[IC] Forsaken Children of War (Kirah and McHaggis)

[Kirah]

Kyle stood next to his luggage and his parents. His older sister, Maggarina (Maggie to literally anyone who spoke with her), was already on the train having met up with friend Alistair.

Kyle had no reservations about going. He was just nervous about the train. He had never been on one before. He was taking the sight in when his father knelt down beside him. "Son, you'll do just fine." His mother kissed the top of his head. "Just stay out of Maggie's way." Kyle had had no intention of bothering his sister, she had already made it abundantly clear they weren't going to be friendly at school. Not that they were friendly anywhere else. His father fixed his collar. "You stay out of trouble. Things will be changing soon and I don't want you to appear to know too much just yet." The older man stood and Kyle's mother took his place. Kyle's father noticed one of his acquaintances, Malfoy, and stepped over to speak with the other man.

"Kyle, study hard okay, and write often." The dark haired woman tightly hugged her son and gave him a slight push toward the train. Kyle clambered onto the train, awkward in his growing body, glanced back and gave a small wave.

The train was bustling with students of all ages. Kyle was shoved around a bit by older students greeting friends. He felt so alone. In his family one didn't make friends with people that weren't destined for the same fate as they were. Greatness. All of his playmates had been carefully picked for him, and none of them were to be found right now. Finally he slid into a carriage that was empty, as he struggled to put his trunk up on the rack his sister stepped into the room.

"Squirt." Kyle looked at his sister and nearly dropped his luggage. Maggie caught it and pushed it the rest of the way onto the rack. "Listen, Mom may have said some nonsense about, find where you'll be happy, but dad will disown you if you aren't Slytherin."

"Maggie, come one, the rest of us have taken over the back carriage." A male voice, probably Alistair called from the hall.

"Not that I care." She let her many braids fly as she turned around quickly to head back into the corridor. Kyle slumped down into the seat. It was true his father would disown him, Kyle knew that. Kyle had no inclination for any other house though. His sister may joke at him that he'd be Hufflepuff for sure, but in reality Kyle knew what he valued most. He leaned his head back only looking up with the train car door opened again, he hoped it wasn't Maggie again.

[McHaggis]

Siobhan knotted her hair around her fingertips then smoothed it down self-consciously. King's Cross station, particularly on the hidden platform, was busy, far busier than anything she'd ever seen on the island – even more so than Diagon Alley. Her heart throbbed in a curious mix of excitement and fear, the strangeness of leaving home for the first time so very real.

Her free hand was clamped in a vice like grip around her older brother's wrist and he had inexplicably winced but otherwise said nothing. He could see him scanning the crowd as he levitated both of their trunks onto the train and a rare smile that spread across his face. She knew well enough that their home on the island wasn't home anymore, not since he had stormed out. Hogwarts was his home now.

She hoped that she would like it as much as she had. Merlin, how embarassing it would be if she felt home-sick.

The MacFusty patriarch – her father – stood stoically at the back of the crowd, staring distrustfully at the green on many of the older students' robes, even his own son's. Siobhan was surprised he had stayed still for so long given that he was a flighty, restless Gryffindor alumni. She had been told many times that she was the spitting image of him; that she would definitely make the Lions proud, much to her – and Alistair's – dismay.

Alistair shoved his trunk into the very end carriage that nearly glowed green given how many Slytherins were inside. When she moved to follow, he grinned at her and leant over (quite far, given her short stature) and rest his chin on her head. “Don't worry, Siobhan,” he said reassuringly, “Mum and Dad'll love you no matter what house you end up in. But that doesn't mean you're not going for Slytherin, of course.”

Siobhan managed a watery smile. “Of course. Siobhan for Slytherin. It matches like you said.”

“Now go and make friends in your own year.” Alistair ran a hand through Siobhan's hair and stood up, shouting, “Maggie, come on; the rest of us have taken over the back carriage!”

“Alistair? Where do I go?” Siobhan asked, panicked, to which he paused, then pointed at the carriage that the Slytherin named Maggie had just wandered out of with a half-smile that wasn't entirely directed at her but rather behind her.

Alone, Siobhan made her way down the crowded corridor, passing compartment after compartment that she could tell was full through the frosted glass. Sure enough, the one Alistair pointed to only had one person in it – how he knew those things, she had no idea – and she mustered up her courage and pulled open the door.

