Begin Once More

by maggzzz

At different times in her life Jane would remember that day on the train as both the best and worst day of her life. Only one thing was certain of Jane Summers and Roxanne Vandal. Theirs was a friendship for the ages.

Prologue: 1971

Jane Summers had been described by no less than 4 of her primary school teachers as 'solemn'. This was not a particularly hard thing to believe if one were to meet Jane Summers. In fact, the only time anyone ever questioned this diagnosis was when they met Kitty Summers. Katherine – or "Kitty" – Summers was no more than 31 years of age although most if forced to guess would wager closer to 20. This was mostly due to a sweet - if a bit scattered - personality and a pretty smile. Kitty was friendly, and interesting, and chatty, much better at being a friend than a mother, and was exactly the kind of mother that most slightly naïve young girls may wish they had. She was well-meaning, and tried her best, and smiled often, which was very fortunate because Jane tended to be serious enough for the both of them.

Kitty happened to be one of the very few people in this world with the ability to invoke a genuine smile from Jane, for Jane did not have very many friends. In fact, Jane Summers perhaps did not have any friends at all. Jane was quiet, and a bit shy, and one might be inclined to call her an 'old-soul', but mostly Jane simply struggled to relate to the other children her age. It had always been just her and her mother, and quite frankly, Jane could not see why that had to change. However, if one might describe Jane as an 'old-soul', that same person might be inclined to describe Kitty as a 'free-spirit', and thus, while Kitty loved her daughter dearly, she did also long (just a little bit) for her own sense of freedom. It was because of this that upon the arrival of a very odd letter, Jane found herself set on a path (quite unwittingly and a bit unwillingly) that would land her in a train station on September 1st, 1971 looking very solemn and perhaps a tad resentful, next to her free-spirited mother, who's own excitement over a new adventure had done an excellent job at blinding her to her daughter's misgivings.

"Oh Janie, look! That woman's just turned her hair pink! How utterly perfect!"

Jane stubbornly did not look in the direction her mother was pointing, and although Kitty didn't notice, Jane took solace in her own small rebellion. Jane had not wanted to go to a new school, and she had especially not wanted to go to boarding school, and she had especially not wanted to go to a magic boarding school, but Kitty had thought that this might be very good for Jane, and so she had simply resigned herself to being miserable. This was why Jane might have closer resembled someone recently sentenced to death (or at least life in prison), and not an 11-year-old girl who had recently discovered that not only was magic quite real, but that she herself could wield said magic.

Of course, Jane might have guessed that she could do some very odd things but she, unlike her mother, fancied herself to be quite logical and so it had all been chocked up to a few completely random and accidental fires ('most likely faulty wiring' was what Jane's teacher had said breathlessly when the telephone she had been attempting to use to phone Jane's mother, to report Jane for fighting with Johnny Putnam after he had tugged on one of Jane's curls, had miraculously burst into flames) and a few rather helpful gusts of wind (Johnny had claimed it was Jane who had pushed him into the creek but several other children had testified that Jane had been no-where near Johnny at the time).

Currently Jane wished that she had no magic whatsoever and that she had just gotten in trouble for the fighting and the pushing, even though at the time she had been quite relieved. Jane did not want to leave her mother, she loved her mother and wanted very much to continue living with her in their too-small apartment over the laundromat that was just across the street from the diner that Kitty waitressed and only a 20-minute walk to Jane's primary school. It was small and rather loud and quite messy but it was theirs and Jane could not imagine being away from her mother and from their life for a day much less for than for most of the year. But in an unusual act of parental authority Kitty had informed Jane (who had been in the middle of a rare but impressive tantrum) that she would be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry because it was what was best for her, and not always is what's best for you the thing that you want.

In order to arrive on their platform, they had been forced to run directly through a brick wall, Kitty had found it exciting, Jane had found it unnerving, but never the less they now stood in front of a very large, very loud train holding Janes small trunk that they had bought gently used from a second-hand store. Jane might have enjoyed her school shopping had she not been dreading the school so much. As it were the only part that she had enjoyed had been getting her wand which was tucked very securely in a small secret compartment Jane had found in her new-old trunk. 11 inches (Jane had thought this interesting because she herself was 11, but the nice old wand maker had told her that that had very little to do with it), ash wood, a unicorn hair core, and reasonably pliable. Jane thought, albeit begrudgingly, that she had never been prouder of anything she had ever owned.

