King's Cross station was rather busy that day on the first of September. In the midst of it all, one raven-haired eleven-year-old girl pushed a luggage cart in front of her that held a donated trunk and a mewling tortoiseshell kitten that sat atop it. She paced desperately between platforms nine and ten, muttering to herself.
"Platform nine and three quarters…nine and three quarters--"
"What was that you said, m'dear?" asked a kind-faced woman. Standing beside her was a man and a rather handsome boy who also had a trunk and an owl cage that contained a horned owl.
"Er…nothing. J-just talking to myself, ma'am," said the girl, blushing in embarrassment.
"Heading for Hogwarts, sweet?" he asked. She nodded. "Thought so. Cedric here is starting his first year, too. It's a bit tricky to find the platform if you've never been. Did your parents leave you to your own, then?"
"I'm from the orphanage. A Muggle orphanage. They couldn't spare anyone to accompany me, so I took a cab here. I'm Vida Liesel, by the way."
"Well, Vida, come with us!" Vida followed the boy Cedric and his parents to the barrier that separated nine and ten. With little hesitation Cedric walked straight through the barrier and vanished. Vida gaped at the seemingly solid barrier.
"Wicked!" she said.
"Now you go, dearie, just walk right through," said the woman. Vida looked uncertain. Then she took a deep breath and walk straight toward the barrier.
"Sage, if you go flying, I'm sorry," she said to her kitten, who stared warily at the solid brick they were vastly approaching. Vida blinked and suddenly found that she was staring at a scarlet steam engine that bore the words "Hogwarts Express." The sign above her head told her that she was now standing on platform nine and three quarters.
"Alright there?" Cedric asked. She nodded. They turned and watched as his parents came through the barrier.
"All right dears, the train leaves in fifteen minutes, that'll leave you enough time to get settled. Here, Vida, we'll help you with that trunk." The woman took out her wand and gave it a flick. Her trunk rose a few inches off of the cart and hovered. Sage mewled and leaped into Vida's arms. The woman boarded the train with her trunk and she followed.
"Here's an empty compartment for now. Is this alright?" asked the woman. Vida nodded and smiled. Her trunk slid into the luggage rack with the swish of a wand.
"I really appreciate you helping me Mrs…"
"Diggory. Really, Vida it was no trouble at all, especially since you were all alone. Er, if you don't mind me asking, did you know you were a witch beforehand?"
"Yes, my mother was a witch. Her name was Loring Liesel. She didn't die until I was about six. She worked at the apothecary at Diagon Alley," said Vida. "I've been at the orphanage ever since. My mum was Muggle-born, but my grandparents really couldn't take care of me. The workers at the orphanage didn't believe it when I got my Hogwarts letter. Thought it was another one of my pranks that I pull sometimes. They put it in the rubbish bin and then the witch from down the street came and delivered it personally. Madam Vance."
"Oh, Emmeline. Such a nice lady. I used to have tea with her," said Mrs. Diggory.
"I would always visit her whenever I could. She'd let me read the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly while listening to the Wizard Wireless. Though, it would have been nice if she could have told me how to get to this platform," said Vida with a laugh. The noise level increased from outside the compartment. Mrs. Diggory checked her watch.
"Ah, we've got ten minutes. Well, goodbye Vida, and good luck at your first year at Hogwarts!" Mrs. Diggory reached over and hugged her. "Also, dear, don't hesitate to owl us if you ever need anything."
"Thanks again," said Vida, smiling and waving as Mrs. Diggory exited the compartment. Shortly afterward the train started moving and soon images of the countryside flashed by. She set Sage down upon the seat by the window and plopped down across from her and rummaged through the blue jean knapsack that she had been carrying on her back. She looked up when she heard voices outside the compartment. There were three boys, all with vivid red hair. Her eyes widened when she saw that two of them were identical twins. The boy with them was slightly taller and wore black horn-rimmed glasses. She noticed that he was already wearing his Hogwarts robes.
"Hello, may we sit here? The train seems to have filled up rather quickly this year," said the tall boy.
"Sure, have a seat," said Vida, moving Sage to her lap so that there would be room for everyone. The boys set about putting up their luggage. The tall boy took the seat across from Vida as the twins took the seats closer to the compartment doors.
"First year I presume?" asked the tall boy. She nodded and he stuck out a hand. "Percy Weasley, I'm a third year. Fred and George here are first years, too. Normally I wouldn't be sitting here with them, but our mum insists that I watch them," said Percy. The twins rolled their eyes simultaneously. She smiled and shook his proffered hand as Sage swatted playfully at his sleeve.
