p class="p1"1. Meet K. Rahman/p
p class="p1" /p
p class="p1"Katie was short, and smiley, and had messy hair that hung to her waist because she hated getting it cut or trying to put it up. Her mother was from Scotland. Her father was from Bangalore. She was from Stevenage where they currently lived, although it had been three years since she had spent a full year at home; as this story begins she was returning on the famous express to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It would be her fourth year, but she still felt the first week of school butterflies flit through her insides as she wandered down the train in search of her fellow fourth year Hufflepuffs./p
p class="p1"She found the Gryffindors almost immediately. They were bustling between several adjacent compartments, some sitting on the seats, some on the floor, some on each others laps. The air was full of loud voices and raucous laughter. Several waved and called out as she passed by./p
p class="p1""Hiya Katie!"/p
p class="p1""Alright?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1"Katie grinned and waved, but continued. She could catch up with her Gryffindor friends later- and somewhere she could actually hear the sound of her own thoughts. She found her own roommates at the very back of the train. They had split themselves by room: boys in one compartment, girls in the one across hall. Her friend Tomnal Benjen was just crossing between the two with an old Danish cookie tin full of bread. It smelled heavenly. Katie felt the butterflies melt away./p
p class="p1""What's that incredible smell Tommy?" she called out./p
p class="p1"Tomnal looked up and grinned, "KitKat!" He cried, "We were just wondering when you would show up. How was your summer? Banana bread, by the way, my very own secret recipe."/p
p class="p1"He held out the tin with one hand and put the other behind his back like a fancy waiter. Katie laughed and lifted a warm slice of bread from the tin./p
p class="p1""Heavenly!" she exclaimed after the first bite, "glad to see you're still a culinary genius. My summer was brilliant. I just got back from a month at my mam and pa's in the Scottish Isles. I think my cousin Dom and I managed to take a photo of Nessie. I absolutely must show you. How was yours?"/p
p class="p1""Oh horrific," Tomnal replied, waving a hand cheerfully, "My parents decided to take us all down to Aruba for the twins 17th."/p
p class="p1""Sounds like a nightmare," Katie smirked./p
p class="p1""Well, I told them that if we could just stay home I'd make a seven layer cake," he replied, "but as we ended up on the beach for two weeks I didn't even have access to a kitchen."/p
p class="p1""Oh I see," Katie said, "that must've just about killed you."/p
p class="p1""Yes," Tomnal nodded mournfully, "well, I must continue my rounds, another slice?"/p
p class="p1"Katie took another piece from Tomnal's tin, then watched him disappear into the boy's compartment. He shut the door softly and the hallway fell class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1"Katie hesitated for a long moment, looking from one compartment to the other. In one, Tomnal was passing the tin around to a group of enthusiastic boys laughing at an unheard joke. In the other the girls were chatting as two in the back attempted to get a kettle going over a small jar of fire. Eventually one of the two in the back looked up and saw Katie standing outside. Her face broke into a grin, then she forced it into a look of joking disgust, then she laughed and beckoned. Katie turned the handle of the girl's compartment. She was met by a cheerful chorus of greetings./p
p class="p1""There she is!" hollered Courtney Glenn, beaming through her thick glasses, "Katie in the house everyone!"/p
p class="p1"Laurel Wilder turned and pulled back her curtain of curls to shoot Katie a shy, but delighted smile./p
p class="p1""Gang's all here," agreed Rapheal Brun warmly, scooting over to give Katie a seat between her and the beckoner, Andi Lu./p
p class="p1""Give me a hand with this will ya Kay?" said Andi without looking up from the fire she was prodding irritably with her wand, "I can't remember the spell that makes a fire that doesn't need oxygen but still burns HOT."/p
p class="p1""Budge up then," Katie plunked herself down on the seat and took out her own wand. Soon enough, with the small fire going and Laurel levitating the kettle directly above the flame, they had tea enough to go round, as well as plenty to catch up on about the previous summer./p