Betty Taylor sat alone in a carriage, watching trees and fielfields flash past with indifference. Music blasted from her headphones, drowning out the noise of rowdy students finding friends and choosing seats. Her mother would kill her if she saw her - she had been specifically told not to put her headphones on so she'd look more approachable and make friends, but no-one had opened the door yet anyway, so Betty didn't really see the problem.

Besides, it was Michael Jackson, and she had been told that technology didn't work in magical areas, so she had to get her fix of music before they got too close to school.

The movement of the door sliding half-open pulled her out of Thriller, and she flushed, realising she probably looked like an idiot mouthing the lyrics to herself. A ginger boy came and plopped himself down on the seat opposite her, staring at her with curiosity. Letting out a sigh, Betty slid one side of the headphones off one ear to make polite conversation.

"Ron Weasley," the boy declared, sticking out his hand for Betty to shake.

She smiled. "Elizabeth Taylor, but everyone calls me Betty."

He pointed curiously at her headphones, and, thinking he thought she was rude for still listening in one ear, she hastily shoved them in her bag. Instead, though, he just asked, "What are those?"

Betty stared at him, incredulous. Even if technology didn't work for wizards, you'd think they'd keep up with magical equivalents. "They're headphones," she told him. "They let you listen to music without other people hearing."

"Wicked," he grinned.

They sat in a somewhat awkward silence for a minute, neither entirely sure of what to say to start a conversation, when the door opened again to show a scrawny brunette boy looking nervous. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Is anyone sitting there? Everywhere's full."

Betty just waved her hand in confirmation, but Ron stared at him, clearly grappling over whether to say something. Eventually curiosity seemed to win out, as he blurted, "Are you really Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded, flushing at the question, but Betty was confused. Nothing she had been given to read about wizarding society had mentioned anybody by that name, though to be fair, she had skipped over most of the modern history because it was boring, but by Ron's reaction, the boy was apparently quite a big deal.

"No offence," the girl said slowly, drawing Ron's eyes away from staring at Harry, "but who's Harry Potter?"

The ginger turned to gawking at her instead, but Harry had a relieved smile on his face hinting that he wasn't too fond of his fame.

"He defeated You-Know-Who!" Ron exploded at Betty, who raised an eyebrow at the passion. The wizarding world was odd, but the names they gave people were weirder.

"Who?"

Letting out a defeated sigh, Ron slumped back down on his chair. "Bloody hell, what do muggles teach their kids? He was the darkest wizard of all time, and Harry beat him when he was just a baby."

"Oh," Betty blinked, unsure as to the logic of the story. As far as she was concerned, Harry had probably been with an adult who died defeating the dark wizard, but people were so desperate for a savior they gave credit to an infant. "Uh, well done, I guess, Harry. Good on you."

Harry gave her a thumbs up, and turned to Ron. "Are all your family wizards?" Given that the boy didn't know what a walkman was, Betty figured that all of his immediate family was at least, as well as most close relatives, but she didn't know much about wizard families, so she listened eagerly too.

"Er - yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

Betty was bewildered by the casual dismissal. Just imagining what it would be like to be the only muggle in a family of magical people made her stomach turn. To think she'd thought her friend Emily had it bad by having doctors for parents and a brother who graduated with straight As while she struggled to keep up in class. Not being able to do magic at all would be way worse, especially given the way the man had apparently been abandoned by his family for not being as special as them.

Ron, however, was more curious about the other side of the spectrum. "What's it like living with muggles?" He asked Harry, and Betty almost snorted at the question, though she supposed queries about magical life sounded just as stupid to Ron. Muggle existence was just the norm for her.

"Horrible," Harry said, and looked ready to go on but he was interrupted by a fuming Betty.

"Horrible? Arsehole. I'm from a family of muggles and I love them more than life. Just because they can't make dogs fly or whatever doesn't make them any worse than wizards!"

"I know. I guess it's just my aunt and uncle, really, and my cousin. Wish I had three wizard brothers."

"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a Prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat."

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep. "His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a Prefect, but they couldn't aff– I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

His ears flushed red at his slip of tongue, but neither Harry nor Betty seemed to care. After all, half the people at her primary school were on free school meals, but you'd never guess who did or didn't.

"Still, I wish I had siblings," Betty admitted, breaking the tension that had formed by Ron's embarrassment. "I'm an only child, and I don't live with my cousins, so it used to get pretty lonely before I started school. That's why I was excited to hear that you board at Hogwarts."

They fell into comfortable conversation again, until Ron pulled out a pack of cards and began teaching them how to play 'Exploding Snap'. The sight of Harry, bug-eyed as a deer in headlights and covered in soot after the first round inspired laughter that lasted a good five minutes.