While her mother excitedly took in all the wonderfully strange characteristics of the station Jane occupied herself by observing the other children that would soon be her classmates. Very quickly Jane discovered that she was rather intimidated by the older students and fixed her eyes firmly at her own eye level in hopes of observing the kids closer to her age. She caught sight of a rather unfortunate looking girl with absurdly large teeth and a weak chin, a little girl with red hair appeared to be arguing with a tall skinny blonde girl, and a boy with curly dark hair and a truly incredible number of freckles was rolling his eyes while a woman, presumably his mother, lectured him. Jane was suddenly very self-conscious of the fact that she was already in the robes and uniform that she and her mother had bought, as it appeared that everyone else had not yet changed into their own ('you have to wear them to the station Janie you don't want to be left out and besides this is what witches and wizards wear' Kitty had claimed. Jane figured that she would probably never forgive her). In Janes embarrassment she almost missed the arrival of an absolute tornado.

A girl with truly wild blonde hair and a nasty looking scratch on her left cheek barreled past wrestling what appeared to be a very angry black jumper, but upon further inspection would reveal itself to be merely a very angry, very fat, black cat. Jane forgot her manners all together and stared unabashed (although to be fair she was not the only one) as the girl, who must have been around Janes age, lost her grip on the animal and shrieked in what might have been anger but could also have been pain as the cat had managed to scratch her once again, before tearing off after it.

Jane blinked and looked at her mother, who looked a bit bewildered and thoroughly overwhelmed herself, before determining that the situation was hardly any of her business and deciding to move on. The train whistled and Jane bit her lip, a nervous bad habit that she picked up from an old friend of Kitty's who had attempted to stop smoking by biting down very hard on her lip whenever she felt a craving. Kitty sighed and wiped teary eyes, she smoothed one of Janes relentless dark curls, kissed her on the forehead and said goodbye in a pathetic attempt at casual, before ushering Jane and her new-old trunk onto the train.

Jane did her very best to remain invisible and out of the way in her quest to locate an empty compartment. Somehow it seemed that everyone already knew each other, even the younger kids, which made Jane feel very much an outsider and just a little bit nauseous. She passed by a boy her age with dark hair that looked a bit greasy and a slightly hooked nose but at least he was also wearing his uniform and robes. For just a moment Jane thought about following him but decided instead that she would find her own compartment where she could cry and maybe break one of the stupid quills that had been on her school list.

Roxanne Vandal had never once in her life been described as 'solemn'. In fact, it is very unlikely that she'd ever even been described as 'pensive'. Roxanne Vandal was typically thought of as 'wild', and she was quite often thought of. Roxanne, known to a select few as 'Roxie', was a handful, to put it quite simply. Highly intelligent, high energy, and an above averagely curious child, Roxanne Vandal could be disarmingly charming or incredibly obnoxious, depending on the day of the week. She had a tendency to disregard rules, often not on purpose, as it wasn't so much that Roxanne disliked rules and regulations, or even went out of her way to break them, it was more often that she quite simply forgot they applied to her at all. This unfortunate character flaw (although 'flaw' is debatable is debatable in this case) may have been because of a rather indulgent childhood, or a strict mother, or maybe a father that she had genuinely believed, for the majority of her childhood, to have hung the moon.

Ian Vandal was English but he had attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France, he was a rather famous inventor and explorer as well as being utterly fascinated by herbology and magizoogology. He was also not what one would call a particularly attentive father, more interested in his discoveries and his most recent quest, and truly awful at anything even close to resembling discipline. Regardless Ian Vandal was adored by his daughter mostly because he absolutely excelled at parenting part-time. Upon returning from his latest escapade Ian would shower his daughter with strange and bizarre and exotic gifts, very rarely things he had bought and more often things he had found. Once he brought home an exquisite, although particularly foul-smelling flower, that he had discovered in the Amazon Rainforest that shifted colors constantly, an effect similar to looking in a kaleidoscope. Another time it had been tiny pieces of gems that when held would give the bearer mild hallucinations (those had been placed in a box upon arrival never to be seen again without supervision and Ian had been boxed around the ears). Once Ian had brought home paintings that a small magical tribe in New Guinea created using paints that emitted low soothing humming sounds creating a gentle melody that Roxie fell asleep to nearly every night, another time he had returned home with a what seemed like a thousand new truly exquisite spells that were fascinating and brilliant. When Ian was home he would take Roxie on adventures traipsing around swamps and on tops of mountains, or sitting over a cauldron experimenting with various potions, or tracking a Jobberknoll and its hatchlings. Needless to say, Roxanne Vandal completely idolized her father.

