Hogwarts (Year 1)
Isa was starting to panic. The plan had been that the moment Sirius could get away from his family, he would come and find her, and they would find their seats together. But it was dangerously close to their departure time, and the Hogwarts Express, a huge red monster of a train, kept making deafening whistling noises that made Isa jump every time.
Around her, the last stragglers kissed their parents and siblings in tearful goodbyes, before forming into their little groups and streaming towards the train, faces bright with excitement. Others waved excitedly from the train in their striped house ties and matching white button ups. Isa crossed her arms self-consciously over her polka dotted dress.
After a few more minutes, and yet another deafening whistle, she decided it couldn’t be helped. She would have to find Sirius at the sorting ceremony. Hurriedly, as the platform was now mostly empty, she made her way onto the train, finding a single, long corridor filled with carriage after carriage of students. Hesitantly, she started down the hall, passing full carriages with groups of students chattering excitedly. She spotted a few other nervous looking first years like her, but even they seemed to have clustered into their own little groups.
She started walking faster, panic truly setting in. If she was lucky, maybe she could find an empty carriage at the back. Even that would be better than the mortifying prospect of having to ask someone if she could sit in theirs, and spending the rest of the ride intruding on a conversation between friends, or, even worse, in awkward silence. Unfortunately, Isa had never been particularly lucky, and it seemed that the express was full. She glanced around. People were looking at her now. A group of girls with matching ravenclaw ties peered at her from their carriage, and just down from them, Lucious Malfoy offered her a patronizing little wave, an awful smirk on his face. Isa felt like she might cry, which would only make things worse. She forced herself to take a deep breath instead.
Just then, a girl sitting in a carriage a few doors down glanced over at her. She looked about Isa’s age, and had a shock of dark red hair, with eyes so green they looked almost unreal, like some sort of odd cosmetic spell. The girl glanced over at the person next to her, another girl her own age, with wide, bright eyes and bouncy curls pulled back into a neat ponytail. They seemed to make some sort of agreement, and waved at Isa, pointing to the empty space in their carriage. She thought she might collapse with relief. She smiled at the girls, starting towards them.
Just then, Sirius came barreling down the hall at a frankly inadvisable speed, nearly colliding with her in the process.
“Isa!” He gasped, clearly out of breath. “My parents insisted on seeing me all the way onto the train so they could give me the-” he pauses, leaning against the wall and catching his breath, “the ‘don’t talk to anyone outside of the acceptable families, don’t talk to mudbloods, behave respectably and what have you’ speech.”
Isa nodded absentmindedly. The girls were still watching her through the window, seemingly entertained by her exchange with Sirius. She nodded towards him, and, seemingly satisfied she’d found someone to sit with, they offered her small waves. Isa waved back, feeling a little exhilarated. This was exactly the fresh start she’d been promised.
“-you’ll love him! He’s hilarious, and he knows lots about Hogwarts. He says he’ll be in Gryffindor for sure. That's where I’m going as well, I know it.”
Isa realized belatedly that he must have been talking this entire time.
“You might be in Ravenclaw, because you read so much, but-are you even listening?”
“Course.” She said hurriedly, turning back towards him. He glared indignantly, and Isa only smiled back. Eventually he gave in, rolling his eyes at her as he started down the hall, leaving her to chase after him. She grabbed onto his arm, clutching it like a liferaft, scared he might disappear again and leave her alone in the carriage hall filled with strangers.
“Oh! And James-” Sirius started again.
“James?”
“The boy I was talking about earlier. I knew you weren’t listening. He’s a Potter, isn’t that funny? My parents warned me off them in their little speech, so naturally I went and found one.”
“Naturally.”
“He’s already got a broom, you know. He’s been flying since he could walk apparently. It's a Nimbus!” Sirius said this with the same tone of reverence you might use for a saint, or a decorated brain surgeon.
A Nimbus was impressive though. The broom had only been released a few weeks ago.
“You think you’ll go for the quidditch team then?”
“Oh definitely. They don’t let first years on, but James says he’ll help me practice for second year. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do apparently.”
“We? I think I will be perfectly happy to watch from the stands, thank you. I’ll make you a sign or something.”
Sirius’s eyes light up. “Ooo, what about a shirt with my face on it? Like a muggle rockstar.”
Isa laughs just as Sirius pushes open the door to a carriage containing two boys. One of them, tall and lanky, with wild black hair and warm brown skin, lights up when he sees them, breaking into a smile that seems to take up his entire face. The other, shorter and stouter than his companion, looks up somewhat nervously. He has pale blue eyes and a wide, open face, crowned with sandy blond hair combed neatly to one side. He looks as anxious as Isa feels, which puts her slightly more at ease.
“Sirius! You found her!” The tall boy practically shouts, and Isa does her best not to flinch.
Sirius grins back, nodding. “Isa, meet James and Peter.”
She smiles, waving at both of them. “Hi.” She says, her voice sounding strange to her own ears. She feels unbearably awkward, and she’s got no idea what to do with her hands.
“Where's your uniform?” The other boy, Peter, speaks up from the back of the carriage.
“Oh, I uh, didn’t know we were supposed to wear it on the train.”
He nods, turning back to a pile of chocolate frog cards in his lap.
“You can just change later then.” James says amicably, with another bright smile that makes Isa feel like she’s staring directly into the sun. It’s not entirely unpleasant. Still, she nods politely and sits down in her seat without another word, curling up against the window. Soon, James and Sirius are chattering again, fast enough that poor Peter can barely get a word in edgewise. Isa doesn’t even bother to try, content to simply listen in.
