Platforms, New Friends, and Communist Ideals
Mary had never been a big fan of trains, having stowed away in one for a very unpleasant three weeks. But she’d never been quite so excited as she was this morning, for this morning, she’d get to leave London, leave behind her messy house and her screaming siblings and the East End. She just had to figure out how to get inside.
Platform Nine and Three Quarters was the kind of thing that got you strange stares when you asked about it, so Mary abandoned that plan very quickly. Instead, she stumbled around aimlessly near platform nine, looking for anyone who might have helped.
The boy with the black hair was back again, the blond girl with him but accompanied by two sisters, all with hair one shade darker than the previous one. She had a feeling she may not want to ask around that family. They looked severe, angry. But they were her only hope as of now, so she crept out from behind the sign for platform nine, clutching her small suitcase and making sure to walk at least five feet behind them.
The oldest of the three girls stepped out first. She had an unmistakable glint of rage in her eyes, evident more and more as her father grabbed her arm and whispered something in her ear. Mary remembered the way Tata had whispered in her ear when she left.
“Don’t come back thinking you’re worth anything.”
She’d lost her focus, and now the black haired girl had vanished into thin air. The brown haired girl was next. She looked small and unassuming, shorter than the blonde one but with an air of having done this before. She smiled, aimed her cart straight for the pillar, and ran directly into it.
Mary braced herself for a crash that never came, for the girl vanished inside the pillar. The blonde girl did the same, and their parents all followed. So the moment of truth had arrived. It was her turn, and if she broke a few teeth, well, she was never all that pretty to begin with.
Just as she was about to run, a hand grabbed her wrist from behind.
“Mary! Mary! Oh, I wasn’t sure I’d see you. Don’t know how many kids were coming, you see, but I’m glad you’re here!”
Lily and her trademark enthusiasm were standing next to a boy with greasy hair and sallow skin. He reminded Mary of the addicts that riddled the East End, but he looked so young. She could see the bruises on his wrist and under his collar, and she understood.
“I’m Severus. Snape.” he stuttered.
“I’m–”
“Are you a communist?”
Maybe Mary didn’t feel like being understanding today. “No, I’m nothing of the sort. My name’s Mary MacDonald. Pleasure.”
“Sorry, then. You look like one of my neighbors. She’s Soviet.”
“You shouldn’t accuse people of such things.”
“Are we going to the platform or not?” asked Lily, and Mary and Severus were both happy to turn towards the pillar as they all took one final breath, and ran.
Ran straight through into the most beautiful train station Mary had ever seen.
There were hundreds of parents. Students with animals: cats, owls, toads. Laughing and cheering and getting onto a gorgeous steam train, red and black and gold and almost as magical as the shopping they’d done a few days ago.
“Holy mackerel!” Lily shouted, twirling as if there was nobody there. Her parents, who Mary hadn’t noticed, were appearing through the portal now, their mouths similarly agape. Behind them was a sullen girl, probably Lily’s older sister. “Mum, can you believe it? Look at how big it is!”
The train seemed to stretch on for miles, as did the crowd of students. Mary walked a little closer to try and get a good look, and ran smack into a boy with the messiest hair she’d ever seen.
“Sorry, I–”
“Oy! Watch where you’re going, Soviet.”
“Watch where your hair’s going, pretty boy. Last I checked, even I wasn’t too poor for a hairbrush.”
“Sirius, you see this?” he called to the boy from earlier, with the same color hair but a much more desolate disposition.
“Well hello there,” he said, sliding up to Mary with all the confidence of a boy who wasn’t often told no.
“Hi.”
“You giving my friend trouble?”
“No, just trying to get closer to the train.”
“Better yet, want to find a compartment with us on the train?”
“No thanks. With a head the size of yours, not sure there’d be room for any more people.”
Mary turned indignantly, not that she had anywhere to go. Lily was lost, and she wasn’t going back to those boys, so she began to climb the steps to the train, dreading the human interaction required to find a compartment.
There were many that were already full of older students, all color coded and rarely intermingling. Some looked like they were waiting for someone who definitely wasn’t Mary. She’d almost given up hope when, by some small miracle, she spotted Dorcas across from two other girls, all talking in the awkward way new friends do.
She slowly opened the door. “Dorcas!”
“Mary! Come in! This is Alice, and Marlene. They’re first years, like us.”
“I’ve never seen you before,” said the girl with reddish brown hair, Marlene. “Are you Muggle-born?”
“Yeah, I am. You got a problem with that?”
“Be nice, Mary,” said Dorcas as she kicked her leg.
“No! Dorcas is too, and so’s my mum.”
“Sorry. Just ran into a lot of not so nice people today.”
“Probably future Slytherins, right?” Alice said, nudging Marlene with her shoulder.
“Is that a disease?” asked Mary, and they all laughed. She hadn’t been joking, but this was better than silence.
“Slytherin is one of the four houses at Hogwarts. That’s where all the dark wizards go. The ones who hate muggles and muggle borns. There’s also Ravenclaw, for all the smart kids, and Hufflepuff, for the hard workers. That’s where my brother Mason is,” said Marlene. “And then there’s Gryffindor, for all the brave children. That’s where I want to be.”
“I’m not near brave enough for Gryffindor,” said Dorcas. “I get scared around spiders.”
“That doesn’t count,” Alice insisted, and they all nodded their agreement.
“Where do you think you’ll be, Mary?” asked Marlene.
“I’m surprised they haven’t sent me home yet,” Mary said, and they all laughed, warmer this time.
“I’ll be in Gryffindor, and so will Alice,” Marlene announced.
“My whole family has been Hufflepuff!”
“Well, Allie, family isn’t everything. I’m not going there, like my brother is. That’s the boring house.”
“Maybe I’d like to be in Ravenclaw,” said Mary, hoping that was an alright answer.
“Are you smart?” asked Alice earnestly.
“I speak three languages,” said Mary.
“And to think, I have trouble with one,” Marlene whined. “What languages do you speak?”
“English–”
“I never would have guessed.”
“-- Czech, and French.”
“Czech? Isn’t that one of the communist countries?”
“If Mary’s a communist, I’m a communist too! And also I speak Spanish!” yelled Dorcas in a panic. Mary appreciated the defense, but wasn’t sure how helpful it would actually be.
“No, no! I was just asking. You two ain’t communists. That’d be silly!”
The tension was gone in an instant, and there wasn’t much left to talk about except absolutely everything as the train grew closer and closer to the castle. Mary was grateful her new friends didn’t mind her background, but she wasn’t looking forward to several months of this treatment. She should really work on fixing her accent.