Despite Ian's adventurous nature he was a pureblood who came from old money and even older principals and although Ian didn't care much (Ian didn't care very much about anything) his father was a bit bigoted and very stubborn, so Ian married an English pureblood girl from an old prominent family, Ermine Carrow. At the time neither cared, they were both rather attractive and still quite young, Ian was charming and exciting and Ermine was confident and lovely and for about a year they were quite happy. But Ermine was also highly ambitious and rather self-centered and Ian was also a bit lazy and absurdly impulsive, and they were both so utterly and completely wrong for each other.

There was no question who their daughter took after more (Roxanne herself would tell you her father was her favorite but tact was not exactly Roxanne's strong suit) and there was also no question how disappointed Ermine Carrow-Vandal was by this. Ermine believed in poise, and beauty, and ambition, she wanted her daughter to be elegant, and lady-like, and cunning like herself. To Ermine, Roxanne would always be Roxanne (which was fine because Ermine had never liked the name 'Roxie' anyhow and she hated that Ian called her that). Ermine Carrow-Vandal was a very different sort of mother than Kitty Summers.

Perhaps Roxanne was able to sense her mother's disappointment perhaps she couldn't, never the less Roxanne very often attempted to do exactly what her mother thought she shouldn't. Which was why she had insisted on September 1st, 1971 to arrive at Kings Cross Station with her father and meet her mother there, Ermine had agreed at the time under the condition that Roxanne arrive looking clean and orderly and that Ian and Roxanne had to take Augustin the cat with them. Roxanne hated Augustin (her mother had thought the name sounded regal, Roxanne thought it sounded stupid and very, very French and anyhow she had wanted a toad), the feeling was very mutual, as Augustin quite hated Roxanne as well. Roxanne took extra care that morning to put on her ripped dungarees and her oldest trainers and made sure to roll in the grass and to not brush her hair. As she was attempting to shove Augustin into his cage he managed to claw her cheek and Roxanne considered going to her father to fix it but decided it made her look wilder and would therefor only serve to irritate her mother further so she left it.

Roxanne and Ian arrived at Kings Cross only a bit late and only a tad harried (despite Roxie's best efforts), and in the hustle somehow Augustin's cage fell from the trolley crashing and releasing a very angry cat. Roxie took off after the cat and Ian shouted encouragement after her. Roxanne managed to catch Augustin twice (the second after the scoundrel clawed her neck up something good to get away a second time), she managed to wrestle her hissing and still struggling trophy back to the cage and Ian performed a quick repairing charm on the broken door. It was at this moment that Ermine found them, both red-faced (Roxanne from her chase, Ian from laughing at her chase) and bearing several claw marks and battle wounds. Angry is not the word one uses when describing Ermine Carrow-Vandal, it is not quite sufficiently elegant and anyhow it is almost never enough. Ermine tended to skip right from irritated to furious and her fury is a very cold very terrifying thing. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how one was to look at it) both Ian and Roxanne were quite accustomed to Ermine's fury and it hardly had the same effect anymore. Never the less Ermine turned that icy stare on her husband and said in a voice that Ian and Roxanne knew as her 'public voice'. Deceptively calm and cold as ice,

"What kind of a father are you? Letting her show up here? Looking like that?"

"Oh relax, Ermine. She's fine and nobody cares anyhow."

That was perhaps the wrong thing to say, but in a crowded train station and worried about their image to outsiders, there wasn't much for Ermine to do besides fume silently and attempt to straighten her daughters thoroughly wayward appearance. With a couple of flicks of her wand Ermine was able to straighten Roxanne's hair into semi-presentable braids and clean some of the stains from her clothes, she was only able to scab over the scratches from Augustin though, healing magic had never been her gift. Still wild but looking slightly less unruly Roxanne Vandal hugged her father desperately, kissed her mother's cheeks because she had to, collected her things and boarded the train.

