Roxanne Weasley stared blankly at her reflection in the mirror, desperate to feel as comfortable as she appeared to look in her black robes. Fifth time boarding the Express and it felt just as awful as the second. When Dom had left her. And she saw all her friends pretend she was cool. She saw how very superficial and ridiculous her popularity was. If it even was popularity. And how boys only went out with her to escalate in the social hierarchy and Morgana, they were such ass—
"You look gorgeous, don't worry." A girl appeared behind Roxy's reflection.
"Thanks." The Weasley girl chocked out after a second of silence. The girl smiled kindly at her. She bent over slightly to wash her hands, so that her long, dark brown hair fell as a curtain and allowed Roxanne to observe her. She was tall, nearly as tall as Roxy herself, and very tan. Not dark-skinned like Roxy, but actually tan. When she looked back up, Roxanne noticed that her eyes were also very dark, and it was impossible to distinguish the pupil from the iris unless you looked very closely. And yet, she was extremely bright, she had an aura of light and almost childish optimism about her that was unsettling.
"Are you new?" Roxanne suddenly asked, and regretted it almost immediately.
"Yes." The girl had an accent. "I'm a transfer student."
"What year are you?"
"Fifth."
"No way. I'm in fifth year too!"
"Cool. I see you're in Gryffindor. I haven't been Sorted yet."
"Ok. Where were you last year?"
"Castelobruxo."
"Brazil?" The girl nodded. "What could you possibly be doing here?"
"Oh, I don't know, really, all this rain and cold is terrible for my complexion." Roxanne stared at her with a somewhat disappointed and definitely surprised look. "I'm kidding. I really don't see what I could be doing coming to the oldest organized magical community in the world, and to one of the seven Great Schools."
"So you're a brainiac."
"A what?"
"You're smart."
"Maybe. I'm not exactly fit to assess that, am I?"
"No." Roxy smiled back at the girl, sort of surprised by how easily the girl seemed to gather come backs in a language she clearly was not that comfortable with. "I'm Roxanne Weasley."
"I'm Celeste Azevedo."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Celeste. Say, do you have a compartment?"
"No, I've been sort of hiding in here since we left London."
"Would you like to come and sit with me? There'll also be some of my family members, but they're nice."
"Sure, that's very kind." Nodding for Celeste to follow her, Roxanne led the girl through the busy carriages of the Hogwarts Express until they were in the very last one, standing between the doors of the two very last compartments.
"Which one?" The only answer was a loud burp coming from the carriage on the right, and the door opening to reveal Lee Jordan Jr. gasping for air.
"Why, Roxy!" He said, standing up and straightening his robes.
"Lee." The Weasley tried to hide the laugh forming in her belly. "This is Celeste. She's new." The Brazilian girl smiled and waved a little, and Lee mirrored her movement, until he remembered that he was supposed to be cool and leaned against the wall.
"I'm Lee Jordan, nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too."
"Hey Lee, what you… Hello." James Sirius Potter strutted out of the compartment. "I'm James Potter, at your service."
"Celeste, and not requiring any." She pulled her hand away with a crooked smile. "I think this compartment would be very nice, Roxanne."
"Sure." The two girls went inside, followed by Lee and James, who were exchanging very admiring looks at each other. "Celeste, meet Lily and Albus Potter, and Hugo Weasley, my cousins along with James. And that's Fred Weasley, my brother. And that's Lee. He just sort of hangs around." Lee looked at her like his ego had just been stabbed. Repeatedly. And through the heart.
"Hello, Celeste." Lily Weasley, a beautiful auburn haired girl with chocolate eyes stood up to greet her.
"Hello."
"Welcome to Hogwarts. What year are you going into?"
"Fifth."
"Like Roxy."
"Yes. What year are you in?"
"Second. Albus is in Fourth. And James is in Sixth. But I am the smartest and the most evolved of the family, of course."
"That goes without saying. How could a… male ever have the brains, the looks, the talent or the attitude in a family." For a second, Lily stared boldly at Celeste. Then her face split into a broad grin.
"You must meet my cousins." She nearly ran out into the hallway, and knocked at the door of the other compartment.
"What is it?"
"Rose! Roxy has an awesome new friend!" Lily hugged her fourth year cousin excitedly.
"A friend?" Louis Weasley's head shot straight up. "What kind of a friend."
"A hot one." Lily winked at her cousin, who went even whiter than his natural skin already was.
"Hot?" Lorcan and Lysander both asked in unison. Lily nodded and winked at them, pulling Louis and Rose by the sleeves. Louis was the first to step into the other compartment. He had been charged by Dom to watch over Roxy ever since the latter had been sent to Beauxbatons to learn to behave properly. He was not about to fail her.
"A girl?" He squeaked.
"A boy?" Celeste replied jokingly, turning around to face the door. "Nice to meet you, I'm Celeste Azevedo." Just how many times had she said her name in the past ten minutes?
"Louis Weasley." He smiled stiffly.
"Step aside, Blondie. Hello, I'm Rose Weasley."
"Hi."
"Welcome to Hogwarts."
