The Hogwarts Express
[Fae's type of wizardry comes from the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. I try to explain it, but if you don't understand, you can check out ask me, or, best of all, read So You Want to be a Wizard
I began this story as a game with two of my friends just before Book 6 was published, and I finished it a while before Book 7 was, but it's AU, anyway.
When I began this, I had just seen Finding Neverland and fallen in love with Jonny Depp's Scottish accent. I apologize for Fae's accent and the running jokes that appeared about it.
I never would have believed that I could go to Hogwarts, I thought as I waved good-bye to my parents and boarded the Hogwarts Express. Before I got the letter inviting me, I had thought that different kinds of magic couldn't possibly be used by a single person. I still don't understand how that's possible.
You see, there are three kinds of magic in the world. One is the kind you read about in Harry Potter – witchcraft and wizardry. Another, the oldest, is practiced all over the universe, relies on words, and is also called wizardry. The third goes by several names and in several guises, and relies on power of mind. Think of a Jedi. The funny thing was that I was going to Hogwarts to be a witch although I was already a wizard – the older kind.
The train left at exactly eleven A.M., a few minutes after I got on. I wandered down the aisle, looking for a car that wasn't full.
I looked into the back car. In it was one girl with oval glasses and short black hair wearing a shawl and reading a book. She was lying down on the seats and had put her suitcase on the seats on the other side. She clearly didn't want company, but I opened the door anyway.
"You don't have much of a choice about sharing a car with me. All the other cars are full," I informed her.
She looked up. "Well, one better than two."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"I'm not a people person."
"Well, I won't talk. I'll just read." I pulled out my wizard's manual, which gives me whatever information about the universe or wizardry it thinks I need and deserve, and asked for anything about Hogwarts. Well, modern Hogwarts. I knew enough about the beginnings from Harry Potter.
"The end of Old Hogwarts began…" it read.
What, is there a New Hogwarts? I wondered.
"Could you open the window?" the girl asked.
Do it yourself, I thought, but I didn't want to make enemies before I even got to school. And if she got ideas about ordering me around, I would soon change that. I opened the window.
"Thanks."
All right, back to Old Hogwarts. I started to read about the end of Old Hogwarts in Harry Potter's time. Then I realized I would get to know the end of the books before anyone I knew.
The door opened. A large, dark-haired boy stepped in. "What are you doing here?" he sneered.
"Sitting. Reading. Breathing. Hey! What…where's…?" The other girl had disappeared.
"Where's what? What are you reading?" He snatched my manual away from me. I hoped it would burn him. "Oh. One of the new witches." He yelled and stared at his hand in horror, dropping my book. I saw that his fingers were burned where he touched my manual and smirked.
"Serves you right," I told him.
"Just remember, only traditional witches and wizards belong here."
"My kind of wizard is millions of years older than your kind!" I yelled. It was only after he was gone that I remembered that I wasn't going to make enemies before I got to school. Well, there will always be those Draco Malfoys, I thought dismissively. Even if there aren't many Malfoys left around here. I became absorbed in my reading.
A bird fluttered through the window. "Dai Stihò," I said. It was the wizard's greeting.
"I thought I told you I didn't like people," it responded irritably.
The bird turned into the girl who had shared my car.
"What in the world… All right, what's going on?"
"I am a shapeshifter."
"A what?" I asked, not sure if I had heard right.
"Do I need to spell it out for you?" She turned into a snake. "Ssss, h, a, p, e, sss,"
"H-I-F-T-E-R." I said, rolling my eyes. "Yes, I know how to spell it. I've just never heard of one before. Is it magic?"
"No, I'm just someone who can shapeshift. Most of my family can do it."
"Are you…human?"
"When I am in human form, I am," she replied, becoming human as she spoke.
"I could get better answers from my man- I mean, my book," I corrected myself. Wizard manuals are not known for giving straight answers.
"Your man?"
"Forget it." I tried to find my place again. "Does this mean I can talk?" I asked hopefully.
"I guess so."
"What's your name?"
"Dawna Porter."
"Potter? Like Harry Potter?"
"I said PORTER. P-O-R-T-E-R."