Roxanne stuffed her trunk and her stupid cat in the first available place and went in search of an interesting place to sit. Roxie was particularly good at walking, it originated partly from her mother's attempts at teaching her to be graceful and partly from her own sense of confidence (or maybe entitlement). One could refer to it as a stride or a strut depending on context but certainly she walked like she owned the earth beneath her. In front of her a flushed red-haired girl and a sallow angry looking boy were getting out a compartment, behind them she could hear laughter and a voice called out, "See ya, Snivellus!", just as the red head slammed the compartment door and the two stormed away. Roxanne was a little disappointed because it seemed as though that would have been a very interesting place to sit indeed, but she moved on until she happened upon a nearly empty compartment. Now, nearly empty was not what Roxanne considered interesting and so it was not what she had set out to find, but the key word here was nearly empty because inside this compartment sat a girl with dark curly hair who was crying rather hard whilst snapping her quills into multiple pieces, and that was something that Roxanne found very interesting. Roxie slipped inside the compartment with the crying girl and sat down across from her. She didn't say anything she just observed quietly (she was very good at this) until the crying girl looked up at her.

"Where's your cat?", she croaked.

This was not the proper way one greets someone so naturally Roxie was utterly delighted.

"Stuffed him in a closet. Who are you?"

Jane realized that she looked a complete mess but considering what this girl was wearing and the debacle on the platform she really couldn't bring herself to care too much. She had not really meant to break all those new quills her mother had bought her but she had opened her trunk for a handkerchief and they had just been sitting there on top glaring at her and once she'd started she hadn't been able to stop.

"My name is Jane Summers and I have broken all my new quills."

This was still not the way one goes about having a proper conversation so Roxie was still quite delighted.

"That's neat. Want to break mine?"

Jane was overwhelmed and rather exhausted so she was perhaps slightly slower than she would have been at another time, but at this moment she was quite confused.

"I'm sorry, but did you say you stuffed your cat in a closet? And no thank you I do not want to break any more quills. What's your name anyway?"

(She was also a bit testier than she might have been another time.)

"My name is Roxanne Vandal, you can call me Roxie though because I think your funny."

"Are you making fun of me?" Jane's voice was still a bit croaky and her eyes were still red but she did not feel like crying anymore, although she was a bit irritated with the very odd girl who had sat in her compartment.

"No, I really do think your funny."

"Where is your poor cat?"

"In a closet."

Jane threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "Why on earth would you put your cat in a closet?"

At this Roxanne paused and considered, she did not like Augustin, that was true, but he had made a valiant escape effort and that was at least something that Roxie could respect.

"You're right," Roxie managed to look at least a little apologetic. "I shouldn't have put him in the closet."

Now Jane had absolutely no idea what was happening anymore, she was confused, tired, overwhelmed, and a bit irritated so she resolved to ignore Roxanne Vandal for the rest of the train. This appeared to work for a short while and eventually Roxanne got up and left the compartment and Jane let out a short sigh of relief, letting her head rest on the window pane she decided she would try and sleep the rest of the way, and dozed off hoping that the rest of the students at this school were nothing like Roxanne Vandal (they were not).

Jane's reprieve was short lived and she was awoken to the door being shoved open and a panting and red-faced Roxanne Vandal struggling to get her fat and very poorly behaved cat inside the compartment.

"What are you doing!" Jane shrieked. (she was not usually so high strung but it had been a long day)

Roxanne paused in her struggles with the cat and the door to give Jane a confused look.

"You said I shouldn't have left him in the closet."

"I asked you why you shoved him in a closet I didn't say bring him in here!"

Roxie dropped the angry feline at the same time as she slid the door shut behind her with her foot, the cat streaked underneath the seats.

"Well, he's here now. Wanna play exploding snap?"

Jane didn't know what exploding snap was but she figured (correctly) that this Roxanne girl was not leaving anytime soon so she sighed and scooted over a bit so there was more room on the bench.

"I don't know what exploding snap is or how to play it" she admitted defensively.

Roxie plopped herself down next to Jane and pulled out her exploding snap deck (brand new, another gift from her father), not fazed by Jane's inexperience with the game (although Roxie was not easily fazed).

"It's easy, I'll show you."

They did not spend very long on exploding snap as it turned out that neither of them were very good, so Jane tried instead to teach Roxie Go Fish but they tired of that quickly too. After that the girls talked, Jane asked about Augustin, Roxie explained the four houses (she didn't know which house she'd end up in, her mother had been in Slytherin but her father hadn't attended Hogwarts at all, Jane reckoned Ravenclaw sounded nice but thought that Gryffindor didn't sound so bad either). After the trolley came by they debated their favorite sweets for a while but came to the agreement that the cockroach clusters were, by far, the worst (Roxie had gotten them because they felt adventurous). Out of boredom they decided to try to lure Augustin out so Roxie could catch him (Roxie managed to tear a hole in the sleeve of the brand-new robe that she had just put on, this made her very pleased). Despite her initial hesitancy, Jane was actually quite glad that she had managed to make a friend so quickly, and Roxie was really not so bad after a little bit, in fact she was really very funny and quite clever.

