The inevitables

I find the fact that we had to wait five months and a week before we could go to Hogwarts absolutely foolish. Unfortunately for my parents, James and I are not patient people and time seemed to be moving slower than anything before. Fortunately for my parents, the day finally arrived and they could ship us off.

We rode on the knight bus with the pettigrews, it was just Peter and his mum since his dad had to work. We’d been to the platform loads of times, we’ve seen the sendoff after begging our parents to bring us. This time was different however, we were getting sent off. Our mother was fighting every urge to cry, she was not doing well.

“We’ll be back in December!” James protested “there’s nothing to be sad over” he was trying his hardest to make his way onto train as fast as he could. I, on the other hand, understood my mothers sadness. We had never been away for so long, she would go from having a full house to just her, dad, and gully.

“What’s the matter James? Scared you won’t look cool at first?” I teased
“Please, I do cool in my sleep!” We hugged our mother for eternity, or until she decided she was ready to let us go.
“Euphemia, why don’t you put their bags on the train, I can prepare them for a bit” my dad said then winked at us when she left. “Now remember, you can’t preform magic while at home, but the train is free game!” He whispered to us just in case our mother came back early. “There are two important hexes you’ll need: the jelly legs hex and of course lumos. You remembered the the little extra school supply I gave you two?” The two of us nodded “Good, do me proud!” He smiled and hugged us both. I never felt pressured by my parents to succeed, all they wanted was for me to be my very best which was just for me to be me.

The extra supply was a cloak of invisibility he had received when he went to Hogwarts. It was family tradition to give the cloak to each potter child. He made us promise that we would share the cloak and not tell our mother about it until at least second year. He gave it to us just yesterday and we were both eager to try it out.

“Oh my babies!” My mum cried joining our hug, after a bit James started squirming

“Guys! We’ll miss the train!” And with that the hug ended and we headed to the train, Peter followed us closely.

Walking in, I immediately understood: every compartment was full of kids. Some were in uniforms, others were not, but everywhere a group of kids sat as if to remind me that everyone else had friends.

“We got this” James muttered before walking through the train. I couldn’t tell if he was saying this to us or himself, but I knew that we all needed it. We walked and walked passing many different kinds of students. Most of them ignored us entirely except one dark haired boy glared at us as if he already knew it. It was odd, seeing as I never knew him. But he sat with a ginger haired girl who looked kind, she waved at me and I waved back. James was too busy walking to notice them. After a little while longer James turned to Peter and me

“Ok I say that we sit in the next compartment, no matter who is sitting there.” I could tell he also felt as invisible as I did, he was tired of being looked over. I nodded and Peter followed my example, we were going to sit in the next compartment.

Luckily for us there was only one boy in the next compartment and he looked our age. Un-lucky for us, he was covered in scars and despite his skinny image, he seemed to be rough around all the edges. His shaved head didn’t help him look any friendly either. Nether the less, James knocked on the door.
“Hi!” James started off strong and smiled “are you a first year too? I’m James, this is my sister hazel and my friend Peter”

The boy starred at us uneasily, I couldn’t tell if he was scared or just didn’t like people. I could tell that he felt overwhelmed by all of us being there.

“Remus” he said, a bit hostile.

“Do you mind if we sit? Peter’s getting car sick” James lied to the boy, he was too embarrassed to say the truth.

“Am not” Peter complained but didn’t say anything else. I could tell the boy, Remus, didn’t want us there or maybe he was just unsure about all of us being there.

“Actually” I started looking around “I think I see a compartment with a few girls our age. I think I’ll join them” I finished and James nodded. As I walked away I heard James and Peter sitting down with Remus.

I walked around the train for awhile not seeing anyone, I figured that if I hadn’t seen anyone by the time I reached the end of the train then I’d just sit down in the last compartment. Luckily for my dignity, I was stopped before I reached the end.

“Excuse me!” A girl called and I stopped in my tracks. I hoped she was talking to me or else I really embarrassed myself. I looked in the compartment, inside were two girls: one pale blond one with blue eyes and a lazy type of style, and a dark skinned girl with black curly hair and brown eyes who was dressed in a sun dress. I found myself in between their styles, I wasn’t really a dress girl but I definitely cared about my looks.

“Me?” I asked shyly, to my relief the two girls nodded

“Do you have anywhere to sit?” The pale girl asked and I shook my head.

“You should sit with us!” The other girl cheered “I’m Mary Macdonald” I liked how she pronounced her last name. She separated the mac from the donald as if she was saying mac and cheese. She turned to the other girl “This is Marlene McKinnon, we’ve only just met”

I took a strange comfort in knowing they weren’t life long friends, as we were all at the start.

“I’m Hazel Potter” I said sitting next to Mary “you’re first years too?” I asked even though the answer seemed obvious.

“Yes we are, I was just explaining to Mary what wizardry is like. Mary’s a muggle born” she stated and Mary nodded. My parents always told us blood status didn’t matter, any muggle born could do the same as any pure blood. Although, I suppose pure bloods have the advantage at the start since they know all about wizardry.

“You’re parents are muggles? That’s so cool! I’ve never actually met a muggle before but I want to” I smiled but the two girls didn’t know whether to laugh or not.

“You’ve never met a muggle?” Mary asked and I nodded “how?!” She looked so astonished.

“Well.. have you ever met a wizard before getting accepted to Hogwarts? I believe wizards like to give muggles space you know?” I hoped I didn’t ruin my chances to be their friends because of this. I hoped not all of Hogwarts is spending time about a wizards ancestry.

“She’s got a point” Marlene agreed with me and I made a mental sigh of relief. I didn’t blow it, “the only muggles I know are my dads family members”

Mary looked at the two of us stunned.
“We’ll ladies” she said “I believe we have a lot to learn from each other”

And just like that I had made two friends. I hoped my brother had the same luck I was having, but I assumed he was alright. The three of us spent the train ride teaching each other wizard and muggle things, I found all of it to be incredibly interesting.