"Sorry. No need to shout. My name is Fae, Fate Destiny Laurence. Where do you come from? Not to be rude, but you have a strange accent."
"America. You have the strange accent."
"I'm Scottish." I was surprised. I had thought that Hogwarts only admitted British witches and wizards.
"What's that language?" Dawna asked, looking at my manual. The Speech of Wizards is written in an alphabet like Arabic, so she couldn't read it. Anything and anyone can understand it if it is spoken aloud. However, intelligent creatures that have forgotten about the existence of wizards, such as humans, often lose their ability to understand the Speech as they grow past childhood.
"Well, I'm a wizard and this is my manual. It tells me things…how to do spells, how to contact other wizards…all sorts of things."
"A wizard? You're a witch. Not even. You'll be a witch after you graduate."
"You know, 'In Life's name and for Life's sake…' It is the beginning of the oath we take to become a wizard. We don't take classes. We learn from our manuals. Haven't you ever heard of that kind of wizard?"
"Oh, yeah, I have. You're pretty young for that kind. Don't most start at thirteen or fourteen? You must be powerful. I wonder what kind of classes they will have for people like us."
"Probably the normal classes, except for a few. You won't need transfiguration, for instance."
"No, I won't. And I don't think either of us will need Care of Magical Creatures, though it might be fun." Then, she actually laughed. I joined her.
"Enough talking," she said abruptly, stopping laughing. I scowled and tried to find my place.
Just then, a baby rabbit floated through the window.
"Oh, how cute," said Dawna, not seeming to realize that rabbits did not float through windows of moving trains every day. Even trains full of magic. In a moment, she was a rabbit.
I had a sudden urge to beat my head with my manual. If everyone at Hogwarts simply accepted such strange and entirely illogical happenings, I would just die. Wizardry is logical. That is why I like it.
"Have you seen a little rabbit float through the window?" asked a voice. A friendly-looking boy with blonde hair stood at the door.
"Wait a minute, how did you know a rabbit floated through the window?" I asked. At this point, I almost expected someone to shout out, "Candid Camera!" This is a magical train; this is a magical train, I chanted in my head to keep calm.
"I was aiming for my window, but miscalculated the speed of the train," he explained. "Oh, there it is." He picked up the rabbit, but then cried in pain and dropped it. His finger was bleeding heavily.
Dawna stood where the rabbit had been. "Do. Not. EVER. Do. That. Again."
"What…Oh, you're another one of the new wizards. There's my rabbit." He picked it up and sucked on his finger to stop the bleeding.
"You're already trying such complicated spells?" I asked. "How long have you had your wand?" He didn't look that old.
"Yesterday," he replied calmly.
"Then how could you make a rabbit fly?" I asked in surprise.
"Well, you could say I'm a Jedi."
"Really? Are you an alien? Do you know Luke? I mean, is he still alive?" I asked in a rush.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, you're a Jedi. Don't you know about Luke Skywalker?"
"Of course, but it's not like I ever went to Jedi school. I don't know any more than you do. And as to whether I'm an alien, my great-grandfather came from Alpha Centauri, you know –"
"Aye."
"So you could say that I'm one-eighth alien. By the way, I'm Evan Bryant."
"I'm Fae Laurence and this is Dawna Porrter."
"Porrrter?" he asked. "What do you mean?"
"I meant not Potter."
"Oh, okay. Thanks for finding my rabbit!" He turned to leave.
"Hey! Are there other unusual wizards here?"
He came back. "I don't know." He left.
"Speaking of wands, why is yours glowing?" Dawna asked. She was holding my rowan wand in her hand.
"Give that back!" I snatched it away from her.
"I understand. I wouldn't like anyone to touch my wand," she said, nice for once. "But what is it?"
"It was a gift from a rowan tree, soaked in midsummer moonlight. Do you have a wand?"
She picked up a long, green fern.
"A fern?" I asked. "Your wand is a fern?"
"What, it is? Oh, sorry." It turned into a stick of wood. "Why are you beating your head against your manual?"
I stopped as my abused manual cried out in pain. "Don't ask."