Chapter Text
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Daenerys pulled her heavy trunk behind her as she looked around the platform, her eyes searching.
It was her final year at The Westeros Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry and she was eager to share it with her best friend. She was just about to pull out her cell when she heard somebody shout her name.
"Dany!"
She turned and saw Missandei hurrying towards her, a big grin on her face.
"Missy!" she cried joyfully, stepping forward as her friend enveloped her in a fierce hug. They hadn't seen each other all summer and Dany had truly missed her.
"How have you been? How was Naath? Tell me everything!"
She pulled her friend towards the waiting train, trunks dragging behind them.
"It was awesome. We spent almost a month at my grandparents' estate in the countryside. My grandmother is working on some experimental nature spells at the moment, it was actually very cool."
Missandei's grandmother was a renowned healer, specializing in nature and plant magic.
While Missy was talking, Dany looked around, searching for their other friends.
"Seen Marg and Loras yet?" she asked Missy.
Margaery and Loras Tyrell, twin siblings, were their classmates and best friends. They became friends with Missy and herself during their second year at The Academy and have been inseparable since.
"Not a trace," frowned Missy, "and I've been here for at least twenty minutes... hold on, I'll text Marg."
She pulled out her phone and quickly typed.
Where are you guys??? The train is about to leave :o
She got an answer a second later.
We will JUST make it, I'll kill Loras for spending so much time on his hair this morning. Save us seats <3
They boarded the train as Missy went on about her grandmother's strange experiments with plants, setting out to find available seats. They waved to friends along the way. Some of their classmates waved jovially at them, while Joffrey Baratheon gave them an angry glare, staring after them until they lost sight of him.
"This boy is fucking creepy," muttered Dany as they finally found an empty compartment near the back of the train, careful not to step on any overexcited first-years.
"Gods, I know," groaned Missy, "My mom went to school with his mom and she said she had a really strange relationship with her twin brother." She shoved her trunk over their seats and sat down.
"She heard rumours that Joffrey's father is actually her twin brother and not her husband. Freaky, huh?" Dany made a face and sat down as well, making herself comfortable.
Just as they settled down for the long ride, the compartment door slid open and Grey's head poked inside.
"Grey!" Missy exclaimed happily. She got up and gave him a hug and a peck on the lips. They started dating the previous year and met a few times during the summer.
Dany smiled and stood up to hug him in greeting. She liked him, he was a nice guy, although typically silent. He transferred to The Academy only two years prior, having attended a magic school in Meereen before. He was wicked good at potion-making.
A few minutes later the train started moving, leaving the city behind.
They sat back lazily, Grey's arm resting around Missy's shoulders, still chatting about their summer. Dany told them all about her summer in her family estate in Dragonstone. Her summer wasn't very exciting. Viserys, her brother, who was her elder by two years, was doing an internship in the department of International Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. He had a long vacation during the summer so he came home to Dragonstone to spend some time with the family. Dany knew he was mostly there to keep her company and was secretly grateful for it.
She hasn't always gotten along with Viserys, but he was her closest family member since Rhaegar died. She was glad not to be alone with her parents, who were moving around like ghosts since the death of their eldest son. Dragonstone was a pretty gloomy place to be around nowadays.
About five minutes into the ride, Margaery Tyrell burst into their compartment. She had long auburn hair, a pale heart-shaped faced and a permanent mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Dany! Missy!" she cried out and went to envelop them in a big hug, "I've missed you guys so much."
"So did we, Marg," said Missy, the three of them hugging tightly.
"How was your summer?" Marg plopped down next to Dany, stealing a handful of every flavour beans from the bag on the table.
"It was fine, how was yours?" inquired Dany, swiping back the bag of beans and carefully choosing a white one. Cloud-flavoured, she determined as she chewed. Strangely airy but oddly satisfying.
"It was awesome," beamed Margaery "I met this cute warlock when we were visiting family in King's landing..".
Missy laughed "why do all your stories start with you meeting some guy?".
"That's how the best stories start, don't you think?" Margaery winked at her and Grey as Missy's cheeks pinked shyly.
I wouldn't know, thought Dany gloomily, picking at a loose string on her shirt. She, unfortunately, had no guy stories to share, her brother being the only guy she spent long stretches of times with during the summer.
Daario kept texting her during the summer, asking if she wanted to meet but she mostly ignored him.
She had been stupid enough and drunk enough to kiss him the year before during the Yule ball. Since then he seemed to harbour the impression that they were an item (they were not) and was still pestering her from time to time. She wished he'd move on and leave her alone.
He was nice enough but he just didn't make her feel like she thought she was supposed to feel.
She glanced back at her friends, Missy and Grey still listening to Margaery gush about the guy she met during the summer and caught Missy looking at Grey, misty-eyed. She wanted that. That feeling, that connection, just... not with Daario.