Smiling nervously at the boy inside and half-pulling her trunk in with her, she hesitantly moved to take a seat. “My brother Alistair told me to see if I could sit in here... I'm Siobhan, Siobhan MacFusty,” she started. “I think he knows your sister.” The resemblance was uncanny between the dark girl who Alistair had smiled at and the boy in front of her.

Siobhan just hoped that the stranger wanted to go into Slytherin just as much as she did.

[Kirah]

Kyle stared surprised at the blonde girl for a moment before saying "Yeah it's fine. I met your brother once." Kyle told her. "My name is Kyle McCarthy." The McCarthy family was a well respected Slytherin family, had been so for generations back. Nearly as far back as recorded history on it went. There were a few outliers, as with any family. Even Kyle's mother's family was pure blood back all the way, and all Slytherins.

"Everyone in your family Slytherin too?" He asked, he only knew of Alistair. Kyle knew he'd be sorted into Slytherin, there was no where else for him...but there is always the slight tingle of fear that he might not be.

The boy was nervous. He wanted to make friends, but at the same time was afraid to. Friends could disappoint. This girl though, if she were related to Alistair, who his sister trusted, and even admired, she must be okay. She must be going places too. That's what mattered of course. That and how the outcome of the war went. Kyle like many others saw only the future where Voldemort won, that was the only future for his family. This future meant that Kyle wanted friends that would matter.

[McHaggis]

Siobhan, in the process of nestling into the very corner of the seat and crossing her legs, shook her head. “We're a mixed bunch,” she said, beginning to count on her fingers, “My dad was a Gryffindor, and my mum was a Ravenclaw from a family of Slytherins... Jamie, my oldest brother was a Ravenclaw–“

She paused for a moment, thinking of her brother's obvious dislike of her family's heritage, their dragon reserve – it wasn't impressive or prestigious enough for him. Jamie was like Alistair in that regard, always looking for something better, more worthy of his time. It made her heart ache; she loved them, but she also loved the scaled, winged companions that she helped to care for. Maybe it was a sign she wouldn't get into Slytherin as she planned.

Siobhan shook her head, continuing. “Erin and Gayle, my sisters – twins – were in Hufflepuff and Jimmy was a Gryffindor while they were there. Alistair's the only one to be in Slytherin,” she finished proudly. She was closest in age to Alistair and in their lonely homestead there were few other children to play with on a regular basis. She just had to be in his house. “Of course, I want to join him but I'm worried about it... I'd probably have a better chance if all of my family were in Slytherin.”

She grinned at Kyle, reaching down to pat her Kneazle that had clambered stealthily onto her skirt at some point without her noticing. “I'm going to guess that you'll get into Slytherin no problem whatsoever. Alistair tells me getting the Sorting Hat to pick it for you is all about how pure your blood is and how much you want it.”

With that, she looked out of the window, unable to see her father on the platform from her seat but it was packed full of adult witches and wizards crowding alongside the train. “I think the train might be setting off soon. This is wicked.”

[Kirah]

Kyle listened as Siobhan spoke. He liked her, he decided. Kyle hoped she'd end up in Slytherin like she wanted.

"I think so too." Almost as soon as Kyle agreed with the imminent departure of the train the whistle blew. His eyes widened as the train lurched and started moving. He moved closer to the window to watch the scenery pass by. He had to move Rix, his owl, for a better view. He watched as people waved goodbye to the train. He gave a small wave, not seeing his parents but hoping maybe they saw him. Then he gave Siobhan a big smile and leaned back into the seat. "This is exciting." He didn't want to tell her his heart was pounding. Surly just from the excitement of finally getting to go to Hogwarts.

"You sound like you have quite a large family. It's just my sister and I, though we have quite a lot of cousins. Not all of them have been to Hogwarts. Some live in other countries. I know some of my cousins went to Drumstrang." Kyle found that it was easy to talk to Siobhan. She was just like him. She wanted nothing more than to be in Slytherin, she was a first year, and nervous about the whole being away from home thing too.

