Chapter Forty-Six: Train Rides and Wrecks

The Hogwarts Express felt different than it did four months ago.

Anxious whispers and child-like curiosity were replaced with loud cheers and nostalgic memories. Cabins filled with nerve-wracking speculations and silent contemplation for their future were brought to life with hearty chuckles and bittersweet, almost envious, memories of the past.

It was peculiar how much one trophy could change.

People still whispered, and the gossip was through the roof, but somewhere between facing deadly creatures and bringing honour to Hogwarts, the students had switched from wretched rumours to envious compliments. The wizards still passed sexist comments as their witches pettily glared at Cordelia and picked apart her performances, but their voices had gotten a little lighter and words a little softer.

Cordelia wasn't sure if she desired or detested it.

Unlike their previous ride on the Hogwarts Express, the train was packed with students and professors. After four months of seeing the same faces over and over again, it felt foreign being surrounded by so many Hogwarts students. Twenty-six students could only make so much noise, and with over fifty students chattering away and constantly cheering, the Slytherins felt like their ears would burst.

That wasn't the only change the sixth year Slytherins had to undergo.

Cordelia didn't know if she was jealous or spiteful that Orion and the other fifth years who were selected at the start of the year would have their OWLs over the summer vacation.

The extra preparation would have certainly saved her a headache or two.

After their OWLs, Cordelia had gotten sort of used to studying all day, every day for a month just to ensure she got straight O''s. Staying up late and reviewing textbooks she already memorised with a slumbering Nix and a panicking Druella had become a hobby of sorts, and by the time the Triwizard Tournament rolled around the Black sisters had gotten used to occasional late-night study sessions.

In a way, Cordelia was looking forward to her friends creating a mess in the common room as their group spilt between following Ignatius as he interrogated seventh years for methods to cheat or bombarding Cordelia with questions until all of them felt like their heads would explode.

Alas, the Triwizard Tournament had changed that.

It had changed a lot of things, really. Including people.

After a year of putting their petty rivalries aside in an attempt to trust one another while facing life-threatening situations with one another, Cordelia presumed she had gotten to know at least a bit about Tom, but two days of ignoring one another had proved her wrong.

The Tom Riddle Cordelia had come to know didn't care about other people and their feelings as long as he got what he wanted. In some ways, she was certain he didn't care about his feelings either when it came to executing plans for his future, but somehow the Dark Lord had found it in him to develop a licentious side that left every witch on the Hogwarts Express in a state of confusion.

Tom Riddle was supposedly courting Titania Travers.

Cordelia didn't know when, why or how, but the Dark Lord had found it in himself to be the grandest attention seeker she had ever had the displeasure of meeting.

Stealing her spotlight with a witch's petty proclamations of love and unnecessary amount of PDA was sickening enough, but the way Travers practically draped herself over his arm as Tom whispered with Abarax made Cordelia clench the book in her palms as she all but dragged her gaze away from the short blonde witch.

It was times like this that made Cordelia regret confining her friend circle to Slytherins.

Perhaps if she had been more welcoming towards the Ravenclaws the annoyed brunette could make a quick exit with excuses of visiting other houses. Unfortunately, she was as prejudice as they come. The thought left her wondering whether it was too late to form another type of relationship with any of the Slytherin sixth years.

If anything, Cordelia knew it would have to be Theodore, he was the only decent Slytherin boy who wasn't taken.

Alas, one of Hogwarts' star students actually had a bit of dignity left in them.

If I ever got caught, would father say I'm taking after mum?

She hadn't realised she laughed out loud until Druella and Theodore —the two seated beside and across her— quizzically stared at Cordelia. The way Theodore tilted his head to the side and peered at the book clutched in her palms for an explanation heightened her humour as the Triwizard Champion tucked away her mock reading material and replaced it with an angsty Nix.

"Do you reckon the others were already dropped off?"

Cordelia shrugged at Theo's question as she leaned her head against his shoulder, subconsciously wondering whether an unwanted affair out of spite was really something she wanted.

Theodore wasn't too bad of an option.

He was almost as smart as her and already had a respectable career in mind, something that couldn't be said for most of the lazy pureblood boys. Cordelia wasn't one for curls, but the way his noodle hair fell across his forehead paired with Theodore's goofy smile was enough to make any girl find him attractive.