The train makes its way through rolling Scottish highlands, rumbling softly as the wide expanse of green meets clear blue sky, and further they get from Kings Cross, the lighter Isa seems to feel. She catches Sirius’s eye, and the smile he offers her lets her know that he must be feeling it too. James insists on giving her some of his chocolate frog cards, since she hasn’t got any to trade, and she feels better than she has in years. Hogwarts, she determines, must be everything she’s ever wanted.
- • •
After a few hours of train ride, including more talk about Gryffindor house than Isa thought humanly possible, and one somewhat awkward attempt at changing in cramped train car bathroom, the train comes to a halting stop at a little station in the small village just down the road from the school itself. The air is cool as Isa steps off the train, and soft golden light slants across the platform. In the distance, Hogwarts castle rises from the mist, perched on a hilltop like a watchful giant. Isa shakes Sirius’s shoulder, pointing, and he adopts her same awestruck stare. He grabs at James, who elbows Peter, and they all stop in the middle of the platform, looking up at the castle. Finally, they turn, smiling at each other as if this was the beginning of the world.
Just then, a rather severe looking woman in long, dark green robes steps in front of the disorganized crowd of students gathered on the platform. She taps her wand to her throat, and raises her hands, calling for quiet. A hush falls over the crowd quickly.
“I am Professor McGonagall.” Her words have a sharp, precise edge to them, a Scottish accent weaving its way between syllables. “I am the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, as well as assistant to the Headmaster and head of Gryffindor house.”
Sirius and James cast each other thrilled looks, and Isa is suddenly overcome with a feeling of concern for Professor McGonagall. She hopes, for her sake, she is as no-nonsense as she looks.
“You will split up into year groups. 1st years, follow Mr. Flitch. Everyone else, find a prefect and follow them to the carriages.”
The group begins to disperse, and Isa follows the boys as they weave their way through the crowd. As they make their way towards the lake, where a small collection of boats is waiting, Sirius tugs at her arm, directing her attention towards a skinny boy with mousy brown curls and a slash of white scar tissue, trailing all the way from the corner of his mouth down to his throat, where it disappears under robes.
“What do you think happened to his face?” Sirius asks giddily.
“Don’t stare!” Isa hisses, elbowing him in the ribs.
“Maybe he got mauled by something. Like a bear or a wolf.”
“That's awful.”
“That would be so cool.”
“I sincerely doubt you would think that if you were being mauled.”
“We should talk to him.”
“Oh, for Merlin's sake Sirius!”
“I’m going to talk to him.”
Before she can get another word in, Sirius is dragging her through the small crowd, towards the poor, oblivious boy. They come to a rather sudden halt just next to him, and he glances up, looking confused.
“Hi.” Sirius says brightly, offering him a hand. “I’m Sirius Black.”
Isa strongly considers trying to drown herself in the lake.
The boy blinks a few times. “Remus Lupin.” he says eventually, eyebrows raised as he shakes Sirius’s hand quickly. Sirius, grinning like a madman, nods several times. Isa does her best to catch his eye with the most withering look she can produce. ‘Please don’t ask him about the scar. Please please please’ She thinks, as if she could communicate telepathically with enough eye contact.
“What house do you think you'll be in?” Sirius asks instead, and Isa breathes a quiet sigh of relief.
“I’m not sure. Ravenclaw maybe.” Remus still looks a little skeptical at the whole interaction, glancing between Isa and Sirius.
“Oh that's brilliant! She’ll probably be in Ravenclaw as well. She spends nearly all her time with her nose in a book.” Sirius grabbed Isa around the shoulders, jostling her a little for effect. She glared at him, and he released her gingerly.
Remus nods politely, but his expression is rather amused.
“Hey!” Isa hears James shout from behind them, and turns. He’s practically sprinting through the crowd, dragging an exasperated looking Peter behind him. “You ran off! We thought we lost you two in the crowd. Whos this?” James panted, coming to a stumbling halt in front of them. Isa still wasn’t used to the speed at which he talked, and her brain had barely processed before Sirius jumped in.
“This is Remus. He thinks he’ll be in Ravenclaw. Remus, this is James, Peter, and Isadora.”
“Isa.” She corrected automatically.
Remus nodded again, looking around at the group of them.
“Well, we should probably-” James started.
“First years! We haven’t got all day! Find a boat and get in it!” a gruff voice shouted from the lakefront. A small man in a tattered suit jacket and a long, greasy ponytail stood near the boats, wearing an expression of extreme annoyance. Mr. Flitch, Isa presumed.
Their little group, Remus seemingly included whether he chose it or not, made their way down to the lakefront with the rest of the crowd of first years.
“Six to a boat!” Flitch shouted, at a volume that seemed frankly unnecessary for how close he was.
They piled into a small, creaking rowboat along with a serious looking boy who told them he was called Kingsley.
Isa looked around for oars, or some sort of motor as Flitch approached their boat.
“I think they move them with magic.” Peter said, catching her glances around. Sure enough, as Flitch shoved them off into the lake, the boat moved of its own accord. Isa grinned, glancing around at the others, who wore similar expressions of wonderment.
The boats cut silently across the clear, dark mirror of the lake. The sun was well and truly on its way to setting now, the last ribbons of daylight twining through the towers of Hogwarts castle, making way for a faint spill of stars across the rapidly darkening sky. Isa watches the castle approach in the same kind of reverent silence as the rest of the first years on the lake, the spell only breaking once their boats finally hit dry land.