The Beginning
“Aphmau!? Aphmau!” The voice shouted from downstairs, before the woman sighed at the following silence, cursing under her breath. The boy sitting on the couch nearby looked up, his werewolf ears twitching before standing, smiling slightly.
“Let me handle this mom,” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “I’ll get her up.”
The woman sighed, ruffling his hair gently, letting out a yelp from the boy, grumbling as he fixed his already messy hair. “Thank you mijo. I wouldn’t normally care but you both need to be ready this time!” The young teen smiled, quickly running up the stairs.
He knew his sister loved sleeping in, but she wasn’t quite able to this time. After all, they’d spent all yesterday buying the things she needed for the beginning of her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchery and Wizardry, meanwhile the boy, Ein, was already in his second year this year.
He knew their mother was nervous- after all, she'd had a year or so to get used to Ein leaving home, and now he wouldn’t have any of them. Of course, their family friends were still going to be living around, so they’d be able to help the two send letters.
He sighed, fiddling with his green and silver tie, letting it hang more loosely for now as he knocked on the door.
“Aph? You have five seconds to make sure you’re decent before I come in.” The boy counted quietly, before opening the door, looking about.
Her suitcase was packed, and her clothes were out, alongside the ordinary robe they had bought (once she was sorted into whatever house she would be, the inside colour would change from black to her house), but the girl herself was nowhere to be found.
Ein sighed, twitching his ears as he heard a quiet sob from behind the closet doors. Walking over, the boy bent down, opening the doors, looking at his 11-year-old sister. “What are you doing in the closet Aph? Mom’s been calling you for three minutes now.”
“I-I don’t wanna go…! It- It’s gonna be scary and-”
“-Tiny, breathe.”
“You’re not that much taller than me idiot.”
“You were still very small as a baby, I’m allowed to call you ‘tiny’. It’s endearing.” The boy chuckled, sitting down beside her. “What happened huh? You were so excited yesterday.”
Aphmau shrugged. “I-I don’t know...what- what if I don’t get to see you..!?”
“You’ll get to see me, promise. Besides, you’ll get to meet more friends…! But you gotta be ready for when Zianna and Garte get here with Garroth and Zane. Zane’s starting this year with you- that’s one friend!”
“Zane’s mean.”
“He’s just going through a phase Aph. Now come on, breakfast is getting cold.” The werewolf sighed as his sister didn’t move. He looked aside, before extending a hand. “Tell you what-...you come downstairs now and I’ll let you put one of your stupid little braids in my hair.”
“..Can I put it in your dyed area?”
“Fine.”
><><><><><><><
Aphmau sat nervously on the couch as she fiddled with her fingers nervously. Her older brother sat beside her, nudging her gently.
“They’ll be here soon, tiny.” Aphmau grumbled at the nickname. Ever since she could remember the werewolf had called her that. Her eyes kept moving to the green and silver tie on his neck (which their mother had tightened properly), as she looked up.
“Do you reckon I’ll be with you?”
“What? In Slytherin?” Ein tossed his head back, laughing. “No. No way in hell tiny. I reckon you’ll more likely be in Hufflepuff. You’re too- soft for my house.”
“I am not!”
“Are too.”
“Am not!”
“Are too.”
“Both of you quiet down!” Their mother sighed, shaking her head. “It’s going to be so quiet without the both of you…” As much as the chuckle in her voice hid her anxiety, both of the children could easily tell their mother was nervous about letting them both go. Aphmau already remembered how many letters she had sent at once when Ein first left.
They both shared a look, before getting up and hugging her tightly.
“We’ll be sure to write mom.” Ein smiled. Aphmau nodded in agreement, before she looked up, hearing a knock at the door. Ein turned as well, making their mother sigh.
“That would be them…” Any fear she had previously felt melted away as the girl ran over to the door, wasting no time opening it up. Zianna smiled, her green eyes shining brightly as she walked over to their mother, hugging her tightly.
“Sylvana!” Sylvana chuckled, hugging her friend just as tightly. Garte stayed outside, giving a brief nod. Ein’s tail wagged as he walked over to the familiar blonde, grinning as he slung an arm over him.
“You ready for this year Garroth?”
Garroth scoffed, blue eyes shining as the red and gold tie hung loosely around his neck. “You say that like I didn’t beat you in Charms last year.”
“All I did was get one Charm wrong.” Zane scoffed, rolling his eyes as he remained further behind, arms folded.
Sylvana sighed, looking up. “You’ll make sure to look after them won’t you?”
“They’ll be fine Zianna!” The woman smiled. The Ro’Meave’s were good friends to their family; unlike them they were a family of pureblood wizards, where Aphmau herself was only half. She didn’t have many memories of her father, and neither her mother nor Ein (who was a pureblood himself) would speak of him.
She didn’t mind though, but she saw the panic in Sylvana’s face as she realised what the both of them had. It was why Zianna and her husband stayed here with their family, in order to help her navigate raising wizards alongside just children.
Garte nodded in agreement. “They’ll be able to send letters...we need to get going though.” Zianna sighed, nodding.
“Right, you two ready?” Ein smiled, nodding as he grabbed his suitcase, helping Aphmau carry hers. Aphmau beamed as well, her caramel eyes shining excitedly.
“Yeah!” As they started to run out, Aphmau raced over to her mom, hugging her tightly. Sylvana beamed, nudging her gently.
“Take care mija, okay? And watch over your brother for me.”
Aphmau smiled. “I will.”
><><><><><><><
The girl looked up as the family stepped out, looking around the train station. She tilted her head, confused.
“Where do we go? Did we miss it?” Ein chuckled.
