-Rose's POV-
"I can't do this." I squirm, staring at the wall. It was much better planned out in my head. But now that I'm here, supposed to "run" into this wall, I feel like turning back.
"Ron, you go first." Mum says.
"Together." Dad whispers into Hugo's ear, both of them running into the wall. I cringe, but sure enough, they disappear into the wall.
Mum kneeled down next to me, grabbing my hands. "Listen, Rose, when I first had to run into this wall, I was scared too. We all were. If you'd like you can close your eyes but trust me, it'll be fine. It's best to run if you're feeling nervous."
I slowly nod as she stands back up.
"Ready?"
"Yes, mum."
She holds my hand tightly, pushing my luggage as we make a run for it.
The wall was cool. It felt like jumping into a pool with my eyes open. I saw a brick wall, but when I made contact with it, it became like liquid and there it was before me. The Hogwarts Express!
"How was that?" Mom wraps her arm around me as I begin to push the cart.
"Amazing!" I murmur.
When we find Dad and Hugo, we see them talking to none other than my cousins.
"Albus!" I exclaim, throwing my arms over my cousin. He chuckles, hugging me back. Then I embrace my older cousin, James, followed by my youngest cousin, Lily.
Lily's in the same mood as Hugo. She lightens up when I hug her, but then the frown returns on her face afterwards. Hugo and Lily are both nine, and therefore can't go to Hogwarts. Me and Albus are both in our first year, and James is in his second year.
"Well, aren't you taller than ever." I recognize this as Aunt Ginny's voice behind me. I spin around to see my smiling Aunt and Uncle.
"Aunt Ginny! Uncle Harry!" I give them the greatest hug of all. Everyone is smiling ear to ear (with the exception of two certain someones) as we all hug.
"I can't believe you're already starting Hogwarts!" Uncle Harry exclaims as he looks us both in the eye, ruffling Albus' hair.
I give him a big grin, although Albus looks at his feet and mutters, "What if I get placed into Slytherin?" My heart sank a little. That's exactly what I was worrying about. Hugo teased me this morning, saying that since Dad is related to Sirius Black, who's related to some Slytherins, there's a slight chance we could be in that house.
"Albus Severus Potter." my uncle says. "You were named after two headmasters at Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin, and he was the bravest man I've known."
"But what if I do?"
"Then Slytherin would've gained a fabulous young wizard. And don't worry about it. The Sorting Hat takes your opinion into perspective."
"It does?" Albus lightens up a bit, a smirk emerging on his face.
"Of course." Harry gives us a kind smile, before Ginny runs over to us.
"Come on, they're boarding!"
After several more hugs and kisses, Albus, James and I struggle to put our stuff on the Hogwarts Express. Albus and I push our stuff into the nearest compartment, before beginning to bombard James with questions.
"How long is this ride?"
"What do you do when you get there?"
"How's the food?"
"How are the dormitories?"
"HOW'S HAGRID?!" Both me and Albus yell that at the same time. Our parents told us amazing stories about a large man who loved dragons and had a small hut next to the Forbidden Forest (where my dad and uncle battled enormous spiders and my mum outsmarted a werewolf).
But James ignored us, running over to Roxanne Weasely, our other cousin. They greet each other and begin to chat excitedly, slipping into another compartment.
I sigh, shrugging. "We'll have to see for ourselves." I look outside to see my parents, aunt, and uncle waving excitedly. I wave back, blowing kisses at them. Mom's tearing up, Dad has his arm over Hugo, Ginny is holding Lily, and Harry is waving as well, a big smile on his face.
Suddenly, the train starts moving. I feel my stomach lurch. I was going to Hogwarts! I couldn't believe it! I've grown up hearing about the magical school, and all the adventures my parents had there. Soon my parents disappear, and lush, green hills come into sight. Our decent to Hogwarts has started.
The compartment door slides open. I see a girl with brown, curly hair, also already in her Hogwarts robes, standing in the doorway.
"May I sit here? All the other compartments are full." she has chocolate eyes and a warm smile.
"Sure!" I grin. She plumps down next to me.
"Aren't you excited!" she exclaims. "It's my first year here."
"Ours too!"
She holds out her hand. "I'm Nina Jackson."
I shake it and say, "Rose Weasley. And this is my cousin, Albus Potter."
Her jaw drops and she stares at Albus. "No way. Potter? Like Harry Potter?"
"Yup, he's my dad." Albus announces, looking proud of himself.
"And Weasley?" she turns to me, still looking shocked. "I heard of him."
I nod.
"So what house do you think you're gonna get into?" the girl pulls out what looks like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Gryffindor!" Albus and I say at the same time. "What about you?"
"I'm a definite Ravenclaw. All of my relatives were." This makes me stop to think. Maybe I was a Ravenclaw. After all, I inherited my mother's brains, and was the smartest girl in my class. The rest of the train ride consisted of us chatting excitedly with Nina. Turns out she's muggle-born.
When the train skidded to a stop, I glanced outside for the first time in hours. We were already here? The noise outside strengthened. We poured outside of our compartment to see the hallways were full of people. First years like us were chatting excitedly, prefects were trying to get people out of their compartments, and from where I was standing, I see James and his second-year friends, chatting, messing with each other's hair...
"HAGRID!" Me and Albus yell in unison when we see the half-giant standing outside of the train.
He gives us a toothy grin. "Rose. Albus. I was wonderin' when yer two would get here." He looks at both of us, his eyes watering. "Yer look just like yer parents." We grin back at him, and when all the students had gotten out of the train, we heard Hagrid holler.
"FIRS' YEARS, OVER 'ERE!" My heart jumps. It was happening. The Sorting was a mere minutes away. Albus squeezes my arm.
"Ready?" he whispers. I nod, frozen. I was waiting forever for this. And it was finally happening. I felt pale. Slipping and stumbling, we all seperated from the other students and walked down a steep, narrow path. It was so dark, I could barely see.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called. "jus' right here."
"Ooooh... Ahhh..."
The path opened to the edge of a great, black lake. Atop a high mountain on the other side was Hogwarts. My heart was beating so loudly it felt like the person next to me could hear it. There it was.
"Four to a boat!" Hagrid hollers, gesturing to a couple of little boats on the shore.
"Come on!" I wave to Nina and Albus as we hurry to a free boat. All of the first years follow behind us, jumping on one of the many boats. A tall, clumsy-looking boy climbed into our boat, almost tripping over himself.
"Everyone ready?" Hagrid yelled from his own boat. "FORWARD!"
And we were off. It happened so quickly, before I knew it, we were gliding along the smooth lake. No one was speaking, except Hagrid, who was yelling out orders every now and then. My jaw dropped, and the rest of the first years had looks of awe as well.
Only when we reached the hill Hogwarts was on was when I noticed - there were no oars. The small boats were rowing themselves. When we reached a soft, damp piece of land right in the shadow of the castle, we left our boats, hopping off.
"Look at that!" Nina chimes excitedly, pointing to the small canoes - they were gliding back across the lake. I don't respond, just flash her a great smile. Hagrid leads us down another narrow path, up a flight of stone steps, until we reached a great wooden door. Hagrid raised a giant fist and pounded on the door, which opened at once.