It was a cool, windy day, perfect for flying a kite. But Jane Spektor wasn't flying kites. She was taking a train to a school for wizards and witches.
It had taken some time for her family to get used to the idea. After all, growing up Jane had been almost normal. There were always those queer little accidents that nobody could explain, but those were overlooked. And one day they had simply received a letter out of the blue (from an owl, too! The droppings were all over the place, and Mrs. Spektor was incredibly distressed), saying that Jane was a witch ('That's not a very nice thing to say,' Jane's sister, Caprial, had said at first) and that she had a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And a chaperone, a big man that looked like a grubby Father Christmas had taken her to an amazing place where she bought her school-things-Diagon Alley, was it called? Yes, that was it.
Things were happening much too quickly for quiet, practical Jane's liking.
"Jane, dear, where's your platform? See, darling, there's Platform Nine, and there's Platform Ten...but no Platform Nine and Three Quarters..."
Jane nodded. Her mother and all of her siblings had come to see her off. Little Caprial, a three-year-old, fifteen-year-old Phillip, thirteen-year-old Samuel, thirteen-year-old Guinevere (or Gwin, as they liked to call her: she was Sam's twin), and the new baby, Neda.
"Perhaps it was all a cruel joke," Mrs. Spektor said thoughtfully. "But no, no, that can't be. That big man with the white beard showed us the stuff himself."
Jane's family had taken to calling magic 'the stuff.'
"What could it be, Mum?" Gwin asked.
"Maybe we just can't see it, because we're not the stuff," Sam suggested.
"Can you see it, Janey?" Caprial asked.
Jane was about to shake her head when she saw a large, redheaded family, all pushing trolleys. Several of them had owls like the one that brought her her Hogwarts letter, and a girl with bushy red curls was chatting animatedly with a dark-haired boy who had alarmingly green eyes...and she said something about Platform 9 and Three Quarters.
"Yes, Cape, I can see it. I'll be going now."
"Oh, Jane!" Mrs. Spektor said tearfully, hugging her eleven-year-old daughter.
"I'll be home before you know it, Mum. Bye, Phillip, Sam, Gwin. Cape." She kissed her elder siblings on their cheeks, and swung her favorite little sister in the air. "Neda." She kissed the baby's fuzzy forehead. "Good-bye." She waved again, and started to follow the family of the girl who was talking about the platform.
"Excuse me." Jane tapped the girl on her shoulder.
"Yes?" Jane noticed that she was covered in freckles, and had kind, coffee-colored eyes.
"D'you know how to get onto the platform?"
She laughed. "Of course, who doesn't? Oh, you must be Muggle-born. I'll show you how to get on...once the rest of my family's gone. That rhymes! Takes a while, that's why we got here early. Rose Weasley." She held out her hand, and Jane shook it, a little startled.
"Bloody hell, Rosie, she looks like-what's the Muggle expression Aunt Hermione's always using-"
"A deer in headlights?"
"Yeah!"
"I haven't introduced you! This is my cousin, Al...Al Potter." Rose seemed to be a little hesitant about using Al's last name, but Jane didn't think much of it. "Louis, get a move on!"
A boy of about thirteen was loitering by the barrier between 9 and 10. Jane suddenly noticed that most of the family had disappeared.
"I'm going, I'm going!" Louis said with a scowl. Jane gulped. He had messy blond hair, an arrogant countenance, and sparkling grey eyes, that seemed to be endless... "No need to be in such a hurry, Rosie." He smiled, and ran through the barrier.
Jane blinked. Through it?
"Insufferable," Rose grumbled.
"That's another one of your cousins?" Jane asked.
"Yes, that's Louis. He's a bit of a-what should I call it, Al?"
"Man slag."
"That's it. Perfect. Now, let's go through the barrier, it wouldn't do to miss the train our first year." Rose pushed her trolley through the barrier-and she was gone.
"Oh my God!" Jane exclaimed.
"It's not so hard, really. James told me once that if you're too nervous, it takes you somewhere else, and you get eaten by trolls. But he was just kidding," said Al absentmindedly, ignoring Jane's shocked expression. "If you want, you can go before me."
"No thank you," she said, fixing her eyes on her trainers.
"Really. Go. Or...I'll push you!" There was a mischievous glint in Al's green eyes.
"I'll-I'll go, I'll go." Jane closed her eyes and pushed her trolley, running, and running, and running, preparing to crash into solid brick...but she never did. I've been running for much too long, she thought, and opened her eyes. She saw the sign that read 'Platform Nine and Three Quarters,' and smiled.
