when the girl said she couldn’t find any other spot. She glanced at the rest of her friends not sure if she should say anything, her friends are always telling her she is too nice and she didn’t want to be rude even tho she is not happy about this girl ruining their sacred tradition.
Alice giggled at Arlene’s remark. “Uh, for sure! The things I got you are from all over the world,” she agreed with a bat of her lashes.
She decided to show them some contents of the box but the coffee beans were the one she’s most interested in talking about.
“Those coffee beans are from Brazil,” she shared. “And the wizard who was selling them actually looks as fine and strong as his beans,” she emphasized. “You see, if only I was more confident around males he would have been inside that box too.”
———
Alice showed deep gratitude upon receiving Arlene’s gift. She knew that pink diamonds are expensive so she cannot help but wonder how much galleons did Arlene lose just to buy her something this expensive. Alice also appreciated Emmaline’s gift for she also loves flowers and thought it would make a good ornament for her vanity table back at home. She thanked her too and gave Emmaline her sweetest smile.
“Anywho, let’s talk about our activities during the break!” she suggested, her natural plump lips pouting as she searched through her purse to find a bottle of jellybeans.
She first turned to Arlene and before popping a jellybean into her mouth she asked, “Arly, what exactly happened in your business voyages? How was it?”
She chewed on her jelly bean before looking over at Emmaline, “How about you Emma? I’m expecting to see Hogwarts’ boring walls painted pink later when we get there!” she let out a chuckle.
Her gaze moved from Emma to a pink haired girl. She was the one she met at Diagon Alley during the break. “Oh, hi, Hansel,” she greeted her. Alice smiled awkwardly but she gave her a tiny wave. She wasn’t too sure about her name but she believe it sounded similar to that.
Now she would be shy to tell the rest of her stories since a girl she’s not really close with would be joining them.
Arlene opened Alice's gift box first, sporting a big smile on her young face as she glanced at its contents. The gifts she had curated were well thought out and generous. There was no doubt she had used the undetectable extension charm on them, considering its contents would easily need about five boxes of the given size.
“It's a shame you can't make an illicit use of magic like that,” Arlene jeered, giggling at Alice's story. “Imagine the amount of men you'd have entrapped in that box by now if that weren't the case. I shudder to even imagine.”
Next was Emmaline's gift. The charmed purple coloured flowers made her smile as she glanced at the glass dome in her hands. The enchanting floral smell from the outlet wafted into her nose and she sighed happily. Placing all the gifts beside her, she turned to them and said, “I 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 all the gifts!”
When Alice asked her about the chain of business voyages she had to accompany her parents to, she made a sour face. “𝘌𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨,” she said, emphatically. “The amount of sleep and sightseeing I had to sacrifice for my damned ambitions... Adulthood is a 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮.”
She shook her head, sobering. “It was worth it though. And a funny thing happened, actually—”
Arlene paused midway, her eyes following the trail of Emmaline to see a dark-skinned witch with pink hair enter their compartment. She cocked an eyebrow at Alice, who seemed to know her, before glancing at Emmaline only to discover that the blonde was already looking at them expectantly.
Trying not to roll her eyes, Arlene shrugged at the stranger. “Sure,” she said, nonchalantly. Indeed, this compartment had been theirs traditionally, but she couldn't let the poor girl stand all the way to Hogwarts. “Come on in.”
Julliet Hansen:
Juliet felt her cheeks blush as soon as Alice remembered her. "oh. Alice. Hi. It's Hansen, but close enough" she chuckled shyly looking down at her feet feeling slightly awkward and shyly. The second the Raven haired girl spoke she grinned a toothy grin and exhaled in relief "Thank you. I don't want to intrude, please carry on what you were doing" She gracefully got in the compartment and slid the luggage under her seat after she got out her book. She sat down at the side of the door and just offered them a smile before immediately exporting herself into the book and minding her own business
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Emmaline Maeve Avery:
She looked at Alice then back at this new girl, how do they know each other? Now that she had a better look at the girl, he recognized her, she has seen her around Hogwarts, she was a Ravenclaw but that didn’t explain how Alice knew her. “Hi! I’m Emmaline or better know as Emma. Nice to meet you!” She hummed to herself when the girl told them to carry on what they were doing. She shrugged and did just that “Ali, I still don’t understand, why would you want to put a man in a box? What did they do?” She asked ignoring everything else that was said, that made no sense to her.
Alice politely moved her body to give Juliet a comfortable space to sit on.
“Ah yeah Hansen, I’m terribly sorry...” she apologized whole heartedly.
“Oh and ladies, she’s the girl I told you about. The one I met in Diagon Alley,” she explained.
She didn’t want to ruin their sacred tradition — as Emmaline calls it, so she decided to to move her attention from Juliet to Arlene to which she suggested, “As you were saying, Arly? What funny thing happened?”
Emma had interrupted the conversation by her rather innocent question. She wanted to burst out laughing in response to Emma’s question and she would have, if only there was no other person in the cabin. Instead, she pursed her lips into a thin line trying to control her laughter. To her misfortune, she accidentally let out a snort and she turned tomato red.
“Uhh... Emma,” she mumbled as she started to compose herself. “That was a joke and I was just goofing around earlier.”
Alice could not think of an intelligent explanation she could present Emmaline. Ever since they were children, Emma tends to miss her jokes about boys. And she can never elaborate them for her. She needed help so she asked in a whimsical tone, “Arlene, would you like to give me a hand here?”
Arlene nodded in acknowledgement at the girl who introduced herself as Hansen. With a smile, she said, “And I'm Arlene Travers.” Her voice was proud and yet devoid of any air of superiority. Yes, she was proud of her family line and grateful for her privileged upbringing, but she never believed in reinforcing the same by dragging people around her down.
She glanced at Alice when the red-head explained that the said girl was the one she'd met earlier in Diagon Alley. “Ah,” she said, arching her eyebrows, before turning to Hansen. “Small world. You're not in our year, are you? I haven't seen you before.”
Arlene was about to reply to Alice when Emmaline threw an innocent question her way, which was then directed towards her by Alice herself. It was always amusing to her, albeit a tad annoying at times just how jokes always went way above the blonde's head. She let out a snort, seeing just how Alice struggled to maintain her composure. While Arlene and Emmaline could easily mingle with the rest, their red-haired best friend was always shy around strangers.
“Suppose you're in Alice's place,” Arlene proposed, thinking of a way to simplify the equation to Emmaline. “And the said man was Orsino Thurston,” she continued, referring to the drummer of the Gothic band, Weird Sisters, and Emma's biggest crush, “would you not want to—I don't know—keep him with you? So that he could play you all the songs you want to listen? Or maybe play while 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 singing one of your songs? It's kind of like that. Hypothetically, of course.”