But that was the problem; she found him attractive but wasn't attracted to him. In fact, Cordelia wasn't attracted to anyone at that point.

Technically Tom never admitted to courting Titania, and the rumours had only spread due to the attention Travers and her posse had drawn to it, but Cordelia knew Tom wasn't daft enough to let a random witch go about spreading slander about him.

Unless of course, he wanted said slander.

But why would Tom Riddle of all people want Hogwarts' entire female population gossiping about his relationship status? And why did Cordelia feel like cursing Titania every time she saw her near the aspiring Dark Lord?

Fortunately, with the Hogwarts Express steadily coming to a stop she couldn't do much except abandon all thoughts of Tom Riddle and his pesky knights to focus on more pressing matters. Matters that made her tongue tie itself in a knot and palms quiver with newfound fear as she summoned her trunk and followed the Slytherins off of the Hogwarts Express.

Arcturus Black.

Cordelia was certain no one had ever been as afraid of their father as she did the moment the Hogwarts Express's gates opened and the fifth and sixth years poured onto the platform.

"He will be happy."

Orion's reassurance made her hesitantly nod as Cordelia let her brother pull her through the train and towards the crowd awaiting them.

Arcturus Black would certainly be pleased with his daughter being the Triwizard Champion irrespective of her performance in the second task, but that wasn't what made Cordelia feel more afraid than she did with the Wampus Cat. It was everything else.

The rumours, the false courting, the countless events that in his mind would bring shame to the Black family, and above all, the letters from Grindlewald.

It was easy to spot Melania and Arcturus. Even with a large crowd bustling around them the two stood out like gold in a coal mine.

Her father seemed more annoyed than usual with all the pureblood families sending him fake smiles and venomous well-wishings.

The look on his face was enough to make Cordelia halt halfway through the platform, forcing Orion into an awkward position as he subtly tugged onto her arm and muttered reassurances. It was only when Melania met her daughter's gaze and quizzically stared at her that Cordelia finally abandoned her childish protests and tread towards her parents.

Silk robes and sweet cologne ambushed Cordelia as familiar arms wrapped around her waist. It took her a moment to regain her footing, but even as she stumbled around for balance the Triwizard Champion couldn't help but smile and melt into her mother's embrace.

"My little girl's all grown up!"

Cordelia giggled at the exclamation, but even as she smiled at her mother the brunette couldn't help but pull away from the embrace and turn towards Arcturus.

For a moment no one spoke as Cordelia walked past Melania and towards her father.

The silence was almost too much to handle, and even if she knew Arcturus had to be the one to make the first move, Cordelia was on the verge of screaming in frustration.

"You did good, I'm proud of you."

The scream was replaced with a surprised cough as Cordelia stared at her father, almost certain she had misheard.

If her father praising her had her questioning her senses and sanity, the embrace that followed was enough to make Cordelia wonder whether she had fallen asleep on the Hogwarts Express and was dreaming.

It certainly didn't feel like a dream, in fact, Cordelia felt more awake than she was during the third task.

Unlike Melania, Arcturus preferred a one-armed hug as he rested his arm around her shoulder, but Cordelia didn't complain and melted into the embrace as her arms shakily wrapped themselves around her father. At that moment facing monstrous creatures and tedious Dark Lords, battling with her past and paving her future, almost being killed and committing murder, was all worth it, for it helped Cordelia gain what she had been yearning for her entire life.

Her father's love and trust.

Life wasn't perfect, it was far from it, but at that moment, it was everything Cordelia wanted it to be. The past was forgotten, the future was irrelevant; all that mattered was the present, and the man standing in front of her.

Arcturus Black had accepted her. He had accepted Cordelia, his perfect little daughter who was everything he ever wanted, but not his. The egotistical, menacing father who haunted her nightmares and produced her Boggarts finally loved her as much as she loved him.

Cordelia finally had the one thing Hogwarts and Triwizard Tournaments could never give her.

A father.

The Black-McMillan family was finally united, and even as fate, and certain Dark Lords, spun troublesome tales for her future, Cordelia couldn't help but feel elated.