And here you go! The first chapter of the series! I sincerely hope everyone likes this chapter and that Anita isn't a Mary sue! If any corrections are required, do tell!
If you suggested that witches and wizards roamed the earth, most people would look at you with a strange expression, ask you if you were bonkers and-if you were really persistent-direct you to the nearest asylum. But not Anita Williams. She'd take you seriously, because she happened to be an eleven year old witch herself. Auburn haired and green eyed, Anita Williams lived in England with her aunt Smitha Williams and her only cousin Kavin. They had all gone through a great wizarding war in which the perpetrator of the war Lord Voldemort had been defeated by Harry Potter, 'The Boy Who Lived' as everyone called him. The war had torn apart many families. Anita's parents who were dark wizard capturers, also known as Aurors, had been killed by Voldemort's followers, when Anita was four. Even now, she terribly missed her parents, and would have gladly given away all her possessions just to see them again.
A year had passed since the war. And now, she was going to study magic at the Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry.
Anita stared at the sign overhead that said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. She'd done it. She'd gotten onto platform nine and three quarters.
"Well, here we are." Aunt Smitha smiled. "Platform nine and three quarters. Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Anita looked around her in awe. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to the platform packed with people. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.
The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Anita pushed her trolley, trying to find an empty compartment or, at the very least, a good seat. She finally found a compartment at the middle of the train. She put the cage containing her barn owl Mara inside first and then started to shove and heave her trunk toward the train door, but with little success.
"I'll help you." A tall girl helped her get her trunk inside the carriage with a little effort. She had long, straight black hair tied in a ponytail, a long nose and a friendly grin. When Anita started to thank her, she waved it off saying, "No problem. I'm Purvi Sayed. And you are?"
"Anita. Anita Williams." They shook hands. Compared to Anita's hands, Purvi's hands were much bigger.
"Anita!" Aunt Smitha called out in relief. "I was wondering where you'd gone off to. Write to me at the first opportunity you get, okay?"
"Yes Aunty." Anita kissed her aunt on the cheek, and then jumped as a whistle sounded. The train started to move slowly. Anita waved goodbye to her as the train started speeding up, and then pulled her trunk with her while trying to look for a place to sit.
"Why don't you sit with us? Our compartment's got some space, you know." Purvi told her, jerking her thumb at the second compartment to the right.
"That would be lovely." Anita gratefully followed Purvi to compartment, where two boys were sitting together and animatedly discussing something, three shoulder bags flung into a corner. One of them was stocky with black, floppy hair that fell into his brooding face while the other was leaner with dark curly hair, scrawny and had ears that stuck out a bit.
"Here we go." Purvi and Anita tucked her trunk in a corner of the compartment. The boys paused their conversation and took a look at her.
"Who're you?" The floppy haired boy asked Anita. He had a voice that carried an air of curiosity and excitement.
"Anita." She answered. "And you are?"
"Nikhil. This is my best mate Sachin." He motioned to the curly haired boy, who gave a sort of wave.
"We're all friends." Purvi said, leaning against her seat. "Nikhil's dad knows my mum and Sachin's mum knows both our parents. Speaking of which, Nikhil, do you have the sweets?"
"As if I'd forget that." Nikhil grabbed one of the bags -a dark purple one- and began to rummage through it.
"So, we're all first timers." Purvi grinned at all of them. "What house do you think you'll be in?"
Anita pondered over the question. "I dunno. Gryffindor maybe?"
"What about you, Purvi?" Nikhil asked her.
"Everyone expects me to get sorted into Gryffindor. 'Oh, wonderful! We'll have another Gryffindor in the family!' As if." She snorted and reached to her left to pull her bag towards her. "Slytherin sounds pretty cool, don't you think?"
"The dark lord was in Slytherin." Sachin said.
"Bah. Not every Slytherin is evil and not every evil witch or wizard was a Slytherin."
"You're not a pure blood though."
"So what if I'm a half blood? You-know-who's said to be a half blood too. That's good enough for me. What about the both of you?"
Nikhil pulled out a packet of toffees as he spoke. "I really don't know. My dad's a muggle and my mum's not around anymore."
"Not around? What happened to her?" Anita asked him.
"She was killed by death eaters. I was eight that time." He mumbled, turning his head away. The tone of his voice clearly said that he did not wish to discuss the topic.
"Oh." Anita sort of knew the feeling as her parents were casualties of the second wizarding war themselves. To change the subject, she asked Sachin, "What about you?"
"I'd fancy Ravenclaw. My parents were in Ravenclaw themselves." Sachin seemed to contemplate over the matter. "Or Gryffindor. I don't think I could be that clever."
"Not clever enough?" Nikhil stared at him. "You have to be joking; you read 400 paged books in a day, you quote any book you've read just once without difficulty, you know all the spells in The standard book of spells Grade 1 by heart and you consider yourself 'not clever enough'?"
Sachin nervously looked at everyone as he spoke, "My parents say that to get into the Ravenclaw dormitory, you have to answer a riddle posed by the eagle knocker-"
"The what now?"
"The dorm door has a knocker shaped like an eagle; it asks you a riddle every time you knock with it. I don't know if I can solve them! I bet Gryffindor is so much easier, you just have to say the password-"
"You'll do just fine." Purvi firmly told him. "Gryffindor's passwords aren't that easy to remember either; at least you just have to say the answer to a random question posed by the bird. I bet the Hufflepuffs are much better off. I've heard that their dorm is next to the kitchens."