Jane Spektor looked to be quite a shy creature. She didn't look particularly special, with her dark brown hair in two braids and black eyes framed by long, thick lashes. Just normal. But she wasn't normal: she was a witch. She was the stuff. And she knew she was going to love Hogwarts from the moment she saw that red steam engine.
"Jane! Over here! We're boarding! And you need to meet Maxwell!" Rose waved her over.
"It's Max," shouted an unfamiliar, laughing voice. Jane gave her trunk to the footman and ran over to Rose, Al, and another boy. The new boy was tall and lanky, and bore messy dark hair similar to Al's and brown eyes. He has freckles too, Jane thought.
"This is Maxwell Finnigan, our stupid family friend. He really just tags along." Rose elbowed him.
"Max," he corrected. "It's Max."
"Jane," she said quietly.
"Let's get on the train, James and Fred are coming over here."
"James is Al's brother, and Fred's our cousin," Rose explained to Jane.
Two second years were running towards them. Jane, Max, Rose, and Al pretended not to see them, and hurried onto the train to lock themselves in a compartment. They were laughing like idiots, before they noticed that the compartment was already occupied by a blond boy with gray eyes. He looked almost exactly like Louis. But not as breathtaking, Jane thought to herself.
"Hello, Weasley," said the boy, looking at Rose.
"Let's find another compartment, I don't want to sit with Malfoy," Rose spat, her ears red.
"Have it your way," Malfoy drawled.
The four first years filed out of the compartment, and soon found a new one.
"Who was that?" Jane asked, as they bought fabulous magical sweets from a witch with a trolley full of them.
"Scorpius Malfoy," Al responded, when Rose only looked out the window. "Uncle Ron, Rosie's dad, says that his family's a bad lot. We met him at Flourish and Blott's, and apparently his dad told him the same thing about us. Rosie doesn't like him."
"I loathe him," Rose blurted. "He's arrogant, vile, rude, cocky—"
"—we don't need a list of '100 reasons why I hate Scorpius Malfoy' again," Max interrupted. Rose glowered at him. The rest of the train ride was spent by Rose sulking, Jane reading, and Al and Max playing Exploding Snap.
When they had changed into their robes and climbed off of the train, the first years climbed into boats that held two. Jane was paired with Max, who teased her about her childish braids. Finally, they fell into silence, and the only noise was their oars making ripples as they pushed against the water.
"James said there's a giant squid in the lake," Max remarked.
Jane screamed.
"Yer all right back there?" said the man who Al had said was called Hagrid.
"We're fine," Max replied. "You didn't have to scream like that, Jane."
Jane didn't say anything, but for the rest of the boat trip, every sound seemed to be a lurking tentacle in her mind.
"Look, the castle!" Max pointed out. Jane gaped. It was a huge stone fortress, with four intimidating towers, incredible grounds, a forest...it was nothing like anything she'd ever seen before. "Cool, huh?" her companion asked.
"Yeah," Jane breathed.
The first years were shepherded into a large stone room, where they were spoken to by a tall, ancient woman with a stern, thin face and pure white hair drawn into a tight bun at the top of her head.
"I am Professor McGonagall," she said in a clear voice. Jane was startled: she had been expecting a fragile croak. "I am to be your Headmistress during your seven-year education at Hogwarts. Now, when the time comes—it is very soon now—you will walk in a single file line in the alphabetical order of your surnames into the Great Hall for your Sorting. Each of you will be sorted into one of four Houses. While you are at Hogwarts, your House will be like your family. At the end of the year, a House Cup will be awarded, based on the number of points in each House. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule-breaking, and you will lose points. There are four Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin...oh, is it time, Sir Nicholas?"
Many of the first years jumped, including Jane, for a pearly white figure had just floated through the wall.
"It's a ghost!" Rose hissed in Jane's ear. "My mum told me about him. Nearly Headless Nick."
"How can he be Nearly Headless?" Jane whispered back.
"Half an inch of skin and sinew holding his neck on," Scorpius Malfoy told her, eavesdropping on their conversation. Rose glared at him.
"You're gross," Jane told him, disgruntled.
"Just saying," Scorpius replied with a shrug.
"Miss Spektor, Miss Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, I hope it will not trouble you too much to be silent."
Jane gulped, and exchanged nervous glances with Rose. In trouble with a teacher, and it isn't even the first day of school yet!
"Let the Sorting ceremony begin." Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and the great oak doors flew open, revealing a hall with four tables, at which too many students to count sat. There was one High Table, where the staff were to dine. Thinking about dinner made Jane's stomach grumble, which didn't help her anxiety about the Sorting.
