The Express
Hogwarts was going to suck. Obviously. Lyra Elizabeth Black-Potter was sure of it. The moment her parents had entered her room months ago, smiles on their faces, she had known something was up. When her father, James Potter had handed her a faded envelope, and said, “Go on, open it.” she had known that whatever this letter contained couldn’t be good.
Sadly, she had opened it. And read the letter over and over again, believing her eyes were lying to her. Sure, her parents and older brother Harry had attended Hogwarts, though she had never believed herself to attend too.
àShe had tried long and hard to talk her parents out of making her attend, but they had claimed it wasn’t their choice. Soon she found herself with her bags back, standing mere feet away from Platform 9¾. She leaned against her trolly, letting out a long sigh. “Why must you want me to suffer?” she asked James.
He smiled. “I don’t want you to suffer, I want you to have a successful life.”
“I can have a successful life doing something else, like working for a muggle store or something.”
Her papá, Regulus, shot Lyra a hard look. “Working at a muggle store is the definition of an unsuccessful life,” he told her.
“You’re offending all the muggles who work at stores.” she retorted.
Her older brother Harry decided to chime in, “Lyra, if anyone–muggle or not works at a store, they’re offending themselves. It doesn’t matter if more offense gets added up.”
“Oh, shut it.” she said.
“You can’t make me.” Harry said with a shrug as he walked through the brick wall that led to the actual platform.
She sighed and went through, her parents following suit. Through the brick wall, she found herself in a crowded station, filled with what seemed to be hundreds of people all happily chirping as they waited for Hogwarts Express to arrive. A lot of disgust crossed Lyra’s face. “Why are they all smiling?” she asked Regulus.
“Because they’re excited to be going to Hogwarts,” he replied.
“I’m not going to smile.” she said, crossing her arms.
“Your choice.” Harry said, making his way through the crowd, probably to find his friends Hermione and Ron.
Lyra crossed her arms as she and her fathers stood, waiting. “Why is it taking so long?” she complained.
“Lyra, it’s a machine over thirty tons and is much older than even your father,” Regulus told her, gently petting the frail cat that sat atop his daughter’s books, nearly unmoving.
The cat, Wallace, had been adopted by the Black-Potters well before Lyra had been born, and everyone was shocked he was still alive. Lyra had always loved the old cat and insisted she bring it to Hogwarts instead of an owl as her parents had tried to convince her.
Wallace let out a hiss and Regulus drew his hand back, deciding it was best to not continue petting the creature. Lyra smiled, a rare occurrence. Before she could make a snippity remark to Regulus, a horn blared in the distance and the Hogwarts Express pulled up.
Lyra gulped, her body growing stiff. Despite her hatred for Hogwarts and distaste for everything the school had to offer, she had to admit, she was slightly nervous. “Have fun,” James said, kissing her forehead.
“Don’t forget to become friends with the good kids!” Regulus called after her as she boarded.
— — — — — — — —
Lyra sat next to the window in one of the compartments, Wallace curled up on her lap. The train still hadn’t left, more students still boarding. She leaned her head against the window gazing at all the smiling faces outside, many of which had tears in their eyes. She rolled her eyes. “Crying adults are weird,” said a voice behind her, causing her to jump.
Lyra looked over her shoulder to see a fellow first-year girl standing in the entry of the compartment, a smile on her lips. The girl had thousands of long dark braids and big brown eyes, filled with curiosity. She smiled brightly. “Sorry that I scared you,” she said.
“You didn’t,” Lyra lied.
“Sure I didn’t. Can I sit in here?” asked the girl, already taking a seat across from Lyra.
“Can I stop you?”
“No.” said the new girl with a smile. “My name’s Callie Castle, you?”
“Lyra Black-Potter.”
Callie’s eyes widened. “Potter? As In Harry Potter?”
“The one and only.” Lyra muttered.
“Wow, it must be so amazing to have such a famous older brother!” Callie said with a giggle.
“It’s not as amazing as you’d think.”
“Do explain.”
“I mean, sure, my brother defeated Voldimort and all, but there’s been greater evils in the past, and there’ll be greater evils in the future. Instead of determining one’s fame over who they killed or defeated, shouldn’t we determine fame over who betters the world?”
“Isn’t killing the evil bettering the world?” asked Callie.
Lyra shook her head. “Not exactly,” she said. “If Voldemort had killed my brother, people would’ve gone nuts, hating him even more. However, when my brother killed Voldemort, everyone loved him. Seems a bit unfair, don’t you think?”
Callie leaned back in her seat. “I guess so.”
“Sorry to ruin your perspective on the thin lines that defines a hero from a villain.”
“It’s okay, I’m sure I needed a reality check anyways. But enough about your brother, tell me about you.”
Lyra blinked. Tell this girl about herself? Odd. Most people wanted to know what it was like to be within the presence of the grand Harry Potter when he wasn’t at Hogwarts. Most people didn’t want to know about someone who constantly lived in the shadow of a hero. The only people who asked her about her life were her parents, and it was kind of their job to. “You really want to know?” Lyra asked slowly.
“Yes, if I didn’t want to know, why would I ask?”
Lyra smiled. Maybe, with Callie by her side, Hogwarts wouldn’t be so bad after all.