"Just write what you know, Fred – what you remember the most," Molly Weasley placed a gentle hand on her son's shoulder.
Fred reluctantly pulled his head off of his arm on the table. With a tremendous amount of force, he picked up the pen to his left and brought it over to the tattered diary. He heaved a deep sigh and began to scribble words that were near illegible. When she saw this progress, Molly left the room to leave him with his thoughts.
June 27, 1997,
I have been forcibly broken. She is gone.
No, she has been taken from me. Taken by that waste of magic – a waste of a woman. If I had been there only a few seconds sooner, I could have saved her. Her words would have been finishing this last page in her diary, not mine. She always said that an unfinished diary is a waste; it's like experiencing only half of an adventure.
We first met on Platform 9 ¾. It was her first year at Hogwarts as an emergency fourth year transfer student, my sixth. If I had known how things would have played out, I wouldn't have mulled around so much with simply being friends.
He placed his head back down on the table, a few tears racing down to the tip of his nose. He knew it was going to be difficult, taking on a task like this – remembering his relationship with her. She would have written it so much better and with much more eloquence. There would have been short observations about how "the night sky twinkled with his laughter" or how "his heartbeat brought her home." Instead, his writing was straight and to the point. She always said she loved how different their writing styles were.
He took another deep breath and continued.
I remember how incredibly determined she looked with her owl cage in one hand and a valise in another….
The teenage girl looked around her for any sign of hope. She put on a brave face despite the fact that she was upset that her mother couldn't come through the portal with her. Was being a muggle-born always going to prove to be a struggle?
Her eyes scanned the area for a friendly face, or even just a helpful school official. She paused on a mass group of gingers who were all huddled around a boy with unruly black hair and glasses. Eventually, she set her eyes on a man who seemed to be important and made her way to him.
"Excuse me, is this the Hogwarts Express?" She asked him.
The blonde man raised his eyebrows at her as a smirk crept on his face, "Aren't you a little old to be a first year?"
Immediately, she did not like where this was going. "I'm a special transfer student, if you please. I was expecting a nice reply, but I guess kindness is above you."
The man's face dropped, "Well, be that as it may, Hogwarts has reached its special student quota with Mr. Potter over there. Though his reign won't last long, I can assure you."
One of the gingers watched the battle of wit and made his way over to the brunette to save her.
"Hi, I'm Fred. If you come over here, I can tell you everything you need to know," He placed a protective arm around her shoulders and led her toward his family. "You need to watch yourself around the Malfoy family; you don't want to cause trouble for yourself on your first day."
"What's so special about them?" She asked.
Her American accent took him by surprise, "They kind of have really close ties with You-Know-Who."
"Who?" Her eyebrows raised.
"….do you not know about You-Know-Who over in America?" He was taken aback.
"Is this really some person's name? Were their parents smoking floo powder?"
Fred snorted, "I don't think I've ever heard anybody joke about him quite like that before. Except for maybe me and my brother."
"So what's the big deal with this You-Know-Who guy?" She asked as they reached the group.
The boy with the glasses turned around to face her, eyes wide. "You've really never heard of him?"
She shrugged; unaware of the impact she was already having upon the group. It wasn't her ignorance that astounded them, but her pure curiosity.
"This is a conversation we need to have in private, not out in the open like this," The bushy haired girl shook her head politely. She ushered the new girl onto the train into an empty cabin. Everyone followed except for Fred and his twin, they joined their friend with the dreads in a separate compartment.
"What's your name?" The red head asked.
"Leigh," The new girl replied.
"I'm Harry, this is Ron and Hermione. So you're telling me you've really never heard of You-Know-Who before?" Harry leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees.
"Honestly, I haven't. I just came here from America, I don't think this guy is a big deal there."
The trio all looked at each other, a sense of ease overcoming them.
"He goes by Voldemort…. Or Tom Riddle. "You-Know-Who" isn't his real name," Harry continued. "Because of him, I've become an unneeded star in the wizarding world here."