"Thank you."
"So you went to Castelobruxo?" While Rose had very much inherited her mother's brains, she was incredibly tactless and less subtle than a blue whale in the middle of Hyde Park.
"I did."
"What is it like?"
"It's big. Bigger than Hogwarts I hear."
"Well of course, you get students from a whole continent. What language do you speak there? Portuguese or Spanish?"
"Sort of a mix of the two. We adapt."
"Awesome. I hear South American woods are incredible. Is your wand made of South American wood?"
"Ermm."
"Rose, shut up, will you?" Lily pushed her cousin away. "You're making her uncomfortable." By then, the Longbottoms and Scamander's had joined the rest of the clan, and the compartment was getting a little crowded. The boys were clearly not functioning very well yet, probably surprised to see someone (who was not their cousin Roxy) look so well in school robes, and even manage to have her obviously curvy body show.
"Am I supposed to have a wand?" Celeste asked after a long and awkward minute of silence.
"Are you supposed to have a wand?" Fred Weasley asked.
"Oh, look, you have a voice!" Celeste joked, clearly realizing she had said something slightly unconventional.
"Are you supposed to have a wand? Bloody hell you are, how else do you do magic!"
"Without it." Celeste answered in the same too-obvious-to-need-to-be-said-out-loud tone.
"Of course! I'm so stupid!" Rose exclaimed. "Uagadou has the strongest and most ancient practice of wand less magic, Castelobruxo also has a strange approach to wands. You see they argue that you should not channel your magic through one point but rather emanate magic."
"Rose, please stop humiliating us." Hugo whispered, looking at her darkly.
"It's ok, I'm honored you know so much about my school and my world. I really don't know a lot about your world, though, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry you'll learn plenty." James swung his arm around her shoulder, pushing Rose's inquisitive eyes away form the overwhelmed Celeste. "In no time, you'll be completely settled in."
"Yeah!" Albus spoke up for the first time. There was just something about that girl that made him uneasy. And it was not the fact that she was pretty, or that she really stuck out because of her tan skin and her incredibly dark hair. Or the fact that her earrings were two bright green guavas that sparkled weirdly. It was something more. She made him feel wearier than Aunt Luna and Ms. Trelawney together in the same room. "Anyways, Lee, you haven't told us who won that burping contest."
"Ew, I'm out of here." Rose whirled around and pulled Louis and Alice by the sleeves. She was immediately followed by the Scamanders and Frank; the latter still sent Celeste a look over his shoulder and blushed a little.
"I don't think we should stay either." Roxy mused. "I fear you might be grossed out by British boys and it might not be the best thing to do now. You'll have to cohabit with them for a few years more."
"No, just a second." Celeste pulled Roxy down and sat next to Lee and Lily. On the other bench, facing them, were Albus and Hugo, teamed up against James and Fred.
"I personally say it's a tie." Lily observed smugly.
"Yeah, I agree." Lee mused.
"Ah, come ON!" James groaned. Before anyone could answer anything more, Celeste let out an enormous burp, then leaned back into her seat, taking in the fact that she was being gaped at for burping nastily and still manage to look hot as hell.
"You win." Lee squeaked. The four boys did not even complain. They actually could not complain because there was nothing to complain about. She had beaten them so beautifully not even a Veela could have done any better.
"Roxy, do you have any other secret friends I would enjoy meeting?" Lily asked, her eyes glinting.
"I'm sorry, Lily, unfortunately I don't."
"Damn it."
"Hear, hear…" Albus nodded eagerly. "Let's play some exploding snap!"
"Exploding what?"
"Exploding snap. It's a card game."
"Never heard of it." Celeste shrugged.
"Oh, you need a speeded education, Celly." Fred teased, pulling a card deck from his bag. "So here's how you play…" The eight teens began playing and teasing each other about their skills, or lack thereof, for several hours. By the time they were done, the sun was already down and there was heavy rain hitting the Express's windows. The rest of the Weasley's had changed into their robes, and the small clan looked very smart, all wearing their Hogwarts robes and Gryffindor scarfs.
"So you're all Gryffindors?"
"Yes. Lorcan and Lysander are Hufflepuffs though. And Lou's a Slytherin."
"No Ravenclaws?"
"Lou's sister Victoire was a Ravenclaw. But she's studying Magical Law now."
"Oh, I see…"
"So, where's your trunk, Celly?"
"Here." The girl pulled out her shrunken luggage from her pocket. "Reverto." The trunk regained its original size.
"Great. You can leave it here, it will be taken to your dorm by the House Elves."
"She hasn't been sorted yet, Fred." Roxy pointed out.
"Well, neither have first years, and yet…" Lily shrugged. "Come on, I want to get one of the first carriages."
"So you can be the first to get hit by our awesome prank?" Fred, Lee and James wiggled their eyebrows, and shoved the comparatively short second year out of the way.
"Brutes!" Lily raced after them; three loud laughs echoing through the train.
"Forgive them." Roxy said, pulling Celeste to the door, right as the train came to a stop. "Welcome to Hogsmeade."