[McHaggis]

Siobhan grinned. It was exciting, on two levels. She about to go to the school her parents had gone to, where they had excelled (to different definitions of the word), had made friends and enemies that follow them to this day and she was meeting new people, talking to them as she had never been able to before more than a few words. If everyone in her year at Hogwarts was like Kyle, she decided, friendly and anxious and willing to talk to her, she would have the best time of her life.

“Mhm. I don't know a MacFusty that hadn't gone to Hogwarts. And it does get lonely, because even though there's six of us we're the only magical folk on the island,” and to that she grinned. The pit of her stomach that was rolling around nervous at the promise of alienating a friend shouted, no! Don't say it! “When Alistair went to Hogwarts, I just hung around with the dragons.”

Such a Gryffindor thing to do, she cursed herself, smiling entirely on the outside when she badly wanted to cringe. 'Nobody's interested in Dragons, Siobhan,' is what Alistair had said to her while they were in Diagon Alley. It certainly seemed that way, as when she had tried to make small talk with a Slytherin upper year in one of the shops he had only scoffed at the mention of her Hebridean Blacks.

Maybe Kyle liked them? Siobhan had to hope that he knew she wasn't trying to brag about it. It would hurt drastically if he told her to get out the compartment, or hexed her like Alistair and his friends often did to each other when they were displeased, or just got up and walked away.

[Kirah]

Kyle smiled back at Siobhan as the train moved. The movement was new and exciting and it was just the pair of them. He was thankful for that. Kyle didn't care that much for large crowds, at least not until he was comfortable with the place he was at. His sister's pranks rarely took too long to happen, it had been long enough now that he had no fear of the window on the train popping off while they sped through the English countryside. Soon the pair of them was used to the movement of the train and she spoke again.

"When Alistair went to Hogwarts, I just hung around with the dragons."

Kyle's eyes widened, Siobhan wouldn't be able to tell if it was fear or surprise or a dozen other types of emotions, most of which had passed through him as he contemplated the fact that Siobhan had 'hung around' dragons. He had never seen a dragon before. The thing spit fire and could fly, and she had hung around dragons. She was familiar with them. He had a million questions try to tumble their way forward but the one that came out first was, "Aren't they dangerous?" His question wasn't toned with derision, but instead genuine concern for his new friend. His eyes quickly darted to examine her exposed skin for burns or other marks of injury that he hadn't noticed on his first glance of her.

[McHaggis]

Siobhan let out a brief sigh of relief that she hadn't said the wrong thing after a few moments of worry as Kyle's eyes widened. At first she'd thought she'd been unintentionally offensive, that perhaps her new friend was scared of dragons (which would have put a damper on the whole thing), but when he asked her if they were dangerous, she couldn't help but smile.

"They're... well, I want to say that they aren't dangerous, but they are. Just a little," she said. "I'm only allowed to work with the hatchlings until I'm fourteen. Hebridean Blacks aren't very good with fire 'til they're a bit older, and they can be pretty small coming out the eggs. Their bites are no worse than a dog's!" When she thought that Kyle might be looking for some sort of sign of disfigurement-by-dragon on her, she considered lifting up her hair and showing him her earlobe where there was a large tear in it. Unlike Alistair's reaction to his awful childhood experience with the scaled beasts, it only sparked Siobhan's interest in it. "It's the family business, is all. Bites and burns are just a... an 'occupation hazard.'"

Tilting her head inquisitively to the side, she asked, "What does your family do?" Alistair was never forthcoming with information about his friends, though he knew most of them had parents working in some way, shape or form with the Ministry. She wondered if Kyle's family were like that – "Boring", said a small, judgemental part of her – or if they were wandmakers or adventurers or professional Quiddich players, all ambitious enough in their own fields to get into Slytherin. Secretly she hoped for the latter.

[Kirah]

Kyle listened to Soibhan talk about dragons and wanted to go see them. He normally wouldn't have called himself a thrill seeker, but the way Soibhan talked about dragons made him want to at least look at the small ones. He really wasn't sure about the big ones. Maybe if they became good enough friends...

"What does your family do?"

