Dream of voyage (Aoife and OPEN)

Victoria felt like her lungs would soon jump out of her body if her mother hugged her any tighter. To be fair, summer was the only time she got to see her mom properly. But nevertheless, she did try to keep in touch as much as she could during the school year via letters. Her mom just worried a lot about her kids, Victoria knew that very well. "Now are you sure you have everything packed?", she repeated with anxiety as if she was talking to a ten year old girl and not her teenage daughter. "Yes, yes I have", Victoria confirmed for the tenth time as a loud whistle suggested the trains quick impending departure. The Ravenclaw hugged her mother once more, and after promising to write often and to get along with her brother, boarded the train while dragging her suitcase behind her.

Finally! Only a few short hours now separated her and Hogwarts. Not that she was usually this enthusiastic about school, but her dreadfully dull summer vacation had given her a change of perspective. If you disregard all the rules and regulations Hogwarts enforced - or tried to - on its students, the castle was the one place were Victoria truly felt free. She missed the simple, uninhibited surrounding of her peers and professors. Some would disagree with her of course, pointing to detention and the unhumorous amounts of homework they were assigned to each day. But being a Ravenclaw, Victoria was rather skilled at avoiding the first and finishing the latter. 

As she was walking through the long hallway her eyes glanced at the passing compartments. Most of them were filled by very loud and excited first years - ugh. Trying to get away from such uncivil noise, Victoria choose an empty compartment near the end of the train. She threw herself into the middle seat and propped her legs up - this was no time to be lady like. Her eyes wandered at the window as she watched the familiar scenery disappear in a flash. It brought her back to a time when she was that frightened exchange student with a funny accent and a weird tan. Grateful that such an awkward period of her life was behind her, she rested in her seat and admired the passing view from the window.

Aoife almost missed the train. First there was a plane delay so she got to the airport an hour later than expected. And then there was traffic so she was stuck for ages in a stuffy taxi in the middle of London. Eventually they got to Kings Cross, only for her to see that she had three minutes to get onto the platform and board the train. At that point, it was the shortest hug ever for her mam and the her fastest running ever, all the way to the platform, where she only just made it through the doors before they closed and the train set off. She grinned triumphantly, feeling a huge sense of achievement that she was on the way back to Hogwarts, even though the world had let her down a bit with that plane delay.

For a moment, she stood there hesitantly, wondering where to go. She didn't want to find Hunter, because she was frankly terrified of him, or more of how he was going to violently lash out if she tried to help, and because he would most likely be with the she-devil, sharing mouth germs. Phin wouldn't get the train because he was in Hogsmeade. And she didn't really have many other friends, now she thought about it. So she just started walking up the corridor to find an empty one. That was easier said than done, most of them filled. Eventually, she got to one with a familiar girl in. How had she forgotten about this awesome Brazilian Ravenclaw friend?!

"Vicky-Tori!" she smiled, with slightly less enthusiasm than normal and a lot more exhaustion. She might find herself asleep for a lot of this journey. "How was your summer?" Aoife leaped onto the seats on the other side of the compartment and spread out over all of them, making herself comfortable. There was no point asking if she could sit down because friends didn't do that. Friends invited themselves to sit down and started making conversation, even when they felt sad because their secret ninja best friend had just been murdered.

'Vicky-Tori!', she heard and grinned at the familiar voice, knowing that only one person calls her that. Glancing at the door, she saw the red haired girl come in and occupy the seats across her. "Aoife!", she responded with a smile as she greeted her friend. It had been a long summer without her friends and Victoria had just realized how much she had missed them all, especially Aoife. "I would totally come and hug you but my laziness prevents it. And these seats are strangely comfortable. So just imagine I hugged you till you couldn't breathe anymore", said Victoria with a chuckle not wanting to move an inch from her current position. With her feet propped up and her head placed on an improvised pillow she had made from her jumper, there was really no better way to travel than this.

"My summer was extremely boring", she said with a sigh remembering all those nights she had spent not knowing what to do with herself. The highlight of her day would be watching her cat relentlessly chase random pigeons that have landed in her garden. And perhaps going out shopping when she was allowed. "I was stuck in the house with an overbearing mother and a brother who acted like I didn't exist. All because my parents think I shouldn't go anywhere unsupervised. How insane is that? Hopefully next year I won't have to go through the same torture again", she complained to Aoife. Was it truly possible that only her parents had this kind of old-fashioned view on things? 

"However, I had plenty of time to research our books for the next year and that will come in handy. I just wished I had the chance to practice Quidditch more often. Did  I tell you that I want to try out this year for chaser?"Victoria actually had plans to try out last year, but had quit the last second because she didn't believe she was prepared enough. She didn't like to risk things so she had decided to delay her try outs for the next year. Hopefully, with the added experience and with some practice, the try outs will end just as she had planned. 

"How was your summer?" she asked in a soft voice, turning to face Aoife. It was a silly question really, because she knew the answer to it already. Just the fact that she wasn't sitting with Hunter was proof of this. Victoria had been fortunate enough not to witness the tragedy that happened in Diagon Alley but she had heard enough rumors about it. The death of Hunter's brother came as a shock to everyone. She couldn't even imagine how Hunter was holding up and she wouldn't dare to ask. Making Aoife answer her pointless questions would just be cruel and Victoria didn't want to make her friend feel any worse than she already did. No - her mission was to make the usually hyperactive and joyful Gryffindor smile as much as possible during this trip. She had to at least try.