Insufferable

Lirum Ollivander, a tall wizard with mint colored hair that stuck out in tufts of unkempt curls, paced the length of platform 9 3/4. The third year, already dressed in their blue lined Ravenclaw robes, pored over the checklist clutched a little too tightly in their hand for the fifth time. Making sure, again, that everything was present, in order, and accounted for.

Luggage skidded along behind them as they anxiously waited to board the Hogwarts Express. Stopping to take a breath and calm themselves, they scanned the crowd looking for any familiar faces; friends, teachers, classmates; anyone they could recognize.

They searched until their eyes settled on a well known, and hard to miss, family of redheads, the Weasleys. They had entered Hogwarts at the same time as Fred and George two years ago, but had never actually spoken more than a few passing words to either of them. Not that you needed to speak to them to know about the twins; their reputation proceeded them. But even without their ruckus, the large and rather loud family was hard to miss.

As they continued to focus on the only familiar faces they had seen so far, Lirum noticed the twins teasing three boys whom they did not recognize. They assumed the tallest must be the twins' older brother; the resemblance was quite hard to miss. The other two must be first years. One in particular stuck out. Following the gaggle of redheads with a wonderstruck look plastered to his face was a gaunt brunette boy.

“He must be muggle born. Helping is…out of character for those two,” Lirum mumbled. Suddenly, memories of all the pranks they’ve pulled over the last two years came to mind. They seemed ready to cause trouble as usual. Even from a distance, Lirum began to think they could visibly see the mischievous air that surrounded the twins.

Almost ready to put a stop to whatever they were planning for this poor first year, they see the tallest brother turn around and caught the glint of a Gryffindor prefect pin. Suddenly settling down feeling immature, and downright foolish for suddenly jumping to conclusions and almost causing a scene over a situation they knew nothing about.

As their thoughts turned sour, their hair turned from its vibrant mint color to a more muted woody brown as they visibly shrunk slightly, wanting to blend in with the crowd. “I am a Ravenclaw, not a Gryffindor…we don’t charge in. We don’t act without thinking; We are Clever, and Creative. Curious and Cautious…we act with logic, not heart-” they are cut off by the warning whistle of the train. They straightened out their robes trying to act the part of a Ravenclaw; put together, and confident.

They quietly boarded the train and made themself comfortable in a far empty compartment, near the back of the train to get a head start on the new years reading material. After a short while there was a knock and before Lirum could even respond the compartment door was thrown wide open revealing a short round faced brunette boy, who looked to be a first year.

“You…you wouldn’t happen to have seen a toad in here have you? I-…I’ve lost my pet Trevor.” He looked quite anxious, almost shaking. Lirum couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor boy.

“What’s your name kid? I'll try to help you look” Lirum said, closing their textbook. “Really!? I-I mean it’s Neville…Neville Longbottom, I mean.” The look of shock on his face alone was enough to know he was expecting to be stuck looking for his lost friend alone.

“Yes. We don’t have much time before we arrive at Hogwarts. So we’d better start looking.” You could see the change in his demeanor.

“T-thank you, Hermione is-…well, was helping before…then we ran into Harry Potter! The Harry Potter! He told me not to worry. That Trevor would come back, but I still need to look for him”

“Ok Neville, I’m Lirum. Let’s look for Trevor alright? Let’s go.”

Before they had noticed, the train came to a stop and Trevor was nowhere to be found. “I’m sure everything will be alright… maybe he snuck into your luggage and he’ll already be at the castle waiting for you.” Lirum said, trying to lighten the scared boys mood.

“I hope so, They’re calling for us to get loaded into the boats. Aren’t you coming?” Neville asked.

“No sorry, only first years take the boats across the lake, it’s tradition. I’m a third year, I’ll be riding the carriages in.”

“Oh ok…well I’ll see you later then…and thank you again for trying to help me!” Neville said, before he ran to join the other first years.