"It's nothing to worry about, really," said a blond girl behind her. "It's just putting a Hat on. My sister says that the Sorting Hat whispers some things in your ear and then shouts out what House you'll be in."
"Valentina Aesalon."
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Atticus Aymselowe."
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Honora Bobbin."
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Fancora Cadwallader."
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Alexander Duvall."
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Troy Eldritch."
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Madison Everard."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Maxwell Finnigan."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Jane stopped listening after the F's. Al was Sorted into Gryffindor, and ran towards his cousins with a maniacal grin on his face. Scorpius was Sorted into Slytherin (Rose gave a derisive snort and said 'I knew it!' to the person in front of her in a hushed voice). Before she knew it, Professor McGonagall was calling her.
"Jane Spektor."
"Good luck," said the blond girl behind her quietly.
Jane walked slowly up to the stool. The Sorting Hat fell and covered her eyes. Terror overcame her.
"Clever girl...logical, intelligent. Stoical. I could put you in Ravenclaw and get away with it, couldn't I? Nobody would doubt my choice...I really should...but something tells me it's not right, and my spirit is too selfish not to go with my instincts. Yes, you would do very well there...good luck, my dear. GRYFFINDOR!"
Jane was stunned as she gave the Hat to the blond girl, whose name was Bianca Stainwright, and walked robotically towards the Gryffindor table to sit between Max and an empty seat.
"Nice job making Gryffindor," Max told her. "You're really one of us now." He spit on his palm, and held it out to her for shakes. Jane grinned, recognizing this method of initiation from Phillip and his mates. She spit on her own palm, and shook Max's.
"You're both disgusting," said Madison Everard, who sat in front of them.
"Rose Weasley."
Rose pushed her bushy red curls out of her face, and walked up to the Hat, her face somewhat resigned. Her Sorting took almost five minutes, when the Hat finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Her face lit up into a grin, and she ran to sit beside Jane as Adrian Zabini was Sorted into Slytherin.
"It wanted to put me into Hufflepuff at first, but I was arguing with it, I said no, I wanted to be in Gryffindor with my friends and my cousins, and it said it was my choice, but that I might do better in Hufflepuff, and I told it very nicely that that was a ridiculous idea, and finally it put me here..." Rose prattled on.
A few hours later, after they had feasted on all sorts of foods, a tall girl led them up marble staircases to a portrait.
"Why are we here?" Jane asked her new friend, Bianca Stainwright.
"This is the Fat Lady," Bianca explained.
"Isn't that a bit insensitive?"
"Oh, no. She's been called that for centuries. Listen to the prefect, she'll tell you."
"You better have been paying attention, first years, because that route will become almost as important as the way to your classes. Tell the Fat Lady the password, and she will admit you into the Gryffindor common room. The password changes every Tuesday. You can get the password from either me or my fellow prefect, who's dealing with a few—erm—misbehaving third years. Ask for either of us at the prefects' headquarters from four o'clock to six o'clock each Tuesday, or when you see us in the hallways. If you miss the times or can't find us, that's bad luck for you, you'll have to find another Gryffindor who knows the password, all right? Artlock," said the prefect to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open, revealing a short tunnel. The first years shuffled through, and there was a chorus of oohs and aahs. The common room had rectangular glass windows covering the walls, and they seemed to be filled with twinkling stars. There were three fireplaces that seemed to be unattached from the window-walls, and the room was jam-packed with comfy chintz armchairs. There were two staircases at either side of the room.
"Girls, your dormitories is up the stairs twice on my left. Dormitory assignments will be posted on the doors. Boys, the same on my right. Off you go, and I don't want to hear any noise, or I'll be forced to take points, okay?"
Jane, Rose, and Bianca went up the stairs with the rest of the girls. They were assigned a dorm with two other girls named Evinn Quigley and Perenelle Scamander.
"Perry, we're in the same dormitory!" Rose shouted, embracing the girl with the white-blond hair. "Family friends," they both said at the same time.
"You do seem to have quite a lot of those," Bianca said to Rose.
"I'm going to bed," Evinn said with a yawn. "That treacle tart made me...tired..." And with that, she collapsed on the nearest four-poster, still wearing her robes.
The other three girls were quick to claim beds, leaving Jane with the bed by the window. She was asleep before her head had hit the pillow.
The next day, Jane showed an aptitude for Herbology, and Rose excelled in almost every class, much to Scorpius's displeasure. Al and Max were both great at DADA.
Hogwarts is great, Jane thought happily.