Around half past twelve, however, the game was cut short by the arrival of a woman selling sweets off a trolley. Ron pulled out sandwiches balefully, but Betty pulled out a few coins and handed them over to Harry with strict instructions to get her something nice. The boy rolled his eyes, but nodded as he left the carriage, only to return with an inordinate amount of food.

"Hungry, are you?" Ron asked, wide-eyed, and Harry grinned.

"Starving."

Betty stood up and stretched out her back, feeling sick at the sight of so much food. Before she left, her mum had crammed her full of breakfast, unsure as to when the first meal would be provided. Something small she could handle, seeing Harry's chocolate-coated teeth she could not.

"I'm off to the loo. See you guys later." The two boys acknowledged her as she left, but their eyes showed their interest was really in the sweets in front of them. Not that it really mattered to Betty; there was an entire train full of people and she didn't know how the sorting system worked - the chances of her ending up as friends with the people she sat with first were slim. Besides, she wanted to meet some girls.

Wandering down the corridor with absolutely no clue as to where the loos would be, Betty was a little intimidated. She had arrived quite early, because her parents were always late and decided to overcompensate by a large margin, so she hadn't really seen much of the crowds. Now, walking past carriages full of students, she couldn't help but feel incredibly small. In year six, she had been the oldest in the school; now, it seemed like she was back to the bottom of the ladder.

After what seemed like an age, Betty finally spotted a sign with 'witches' written on it, and she ducked inside with relief. She hadn't been to the bathroom since she left the house at 6:30 - about six hours ago - and she really needed to pee. Thankful that there wasn't a queue, she hurriedly did her business, but slowed down as she washed her hands, conscious of the three other girls in there.

"I like your headband," she said to a pretty girl with long, curly hair, who promptly beamed.

"Do you really?" She practically squealed, clapping her hands together gleefully. "Padma says it looks childish."

She shot a dirty glance to one of the other girls, who was sitting on a bench in the corner looking exceptionally bored. If Betty had to guess, she would say that Padma was only there because of the third girl, who looked similar enough that they were likely sisters. The expression on her face reminded Betty of her friends' when they were forced to spend time with siblings.

Not wanting to alienate a potential friend, Betty shrugged and smiled back at the exuberant one. "According to Witch Weekly, they're going to be back in next season. Give it a few weeks and everyone will want one."

Padma scoffed, and Betty was pretty sure she heard a snide, "Not another one," but she was distracted by the fact that the girl with the headband hugged her exuberantly.

"I'm Parvati," the third girl introduced, grinning at the bewildered look on Betty's face. "That's Lavender, and this is Padma."

"Betty," Betty replied, prising Lavender off her. The girl seemed nice, but a little too touchy-feely for someone she just met. "Nice to meet you."

Before the girl could grab her again, she darted out of the bathroom and let out a sigh. These girls seemed like distant friends - the kind you could sit with in a class without any awkwardness, but wouldn't want to share a dorm with. She hoped she wasn't sorted in with them... or Padma, who already seemed to hate her.

She was heading back down the corridor to her carriage again when someone called her name, making her jump. Poking his head out from around the door was Michael Corner, a boy she met at Diagon Alley. "Oh, hey!" Betty said, thankful to see a familiar face.

Michael ran a hand through his hair and opened the door wider. "You wanna sit with us for a bit?"

"Sure."

There was a slight awkwardness in the air, as there is when anybody new is introduced to an already existing dynamic, but everybody seemed determined to force smiles until it went away. "Guys, this is Betty Taylor. Betty, meet Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Tracey Davis and Roger Malone."

"I don't suppose you're related to Rosemary Taylor?" Susan said after a short pause, the first to begin an actual conversation. She was a friendly-looking girl, Betty decided right off the bat, but then again, in her experience, gingers often were.

Her assumption was short-lived, however. Betty had a small extended family, so it was easy to remember names, so unless Rosemary Taylor died before her parents were born, she was no relation. "I doubt it," she admitted. "But I think I read of the Bones family. Your aunt is Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, isn't she?"

Honestly, Betty didn't know why people thought making conversation, or friends, was hard. All you really have to do is turn the subject back onto other people - everyone loves to talk about themselves. Once they've spoken enough, they generally feel a lot more comfortable around you, and starting a friendship is easier.

Casual chattering filled the carriage for ages after that, only uninterrupted by a pudgy blonde boy looking for his toad, who was promptly sent on his way with a point-me charm Hannah's parents had taught her. It didn't feel like long until the train got dark, and Betty realised there was no more natural light coming in. She stood up to turn the light on, and it clocked that she was still wearing her dark green plaid skorts, instead of the uniform of grey skirt and white shirt. Speaking of...