"I'm Vida Liesel and this is…" she looked down and saw that Sage had gone from her lap. Percy had withdrawn his hand after their handshake and Vida realized that the kitten was clinging to his arm without him noticing. She put a hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle and looked over to the twins. Both were sporting identical evil grins.
"Nice to meet you Vida, I'm Fred," said the twin beside her, proffering his hand.
"And I'm George," said the other, doing the same.
"P-pleasure," said Vida, desperately trying to keep a straight face. Percy raised an eyebrow at her and she puffed out her cheeks, her blue eyes shining with suppressed mirth. If even physically possible, his eyebrow raised even higher. Her eyes darted around for a distraction.
"Er…So you're in Gryffindor?" said Vida, gesturing to the lion patch sewn into the front of Percy's robes. Percy puffed out his chest and looked rather pompous.
"Yes, so far our whole family has been in Gryffindor. Our brother Charlie's a sixth year and he's both a prefect and Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Vida was about to respond, but Percy chose that moment to adjust his horn-rimmed glasses. He lifted the arm that bore the stowaway kitten and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. All of a sudden a peculiar look spread across his face and he sneezed, startling Sage who hissed and released his sleeve, landing on the floor. Percy looked around wildly and then to the floor, where the ball of fluff had started to groom itself. Vida couldn't contain herself any longer and started giggling.
"Oh look, Percy, you've started to sneeze out kittens!" said Fred. He picked Sage up from the floor and put her in his lap where she started purring. Percy glared disapprovingly at the kitten and then at Vida who immediately sobered up at the look he was giving her.
"Well…as I was saying before…this is Sage. She's about a year old. Somewhat of a climber, as you can see…" said Vida, putting on her cute grin that had often led suspicion away from her at the orphanage when she had just pranked someone. Percy was unmoved by the grin. A witch with a cartful of treats passed the compartment.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" There was a chorus of "No, thanks," from everyone.
"So Vida, what house do you want to be in?" asked George, watching Sage hop from Fred's lap onto his.
"Well, my mum had been in Ravenclaw, so I guess that would be nice. Although, I don't know anyone in Ravenclaw, so Gryffindor would be good, too."
They talked for the rest of the way until they reached Hogsmeade station. The twins helped Vida get her trunk down and then they all followed Percy onto the platform.
"That's Hagrid over there, he'll take you lot to the castle. See you guys later." Percy left them there and went to join a group of third years going the opposite direction.
"Firs' years! Over here now!" called the giant of a man, who was holding up an enormous lantern. Vida and the twins followed him, along with the rest of the first years. They walked until they came upon the shores of a vast lake. Vida could see the little pinpricks of light from a castle in the distance. Hagrid came to stand in front of the small group.
"Alrigh' now, I want no more than four to a boat an' no foolin' aroun'. There's a giant squid in there, an' if he gets a hol' of you I might not get there in time. Come along now." Some of the girls, including Vida, shivered at the mention of the giant squid and clambered along the shore to get a boat. Vida followed the twins, who were having a discussion about the squid.
"Maybe if we poke at the water enough, he'll come up…" Fred was saying, but Vida hit him on the arm.
"Don't say that! That would be horrible!" hissed Vida, stroking Sage's fur nervously.
"Give us some credit, Vida, we aren't that daft. We're just talking possibilities!" said George, helping her into a boat. Vida looked incredulously back at the twins and then laughed.
"You lot are crazy!" The twins puffed out their chests in a Percy-like imitation.
"We resent that," they said in unison. "The proper word is 'insane'!" A dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks came up to them.
"Mind if I sail with you guys? I'm Lee Jordan, by the way." The twins saluted him.
"All aboard, Mr. Lee Jordan! I'm first mate George Weasley—"
"—and I'm second mate Fred Weasley—"
"—and this is our fearless captain Vida Liesel!" Vida grinned and went along with it.
"That's right! Full speed ahead, First Mate Weasley, the wind is as ripe as the first day of spring!" Everyone was boarded onto the boats, and began to row towards Hogwarts with Hagrid in the lead.
"Heave, heave, heave!" chanted Vida, continuing their little charade.
"If you keep saying that, I may as well heave!" moaned Lee, who did look a bit green.
"Don't do it here, we just polished her yesterday!" said George, eyeing Lee warily, as he was the one sitting closest to him.
