A young girl, no older than eleven years old had just ran through the magical barrier separating platforms nine and ten from platform nine and three quarters. She halted to a stop and quickly apologized to a middle aged man who she had nearly ran into with her cart, filled to the brim with school supply's. Not ordinary supply's though, no, wizard school supply's.
This girl was an aspiring young witch, now ready to begin her schooling. She was a little on the tall side, at around five foot two. She was a little pale to, well, a lot actually. Her skin dident quite look sickly pale, but it was when compared to the numerous freckles that dotted her cheeks. Her hair was cut at her shoulders and was quite wavy. It's color, dark brown, but in the right lighting it looked black, like her eyes, the darkest black you could imagine.
She was amazed at the spectacle in front of her, hundreds of kid's, ranging from her age, to young adults were standing on the platform, all filing into an enormous train. Even more adults were saying their goodbyes as the kid's climbed aboard, giving one last wave as they vanished into the trains depths to find a seat, and maybe even a friend or two along the way.
The girl snapped from her thoughts as a lady with long light brown hair and ocean blue eyes rested her hand on her shoulder, looking down warmly at her as gentle smiles spread across both of their faces. "Well Shannon, here it is. The Hogwarts Express. This train will take you straight to Hogwarts, it's where me and your father attended" She said and gave a sigh, shaking her head. "He would be so proud of you" She said in a gentle tone, a single tear escaping her eyes. "I'm sure you'l have a great time there"
Shannon gave a nod and smiled slightly. "Yeah, i'm sure I will to" She said and gave her mother a quick hug before turning back to her cart of supply's. "Well, I better get going, bye mom, i'll miss you!" She called back to her as she began to navigate her way through the crowd of people on the large platform. Once she had put dropped her things off to be hauled aboard, she began to make her way back up the platform, trying to find an entrance into the train. She saw people boarding ahead of her and began to quicken her pace, wanting to get on as soon as possible.
She was now running along the platform, dodging people left and right as she hurried to get aboard the mighty train alongside her. She was going quite fast, and dident have time to react when a boy stepped out from the crowd right in front of her. Shannon ran into him, knocking him of them over as she fell backwards herself.
The boy let out a quiet groan of annoyance as he scowled at her. "Watch where you're going" He snapped as he got up, giving her a slight glare. She sprung to her feet a few moments later and looked him over, returning his bitter glare. He was a bit taller than she was, and his skin tone about an average color. He had a dirty blond hair and his eyes were a light green color, almost like a hazel, but not quite.
After a moment or so she gave a small sigh, keeping her cold gaze fixated on him. "Sorry, but maybe you should be more careful as well" She sneered before walking off. Just as she went to board the train she felt a hand clasp her shoulder and she turned around, seeing the boy she had just ran into. What the bloody hell does he want? She thought bitterly to herself as several people behind them began to get annoyed with them, as they were blocking the way in.
He gave a sigh and turned to the small crowd behind them that was beginning to complain at them. "Oh would you all shut up?" He hissed and several people fell quiet with other's kept at their grumbling. He gave a sigh and turned to Shannon, releasing his grip on her. "Go ahead. I need to talk to you, but apparently these people can't wait three bloody seconds" He said, turning his head as he spoke the last part of his sentence, glaring at the growing crowd behind them.
Shannon gave a nod, eyeing him suspiciously as she moved inside, the boy following her in. As they walked along the trains small walkways he gave a sigh. "Some people just don't know how to be patient" He grumbled to himself as they walked. Shannon dident know when or where to stop along the train, and stopping in general dident seem like a good option since quite there were quite a few people behind them.
The boy, not caring about the people behind them, stopped abruptly, causing several people to bump into each other. He grabbed Shannon's shoulder and pulled her back towards him as the crowd began to complain again, obviously annoyed at them for holding up the steady flow of people traversing within the train and the flow of people boarding. "In here" He said, sliding open an empty compartment door and lightly pushing her inside, stepping in himself a few seconds later. The door slid closed behind them and he sighed as the people passed their compartment, ignoring the numerous glares they received.
She looked oddly at him, why would this boy, someone she barely knew, and only from bumping into him, simply approach her like this. What did he want with her? What's so important about me? She thought to herself and gave a sigh, taking out a pocket watch. "What do you want?" She said in a bland tone as she glanced at the time, smiling ever so slightly to herself.
Her pocket watch meant a lot to her, it was made out of silver, and was charmed to change with the timezone. It was quite old, but she dident care that everyone else seemed to have digital wrist watches. Not only was her watch special because it was old, but because it was a gift from her father, who most people knew as Severus Snape, former potions master and headmaster at Hogwarts. He had placed a photo of their family in it, hidden behind the clock face for her to always remember him incase he died. And die he did, killed by the dark lords pet only a few short hours before the end of the last war.
Her mother had told her not to speak of her relation to him, as many disliked him and might treat them the same as they had him, badly, some even wanting to kill him and rejoicing at the news of his death. They had found a way around her name though, and instead of registering her as Shannon Snape at Hogwarts, gave her the name Shannon Epans, which was actually just Snape reversed.
Shannon had brought this up many times with her mother, suggesting that using her maiden name of Jones, which she had long since abandoned, would be a better choice. But her mother politely refused her suggestions, saying that although there were few, some knew about her marriage to be with him and that her former name of Jones would be to obvious. Another thing she would often counter her with would be that no one would look for something hidden in plain sight, which Shannon did have to admit, was quite clever.
While most smiled at her fathers demise, some mourned him, like her mother and a few others who actually knew and believed the truth. Very few people understood how much of a hero he actually was, and how much he had to sacrifice so others could live. Shannon looked up to him quite a bit, not just because he was her father, but because of the great thing's he had done.
Shannon glanced up as the boy gave a small, but still audible sigh, and began to speak again. "I just wanted to apologize properly. It was rude of me to simply snap at you like that, I should know better that to act in such a way" He drawled and rolled his eyes at her. "Are you even listening to me?" He said, a hint of bitterness in his tone.
Shannon gave a small nod as she closed her watch and tucked it safely away inside of her robe pocket. "Of course I am. I asked you a question, only a fool would let their mind wander so far as to lose interest in the answer they had asked for" She said in a monotone and gave a sigh. "Well, thank you for apologizing. I'm glad you arnt a judgmental idiot like so any I know" She scoffed, giving a slight chuckle. She was referring to some of the boy's around Spinners end, who usually teased her for her odd appearance, such as her slightly hooked nose and pale skin color. She dident really care about what they said though, she just found them annoying and arrogant beyond her comprehension.
A few moments later a slight smile dawned on her face and held out her hand. "Shannon Epans, pleased to meet you" She said, her tone a little warmer than before. She figured that having someone like this boy as a friend could have it's advantages seeing as he wasent numb minded. Not only that, but she needed a few friends seeing as she dident have any other than a self proclaimed friend, a muggle girl who lived a few houses down from her home on Spinners End. Not that she really listened to her anyways, she was quite annoying as well.
The boy gave a nod and took her hand, giving it a firm shake. "Jayden Wood" He said, a slight amount of cheerfulness in his tone as a small grin spread across his face. She dident seem to bad, although she definitely had a bitter side to her. Probably going to be a Slytherin. He thought, his grin beginning to fade into a slight smirk.
Both Shannon and Jayden looked up as a knock sounded on the compartment door as it opened slightly, revealing another boy who poked his head in, smiling slightly as he glanced over at Jayden. "If it's alright with your friend here, may I sit?"