When the train stopped the girls got off together, it had taken a full 10 minutes to get Augustin to his cage and they both bore scratches to prove it. Upon stepping off the train they almost ran directly into a giant, Jane's eyes nearly popped out of her head and she took several steps back but Roxie merely looked up at him and laughed in an incredulous sort of way that was both amused and a bit surprised.

"Firs' years! This way! Follow me! Firs' Years!"

Roxie's grin took up most of her face and she followed the giant quite happily, Jane was more cautious but she also wasn't about to let her only friend disappear into the night with a giant, so she followed, albeit reluctantly. The giant-man lead the group of anxious 11-year-olds down a very narrow, dark path, calling out every once in a while, until they reached the edge of a massive dark lake, across which a sparkling castle was visible.

"Four to a boat please! Four to a boat" The giant called, he himself already loading into one of the tiny boats along the shore. Roxie was already off, hopping not un-gracefully into the bow of one the leading boats, Jane once again hurried after her (she would eventually discover that chasing after Roxanne Vandal was an endless and futile pursuit). Roxie and Jane were joined in their boat by an extremely short and very pale boy with flat dark hair, who introduced himself as Davey Kenelm in a wheezy voice, and a tall, slightly pudgy, bespectacled, red-haired girl whose name was Lisa O'Shea.

"FORWARD!" the giant boomed, and the fleet of little boats took off over the smooth water of the lake. As they glided across the glassy surface, most of the boats were silent, the children in the staring in awe as the castle from across the lake grew in size, however one of the boats teetered and splashed as two of the boys within it shifted and swayed trying to make it rock back and forth on the water. Jane sighed and shook her head disapprovingly, relieved that the boys were not in her boat (especially as Davey already looked quite nervous and Lisa appeared a little green), however when she turned to share a judging look with her new friend she discovered that most of Roxie's body was hanging over the side of the boat.

"What are you doing?" Jane asked tuging lightly on Roxie's robes.

"Trying to see if I can see what's in there." Roxie replied making no move to shift back from the edge of the boat.

"You mean there's things living down there?" Jane enquired nervously.

This finally got a physical response from Roxie who leaned back from the boats edge and turned to grin at Jane, stating in an excited voice, "Of course, but don't worry we'll have all year to find all of the creatures that are hiding around here."

Jane had not been worried however she was now. Before she could voice her concern to Roxie, the giant-man bellowed,

"Heads down!"

Bending their heads, the boats carried them safely through an ivy curtain and into a dark tunnel that lead to a small harbor. Roxie was once again the first out of her boat but this time Jane managed to keep up a bit easier, although her shoes did get a bit wet. The giant led the collection of 11-year-olds up a path and to a massive old-looking door. In front of the door a tall, severe woman waited dressed in immaculate maroon robes, her dark hair was in a tight, neat bun and her face was sharp and stern.

"You're late, Hagrid." the woman stated sharply.

"Sorry, Professor McGonagall, it's a big group this year."

"No matter, I will take them from here."

She turned then, her robes swinging, and opened the massive door, revealing a beautiful entrance hall. Jane's mouth had fallen open, and her eyes swung from the incredibly high ceiling, to the beautiful marble staircases. Roxie was grinning beside her and they exchanged equally excited looks.

Professor McGonagall led the brusquely across the entrance hall before stopping at another set of large doors. It was at this time that Minerva McGonagall proceeded to give a welcome speech providing instruction and explanation to the first-year students of 1971, despite her clear and no-nonsense attitude, three students missed a majority of her well-crafted speech. Gary Stebbins was an unfortunately clumsy and extraordinarily unlucky young boy, as it happened, while trying to exit his boat Gary had tripped and fallen into waist deep water. While trying to get out of the water Gary slipped again and managed to get his shoe wedged under a rather heavy rock. What Gary failed to notice was that while he was struggling with his shoe, the rest of the children had followed Hagrid up the hidden path to the castle. By the time Gary Stebbins finally freed his foot (unfortunately he was forced to abandon his shoe), he was alone, lost, and soaked. While Minerva McGonagall was giving her welcome speech Gary Stebbins was stumbling up the path from the underground harbor, utterly lost, dripping wet, and wearing only one shoe.

