Hopefully not for long...

Imogen Valerie North

September 1st 2017
Platform 9 3/4


Kit wasn't looking forward to going back to Hogwarts for a number of reasons. There was the obvious, after the lockdown he'd been rather on edge about the concept of seeing the castle walls again in case it happened a second time. The second was the most domineering of issues, he knew that the minute he stepped on that train, he and Gen would be over and that broke his heart. They'd tried everything in their power to get her out of her arrangement and even Warren had tried to help out where he could but Lucas North was stubborn and greedy. Even though Kit was annoyed for the obvious reasons, despite everything his main concern was Gen. She'd told him in the past that they had a close relationship and in one selfish motion he'd ruined it all and it bothered Kit to see Imogen so upset about it. If he knew of a way to help Gen actually reclaim a relationship with her father he'd help her in a heartbeat, but this wedding, even though it was personal to him too, it was just going to make things worse. He was grateful that Gen had Alayla now that he was going back to school, it meant she had someone to help her where he couldn't and he knew that Alayla would do anything for Gen but it still didn't make it any easier on them as a couple.

The blonde strolled across the station, leaning on his trolley sleepily. He'd been kept awake last night by Jem being particularly fussy and he wondered if the Copeland's son could tell that it was because Samuel was going back to work, of course, Samuel would spend as much time as possible at home and he had a feeling he'd probably spend little to no nights in the castle since the lockdown which he couldn't blame him but there was a slight selfishness that made him a little uneasy about that. Over the holidays he'd grown to love and trust Samuel and the knowledge of him being in the castle would have been enough to make him feel safe but he knew that for Samuel, his family came first, even more after that explosive argument the pair had. Kit was glad Calli and Samuel were on the way to making amends but it still bothered him slightly as he'd never seen Samuel so angry or so upset as he had when Calliope had been the same way.

Kit turned his attention to Gen as they reached the barrier and sighed heavily, ”I'll go first.” He said, kissing her forehead before lining himself and the trolley up with the barrier and strolling through it. Arriving on the platform had been familiar and kind of welcome for him but he knew that it was going to be rough at school. He made a mental note of the September full moon so that he could be there for Matilda as her health deteriorated, he'd spent the majority of the summer after finding out about her lycanthropy studying up on how to make wolfsbane. He wouldn't lie, the wolfsbane potion had been one of the hardest he'd studied in a long while and whilst he had tried to make it a couple of times, he wasn't confident in his ability. He knew if Matilda knew that he'd been learning that for her she'd be touched and possibly wind him up and tell him not to worry, but he'd quickly become fast friends with the Ravenclaw and she was definitely one of his best friends. He was determined to do what he could for her during their last year and even after that.

Kit furrowed his brow and frowned, pushing his trolley along the side of the train looking for an empty compartment before he finally found one near the front and he packed his stuff onto it before jumping down and standing by the door, his full attention on Gen again, ”Are you sure I have to go?” He whined, pulling her into his arms, he was waiting to see if Clara would come by, after all, Kit had promised to watch over Imogen's sister during his last year, he'd grown to have a certain fondness over the younger North girl and he wanted to make sure she was safe as well during Hogwarts, especially with the way things were. ”I could quite easily just drop out.” He continued, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead again and giving the crowd a quick once over for Clara and for Matilda. ”I'm not quite sure how to go about this.” He murmured, he didn't need to say what he meant, he knew Imogen would know. Her seeing him off? Was it a goodbye for good before she moved to Sweden or a goodbye for now until the next Hogsmeade weekend or Christmas holidays, of course, Kit knew exactly what he wanted but he also knew the chances of it ending up that way? Not likely at all.

From the moment she had Kit had been allowed to leave the castle in the wake of the lockdown imogen had been somewhat selfish in wanting to spend as much time as possible with him. There were of course times when the two of them went to work or she went to her summer classes or just to practice at Avalon and their caught up wiht their friends but other than that she was with him. It was either that Kit was at her penthouse or she was with at Samuel and Calli’s house. It was strange to think that her wizard was now living with what most girls in her year had considered the most handsome professor at Hogwarts. She had grown to known Calli too in this time. The two witches did have their similarities in that Calli’s father was an actual Death Eater but Imogen’s just funded the group and provided any dark objects that the group could need. Imogen was certainly not proud of his work as she had once been. As she had grown up she had learned just what the group stood for and how their actions affected others. For much of her time at Hogwarts she had looked down at muggleborns and thought they were worthless but when her uncle had confronted her former classmate at the dance….something had just snapped inside Imogen. She knew that much of it had made her look worthless of being a pureblood in the eyes of other purebloods but she didn’t care.

