The Hogwarts Express
On the morning of September first, the Everill siblings huddled around the fire grate. Their parents weren’t coming with them, of course - they never did - and it was up to Edward to make sure they all got to the platform on time.
Lucille wasn’t going to Hogwarts, but she wanted to see them off. It had taken an hour of convincing from Felix and Edward for her to agree to say goodbye to them at the fire grate. One of the houselves, Tolkey, had agreed to play some board games with her while she waited for her parents to return home.
‘Promise me you’ll write!’ she had cried as Edward climbed into the fire grate.
‘Every day, like always,’ he said, then disappeared in a flourish of emerald flames.
‘You too, Gwen. I want to know all about your first year.’
Gwen smiled, hugging her sister. ‘Of course. Every day, Luce.’
They took the floo to a shop opposite King’s Cross. Gwen, still clumsy when it came to travelling by floo, was covered in soot which her brothers helped to dust off. They left the shop, crossing the road to the train station, pushing their trunks in front of them.
‘Oh, before I forget.’
Edward turned to her, holding out a cage which contained his new barn owl. ‘He’s for you,’ he said.
Gwen took the cage. The owl tweeted at her, his large yellow eyes wide as though he recognised her. He tweeted again, and she smiled, thanking Edward profusely.
‘I thought he was yours,’ she said, poking her finger through the tiny bars so he could nibble at it.
‘No,’ Edward said, ushering her and Felix along. ‘I wanted to surprise you.’
‘What will you name him?’ Felix asked as they approached platforms nine and ten.
‘I’m not sure,’ she said, smiling at the owl. ‘How about Orion?’
Her brothers moved so that Gwen was in front. She knew what she had to do, but that didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking. With a nudge from Felix, she braced herself, then broke into a run toward the barrier. People jostled her as she ran, knocking her slightly off course, but, at the last moment, she veered back on course and went through the brick wall.
Edward and Felix joined her moments laters, but Gwen couldn’t distract herself from the bright, steaming train that stood beside her. She smiled, taking it all in. It was the first time she’d ever seen the train in person, and it was as magnificent as she’d imagined.
‘You coming, Gwennie?’
Edward and Felix beckoned her down the platform. She followed, pushing her way through the wizards and witches, unable to stop the smile tugging at her lips. It hadn’t yet dawned on her that she was really going to Hogwarts, and the excitement stirring in the pit of her stomach almost made her lose sight of her brothers.
‘Here,’ Edward said, pushing his trunk toward an open carriage door. He huffed as he hauled his trunk onto the train first, pushing it back into the aisle, then moving forward again to grab Gwen’s.
‘Need a hand, Eddie?’
A tall, burly boy with sandy brown hair had walked up behind them, a small smile on his face and eyes on Edward.
‘Ollie!’ Edward cried, reaching over to clap his hand against the boy’s. ‘Gwen, this is Oliver Wood. He’s the Keeper and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.’
Gwen smiled, shaking Oliver’s outstretched hand. She remembered all the times Edward had given her Quidditch lessons in the Everill Manor grounds, teaching her all the different positions on the team. She was always best at chasing. Edward was a beater for the Slytherin Quidditch Team, and given the way he talked about Hogwarts Quidditch matches, she was surprised that he was friends with his rival team’s captain.
‘Ollie, this is Gwen, my sister. First year.’
Oliver Wood grinned at her, helping Edward to haul her trunk onto the train.
‘I’m guessing you’ll be hoping to get Slytherin?’ he said. He spoke with a thick Scottish accent.
Gwen nodded.
‘Well, if you make it onto the Quidditch team next year,’ he continued, helping Edward and Felix with the final trunk. ‘You’ve got to beat Gryffindor. Eddie and I are good friends until Quidditch is involved. Then we’re arch nemeses.’
Edward laughed behind her. ‘It’s all fun and games until a Quidditch match is involved. Especially Slytherin versus Gryffindor.’
‘Of course,’ Oliver finished, clapping hands with Edward once again. Gwen got the feeling that Oliver was only half joking.
‘Let’s get you on the train, then,’ said Felix to Gwen, waving goodbye to Edward and Oliver, who were still chatting.
The two made their way down the train, peering into the carriages. So far, most of them were full, except for one, where a small boy with black hair sat on his own. She turned to Felix.
‘You can go in there,’ he said. ‘My friends are further down the train. Plus, it would be useful to make some friends now, so that you know who to sit with at dinner tonight.’ With a smile, Felix slid open the carriage door.
The boy with the black hair looked up.
‘Sorry,’ Gwen said, silently cursing her brother. ‘Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full.’
The boy sent her a smile. ‘Not at all.’
Felix sent her a wink as he slid the door shut behind her.
‘I’m Gwen Everill,’ she told him, holding out her hand. The boy shook it. ‘I’m Harry Potter.’