“We didn’t miss anything. Come on, just hold my hand, and don’t let go.” Aphmau tilted her head, but took her brother’s hand nonetheless. Her eyes widened as Ein pulled her towards a brick wall, Garroth running as well, Zianna and Garte chuckling behind them.
“Wait- EIN!” No sooner did Aphmau scream, she closed her eyes tightly, before opening them. In front of her was a packed station, with a station number labelled Platform 9 3/4 in front of them.
Ein laughed, nudging her to get her unfrozen. “You’ll be fine. You get used to it.” Garroth grinned, nodding.
“Exactly.” He looked up. “We’ll want to get on now, come on.” Garroth turned back to his family, giving them a quick hug as he raced forward, sharing a conversation with a brunette sporting a yellow and black tie.
Zianna chuckled, placing a hand on Aphmau’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright. You’ll have your family beside you.” Aphmau nodded, holding her suitcase as she took a deep breath, and looking up at the train, whistle blowing sharply, stepped up onto the train.
><><><><><><><
Ein smiled as he looked about, grey eyes shining as he walked through the train, ears rising as he caught sight of a familiar black haired werewolf, red and gold tie undone and loose over his neck.
“Ein-!” The boy turned, chuckling as Garroth waved a hand, sitting with his friend that the werewolf knew went by the name of Laurence. “Over here!”
“What- and be stuck with you both for an hour at most? No thanks…!” He snorted, continuing to walk before flopping down in the booth across from the other werewolf, his coal black eyes flickering open.
“I thought you were stuck at Hogwarts.”
“No. Professor Ambarella forced dad to bring me home. Which was annoying...I would have preferred to stay with her.”
“She’s still there? Still teaching Werewolf Studies right?”
“She’s head of the Gryffindor house. Course she is.” Ein pumped his fists in the air as the other boy let out a snort of amusement.
“You got your ring?” Ein looked up, down at his finger.
“Shit-” The other boy rolled his eyes, tossing a golden ring with a werewolf claw sigil in front of a full moon at him.
“You really gotta remember these things. Can’t be leaving them around your dorm.”
“Dear Irene you’re a lifesaver Aaron. Do you have yours?” Aaron nodded, flashing the boy his ring finger.
“Got it right here. Saw you from the window, your sister starting this year is she?”
“Aphmau? Yeah. No funny business, got it?” Ein growled, shoving his wand in the boy’s face. Aaron laughed, flicking Ein’s ear.
“For the love of Irene you’re gonna be insufferable this year.”
Ein laughed, resting his head on his hand, tail flicking.
“Irene, I missed your crap.”
“Wish I could say the same.”
“Oh you dick!”
><><><><><><><
Aphmau’s leg bounced anxiously as she looked at people entering the train, all different ages. She kept looking around to see if her brother was around, but couldn’t find him.
In fact, she couldn’t find any werewolves where she was sitting. She sighed. She was hoping Ein would have stayed with her for at least a little bit longer.
Now she was all alone. Garroth wasn’t even in this cart. She looked over to where Zane was, and the boy met her gaze almost immediately, and quickly lifted his legs up on the seat.
Didn’t matter, she didn't want to sit next to him either.
“Excuse me…” A voice knocked her out of her thoughts, and she looked up. Standing beside where she was, was a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes, and a white-haired boy with green eyes. They both looked to be around her age, if not the blonde being a little bit older, almost by a year. “Can we sit with you?” The girl finished, and Aphmau smiled, nodding.
“S-Sure?” The girl beamed, and the two quickly sat down. Aphmau fiddled with her hair, giving a little smile. “I-I’m Aphmau.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Aphmau!” The boy perked up, grinning, which revealed braces, as he finally spoke. “I’m Travis, this is Zoey.” Aphmau smiled, and Zoey tilted her head.
“You don’t have a tie, are you a first year too?”
“Y-Yeah. My brother’s in his second. I’m gonna be spending my 12th birthday at Hogwarts I guess…” Zoey smiled sadly.
“Maybe we could help! We’ll all be friends!”
“Really…? I haven’t had friends before…” Aphmau murmured. All she really had before was her brother, her mother and the Ro’Meaves. But they felt like siblings more than friends.
“Well we’ll both be your first ones!” Travis grinned. Zoey nodded in agreement.
“Yeah!” Aphmau beamed, letting go of her hair as the train started to move.
“I’d like that.”
><><><><><><><
“Wow…” Aphmau breathed softly, looking around as they walked out of the train. Standing at the edge of the path was a shorter woman with soft tanned skin and indigo eyes. Her dark brown hair was tied into a bun with curled edges that framed her face. She had slightly pointed ears, with soft light blue horns that curled around. She smiled, chuckling gently.
“Welcome back, and welcome first-years. My name is Althea, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds for Hogwarts.”
“What is she?” Aphmau blinked, leaning closer to Travis. “I’ve never seen someone like her.”
“She's a Daemos. A sort of demon hybrid, but they don’t particularly like being called that. They mainly live here, but not many are really trusted anymore, something about a whole war that went on. But there are quite a few that work at Hogwarts.” Aphmau blinked, nodding gently. Althea smiled, gesturing with a hand as the group walked down to a set of boats.
Aphmau, Zoey and Travis all settled into one, alongside a mief’wa first year and bluenette second year, across the river. Zoey perked up, nudging the both of them as she gestured outwards. Looking up, Aphmau blinked, eyes widening as she caught sight of a beautiful castle-like exterior.
“That’s Hogwarts!?” Aphmau went red as a couple other people chuckled from the boats, and Althea looked down to her, smiling warmly.
“Yes dear,” The daemos looked back.
“That is Hogwarts.”