"Wait, you're Harry Potter?" Leigh asked.
Harry sat up, "So you've heard of me?"
She shook her head, "No, some blonde wanker out there with a walking stick was talking rubbish about you. All I did was ask him a simple question, and he had to go and act like some kind of god."
Fred sat in his cabin with his twin and Lee.
"How'd you find that girl, mate? She wasn't half bad looking," Lee asked, propping his hands behind his head.
"She was getting into a row with Lucius Malfoy. I figured it was best that she didn't. She's a transfer student from somewhere in America," Fred placed his bag on the seat next to him.
"Transfer student from America? Wow, Dumbledore must have pulled a lot of strings with the Ministry to be able to get her a spot at Hogwarts." George jumped in.
"I suppose," Fred shrugged.
The three of them looked at each other, waiting for the other to say it first.
"DIBS!" George called out first, with Lee and Fred close behind.
Lee covered his face with his hands in defeat. Fred simply smiled; chances were that the girl wouldn't be able to tell the twins apart. So he could sneak in and get a date when George had his back turned.
Upon the train's arrival to Hogwarts, Leigh was whisked away by Professor McGonagall before she could even make it into an invisibly drawn carriage.
"Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with you, Ms. Windley," The professor whispered.
Harry and the others had been explaining to Leigh about the professors at the school when they were interrupted.
"Where do you think she's off too?" Lee asked.
"Probably just an extra welcome committee since she's a transfer student," Hermione shuffled through her bag for a book to read on the ride up to the castle.
Leigh found herself in front of a hippogriff statue. Unsure of what to do or say, she stood there, arms politely at her side.
"Fizzing whizbee," Professor McGonagall spoke to the statue.
The stairs immediately set into motion, and the two stepped onto the rotating staircase. At the top, the door opened for them and they found Professor Dumbledore waiting for them behind his desk.
"Ah, Ms. Windley. I trust you are enjoying your first few minutes at Hogwarts already?"
"Yes, sir. It's been interesting, definitely. The castle is gorgeous. And I think I may have made some friends already," Leigh twiddled her thumbs in front of her.
"I am glad to hear it! Now, I brought you here as a matter of which house you will be sorted into. I am sure you do not wish to be made a spectacle of in front of the school much like the first years. So I have kept the hat here for now, and I will send it down with Professor McGonagall when we are done here so the first years may have their turn. If you could please sit in the chair in front of my desk, we can begin," Professor Dumbledore stood to retrieve the hat from the top of his bookcase and motioned to the chair directly across from him.
Leigh obeyed and rushed to sit in the chair. As the hat was placed upon her head, she was engulfed in darkness. A voice coughed in her ear.
"Ah, yes – the new student. Breaking lots of rules, aren't we? There must be a reason… Ah hah! Your family lineage is quite interesting. Your mother is a muggle, and your father was a wizard. And I can see why your mother would have wanted you away from him and his family all these years. I could put you in his house, and you could follow in his footsteps… or I could put you in a different one and you can blaze your own path. Which shall I choose?"
Confused, Leigh stayed in place, afraid of making the hat mad if she moved too much.
"Let's see then….. it might as well be… GRYFFINDOR!" The hat finally came upon a decision.
Professor McGonagall, with a small smile, removed the hat, bowed to Professor Dumbledore, and made her way down to the Great Hall to meet the first years.
"Professor McGonagall is your head of house, Ms. Windley. It would bode you well to do as she says, or any professor for that matter. They can all deduct house points from your house. The house with the most points at the end of the school year wins!" Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands together and sat back down behind his desk.
"Professor Dumbledore, how does the hat know who my family is?" Leigh asked, her hands gripping the sides of her chair.
"Some magic is better left a mystery, Ms. Windley," Dumbledore peered at her over his half moon spectacles.
"What I meant to say was… how does the hat know who my father is or what he did if I have no idea who he is?" Leigh continued.