Chapter Text
EVERYONE SAID SHE LOOKED like her mother.
⠀⠀The spitting image of her mother actually. Laurel Pandora Scamander was a sight for sore eyes. Her head held long tresses of dirty blonde hair that resembled the color of spring yellow dandelions, which sometimes had brightly colored ribbons weaved into braids or was up in a messy bun held up by her wand. She had small lips that made the prettiest smile and let out the most melodious laugh. Her ears occasionally held a pair of strawberry earrings or a butterbeer cork necklace would adorn her neck. Whenever she looked up, the bright blue eyes that she had gained from her father pierced the onlooker's soul, as if she knew them inside out.
⠀⠀And when she looked at James Sirius Potter for the first time in fifteen years, he knew there was no going back.
⠀⠀He had to take off his glasses (which he hated) and put them back on when he saw her. Laurel had given him a confused look, shook her head and returned to the book she had been reading, a small smile on her face, forgetting about the incident as soon as she turned away.
⠀⠀Laurel and James were in the same house, Gryffindor, and the same year. But most people said she should've been placed in Ravenclaw with her older brother, Lysander. She honestly didn't really mind what house she got into as long as she had friends. Everyone claimed Slytherin to be bad, but Laurel found no malevolence in any of the houses. Slytherins were just smart and sly people. They were ambitious and Laurel admired them for it.
⠀⠀Both of them had met multiple times before because of their mothers' close friendship when they were little tykes, but because Laurel had spent so much time in the library with her two best friends and in the Forbidden Forest to draw, the both of them hardly ever spoke while at Hogwarts. James had his own group of friends and Quidditch to focus on than her.
⠀⠀But it wasn't until his fifth year in Potions class that he had finally taken a good look at Laurel.
⠀⠀And Merlin, she was radiant.
⠀⠀James Sirius Potter was known for being the eldest son of the famous Harry Potter. He gave off a discreet pompous vibe like the two people he was named after, but everyone knew that once you got to know him, he wasn't so bad. He looked very much like his father, except he didn't inherit the famous green eyes. Ginny's beautiful chocolate brown eyes were given to him, along with her contagious energetic smile. A mat of untidy black hair sat on his head which billowed whenever he flew, and stuck onto his forehead whenever it got wet. He had his father's face structure and lanky frame. From both, he inherited amazing Quidditch abilities, playing Chaser for the Gryffindor team.
⠀⠀He was rather witty, like his mother, had a kind heart like his father, but nosy to the likes of his uncle. And he had no problem with it. A pair of rectangular black glasses sat upon his nose, slipping down once in awhile, just for him to push them back up annoyedly. He hated them. Which was why he hardly ever wore them.
⠀⠀Laurel walked through the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, heading to the compartment that her two best friends, Callen Li and Dominique Weasley had hastily hogged.
⠀⠀They were riding the Express to their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which Laurel highly enjoyed going to. Though school was stressful, she found magic extremely intriguing. It was the year that every sixth-year student was to make a career choice and Laurel wanted to become a Healer. She didn't know why, especially because neither of her parents had much experience in healing, but she found joy in helping people get better.
⠀⠀She opened the door to the compartment, finding Callen and Dominique feasting on their trolley treats, fighting over which to keep for Laurel.
⠀⠀"Laurel doesn't like Licorice Wands," Callen Li said, shaking her head at her friend.
⠀⠀Callen Li was fair in complexion, reminding everyone of the moon. She had a pair of dark brown eyes that resembled the color of dark chocolate and a bright smile that was almost always on her face. Black waves of hair lengthened to her mid-back, which was currently braided into two French braids, small baby hairs framing her face. She was the smartest out of the three girls (which Callen claimed was because she was Asian, but the other two simply rolled their eyes) and held the gentlest of voices.
⠀⠀"Well, I do, so I'll take it," Dominique Weasley said, grabbing the Licorice Wand from Callen's hand.