For Lirum it was time to switch and ride the carriages to the castle, they pulled their textbook back out. They were too deeply invested in their studies to notice anything before they stepped off the carriage, and walked straight into their head of house.

“Ah I see you’ve started this year’s curriculum right! The study of ancient runes is a fascinating class! But I firmly believe ‘A Rune Dictionary’ will be more beneficial to you than ‘Ancient Runes Made Easy,’ you're a bright young student, Mr.Ollivander. I'm positive you can handle the more advanced reading material,” chimed professor Flitwick.

“Well thank you sir. I had planned on checking it out from the library as soon as I finished the base source material. Though, I didn’t want to get too far ahead of my classes, or worse; risk falling behind in another over an elective course. After all, you would be very disappointed if I started doing poorly in charms,” Lirum explained

“Oh don’t be silly, you are a model student! Top of your class; even above your fellow housemates, and that is a feat in itself. I have complete faith you can handle whatever this year brings. Now, will you be joining the Choir again this year? You know we’re counting on your impressive vocal range,” he insists.

Lirum knew well that their abilities as a metamorphmagus caused their androgynous look and nature. It did not however extend to being able to change their voice. They reminded themself that everyone's abilities are different and, despite their best efforts, their voice sat in a medium range; not too high, or low; a smooth neutral tenor.

It was common for people to insist they must be able to change their voice “Maybe just for the school song but I don’t plan to perform with the choir this year, as you probably know, I picked up as many electives as I could. Care of magical creatures, the study of ancient runes, and divination. With all of them, and all of the core curriculum, I simply won’t have time,” Lirum sighed.

“Oh, well that’s a shame but I’m always glad to hear a student is so focused on their studies. As if I would expect anything else from you, Mr.Ollivander. Now, let’s not dally and make it to The Great Hall late. We both need to be there for the school song and sorting ceremony!” As he turned to hurry towards the great hall Lirum followed closely behind.

Once they found their spot amongst the other members of the choir they mentally prepared themselves to sing the same song they sang at the start of every school year so far. Wanting nothing more than to go to their dormitory and have a rest.

After the song they sat at the Ravenclaw table and ate while the first years got placed one by one into different houses. There was no surprise when the new Weasley joined Gryffindor. Most of the pure bloods went Slytherin, there was even one boy the sorting hat didn’t even have to touch to answer, and then there was Harry Potter. The brunette boy from before who followed the Weasleys is the boy who lived. That was somewhat of a surprise but left even more questions as to why he was with the Weasleys.

“Maybe I was right and they are up to something again…” Lirum said aloud to themself, but no one seemed to notice anyway. Because professor McGonagall called the name “Neville Longbottom”

Lirum honestly hoped the boy might be a Hufflepuff. He seemed to be in need of good friends, or Ravenclaw so at least he would have Lirum; but as he walked towards the sorting hat he tripped in front of everyone and the great hall bustled to life with laughter.
“That poor kid,” they said as the sorting hat called out Gryffindor. “Really? His day can’t get worse,” but then he ran to the Gryffindor tables still wearing the sorting hat and had to turn back, causing more laughter from the hall. “They're going to eat that boy alive.”

Shortly after a girl with long curly brown hair stood before the Ravenclaw table, our new Ravenclaw prefect began to introduce herself. “Hello and welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. I am Penelope Clearwater! I will be one of your Ravenclaw prefects this year. Now please follow me this way to our dormitories, located on the west side of the castle. The entrance will be on the fifth floor. It's quite a walk up the stairs, but I assure you the view is better than anywhere else in all of Hogwarts. Now, follow me.”

Once Lirum made it back to their dormitory, they couldn’t help but feel sleepy the second they heard the sound of the wind that whistled around the windows. Sitting on the edge of their plush bed, covered in the soft sky blue blankets and sheets as they pulled out their night clothes. They looked over at the view of the lake out of the window next to their bed. They changed and curled up to rest after their eventful first day back at Hogwarts.