"My father owns a shop." That was the standard answer. The full answer was the shop was in Knockturn alley, Kyle normally didn't tell people that part, but Soibhan was to be a Slytherin, her brother was friends with Maggie, so he decided to finish the sentence. "In Knockturn alley." Nothing in the shop was technically illegal, at least not the part anyone could just walk up to. His mother on the other hand, came from a long line of landed gentry. It didn't work as well in nowadays, but she still owned a lot of land that she rented to farmers and the houses to families. Kyle wasn't sure how to explain that job, "My mum is a landlord. Well I guess landlady." It was the term his family used, he hoped Siobhan knew what it meant.

[McHaggis]

Siobhan grinned, thankful that her new friend seemed interested – at least partially – in dragons. She, however, focused in on the 'Knockturn Alley' part of his answer with a wide-eyed stare. She knew that there were many shops down there that were disreputable, and her parents often talked about the owner of Borgin and Burkes being the scum of the earth, but to actually talk to someone who owned a business there...

"I'm not allowed to go down that street," she reluctantly admitted. "Mum goes there for more expensive potions ingredients, and that's where we sell our stocks of dragon's blood, but she says it's too dangerous for a girl my age. Alistair wanders around there all the time, though!"

The second part Siobhan understood perfectly. "We own land, too, but it's not very good. Do lots of Slytherins and their families own lots of property?" She worried that Ceann Ear would be so disinteresting compared to miles and miles of farmland and buildings that the McCarthy family must have. All that was on the island were flocks of sheep and a dragon reserve, given that the land was so infertile, so windswept and rainy.

[Kirah]

"I'm allowed at our shop, but not anywhere else on the street. Dad wants Maggie to run it in the future, she's better with numbers and sales." Kyle shrugged. "I don't mind either. I've never cared for the shop. I honestly like what my mum does better. She says that to be a successful landlord you have to keep your tenants happy." Kyle liked the rounds his mother made to the properties she owned. She liked watching her buy more land from the neighbors of the land she already owned. It was amazing to watch.

"I don't know. I think the Malfoy's own land. A few other families have members in the ministry." Kyle tried to think of who he knew in what part of the Ministry, but he had never really kept that knowledge as well as he should have. "Tell me about your land, with the dragons. You said there weren't a lot of magical people there, but you have dragons. How do you keep that a secret?"

[McHaggis]

Siobhan twirled her hair around her fingers again. "Well, the Muggles think Ceann Ear – our island, is uninhabited. Everything's under charms, a bit like Diagon Alley, so they can't see it," she said, imagining the desolation she could see from her bedroom window in the manor. "There's not much there but the dragons, if I'm honest. Just our family, apart from my oldest brother who only visits nowadays, and a Squib who takes care of the dragons' food supply so they don't decide to eat all the humans."

Rubbing her chin contemplatively, she wondered out loud, "I think if the dragons wanted to actually escape, they could. My brother set up the new wards keeping them in himself, and while he's good, he's not that good."

Shrugging, she nervously asked, "Are all of your mother's tenants wizards? Or does she buy and sell off Muggles, too? I can't imagine all the negotiating that must go on – the haggling for our business is my mum's job."

[Kirah]

"That's pretty cool, must be lonely though." Kyle said before answering her questions. "There's some of both. She prefers the wizard tenants, but the Muggles have been in that town for as long as her family has owned the land."

"Anything from the trolly dears?" A pleasant witch's voice asked them. Kyle hopped up and looked over the trolly buying some of his favorite snacks.

The trolly witch had barely gone out of the compartment when the door slid open again and in entered Maggie. She picked up one of his licorice whips and sat down.

"Just came to check up on you two. Alistair said he sent his sister down here. That must be you Soibhan." Maggie looked at Soibhan while chewing the stolen licorice whip. "I hear you want to be Slytherin too."

[McHaggis]

Passing on buying anything from the trolley (mostly because of the motion sickness from the train), Siobhan settled more comfortably in her corner while Kyle bought an assortment of sweets. Was that licorice? Ew. Her nose wrinkled involuntarily as if imagining the taste of it on in her mouth. If there was one thing that bound all of the MacFusty children together, it was their hatred for licorice.

"Hi!" greeted Siobhan. Kyle's sister must be nice, she decided, to willingly check up on two little lost first years out of her own time. "Yeah, Slytherin – that's where Alistair is, so that's where I'm going." She smiled at the thought of her brother. That was one mystery solved; he did talk to his friends about her.

