Catherine hurried along to the King's Cross Station with all her heavy books on her cart. "Come on! I have no idea how to get to the platform!" She cried behind her while barely sneaking into the door after someone else, the door ended up shutting in her mother's face.
"Cat! You have ten min- WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" she screeched while reaching out and in the nick of time grabbing her daughter's collar to stop her from running into a dozen people lined up for tickets. At the loud noise they all turned to see the little girl barely big enough to see over her cart. Some of them frowned and gave disapproving looks while others smiled and commented on how cute the girl was.
"Sorry mum!" Catherine breathed excitedly before seeing another boy with a cart like hers- Piled up with trunks. One of the books left on the top of the trunk (most likely in haste) was identical to one in Catherine's own trunk, "Standard Book of Spells Grade 1." Sure enough the boy had a mother and father pushing him along towards the boarding platforms. In shock and surprise Catherine pushed her cart to follow them closely. In the hustle and bustle of the train station neither of the presumed witches or wizards she was tailing noticed their wide-eyed stalker.
"Catherine!"
"The book mum! He's like me!" She piped without stopping until they had reached the space between platform nine and ten. "But where? Where's Nine and Three Quarters?"
"Alright Cat, now what you have to do is run into that wall. Make sure no one is looking! Muggles would have a heart attack to think a pretty young girl like you were a ghost walking through walls and such. Best run. Don't hesitate. I love you dear." Her mother instructed with a stern face and tears in her eyes. Just after she said this the boy in front of Catherine disappeared into the wall.
"Ummm, if you say so mum I suppose,"
Catherine ran full speed (without checking to see if any muggles saw her) to the wall and shut her eyes tightly, her long brown hair whipping her face. The next thing she knew she had hit something, but it wasn't a wall. The boy who had been in front of her had stayed just beyond the wall staring at the brilliant looking Hogwarts Express. Catherine (having her eyes shut) failed to realize the danger of running through walls and not knowing what's on the other side.
"OW!" cried the small boy as he dusted himself off and stood up, "That hurt! Watch where you're going next time!"
"Sorry!" exclaimed Catherine while collecting the things that had been knocked off her cart. "I'm a First Year you know, not entirely sure how this all works out."
"Me too, but you don't see me shutting my eyes and running around like a fool do you?"
"No but I did notice that you stood at the other side of the entrance. You do realize that people can't see through that thing right?" she replied matter-of-factly.
"I certainly do now." He mumbled before recovering his cart and walking off. Just then the train's whistle blew and Catherine knew that if she didn't get on now she'd have a hard time getting to school.
Immediately after getting her trunk put away by a pleasant and round looking Hufflepuff prefect, Catherine searched for someplace to sit. When she peered through all of the doors, however, she couldn't find a compartment that contained people welcome to give up their seats. Only until she got to the end did she find the small boy sitting all alone. "Well I just won't ask him if I can sit, I'm not going to stand here like a blithering idiot." She stated confidently to herself before walking in.
"Oi! You again!" The boy exclaimed looking rather peeved.
"I'm terribly sorry!" Catherine replied, "Everywhere else is full. Plus I have the feeling that we got off on the wrong foot."
"Yeah. I suppose so." He grumbled while turning to look out the window, seemingly uninterested in forming any sort of new relationship. Catherine stood uneasily for a second before her stubborn nature got the best of her.
"I- I'm Catherine Fid… Cat for short." She stated nervously with a slight quiver to her voice. The boy, to her surprise, turned to look at her and examined her out held hand curiously, not quite sure of what kind of ordeal he was getting into. Finally after what seemed like ages he took the hand and smiled back.
"I'm Oliver Wood. Nothing for short, thanks." He said cheerily, "I admire you're persistence girl. You'd make a good Quidditch player."
Even though the change of heart seemed all to good to be true, Catherine believed more than anything at that moment that she had found a brilliant friend. It was not her job to decide whose heart contained genuine kindness and whose heart contained evil. She grinned, flashing white teeth and her brilliant green eyes lit up, a small blush on her pale cheeks. Her heart fluttered, happy that even when she felt so lost in the world of magic she had always knew, a friend could appear in front of her. She let go of his hand and sat down.
"Listen," She said softly, "I'm really sorry, about earlier…"
"Don't worry about it." Oliver interrupted sincerity in his brown eyes, "I'm really nervous about the whole, going off to Hogwarts thing. I actually was more embarrassed than mad. I can be impatient with myself."
Just then the train lurched forward and beautiful landscape went rushing passed them. They talked on and on about what they had already looked into as far as spells go. They even compared wands.
"Mine's made out of Hornbeam. Twelve inches I think he said, the core is unicorn tail hair." Oliver explained taking out his wand.
"Well I think that Mr. Olivander tricked me!" piped Catherine, "I'm so short! I have to grow into my wand. It's fifteen and three quarters inches long. He said that it's made out of willow and the core is dragon heartstring." She then pulled out the long and skinny wand. It did seem way too big for suck a small girl, but an undeniable glow appeared when her skin touched the magical instrument.
"Anything from the trolley dears?" A sweet voice asked. Both the little girl and boy jumped before looking at her goods. After quickly making their purchases the trolley witch moved on and they sat there enjoying the sugar.
"Hey, earlier you mentioned Quidditch right?" Catherine said after gulping down the last bite of one of her pumpkin pasties.
"Yeah! When we get there I want to try out for Keeper right away!" He exclaimed. His face lit up and his eyes sparkled with passion.
"You're like me!" Catherine replied before biting into a chocolate frog.
"You want to be a keeper?"
"No no, nothing to do with Quidditch silly. We have to wait."
"We….. wha?" Charlie asked with a quizzical look, "I mean sure we're first years, but you're a girl. I'm a boy."
"My mum is good friends with a family whose daughter just graduated from Hogwarts. We were never good friends because of the age difference, but we still had to play together. I always kept tabs on what was going on in Hogwarts, teachers, quidditch, head boys, so on." Catherine looked Oliver in the eye with deep concern at this point, "No one gets in a Quidditch team their first year. Also the only team that will need a keeper is Slytherin, and that's just a replacement keeper. You don't seem much like a Slytherin either. The soonest you could get in would be second year if you're in Hufflepuff or third year for Gryffindor."
"But other positions…"
"No! You're obviously passionate about being a Keeper, no use in becoming a beater and not liking it, right?"
"I suppose so." Oliver replied solemnly, "But then, what are you waiting for?"
"Care of Magical Creatures!" Cat said brightly, "You can't have the class until third year. I'm so passionate about it too. I've read loads of books about it! You wouldn't believe! Also, we like the exact same candy."
Sure enough Oliver looked at the wrappers and candy splayed in both of their laps. They both contained nothing but Pumpkin Pastries, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, and most of all Chocolate Frogs with the collector cards thrown down and forgotten on the floor.
"You are like me…" Oliver said in wonder before a prefect named Bill Weasley came in to tell them to change into their robes, as they'd be reaching Hogwarts soon.
