Levitating

Vinley Dolvion

This was it. I was finally off to school. I remember getting my letter on my birthday, and being so annoyed when I couldn’t just go the next day. Then there were final classes with Tripe, shopping, all while I was getting more and more antsy to travel to the place I would spend the majority of my time at for the next seven years.

Now, I was staring straight at the scarlet red train that would take me there. Mother and I had apparated to the platform at exactly ten-thirty, to ensure we would have enough time to get through the crowds. Elias and Phel were with us too, but Father couldn’t make it as he had an early meeting. I had the chance to say goodbye to him the night before, thankfully, and he gave me a short speech on upholding the family name while I was at Hogwarts. A simple, lighthearted goodbye for sure. Mother and I kept the same pace as we walked down the concrete ground of the platform, Elias on my left and Phel on my mother’s right parting the crowd. Many people stared, mostly people way older than me, parents and relatives of my future peers. I kept my head up with my eyes ahead of me, like I was taught. Mother and I stopped near one of the entrances to the train.

“Vinley,” I turned to my mother, “keep your head up, remember your lessons, always remain poised. I love you.”

“Yes Mother, I love you too,” I nodded, starting to get emotional. She was too, tears sparkling in her eyes. She leaned down slightly, stretching her arms to bring me into a tight hug. I held her just as tightly, scrunching my eyes shut to stop the tears from falling. Our hug was long, but not long enough. Breaking apart, I turned and gave Elias and Phel a tight smile and nod; then promptly turned and stepped onto the train. I started walking down the hall, looking for a suitable compartment. I stop after a few minutes, spotting a familiar flash of golden hair in a compartment at the front.

“Daphne, my darling!” I announce after sliding open the door. She looks up at me from her book, a dazzling smile lighting up her face.

“Vinley, my love!” she stands up, swinging her arms open and welcoming me into a hug. “I haven’t seen you in forever, it’s been almost a month!”

“I know! Mother has had me running around shopping and finalizing lessons since I got my letter!” I sighed, breaking away from her as we moved to sit down beside each other.

“Ugh, I had to do one of those ‘final meetings’ too, just as boring as ever,” Daphne grimaced. Daphne and I had first met when we were five, and she joined me in my lessons with Madam Tripe. She always made class more bearable when she was there and we soon became very close. Call it trauma bonding. Madam Tripe did not care about making little girls cry, so we learned to support each other instead. As the train lurched forward, we immediately began chatting away about the past month and different rumors and gossip floating about, sucking on mints and sipping rosewater from the drink trolley. A couple hours into the journey, we changed into our plain black robes; though they wouldn’t be for long. Daphne had also chosen cashmere robes, and we laughed at how we were going to be the most fashionable of all the first years.

“Did you hear that Harry Potter is in our year?” Daphne asks me excitedly.

“Yes, I did!” I nod a few times, before my smile falters into a more sour expression, “but my parents say he’s been raised by muggles! Can you even imagine?”

“That’s vile! They probably live in a hut with pigs, or something,” Daphne says with a pinched face.

“Yes! Or maybe they-” I cut myself off as the compartment door is slid open. A boy with bright slicked blond hair stands in the doorway, and the hallway is blocked from view by two boys who look a good few years older than I am. The boy looks to the other side of the compartment, with an empty bench, moving towards it without looking our way. I clear my throat to get his attention.

“Excuse me, can I help you with something?” I ask, lifting my eyebrows up. He spins around on his heel, before straightening himself up and dusting off his robe. The boy looks me up and down, still not responding. “Hello, are you deaf?”

Daphne giggles beside me.

“No, I am not deaf!” The boy looks affronted, a sneer poking its way onto his face. “Do you know who I am? Who do you think you are talking to?”

“I’m Vinley Dolvion, and don’t take that tone with me,” I say sharply.

“Oh, well, kind to meet you,” Draco says slowly, clearly recognizing who he’s speaking to. “I’ve heard of your family, my parents know yours, and you were in the paper last week. I’m Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”

“Yes, I’ve been in that rubbish loads of times,” I roll my eyes. There was, in fact, an article about Mother and I’s outing to Diagon Alley. How riveting.

“Oh! Remember when they did that article analyzing your posture in different settings, that was hilarious,” Daphne snickered.

“And Madam Tripe had me do everything with a book on my head for a full week after!” I exclaimed, joining her laughter. I sighed after a few moments reaching to the stand on the arm rest for my water. It was only then that I noticed Draco was still standing there with his gargoyles, watching us with an unreadable expression.

“Are you going to stand there forever? Sit down and close the door or go find me another package of mints.” I joked. He scowled at me, but sat down anyway.

~~~

The rest of the journey was pleasant. Daphne and I resumed our conversation, in a much quieter tone due to the unexpected company. They were quiet for most of the way, Draco reading and the only noise being the occasional snort or grunt from the two other unnamed boys. The drink trolley came around once more and Draco, seemingly to make up for his impoliteness before, bought us more rosewater from the older witch and that was very kind of him.

A few hours later the train began to slow down, Draco looked up from his book and Daphne and I moved closer to the window, trying to get any sort of glimpse of the castle we would be staying in for the next seven years. When the train came to a complete stop, it was as if a switch was flipped and suddenly the entire corridor was filled with children of all ages rushing to grab their things and get off. Daphne and I gathered our bags before sliding open the glass door and taking a step out. Immediately I was pushed back into the doorframe, as a blur of red hair flashed by me. Daphne was next to me in a second, scowling in the direction of the red haired kid, and asking if I was alright.

“I’m okay, these peasants I swear!” I exclaimed, with a scowl to match Daphne’s. I huffed, dusting off my robes and pushing my hair back into place. By now the crowd had calmed and there were less kids our age running around us. The last ones left mostly older students checking compartments for remaining kids. Draco and his gargoyles stepped out into the hallway now, and he gave me a quick once over with a questioning look on his face.

“What happened? I heard a yell.” Draco asks, almost concerned.

“This firework-headed peasant just shoved me!” I huffed again, still frowning.

“It was probably one of those Weasleys, Father says the lot of them are all muggle-lovers” Draco said, disgusted by just the mentioning of them. “Poor as hell too, they practically live in a cave.”

“Let’s hope I don’t contract some sort of disease,” I grimace as we all move towards the nearest exit onto the platform.