"You're Maggie, right? Is Alistair away to his prefect's meeting?"

[Kirah]

"Yeah." Maggie answered after swallowed her bite of licorice. Kyle knew how irritated she had been last year when Pansy Parkinson had been picked as the prefect for her year. Now she didn't seem as annoyed though. Kyle thought it was because without the responsibility of playing by the rules she was more comfortable. "I heard we have a new potions instructor and that Professor Snape is going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Snape is our Head of House, so make a good impression with him. I hear the Potions Professor used to be the Head of House for Slytherin too." Kyle wondered why his sister was volunteering this information. What did she get out of it? He frowned thinking. Was she being nice because Siobhan was here and she wanted to make an impression. The girl's brother was already a death eater and if Maggie were known for recruiting or molding future potentials she might have an easier time. That made sense to Kyle.

Kyle opened a chocolate frog, deftly caught the frog and let it wriggle in his fingers as he read the card. "Dzou Yen"

"Who'd you get?" Maggie asked.

"Dzou Yen." Kyle told her. Maggie nodded and stood up.

"Well I'm going to go back to where my class mates are. See ya." She swiped another licorice whip and exited the car. Kyle looked over the sweets that had been near his sister, the frog stopped struggling and Kyle ate it. It didn't look like she poisoned any of the other sweets. Thankfully they all had boxes so they couldn't be easy to poison.

"That was weird." Kyle sighed and leaned back into his seat looking more relaxed now that Maggie was gone again.

[McHaggis]

"She seems nice," Siobhan said when Maggie left the compartment, more to herself than anyone else. "I can see why Alistair likes her." She did wonder why her brother only mentioned her by name before, never giving out any information, but she supposed he wanted to keep his friends his. Some people were like that, she had read.

"Ooh, you collect cards?" The youngest MacFusty's obvious interest shone through on her face. "My brothers and sisters used to swipe mine when ever I tried to build it. All's fair in love and war, y'know? At least that's what they said."

Siobhan peered curiously at Kyle, feeling that something was different between the time his sister had been in the room and after she'd left, something that she couldn't put her finger on. "What's up?"

[Kirah]

Kyle thought, Siobhan has a weird definition of nice.

"Yeah I collect them a bit. I've never been super serious about them though. Maggie doesn't collect them, she thinks it's silly, but she likes to read them. I already have Dzou Yen, do you want to try to start a collection now that your siblings won't take them from you?" Kyle held out the card to Siobhan.

When Siobhan asked Kyle what was up he wasn't sure what she meant. "What do you mean?" He was so used to being tense around his sister that he didn't even notice he did it anymore.

[McHaggis]

Siobhan seemed to be radiating happiness as she reached over and accepted the card. She wasn't sure if her smile could get any wider. "You compile me a list of what you don't have and I'll get 'em off my sisters for you." It would be worth it. If she stole them (back) for herself, they'd somehow find and reclaim them.

As for his second question, it was near-impossible to explain; a spur of the moment observation. "It seemed... well," Siobhan hesitated. "You were being all frowny when your sister was in here. Maybe I imagined it." But she didn't, she was sure of that. None of her siblings had ever looked like that when she walked in the room.

[Kirah]

Kyle smiled, "Okay, thank you."

He thought about what Siobhan meant. He thought about how he was to answer her question. How honest did he want to be with this girl? Maggie trusted her brother, Kyle decided to trust Siobhan.

"She's dangerous. Hard to read, hard to predict. I'm always on edge around her because I'm not sure what she'll do next." Kyle explained. He toyed with an unopened chocolate frog box. Kyle didn't want to explain how dangerous, but he felt he owed Siobhan an explanation.

[McHaggis]

Siobhan mulled over Kyle's revelation for a few seconds. In just a few words, Maggie's image in her mind had changed drastically from 'kind friend of Alistair's' to 'do not trust; her own brother is scared of her'. Tucking her legs in from under her, she mumbled an uncharacteristically quiet, "Thanks for telling me."

Alistair probably didn't realise Maggie's true nature; he was too kind for that. Still, she wondered what kind of people he was really hanging out with.

Picking at her skirt for a few more silent moments, she eventually turned to the window at peered at the countryside speeding by. "When d'ya think we'll get there?"