But what mattered was what Kit thought of her and their relationship. It was far from the conventional boyfriend and girlfriend relationship. Something like that was what the witch dreamed of. But she knew she would never get it and her to Warren marriage would be much the same. Imogen was far from happy and in being here to drop Kit off at the station for his final year it showed prominently on her features. In comparison Kit looked tired but he had told her that was due to Copeland’s son crying the previous night. Secretly Imogen had liked to see Kit together with Jeremy. It was a sight she would never get to witness with Kit cuddling their possible future son and so she savoured the sight.

She glanced at him briefly as he spoke of going through the barrier first and smiled sadly as he made it through the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10 at the prominently muggle station in London. Imogen steadied herself and took a deep breath before following the wizard. She brushed off her skirt and made her way to his side and looked around. Probably the next time she got to see this sight was when she would come to pick up her sister or Kit and Christmas. That too, would probably be the last time she saw it. Any children she and Warren had would attend Durmstrang. Imogen let him put his stuff into the vacant compartment he had found and then looked to him biting her lip before nodding mutely. ”You know very well that if you don’t go now then Copeland will come here to London and drag you up to Hogwarts” she said smiling faintly trying to lighten up the situation. Imogen looked up at him then over her shoulder as she saw her mother hugging her younger sister and sighed. ”You’ll look after her right love?”she asked as she still looked to Clara. He had promised her many times that he would keep an eye out for the younger witch but Imogen knew he would but that he would also be spending time with Matilda and she understood perfectly why he would do so.

Imogen hugged him tighter, she was not ready to say bye yet but the train would be leaving shortly. They had ensured they would get to King’s Cross early enough so that Kit could find a compartment and they could say a proper goodbye. ”I will try and see you on the next Hogsmeade weekend, I’ll work my rehearsals and study around it” She told hm, feeling the need to explain why she would try to see him and not have Kit think it had anything to do with Warren. The only exception would be if the other wizard had come to England to try and talk to Lucas again but that not gone in their favour last time and all the attempts were just getting stressful now.

Kit had enjoyed spending his holidays with Imogen, it was nice to be able to relax with her and act as a couple, even slightly. He also liked to observe the fact that Imogen and Calli had struck up a friendship of sorts, Kit had learnt about Calliope's past quite early on when Samuel explained to her about why Kit was there, living with them; the fact the witch knew her father was discomforting, to say the least, but Samuel loved and trusted her and so did Kit. After all, he knew all too well that not all children turned out like their parents, Kit and Gen were evidence of that and so was Calli. It was quite a foreign feeling though having both Calli and Samuel looking out for and protecting him, whenever Phineas had been violent towards Kit, Fiona had just sat by. He couldn't blame her though, his treatment of his family was barbaric and Kit had been told more than once that he and Fiona were his biggest mistakes. So the fact Calli and Samuel watched over him, the fact they fed him, clothed him and gave him a roof over his head. It meant more than he could ever say but he liked to think they knew how grateful he was.

Living with the Copeland's, Kit had learnt more about himself, like how he didn't actually dislike children and wasn't as terrible with them as he believed he would be. In the six weeks he'd been living with them he'd bonded quite easily with their son Jeremy and Kit adored the infant, there was something about holding a baby, cuddling him and watching him grow and learn that made even the strongest man weak and just like everyone else, Jeremy had somehow managed to steal his heart. More than once, Samuel and Calli had given him permission to go out with Jeremy for the day and normally he would go over to see Imogen or Alayla with him, the couple often took him into London and more often than not, they came home with a new toy or teddy for Jeremy, but even though the infant wasn't even remotely related to him, he did love him and he was definitely worth spoiling. There had been a couple of times where Gen and Kit had been out with Jeremy and he pictured the same scenario in the future except with their own children, but he knew that something like that wasn't possible.