"How do you know that?" Anita asked her curiously. It sounded like Purvi knew every nook and corner of the castle.
"My Aunt Meera was a Hufflepuff. But enough said. I'm having some toffees."
While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past, helping themselves to the toffees.
Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"
The boys leapt to their feet at once when they saw the candy, but Purvi and Anita declined. But just as Nikhil was paying for the Chocolate frogs and Cauldron cakes, they heard yells and what sounded like a furious scuffle. They leapt from their seats and moved to the fight scene, eager to find out what the commotion was all about.
"What on earth?" The woman took a look at the compartment in front of them and her alarmed expression changed into that of disapproval. "Well now, this is hardly what I'd call a proper and respectful way to settle a fight!" All four of them gazed curiously at the inhabitants of the compartment.
Inside the compartment were three boys-two of who looked as though they had been fighting- and two girls. One of the boys was big and bulky with cropped brown hair, warm brown eyes and a kind face. Among the quarreling boys, one had black silky hair that fell into his face, black eyes that held an intense look and a lazy, arrogant smirk. The other boy was of the same height as his opponent, had disheveled hair and a distasteful sneer. Among the girls, one was petite with short black hair that fell to her shoulders and big facial features. The other was taller with curly hair that seemed to spring out of her head and had an air of curiosity around her.
"Sorry." The sneering boy muttered, sending a glare in the direction of the smirking one. "You'd better watch your back, Srivastava."
"Sod off, Vardan." The smirking boy now triumphantly grinned as the other one left. He then faced the five viewers. "Sorry about that. I'm Abhijeet. That's my best mate Daya," He introduced the bulky boy, "And that's Shreya and Tarika." He indicated towards the petite girl and the curly haired girl respectively.
"Don't go quarreling now." The witch sternly told them as Abhijeet and Daya bought some pumpkin pasties. When Purvi, Anita, Sachin and Nikhil got to their seats, Anita asked them, "Was that Abhijeet Srivastava?"
"That was him." Purvi answered her. "The Srivastavas are a really old, really prestigious pure blooded family; they've got connections everywhere. They know many families, like the Shettys, the Pradyumans, the Kumars…"
"My aunt complains about him." Anita said, remembering Aunt Smitha complaining about 'that Srivastava boy', and how his parents failed to keep his ego checked.
"Yeah, he's a bit of a prat at times, but he's okay." Purvi said with a slight smile. "My parents say that once you look past the inflated ego bit, you'd see that he's a nice boy. Evidently they haven't heard any of the stories about his pranks."
"He's a prankster?"
"A major one." Purvi snickered. "Looks like Gryffindor's going to receive its next prankster. I bet he'll give Professor McGonagall a high blood pressure before the term gets over."
"She had the Weasley twins to deal with, and that too when she was just a teacher. I highly doubt that the Headmistress of Hogwarts is going to be put off by one boy who plays pranks on a daily basis." Anita replied with a slight smile.
"I think we're almost there." Sachin commented, looking through the window at the sky, which had started to darken. "We'd better put on our robes now-HEY!" He yelled as Purvi grabbed both him and Nikhil and steered them out of the compartment.
"We're changing first, so you're standing outside to cover us." Purvi told them and shut the door. They changed into their robes quickly; the train had started to slow down a bit by then. When they were done, they got outside the compartment and waited while the boys changed into their robes. They saw Shreya and Tarika standing outside their compartment.
"Hello." Shreya waved at them. "Are we there yet?"
"I think in another few minutes." Purvi shrugged.
"This is brilliant." Tarika said, her eyes shining with excitement. "I'm going to excel at transfiguration, I just know it. How about you lot?"
"Potions sounds fun." Anita mused.
"No comment." Purvi shrugged again. She then rapped on their compartment door and asked, "Oi! What's taking so long? Anyone died over there?"
The compartment door slid open to reveal Sachin, who beckoned them to come inside. With a quick, "See you at the castle!" directed at Shreya and Tarika, Purvi and Anita got back inside the compartment and sat down. Just then, a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."
A crowd of students were already making a beeline towards the nearest exits, which the four of them joined. The air was cold and all of them shivered as they got out onto a small and dark platform. A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and a booming voice called out, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"
A giant of a man was holding the lamp and calling out to the first years. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. As the children hurried over to him he called out once again, "C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Slipping and stumbling, they followed the man down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was dark on either side of them. Nobody spoke much.
"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," The man called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!" Purvi gasped. "It's beautiful." She said in an awestruck voice.
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" The man called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Anita, Purvi, Nikhil and Sachin clambered into one. "Everyone in?" shouted the giant man, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. The silence was broken by Anita's excited whisper. "If the castle is this big, then I wonder how…how…" She desperately racked her brains for the right word.
"How grand it must be inside?" Sachin completed the sentence for her to which she nodded gratefully.
"Heads down!" yelled the man as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. Nikhil nearly fell into the water as he attempted to climb out, but was saved by Purvi, who yanked him back onto his feet. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge oak front door.
"Everyone here? Alrigh' then."
The man raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. The door was opened by a dumpy witch in blue robes.
"The firs' years, Professor Sprout." said the man.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
Done! Was it any good? Read and review!