⠀⠀Dominique Weasley was the second out of three children of Bill and Fleur Weasley, which meant she was also part Veela. Callen and Laurel were completely fascinated with the fact when they found out, while Dominique quickly dismissed it like it was nothing. She was the only redhead out of the three children and the only one without freckles covering every part of her body. She had her father's sea blue eyes and her mother's effortless attractiveness. However, she was never found with a boy's arm around her shoulder, but instead rejecting the boy's arm and retreating to sit thirty feet away from him.
⠀⠀"You do have Cauldron Cakes though, right?" Laurel asked as she pushed open the door, making the girls jump a little.
⠀⠀"Oh my Merlin, you scared us," Dominique said, chuckling as Callen reached over to grab a Cauldron Cake package.
⠀⠀"We saved like three Cauldron Cakes for you," Callen said as Laurel sat down, taking the package from her friend's hand. "Why don't you like Licorice Wands again?"
⠀⠀"Because they don't taste good," Laurel said simply, opening the package and taking a bite. "I don't like licorice. But if you like licorice then by all means. I don't mind it as long as you don't shove it in my mouth."
⠀⠀Callen nodded as Dominique chewed away on her Licorice Wand.
⠀⠀"Where's your little boyfriend?" Dominique asked, wiggling her eyebrows at Callen.
⠀⠀"You mean Evan?" Callen asked nonchalantly.
⠀⠀"Yes, Evan. You don't mean you have another boyfriend, do you?" Dominique replied sarcastically. Laurel chuckled as she pulled out her sketch pad, Callen smiling sarcastically at her red haired friend.
⠀⠀"He's probably with Potter or something," Callen stated dismissively.
⠀⠀"Shouldn't a good boyfriend be here with you?" Dominique asked.
⠀⠀"I told him he didn't need to," Callen admitted. "It would be weird having six people crammed into a compartment with Evan, Potter, and Arlington. And if it's just him alone it'll be awkward because he'd be the only male."
⠀⠀"Actually, Louis is stuck with two older sisters for two months during the summer and he's okay with it. I suppose Evan should be okay with it too," Dominique concluded, shrugging.
⠀⠀"But he's been with you for fourteen years. He's used to it," Laurel retaliated.
⠀⠀"That's true," Dominique admitted.
⠀⠀"Mmhmm," Callen said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Dom, you still haven't found the one?"
⠀⠀"No," Dominique said, shrugging. "I might just stay single for the rest of my life."
⠀⠀"Same here," Laurel said, her eyes on her drawing pad, her pencil making swift strokes on the paper as she began drawing.
⠀⠀"Well, I'm sticking with Evan," Callen said, throwing a Chocolate Frog in her mouth. "Oh my Merlin, I got the Harry Potter card again."
⠀⠀"I see the actual person whenever we have family reunions," Dominique said tiredly. "Which is like all the time. Because Aunt Hermione loves reunions for some reason."
⠀⠀"Which one do you want?" Laurel asked Callen, chuckling.
⠀⠀"The Nicolas Flamel one," Callen said, putting the card on the side. "It's a rare one."
⠀⠀"I have that one back home," Laurel said, looking up. "Two of them, actually. Do you want one? I can ask my mum to owl it to me."
⠀⠀"No, it's alright," Callen said, shrugging. "I'll just wait for it."
⠀⠀"Okay," Laurel said, smiling as she returned to her drawing.
⠀⠀"Or you can make Evan eat loads of Chocolate Frogs until he finds it," Dominique suggested, a playful glint in her blue eyes.
⠀⠀"That would be cruel!" Callen exclaimed, her eyes growing wide. "No, I'm not going to make my boyfriend suffer because of some Chocolate Frog card."
⠀⠀"It was just a suggestion," Dominique said, chuckling as she sprawled on her compartment seat, yawning and closing her eyes.
⠀⠀"Why are you yawning? The trip to Hogwarts isn't even halfway through," Callen said, a small piece of gold tin foil from a Chocolate Snitch at her friend's face.