The other two students who missed McGonagall's welcome speech were Roxanne Vandal and Jane Summers (unsurprisingly and surprisingly – respectively). Roxie was a curious child, curiosity is one of those traits that can be charming or troublesome depending on the situation, in this particular situation it was undoubtedly troublesome. Roxie had caught sight of a something whisking behind one of the massive marble staircases as they entered the hall and curious (troublesome) as she was had snuck off after it. Jane was not one to break the rules, and this felt like a fairly big rule to break, however Jane was also not one to be left behind and so she followed her new friend. This was perhaps a very important moment in the very important friendship of Jane Summers and Roxanne Vandal, it was this moment that, however unwittingly, Jane Summers fully committed herself to the whirlwind that was Roxanne Vandal.

The girls dashed behind the staircase and down a corridor only to discover the hallway was empty. Roxie frowned and darted a little further down the corridor, Jane trailing shortly behind her.

"What did you see, Roxie?" Jane asked, only a little miffed that it appeared they had been chasing after nothing. Roxie didn't answer, peering around curiously (troublesomely). It was at this point that several things happened at once: the sorting hat began its annual song that could be heard all the way from the Great Hall (something about silk and patches, and brains and guts, but Roxie couldn't quite make it out), Jane shrieked, and a man melted out of the wall.

Jane was a quick thinker. Not always a clear thinker, but she did think quick, however in this specific situation Jane was not thinking at all. So, upon seeing what looked to be a half-slaughtered body melt through the stone wall beside her, she shrieked, grabbed Roxie by the wrist and ran as fast as she could back down the corridor. She did not stop once they entered the well-lit entrance hall, jane kept running into the Great Hall until they reached the group of first-years huddled before a stool on top of which sat a very old wizard's hat which appeared to be at the end of a rather dramatic ballad.

"- it is simply untrue!"

The hat's song concluded on a long and lilting note and the hall burst into applause. The girls stood on the edge of the group panting, they're late arrival to the hall had gone unnoticed for the most part and uncommented on entirely. The hat's song had been an excellent distraction, and the arrival of Gary Stebbins earlier led in by Hagrid, still dripping, missing a shoe, and now crying, had stolen most of the shock from any late arrivals. Gary now stood a few feet from Jane and Roxanne wrapped in the giant's massive coat and sniffling every few seconds.

"What was that?" Jane whispered.

"I think that was a ghost," Roxanne replied, breathless but certainly more excited than scared. "Don't worry, I think I remember what he looked like we can find him later"

"I'm sorry, we can what –"

Jane was cut off by Professor McGonagall who was standing in front of them now holding a roll of parchment.

"When you hear your name you will come up, sit on the stool, put on the hat, and be sorted," she said sharply. "Alonzo, Jennifer!"

A small girl with short dark hair hopped nervously up to the stool, put on the hat, and sat down hard, nearly missing the stool altogether. She wobbled but managed to keep her seat although her cheeks went pink beneath the hats brim.

"RAVENCLAW!"

A table on the far left applauded and cheered as Jennifer Alonzo stumbled still pink-cheeked to the Ravenclaw table. Jennifer would feel better about her clumsy sorting after Gary Stebbins went and managed to miss the stool completely (he was sorted into Hufflepuff).

"Anand, Naina!"

A girl with a long dark braid walked steadily up to the stool and sat confidently and calmly.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Naina smiled and walked towards the cheering table beneath large green and silver banners.

"Avery, Hester!"

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted again, and Hester Avery joined Naina at the Slytherin table excitedly.

Roxie's interest in the sorting at this point may have begun to decline (at this specific time in her development Roxie's attention span was particularly limited), as it was, she almost missed McGonagall calling the next name.

"Black, Sirius!"

Roxie knew Sirius Black. Not very well, but she had met him once or twice. Her mother was an old friend of Walburga Black. She didn't really remember him but she figured if he was anything like his mother she would not like him very much (what she remembered of Walburga Black was that she was a very loud woman and she did not care for the wellbeing of Roxie's pet toads whatsoever). On her left, Jane was fidgeting nervously, biting her lip, and pulling at hang nails (another nervous habit she had picked up from one of her mother's smoker friends). When the Sorting Hat opened its brim to bellow, "GRYFFINDOR!" for the first time that year, a queer stillness descended on the Great Hall. It did not last long, as Sirius Black wasted no time in hopping off the stool and making his way to a table on the far side of the hall decked in gold and crimson, in fact, the moment of stillness was hardly noticeable at all. That one moment was perhaps the universe's way of acknowledging a changing of fates, or maybe it was simply a brief instance of shock when an 11-year-old boy did not do what was expected of him, either way it was fleeting but at this point in time it was the best moment of Sirius Black's life.