Kit was torn from his thoughts by Imogen's voice and he laughed softly, ”He would have dragged me up to the castle already if he had even an inkling that I wasn't going to go back to school.” He pointed out with an affectionate smile, he had no doubt Samuel would have forced him back there, he was almost like how a father should be towards a child and the only reason he was even going back was because of Calli and Samuel, he didn't want to let them down and he had a feeling that not going back, would do exactly that. He followed Imogen's gaze towards Clara and nodded, the faintest smile on his lips, ”Of course I will.” He promised, as he watched the younger girl and her mother. ”I can't help but notice your father isn't here to see her off, doesn't want to have both his daughters hate him, does he?” He continued, the disapproval evident in the way he spoke.

The blonde smiled sadly as he pulled her to him as she hugged him and he kissed the top of her head. ”No pressure, if you can't make it that's fine.” It wasn't really fine, but he wasn't going to say that and make her feel any worse than he knew she already did. ”Be sure to keep me updated on University and your dancing.” He said to her softly, scanning the platform again before turning back to Imogen.

Spending time with Kit over summer had been wonderful. Imogen couldn’t recall a summer she had enjoyed more and that wasn’t simply the time the two of them spent intimately but also just being around the wizard just made her happy. She was so comfortable around him and having him at her flat had just been so nice and it felt like it was normal. She hadn’t felt normal while she had been at school and under the lockdown but she figured that no one would feel like that though. At least she had been allowed to leave beforehand and it was ironically thanks to her connections to the Death Eaters. It was going to be one benefit that she was likely to forget about soon, after all they were not helping her now. Now she had to do things on her own and she was not against doing that. Imogen felt she had to do that, if not to prove to others that she could be independent but to herself. She had been cared for all her life and now it was her chance to take the reigns and decide on things for herself. At least that was the idea in theory. She of course was the one in an arranged marriage. She had obviously not mentioned it too many times in front of Kit and she had only briefly mentioned it when speaking to Calli. The older witch though her father was a Death Eater was a halfblood and so not inclined to be in an arranged marriage. Imogen couldn’t even dream what being in that situation was like except that it would be like heaven compared to what she where she found herself now.

At least Calli and Samuel lucky and they were to be marrying each other whom they were both in love with. She was out of ideas of what to do regarding getting out of her own marriage. She supposed with Kit going back to school now, she should be able to crack down on reading some books on arranged marriages when it came to witches and wizards and any rights they had. They had had to have some rights. She may even consider making her way to Sweden to further discuss the situation with Warren. Obviously she wasn’t going to tell Kit that she was going to be seeing her future husband as she knew it would upset him and he was already so upset about the situation. She had seen many times over the summer Kit playing with Jeremy and she imagined that one day he would make a father, sadly though, she would not be his wife or the mother of his children. She hated to think that one day Kit would fall in love with someone else and settle down and start his own family but that was her own fault really. As long as Kit was happy then that would satisfy Imogen.

Imogen knew that Samuel cared deeply for Kit and she was glad that her wizard finally had the father figure in his life that he needed. She thought no more deserved that than Kit. His upbringing was extreme and what he had gone through at the hand of his father was not how a father should behave. Her own torment with her father had been mild in comparison. She would not have scars to last a lifetime, just deep regret and even deeper seeded hatred. At least Samuel forcing him to go back to school would something expected of a father, biology aside of course. ”At least you will have him at school this year, love” she smiled up at him. She would not be with him but she hoped that he would spend time with Matilda and Clara. The blonde witch sighed deeply as she looked at her mother and sister. ”Please, my father would not want me to cause a scene again, he knew I would if he was here” she shook her head angrily as she looked at her feet for a moment before she wrapped one arm around him and rested her forehead along his shoulder while she inhaled his scent. It was true what they said, scent was one of the strongest memory triggers.

Shaking her head against his shoulder would mess up her fringe but she didn’t care. ”I want to be there” she whispered as she looked up at him. It was not fine for either of them if they didn’t get to see each other at Hogsmeade Weekends. Imogen knew that Kit didn’t mean it when he said he was fine. No one would be fine with that kind scenario. ”Maybe I’ll have to go Owl shopping so it’s easier for us to send countless letters back and forth” she laughed, though she as seriously considering doing that.