The name struck a nerve deep inside Gwen’s mind, as she recognised the boy. The Boy Who Lived. She wanted to say ‘wow, that’s so cool’, or ‘do you really have the scar?’, but instead she kept her mouth shut. She was sure he’d had loads of people asking him that already.
A slightly awkward silence settled between them, then Gwen noticed his white owl.
‘He’s beautiful,’ she said, pointing at the cage. ‘What’s his name?’
Harry smiled. She noticed his vibrant green eyes. ‘She’s called Hedwig. What about yours?’
Gwen poked her finger through Orion’s cage again. He nibbled at her fingernail. ‘He’s called Orion. My brother gave him to me today.’
‘He looks really friendly.’
‘I don’t know about that yet,’ she laughed, meeting Harry’s eyes again. ‘I can’t wait to let him out.’
The train started to move. Both Harry and Gwen turned to watch it pull away from the platform. Gwen watched, endeared, as a small girl with bright red hair ran alongside it, half laughing, half crying as she waved at the window just to the left of their compartment.
‘It’s amazing, isn’t it,’ Gwen said, looking back at Harry. ‘We’re actually going to Hogwarts.’
Harry beamed. ‘I know. It’s kind of scary.’
‘Good scary, though.’
‘Yes, of course.’
They both laughed. The compartment door slid open again, and a tall red-headed boy with freckles and a long nose poked his head in.
‘Do you mind?’ he asked, throwing them a sheepish smile. ‘Everywhere else is full.’
Gwen and Harry shook their heads, and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry, then looked quickly out the window, pretending he hadn’t. He turned his eyes on Gwen. She sent him a small smile, which he returned. She noticed he had dirt on the end of his nose.
‘Hey, Ron.’
Two red-headed twins appeared at the compartment door. She guessed they were related to the boy they called Ron.
‘We’re going down the middle of the train,’ the one on the left said. ‘Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there.’
‘Right,’ Ron mumbled.
‘Harry,’ said the other twin. ‘Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. What’s your name?’ He added, noticing Gwen.
‘Gwen Everill,’ she said.
The twins shared a look, then smiled.
‘See you later,’ the first one said. They slid the compartment door shut behind them.
Not a moment passed, then Ron blurted, ‘Are you really Harry Potter?’
Harry nodded.
‘I thought it might have been another one of Fred and George’s jokes, you see,’ Ron said. ‘Do you really-- have you really got--’ He trailed off, pointing at Harry’s forehead.
Gwen laughed. ‘I was going to ask you the same thing actually,’ she said, smiling at Harry sheepishly. ‘I didn’t want to impose though…’
Harry pulled back his fringe, revealing the pink lighting scar. Gwen couldn’t help staring.
‘Wow,’ she and Ron said.
Orion made a sound in his cage.
‘Do you remember it?’ Ron asked suddenly.
Harry shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Nothing at all?’
‘Well, there’s a lot of green light, but other than that, no, not really.’
Gwen stopped herself from saying that the green light was probably from the killing curse.
The three began to talk about their families. Harry was from a Muggle family who treated him really badly from the sounds of it. He even told them that his bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs, which Gwen and Ron had both stared at him wide mouthed for. Ron was from a wizard family, Pure Bloods, but poor, and everything Ron owned was hand-me-down. His wand used to belong to one of his brothers, his rat used to belong to one of his brothers, even his robes were second hand from a brother.
Gwen refrained from telling Harry and Ron much about her family life. She told them about Edward, Felix and Lucille, but kept her parents out of the conversation. She allowed Ron to poke his finger through the cage at Orion, but he jumped back when he started to nibble his finger.
‘It’s OK, I’m sure he doesn’t bite.’
Ron raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re sure he doesn’t bite? That’s convincing.’
Gwen laughed.
The compartment door slid open again as they were going through endlessly green fields.
‘Anything from the trolley?’ A plump, older witch asked. She had a trolley full of candies, and, with her pockets filled with the gold and silver Edward had given her before they left, she went and bought as many sweets as she could.
She nearly dropped them as she turned back, placing them on the empty seat as Harry went and bought some sweets too. Ron looked on miserably, pulling out four squashed corned beef sandwiches wrapped in cling film from his pocket.
‘Mum always forgets I don’t like corned beef,’ he said, watching the other two begin to eat their sweets. ‘With five of us, it can get hard for her to remember sometimes.’
‘Do you like pumpkin pasties?’ Gwen asked, holding out a packet to him.
‘It’s OK,’ Ron said, smiling sheepishly. ‘I’m all set.’
Harry leaned across the seat, passing Ron some other sweets. ‘No, come on. Help yourself.’
It didn’t take much convincing; within a few minutes, Ron’s squashed corned beef sandwiches were forgotten, and the three of them were stuffing their faces with candies galore.