The sorting went on smoothly, Michael Bolder and Cynthia Burton were both sorted into Hufflepuff, Damien Casing went to Slytherin, Mathew Chase was the fastest sorting of the night, the hat barely touching the top of his hair before shouting, "RAVENCLAW!". Maria Diangelo was also sorted into Ravenclaw, Argent Dorsal was sorted into Hufflepuff (Argent Dorsal would grow up to be a very famous model, coincidentally, his older brother Atlas Dorsal would eventually marry and produce a son with the famous model Alessia Zabini before meeting an unfortunate end due to a batch of faulty Floo powder). A set of triplets were sorted, "Hobbes, Forest" and "Hobbes, Sunshine" were both became Hufflepuffs, but "Hobbes, River" was sorted into Ravenclaw. River looked at his brother sitting at the Hufflepuff table unsurely before slowly making his way to the Ravenclaw table. A sickly-looking boy with a scar on his neck was sorted into Gryffindor, a boy with incredibly large eyebrows scuttled over to the Slytherin table, Lisa O'Shea was sorted into Hufflepuff, and James Potter, an enthusiastic boy with unruly black hair went to Gryffindor and was greeted warmly by Sirius Black who was standing on top of the table in the midst of a rather dramatic round of applause.

Jane felt herself growing more and more nervous. Her left thumbnail was bleeding where she had picked it and she felt a bit sick to her stomach. She watched a boy with rather greasy hair get sorted into Slytherin, and a pretty Chinese girl became a Hufflepuff, and at last McGonagall called –

"Summers, Jane!"

Jane stepped forward, idly wondering if the rest of the hall could see her legs trembling, sat down on the stool and dropped the hat down over her eyes. She heard a soft chuckle, "there's only one place for you, little lioness," a small voice murmured in her ear.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Jane took off the hat shakily and walked to the Gryffindor table, thoroughly disoriented, and oddly feeling like she might start to cry. Four other girls had already been sorted into Gryffindor, but Jane couldn't remember their names and she felt shy and quite overwhelmed so she sat down in an empty space next to a broad dark-skinned older student. The older student smiled warmly at her but, still feeling uncomfortably-close to tears, Jane turned to watch the last few sortings.

Roxie was one of the last to be sorted, only three students remained after her. When McGonagall called her name, Jane watched her walk forward confidently, hop up onto the stool, and pull the hat down past her ears. After 3 minutes the hall got rather quiet, people began to stare and Jane fidgeted nervously. Another minute went by, and still the hat said nothing. In the end, it took 4 minutes and 53 seconds for Roxanne Vandal to be sorted. When the hat finally opened its brim and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Jane exhaled, realizing she had been holding her breath. Roxie grinned at Jane as she squeezed herself into the seat next to her.

"What happened?" whispered Jane.

"Couldn't decide where to put me." Roxie replied, shrugging (Roxie was not easily fazed).

This was a very concerning concept for Jane, who had not previously considered that the hat could be indecisive as she had assumed it was all-knowing. She would have brought this up in more detail to Roxie, but at that moment "Young, Kenneth" became a Ravenclaw, and Albus Dumbledore stood, a kindly smile on his face and said in a booming voice,

"Welcome all, to a new year at Hogwarts! Please do enjoy your dinners!"

Jane's eyes widened to saucers as the plates before her filled with food. Soups, and potatoes, and baskets of bread, a plate of roast chicken, a platter of roasted vegetables, and a large steak and kidney pie. She turned to share her surprise with Roxie who was already filling her plate.

"What do you think this is?" Roxie asked about a thick brown substance as she ladled a heaping pile onto the plate in front of her. Jane didn't answer, choosing instead to pile her plate with a little bit of everything within reach.