⠀⠀"What? I'm a sleepy teenager," Dominique said indignantly, sitting up immediately as the tin foil hit her nose. "Let me sleep."
⠀⠀"You're not going to sleep later tonight though," Laurel said. "You're going to babble about hippogriffs and Blast-Ended Skrewts all night and keep us all awake."
⠀⠀Dominique laughed. "That sounds more like what you would do, Laurel. Besides, I think I ate too many Licorice Wands that day."
⠀⠀"Too many? You ate like twenty-five of them!" Callen exclaimed. "You went Licorice Wand-happy."
⠀⠀"Then I didn't eat any for the next five months!" Dominique replied as she tossed the gold tin foil back at Callen who dodged it quickly, lying back down.
⠀⠀"I did write a few articles on hippogriffs and Blast-Ended Skrewts before," Laurel said, smiling with pride. "And they were—"
⠀⠀"Yes, they were published in the Quibbler. We know," Dominique said, rolling her eyes.
⠀⠀Laurel smiled, shrugging, returning to her sketch that was slowly beginning to turn into a wooded area of sorts. She wasn't really thinking about what she was drawing. It was more like her hand had a mind of its own, wandering into the depths of her own mind and finally producing a drawing of sorts. Most sketches ended up being ones of her black cat, which she had named Caesar once she adopted him. He was currently sitting in the shelves above the girls' heads in the compartment, napping his way through the trip to Hogwarts. She was sure he'd nap his way through the entire year while she would be stressing about some History of Magic exam.
⠀⠀"What are you drawing?" Dominique asked, leaning across from her seat.
⠀⠀Laurel quickly reacted by slapping her hand on the drawing, shaking her head. "An artist never shows their work, Dom."
⠀⠀"Come on, Laurel, I'm your best friend."
⠀⠀"I'll show you when I'm done," Laurel said, shaking her head as Dominique cocked an eyebrow skeptically. "I promise."
⠀⠀"Fine," Dominique sighed, leaning back on the seat and then laying down on her seat, closing her eyes and swinging an arm over them.
⠀⠀"Castor is worried as hell about not getting into Gryffindor," Callen said thoughtfully. "I think he'll get into Hufflepuff though. He's too kind to be in Gryffindor."
⠀⠀"Tell your brother that it doesn't matter what house he gets into because not all the houses are bad," Laurel said, smiling. "Not even Slytherin."
⠀⠀"I only hate Slytherin because they beat us at the Quidditch House Cup last year," Dominique said resentfully. Callen and Laurel rolled their eyes.
⠀⠀"It's just Quidditch. You didn't die when we lost last year so relax," Laurel said, chuckling at Dominique, who still had her arm over her eyes.
⠀⠀A knock came from the door before Dominique could respond. The three girls looked up, Dominique moving the arm covering her eyes to see who it was, Laurel looking up from her sketching, and Callen turning from the window to the person.
⠀⠀"Well, there's your lovely boyfriend," Dominique said tiredly as she covered her eyes with her arm again as Laurel slid the door open for Evan.
⠀⠀"Hi, Evan," Laurel said, waving as Callen jumped up and into Evan's arms.
⠀⠀Evan Wood was about at least a head taller than Callen, making them quite perfect for each other, in Laurel's opinion at least. He could almost rest his chin comfortably on her head. He had light brown skin, black tousled hair, a pair of dark obsidian irises, and a stocky build. He had a very soft looking face and was known for being incredibly kind to almost everyone (which is why the three girls really thought he should've been in Hufflepuff, but the Sorting Hat has its reasons). He was the Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team (like his father, Oliver Wood) and was pretty good at it too. Laurel highly respected the boy, especially because he treated Callen so well.
⠀⠀"Hi, Laurel," Evan replied after pecking Callen on her cheek. "And hello, Dominique."
⠀⠀Dominique simply waved at the boy, not bothering to remove the arm from her eyes as Laurel chuckled at her friend's passive behavior.
