ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ 1-3

girl troubles

A/N: if you saw that I published a random part from fourth year, my apologies😭. accidentally hit several buttons but at least now you know I have a lot written in advanced!!

I met my father after getting off the Hogwarts Express. I'd hardly slept a wink. I was starting to get a headache just from everything that I knew, and spent the train ride trying to write it all down in this year's journal. I was joined about midway through the ride by a blonde girl, who squinted at me funny as though something was amiss.

"Are you aware that you're infested with Nargles?" She asked me, to which I blinked at her several times in confusion. At my lack of response, she tutted and shook her head.

"Thought not — here," she produced a necklace from her pocket adorned with a cork, almost exactly like the one she was wearing around her own neck. "This'll do the trick. Go on, now."

I've heard of cursed necklaces before, but the girl seemed quite harmless. To humor her, I fastened the clasp around my neck. She seemed satisfied and sat back in the seat across from mine, rifling through her bag for a magazine which she proceeded to read upside down.

"Nargles are known to be mischievous, thieving little things." She explained a few minutes later. "I could sense them as I passed your compartment. They infest your ears and stir up all kinds of confusion, and they're tricky to get rid of since they're invisible."

"I see," I said sagely, absolutely bewildered. I swore I'd read almost all of the books on magical creatures, but a Nargle was not one I was familiar with.

My father had a youthful sort of glow about him when I arrived. This made me feel much better — I hadn't realized how much I missed him.

"You're practically glowing," I told him slyly. "Is it Angela?"

Much to my amusement, he blushed. "Would you believe me if I said I'm just happy to see my daughter again?"

"Perhaps," I teased. "Is she here yet?"

"She's coming over at six for dinner and she's going to stay while you're here for the holidays, if that's okay," he raised an eyebrow and picked up my trunk for me as we walked out of the station.

"That should be alright," I replied, suddenly feeling nervous. "Have you told her yet?"

He shook his head. "I wanted you to be there. I was going to tell her this week but she was acting rather strange when I mentioned you went to boarding school and had a pet owl." He frowned slightly again. "Maybe we'll wait until summer."

"Yes, we probably shouldn't push it," I said quickly. "But I expect her reaction won't be too dramatic. Seamus said his father came around within a few days when he first found out."

"If she's as incredible as you say, it won't be a problem."

"She's fantastic," he replied, grinning once again. "She's the sort of girl that I fancied in high school but never had the guts to ask out because she was out of my league."

"You are looking particularly youthful," I teased.

He made a face at me. "Do I usually not?"

"I'm not answering that," I replied. "You told her I had a pet owl?"

"I told her a lot about you," my father said sheepishly. "Having you as my daughter is a pretty big bragging point."

I snickered. "So is having you as my dad."

When we reached the car, I found my tiredness returning as I laid my head against the window. It was around eight in the morning when we finally got home and unloaded my things. I rather missed my room with the posters on my wall — perhaps I should take some back with me. I had a few for Sherlock Holmes as well as two for Nirvana, and a few for ABBA. I set Willow's cage on my windowsill and opened my window for her to fly out.