Celestia Eleanor Young is the newest generation of the Pure-blood Young family of Singapore. The Young Clan has the power of a monarchy and the wealth of a first-world country.
Not only does she have to prove herself to her family that she's capable...
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Mum holds my hand as we walk through Platform 9 ¾. Nick, Astrid, and Auntie Felicity walks close behind, chatting away about their anticipation for the new year.
We're always given stares from people everywhere, sometimes of admiration and other times of discrimination. We are foreign faces to them, after all. I don't mind the attention, in fact I love them. People either give you stares if you're horrendous-looking or if you're a sight for sore eyes. I'd like to prefer the latter. The way we carry ourselves is very obvious to the eye. We look like royalty, we act like royalty, and we practically are royalty.
We arrive outside an entrance onto the train. Nick quickly kisses Mum on the cheek, and Astrid bows her head in farewell to her before kissing Auntie Felicity's cheeck as well. They immediately rush onto the train to catch up to their friends, already forgetting that I was still here.
"They sure are excited to leave me behind," I joke.
Mum kneels down, holds my face with her hands and kisses my forehead. "Remember who you are," she speaks in Mandarin, "and who you are to become."
I smile and kiss her forehead as well. "I'll make you proud, Mum."
She smiles in return, and stands back up. "I have no doubt."
I know my role, and that is to bring our blood, pride, and honor.
And with that, I left her for the train.
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I wave at her through each of the windows I pass, seeing her waving back.
I'm not particularly worried if Mum would ever be alone back in Singapore, with both of her children gone. In fact, no one could ever be lonely there. Plenty of fancy Aunties and lively events would never bore anyone.
Draco soon catches up to me, and latches his hand onto mine. We continue down the aisle to find an empty compartment.
I take out my newly customized wand to show him. It's similar to Mum's, with intricate jade and gold swirls carved into the handle, except mine is glazed solid black. He says it's perfect for me.
We pass by several occupied compartments until coming upon one with a green tassel charm hanging on the door. Recognizing it, we push the door to enter and is met with a familiar face.
Blaise Zabini looks up from his fashion magasine and smiles. He stands up and extends his arms wide. "Ah, there's my fellow minority."
"My fellow discriminated comrade." I smile and give him a hug. Blaise and I always bond and joke about our smilar discrimination experiences we'd receive here in the west.
Draco just rolls his eyes at our interaction. He always seems to give an attitude to whoever gets physically close to me. I don't know why, nor do I care.
They give each other a pat on the back as a greeting. We take our seats, with Blaise sitting in front of me and Draco.
"How was your stay at Draco's hotel, cara?" Blaise asks. He always finds ways to include his mother tongue, Italian, into his everyday conversations. Like me, he's seen as a foreigner, as he isn't entirely of European descent, but also part African descent. Nevertheless, he is still very much a pure-blood. He even has the slightest Italian accent when he speaks English, which I predict will make all the Hogwarts witches and wizards swoon.
"My hotel now." I proudly cross my arms.
"You bought the Calthorpe?" Blaise slightly raises his eyebrows. "Must've cost more than twice this train we're sitting in."
"Oh please, to her it's barely half a knut," Draco nonchalantly says, beside me.
"You bought the Calthorpe Private Hotel?"
We turn our heads to Daphne Greengrass, most graceful and most sassy, who smiles and closes the door behind her.
I immediately take notice of her stylish hat. "Merlin, I love your beret."
"Dear, a fashion compliment from you has just made my day." Daphne blows me a kiss and sits down across from us, next to Blaise.
He turns to her, eyeing her hat with betrayal in his eyes. "You went shopping in Paris without me?"
"Blaise, shopping with you is equivalent to shopping with a hawk," She tells him. "Your eyes are always on me and the items I pick so that you can steal them when I'm not looking."
Blaise puts a hand over his heart, mouth agape. He turns his head to Draco and me, expecting us to stand up for him. I grin and turn to see Draco's reaction. He rolls his eyes, unamused. It's clear that he has no interest in fashion as we did. He just wears whatever Missus Malfoy gets him.
"Does any of you happen to know what would be for dinner there?" Daphne asks us. "I'm famished."
"No breakfast again?" I ask.
"Ugh, It's literally been like this for a whole week now—Mother even removed my chair from the dining table," Daphne complains to us. Her mother has always been very strict on controlling her daily diet, often making her miss a meal or two a day.
Blaise lightly pats her back to comfort her.
"You're already worried for dinner? I'm still waiting for the food trolley." Draco impatiently crosses his arms.
"Speaking of the trolley," Blaise notes as the door to our compartment opens, with one being pushed inside by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Draco and Blaise immediately throw themselves at the cart to snatch whatever sweets they can munch on.
I snort. "Vince, Greg, how much did you have to bribe that old lady for?"
Vince grins. "None."
Greg nods. "We stole it."
"As you should." Daphne nods approvingly. She picks out her favorite sweets and drops them in a charmed pouch with unlimited storage while still maintaining her perfect lady-like posture.
"Draco, be a dear and fetch me my jade charm," Blaise tells Draco, not bothering to look up from reading his chocolate frog.
Draco throws a rock-hard sweet at him. "You don't get to order me around, Zabini."
Blaise sighs in defeat and mutters something under his breath, something along the lines of, "One day, I will."
Vince, being the sweetheart that he is, goes to get the charm for him. Blaise thanks him and stuffs it in his robes.
The white jade hanging charm with a green tassel on the end were gifts to the six of us from Ah Ma. They signify good luck and fortune, but they also serve as a location marker. We'd hang our charms on doors or walls to silently let one other know where to find each other.
Draco offers half of his chocolate bar to me. I take it and we smile at each other, while Blaise continues to plead innocence to Daphne. At one point, he even tried to drag in Vince and Greg to defend him, but they got confused and took Daphne's side instead.