"So what about you, Dany?" Marg asked, waking her up from her daydream "anything fun during the summer?"
"Not really, mostly it was just me and Vis getting occasionally drunk and doing stupid shit," Dany shrugged, wishing they'd talk about something else.
As if she read her mind, Margaery leaned in conspiratorially "well, I heard some interesting rumours during the summer about school," she announced.
"Oooh, do tell," Missy leaned in eagerly.
Margaery's grandmother, a formidable and powerful witch was a school governor. Margaery always had the best gossip and knew about events before they were officially announced.
"I heard Professor Thorne has retired and that we're getting a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," she replied excitedly.
"That's good news," said Dany. She was never a big fan of Thorne, who was rigid and conservative in his teachings. She always thought a subject like Defence against the dark arts should be more exciting.
"So, who is it? Who's the new teacher?" asked Missy.
"No idea," Margaery shrugged "grandmother was tight-lipped about it, she wasn't happy to catch me eavesdropping," she giggled.
"Let me guess.. eavesdropping by magical means?" Missy laughed. Margaery was a notorious snoop.
"Can't blame a girl for being curious," Marg said nonchalantly, "how else am I to provide my dear friends with first-hand info about everything that's going on?" she winked at them and they all laughed.
"So how's Loras?" asked Dany, referring to Marg's twin brother, "and more importantly, WHERE is Loras?"
"He's good," said Margaery, "he's hanging out with Renly Baratheon, he's been texting with him all summer," she giggled "he won't say, but I think they're dating. They're so adorable."
Outside the train, a light rain started falling. It became heavier as the afternoon progressed, drumming on the top of the train. Missy was now dozing off, her head on Grey's shoulder. Margaery was now busy painting her nails bright crimson, carefully holding her wand as she drew slow strokes over her nails.
Dany stared out the window at the falling rain, her mind far-off. A strange sense of melancholy settled over her. It was her last year. Their last year. She still wasn't sure what she wanted to do after school despite giving it a lot of thought.
She considered following Rhaegar's footsteps and becoming an Auror but she wasn't sure she could handle it after what happened to him...
Viserys was trying to convince her to come intern at the ministry with him, but she wasn't too enthusiastic about it. She didn't think she would be happy sitting at an office all day, drafting reports and attending meetings. She also briefly considered and discarded becoming a healer (she was never interested) and an internship at The Iron Bank.
She wished she could ride dragons, like her ancestors. The Targaryen bloodline had some famous Dragonriders, the history books were littered with stories of their heroics and adventures. But dragons were now extinct, so, sadly, she would never get the chance.
Missandei had already decided to try and get a job in the department of International Magical Co-operation in the ministry. She loved languages and chose many of them as electives such as ancient runes, High Valyrian, and Dothraki. Personally, Dany thought Missy had a great chance of getting in. She was smart and ambitious and a great person to be around.
She glanced wistfully at her best friend, who was still napping on Grey's shoulder. Will we see each other after graduation? she wondered, will we still be friends?. Maybe if she got a job at the ministry she could still at least work alongside Missy, she thought gloomily.
The door to the compartment slid open again and Loras Tyrell stepped inside.
"Finally," Dany stood up to hug him, "no time for your friends now that you have a boyfriend, huh?"
Loras rolled his eyes and smiled, hugging her back "I missed you too, Dany."
He sat down next to his sister and grabbed the last of the every flavour beans (choking and sputtering when he happened across a blood-flavoured one).
The conversation turned to Quidditch, which both Margaery and Grey were huge fans of.
The chatter died down again as Margaery began to paint Loras' fingernails bright blue when he wasn't looking.
A short time later, Missy yawned and opened her eyes, exclaiming happily when she saw Loras.
She then glanced out the window.
"We're almost there, you guys," she said, "We better change."
Loras and Margaery stood up and stretched, slowly heading back to their compartment, Loras berating his sister when he finally found his nails were painted sky-blue.
Grey kissed Missy and disappeared to find his own luggage. Dany and Missy slowly pulled on their school uniforms, scowling at the sky that turned gray and stormy.
"Why does it ALWAYS rain when we arrive?" grumbled Missy, pulling her shoes back on.
⭐⭐⭐
They trudged out of the train, bowing their heads against the wind and the drizzle which was rapidly turning into a full-blown rainstorm. They quickly climbed into the carriage waiting for them and were joined by Grey and Loras, who was still fuming about the state of his fingernails.
Missy patted his hand comfortingly "I think it looks hot," she winked at him as he rolled his eyes, a mollified smile tugging at his lips.
As the carriages neared the school, Dany poked her head outside despite the heavy rain to sneak a peek at the castle, burning jewel-bright against the darkening sky.
Westeros Academy. It felt more like home than anywhere else.