The girls talked and ate their dinners, giggling over Gary Stebbins's peculiar sorting and comparing their favorite foods from the array in front of them. They met a few of the older students, the tall black boy who had smiled at Jane was Anthony Fitz and the pretty girl across from them introduced herself as Ximena López in a heavy Spanish accent, both were 6th years and very friendly but the girls didn't speak with them for too long (Jane was too shy, Roxie too unfocused for an honest conversation). The other first-year Gryffindor girls were sitting a little way down the table, bunched together, exchanging stories and giggling nervously, still unsure of each other. On their other side, three of the four first-year Gryffindor boys were laughing uproariously at a story James Potter was telling. Sirius Black would provide sound effects for the story when prompted, causing the boys to dissolve into fits of laughter. The third boy was a round blond boy whose name Jane could not remember for the life of her (she needn't have felt guilty about this as it would take Roxie another two and a half years to solidly learn Peter Pettigrew's name). The fourth first-year boy, was the sickly-looking boy Roxie had noticed earlier. He ate his food quietly and didn't speak to anyone, staring resolutely at his dinner.

After dinner came dessert, and after the dessert dishes were finally cleared, and everyone's stomachs full to bursting, Albus Dumbledore stood once again.

"Once again, we welcome you all back to Hogwarts for another year of learning, and to our newest students, we hope that you make this your home. Just a few start-of-term notices to give before we can all retire to our beds.

"First years please note that the forest on the grounds is off-limits to all students. In addition, students are advised to be cautious of the new tree on the Northern grounds as it is a Whomping Willow, and is especially irritable this time of year.

"Mr. Filch has asked me to remind all students that magic between classes and within corridors is expressly forbidden."

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled over the edges of his glasses in a way that gave Roxie the distinct impression that the headmaster did not expect these rules to be followed.

"Quidditch trials will be in the second week of term at the discretion of this year's Quidditch captains.

"Finally, allow me to introduce Professor Edgar Lars and Poppy Pomfrey. Professor Lars will be taking over for Professor Kiswick in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Madam Pomfrey will be our new permanent Matron in the Hospital Wing."

A wiry older man and a young woman in a set of navy robes both stood and waved.

"Now before we are all ushered to our lovely warm beds, please pick a tune, and lets us sing the school song!"

The school roared with the sound of hundreds of voices singing different words at different times, to different tunes, and when the were done the headmaster simple bowed his head and raised his arms and the students got up and begun to file out of the Great Hall.

"Gryffindor first years over here please! Over here, first years!" An extremely short girl with tight blonde curls was standing on the table and beckoning them over, next to her a boy with round ruddy cheeks was leaning against the table casually. The girl smiled as the ten first years gathered around and said warmly,

"Hello everyone, I'm Tammy Munch and this is Mikey Stalls and we're the Gryffindor 5th year prefects so we will be showing you all how to get to the common room and your respective dormitories."

The first years followed Mikey and Tammy blindly, Tammy providing near constant commentary on the castle as they walked. Jane was tired enough that the living pictures and photographs only disoriented her a little. Tammy was saying something about moving staircases when they reached the end of a long corridor where a massive portrait of an even more massive woman hung. The woman smiled daintily at the first years and said in a high voice,

"Password?"

"Fickle Trees," Tammy said, and the portrait swung open revealing the great round hole in the wall. Tammy and Mikey lead them through the portrait hole and into a large round common room. A fire crackled on one side, couches and big cozy armchairs covered in cushions, pillows, and throw blankets rested beside it. On the other side of the common room were a few tables with books and games resting on them. The boys followed Mikey up the staircase on the right, and Tammy led the girls up the staircase on the left, still providing commentary the entire way, although at this point no one was listening. At the top of the stair case they found their beds, great big four-posters with red velvet curtains, their trunks resting neat and open on top of the beds. Augustin's cage was open and empty (there would not be a confirmed sighting of Augustin the cat until December of that year, although Jane would swear she saw him doing battle with Peeves the Poltergeist on the fourth floor around mid-October).

The girls all fell asleep quickly that night. Jane spared only a moment to consider what had happened that day before succumbing to sleep. Roxie was the last to fall asleep that night staring at the moon in the window through the velvet drapes around her bed. The day had felt momentous, it had felt new, and exciting, and bold. It was the start. Roxie didn't know what that meant exactly but she knew. Everything was beginning.

At different times in her life Jane Summers would remember that day on the train as both the best and worst day of her life. Only one thing was certain of Jane and Roxanne. Theirs was a friendship for the ages.

Authors Note - Hi! I've never really written anything before but I've always wanted to so this might be rough but its a start. Constructive criticism is welcome, questions are welcome, I don't really know if anything will come of this or if this is even any good so we'll see.

Disclaimer - nothing is mine, if its familiar it's not mine, Roxie and Jane and any other characters you don't recognize are the only things that are mine