"Is there anywhere I could change?" She asked abruptly, interrupting an anecdote Roger was telling about the time he sleep-walked into a lake. He was fine, of course, having used accidental magic to apparate onto the sand where he was found by his mother.

Tracey was the first to realise what she meant, and was quick to correct her. "Oh, you don't need to put on the full uniform yet, just your robe, thank merlin. I am not looking forward to having to wear a shirt and tie every day - they always feel like they're choking you."

Roger looked at her oddly. "Your house elf didn't soften the collars?"

She ducked her head and avoided his eyes, her words becoming stuttered and unconvincing. "Yes, of course, but... our house elf is rubbish. Really old, and his magic's going so..."

"Well, your mother could do it," Hannah pointed out. "My mum was ever so pleased when dad told her witches could do that. He didn't know the charm, of course, but his sister showed her."

"Of course," Tracey muttered, refusing to meet anybody's eyes. "I'll have to ask her at Christmas break."

She was saved from any more awkward questions as a voice echoed through the train: 'We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.'

Butterflies fluttered in Betty's stomach as they exited the carriage and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. With all the jostling and pushing, she found herself exceedingly glad that she didn't need to bring her trunk - apparently it would be magically sent to her dorm when she was sorted.

As the train slowed to a halt, people began pushing their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. If not for the inordinate noise and number if people, it would have frankly been a little creepy.

Even the people from Betty's carriage seemed shocked by the chaos and stood there, unsure of what to do. It was somewhat comforting to know that even people from wizarding families like them were just as nervous, and didn't know too much more than her. Thankfully, they got their instructions in the form of an unkempt man with a long beard towering over even the seventh years, yelling for first years to come to him.

Obediently, the group of forty eleven year olds followed the adult, slipping on the slick, steep path. There was the occasional grumble as someone stepped on someone else in the pitch black but other than that nobody spoke much. Betty figured they were all too busy trying not to fall, since that was what was consuming her concentration.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here," the giant man called, and nerves bubbled in Betty's veins. It was one thing to be told you were going to a magic school, it was another entirely to actually arrive.

The narrow path opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake, and there was an appreciative murmur at the sight. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. Betty gazed, open-mouthed, for a good second before she regained her brain. The school looked like something she would dream up when imagining being a princess when she was a kid, the kind that people pay money to visit even when they crumble away.

"No more'n four to a boat!" The teacher bellowed, pointing to a small cluster of rowboats on the shore. Tracey disappeared to seat herself next to a blonde girl, and Roger to a pair of boys sat together, so Betty followed Susan, Hannah and Michael down into one of the vehicles.

For a second, Betty worried that they would have to row - much as she enjoyed canoeing in summer, doing it at night in the dark when she was tired didn't have quite the same feel, not to mention she couldn't see any oars - but their guide just checked that everyone was seated before yelling, "Forward!" and the boats began gliding across the water unaided.

Looking back, Betty would realise that the sense of de ja vu she was experiencing as they ducked under a ledge of cliff and were carried through a curtain of ivy hiding a wide opening in the cliff face, before travelling along a dark tunnel until they reached a kind of underground harbour was due to the fact that the exact same journey was taken by the girls in her copy of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and it only served to reinforce her impression of the magical world as a fairytale come true. At the time, however, she just felt peace wash over her for the duration of the trip and basked in the silence of her yearmates, figuring it would likely be her last chance to experience quiet for a while.

When they docked, the students clambered out on to rocks and pebbles, while the teacher checked the boats and threw a toad to the same blonde boy who had lost one on the train. The boy was seemingly quite forgetful, and Betty braced herself for a year of amusing fumbles on his part. Whether they were in the same house or not, the year group was tiny compared to muggle schools, so she figured they would all be able to get to know each other fairly well. Forty students wouldn't even fill two classes in most schools.

A climb up a passageway in the rock brought them to the bottom of a huge flight of stairs, and after climbing up that too, Betty was beginning to think that this was a plan to tire them out so they'd sleep well. Her parents used to do that with her when she was little, but it was a bit insulting that the school felt the need to do it now - they were eleven years old, not little kids.

Her offence was soon put out of her mind, however, as everyone crowded around the huge, oak front door. "Everyone here?" Their guide asked, though he didn't hold a register or anything to check, so there was always a chance that somebody wasn't. Silently, Betty hoped that the was one person missing, because it would be hilarious to see them rush in late without being sorted. "You there, still got yer toad?"

He raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.