⠀⠀"Ignore her," Callen said, waving Dominique away as Evan slid his hand around her waist. "How have you been?"
⠀⠀"Great," Evan replied, smiling. "Better now that you're here with me."
⠀⠀"You know how to talk, don't you?" Callen flirted, chuckling as she smacked him gently on his chest. Dominique groaned discreetly at the two and Laurel could tell she was rolling her eyes.
⠀⠀Laurel really did believe that the two were unbelievably adorable together (as did everyone in Gryffindor, maybe everyone Hogwarts too) and she was quite ready for their wedding to happen already. She grinned as the couple talked amongst themselves, both stumbling as the train jolted against the tracks. She returned to her drawing and ended up adding the couple to the foreground of the sketch. Oops, she thought. Dominique was going to have a fit.
⠀⠀The blonde knew that Dominique didn't actually hate Evan for dating Callen; Dominique actually really enjoyed the couple being together, especially because of the way Evan treated Callen. Dominique was terribly honest with everyone and everyone knew not to take it too hard. Callen, on the other hand, was incredibly kind and gave off a vulnerable demeanor. But never mistake one's kindness as weakness.
⠀⠀Dominique sat up finally, staring at the two who were still visibly flirting.
⠀⠀"Where's my cousin?" she blurted, her flaming red hair messed up.
⠀⠀"Right here," a black haired boy appeared next to Evan. "You were looking for me, Dom?"
⠀⠀"No," Dominique replied as James Potter walked into the compartment, taking a seat next to blonde, not noticing that it was Laurel Scamander. "I was just wondering if you were alive because you didn't answer my owl yesterday."
⠀⠀"Sorry about that. I got caught up with homework that I had been procrastinating on," James explained, leaning back on the seat, his hands on his head. He accidentally elbowed Laurel, moving the hand which was drawing, causing her to leave a stray mark on her page.
⠀⠀"Oh, fuck—I'm so sorry..." he trailed off as he looked at her, realizing then that it was Laurel Scamander he had unconsciously sat down next to. "Scamander?"
⠀⠀"Potter," Laurel replied, trying not to get too worked up about the pencil mark that made Callen's leg too long. She pulled out her eraser and rubbed the mark away, her discontent ebbing away as the mark disappeared.
⠀⠀"Sorry about — er, messing up your sketch," James muttered, quite flustered at the girl's intense staring. This was Laurel Scamander! He didn't even notice. And now he had messed up her sketch.
⠀⠀"It's fine," Laurel said quietly, returning to draw Callen's leg the right way.
⠀⠀"Er—it's a nice sketch," James said nervously, his glasses sliding down his nose, his hand flying up to push them back up.
⠀⠀Laurel chuckled. "Thank you."
⠀⠀"You're—erm—welcome," James stammered, rubbing the back of his neck as Callen and Evan sat down next to a very confused Dominique. She was staring at her best friend and cousin talk. They rarely ever spoke to each other.
⠀⠀Laurel smiled at James, turning to look at him with her shining blue eyes, giving him a five second look that seemed to be searching his face. Then she turned back to her sketch, oblivious to the fact that the color of James' ears were growing to an abnormal shade of red, his eyes still on her face. Dominique couldn't help but smirk as she leant back and chewed on her unfinished Licorice Wand.
⠀⠀James couldn't stop staring at Laurel. Her smile was radiant like the sun, the hair that fell loose from her golden bun seemed to fall effortlessly into place around her face, and her eyes were devastatingly beautiful, slowly tearing him apart. He tore his eyes away from the girl before he could melt in his seat, retreating to staring at his cousin, who was visibly shaking with silent laughter. Evan was smirking at his friend, wiggling his dark eyebrows, while Callen slowly came into realization as to why her red haired friend was silently laughing uncontrollably, covering her growing smile behind her hand.
⠀⠀Laurel, on the other hand, was quite oblivious to everything that was going on.