First year
Mary MacDonald entered the wizarding world at 11 years old, feeling completely out of her depth and overwhelmed by the complete and utter stupidity she felt as everyone around her had a seemingly endless amount of knowledge on both the school and magic itself.
She had felt just about ready to cry, her eyes were welling up and she couldn’t seem to blink fast enough to stop them. Mary missed home already, she missed her mum who always managed to fill the house with music and joy while the smell of homecooked meals wafted through the doors. She missed her dad and his endless jokes, the way he could always make her smile no matter what, the way he would teach her about the plants as he weeded and maintained them every weekend and the way he would loudly sing along to her mother's music and he swept the halls.
She even missed her brothers, the three boisterous little assholes she yelled at pretty much daily. Everyone else on the stupid train seemed to be completely happy, ecstatic even to be leaving, but all Mary could think about was everything she was going to miss over the next three and a half months.
Mary had been desperately trying to find an empty compartment, fighting back sobs as older students yelled and ran at each other, hugging and chatting about their summers and lugging big trunks across the aisle to store them. She had hardly even seen anyone her age until she attempted to walk past one of the compartments but instead walked into someone, sending both of them toppling to the ground.
“I’m so sorry,” Mary apologised, scrambling to her feet and reaching out a hand to pull the girl she knocked over up. The girl didn’t even notice her outstretched hand, instead pushing herself up and straightening her skirt, dusting it off before looking at Mary and smiling.
“No problem, I should’ve paid more attention,” The girl laughed, making eye contact with Mary. She had deep green eyes, bright red hair and a smile so bright that it made Mary’s breath catch in her throat. “Hi, I’m Lily,”
The other girl, Lily, had outstretched her hand to shake Mary’s, still smiling at her like she hadn’t just been sent flying to the floor. Mary had grabbed her hand warily, sniffling as she replied, nervous that Lily was going to laugh at her when she realised she was in tears.
“I’m Mary, are you in your first year as well?” If Lily did notice the way Marys's voice was strained and she wiped away tears as she spoke, she was kind enough not to mention it.
“Yes!” Lily exclaimed, pulling Mary into her previous compartment with her, clearly forgetting about whatever it was she had been going to do beforehand. Already in the compartment was a sulky-looking boy with shoulder-length hair and his nose stuck in a book sat opposite a blonde girl with choppy hair and red Converse who was looking out the window as the countryside flashed past.
“We’re all going into our first year,” Lily explained, getting the attention of the girl in the compartment, who turned and waved at Mary enthusiastically. “That’s Marlene, she knows all about the wizarding world already, but me and Sev,” She gestures over to the boy who is reading, and he doesn’t even look up.
“We’re both new to this, well sort of, Sev knows about it but he’s never been fully immersed in it.” Lily takes a seat, pulling Mary down beside her while Marlene shuffles across to sit opposite them.
“Hi, I’m Marlene, like Lily said, we just met but I think we’re going to be best friends, I really like your dress,” Marlene rambles, making Mary feel more comfortable and relaxed than she had been for the last hour. “I’m pureblood, even though I hate that description, and I already know a couple of people in our year but they went to comfort some boy who was upset about leaving his brother, anyway I feel like I’m rambling a lot, tell me about you.”
“What does pureblood mean?” Mary asks, she’s never heard that term before, and she’s beginning to feel like she should’ve read more than the single book on history that was suggested. “Oh, I’m Mary by the way,”
“Hiya Mary,” Marlene grins, but it doesn’t make Mary stop breathing like it did with Lily. “Basically, both of my parents are wizards and so are all my grandparents. I’m assuming that means you’re a muggle-born?”
Mary shoots a sideways glance at Lily, wracking her brain to think of any chapter mentioning that that could possibly help, but Lily just shrugs in confusion and Mary comes up with nothing.
“I-I don’t know what that means, sorry,” Marlene smacks a hand over her face and for a second, Mary worries that she’s pissed her off,
“Sorry, I was being stupid, it means your parents are muggles, or non-magical,” Lily makes a sound of realisation like she’s heard those words before, but Mary still feels a bit lost, why do they even care? They’re all magic, right?
“Oh, yeah I’m pretty sure I’m the first one in my family, is that weird?” Lily leans into Mary as she speaks, an attempt at being reassuring and slightly curious. It causes Mary’s heart to skip a beat, and butterflies to form in her stomach, although she won’t realise that for a while.
“Nah, like half of the students have at least one muggle parent,” Mary feels reassured by that, sighing more deeply than she expected, and Lily squeezes her hand while her shoulder droops, letting out some of the stress.
“You can always come to me if you have questions. You’re kinda stuck with me now,” Marlene laughs, nudging them with one of her shoes. They laugh with her, starting to talk more, and Mary feels herself relax, she might really like it here.