"Aren't pirates supposed to have parrots?" asked Lee, looking at Sage, who was clinging onto the collar of Vida's robes like a necklace, peeking at the water with wide eyes.
"Aye, matey, don't you know a cross-breed parrot when you see one?" said Vida, grinning. Lee screwed up his face and examined Sage more closely. Sage put a paw on his face and proceeded to chew his nose. Lee quickly withdrew his face.
"Definitely has macaw in its lineage," said Lee, wrinkling his nose. As they sailed on, the four made believe that they were on a Viking quest to pillage the gigantic castle that they were approaching. Only when they had touched upon shore did their game end.
"Hurry up, now! Follow me," said Hagrid, striding towards the castle. The group had to jog to keep up with him. They made their way up the lawn and to the front of the castle where Hagrid held open the oak doors for them and wished them good luck. Vida looked around the entrance hall, which looked just as if it had been in medieval times. There was another set of doors in front of them and they heard the noise of the rest of the school awaiting the Sorting. They heard footsteps approaching the stone staircase opposite them, and they all looked to see a witch in green tartan robes standing at the top of the stairs, gazing down at them.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall. We'll be starting the Sorting in a few minutes, now if you'll follow me, please." There was a pitter-patter of their footsteps as they climbed the stairs. McGonagall opened the door to a room with rows of desks. "Wait here, please, and I will come back for you when it is time." They filed in and she shut the door behind them.
"I hope we don't have to wait too long," said Vida, looking around the classroom.
"Me neither, I'm starving!" said Lee.
"We get sorted by a hat, right?" asked a girl seated in a desk beside them. She had dark skin and had several braids in her hair.
"Yeah, the Sorting Hat. It sings us a song and then it chooses what house we're in," said Fred. He smiled at her. "I'm Fred Weasley, by the way and that's George, Lee and Vida." She looked from Fred to George and back again.
"Cool. I'm Angelina Johnson." Angelina smiled at them.
"Well, good luck to all of you," said Vida nervously, as the door opened. George patted her on the shoulder.
"Lighten up Vida, you're going to get sorted, not go to Azkaban," he said. Vida smiled and shook her head.
"I'm just being silly again," she said quietly. She picked up Sage and held the kitten to her chest as McGonagall reentered the room carrying a stool and a battered-looking hat.
"Follow me, quickly." She led them back down the stairs and stopped before the closed doors. "We will now enter the Great Hall, where you will take your meals at Hogwarts. If you'll follow me and form a line in front of the staff table." She opened the doors and the light from the Great Hall shone out.
There were five long tables in the hall. Four were parallel to each other and seated at them were the older students. The remaining table stood at the front, perpendicular to all the others, where all of the teachers sat. Everyone in the hall turned to look at them.
McGonagall began walking briskly down the middle aisle and the first years followed. Vida walked between Angelina and George, hugging Sage nervously. They got to the front of the hall and lined up as they were told. Vida glanced up at the staff table and recognized Albus Dumbledore at once. Her eyes widened and she swore she saw him wink at her. She turned to see McGonagall set the stool down and sat the hat upon it. At once, a rip in the hat opened and the hat started singing. Vida had to keep a hold on Sage, who seemed to want to go pounce on the hat. When the hat stopped singing, McGonagall took out a scroll.
"When I call your name, you will sit upon the stool and place the hat on your head." She adjusted her spectacles and looked at the scroll.
"Diggory, Cedric!" Cedric made his way to the stool, catching Vida's eye and grinning when he passed her. He put on the hat and sat on the stool.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the hat. Everyone clapped, but one table in particular cheered enthusiastically. Cedric grinned, making his way to the Hufflepuff table.
"Fews, Arabella!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Johnson, Angelina!"
"GRYFFINDOR!" A table cheered and Angelina made her way to it. Vida watched her sit across from Percy, who was sitting beside an older boy who also had vivid red hair. Charlie, she presumed.
"Jordan, Lee!"
"GRYFFINDOR!" He jumped up and went to sit beside Angelina. Vida returned her attention to the ones being sorted.
"Karrah, Victoria!"
"RAVENCLAW!" The girl smiled and went to sit at the raucous Ravenclaw table.
"Liesel, Vida!" Vida froze for a moment as all eyes turned to her as she stepped from the queue, then she went over to the stool. She picked up the hat and was about to sit on the stool when Sage swatted at it and knocked it to the floor. The hall erupted into laughter. Embarrassed, Vida bent over to get it, but Sage wriggled from her arms and pounced upon the hat. The laughter grew louder.
"Sage, no!" Vida plucked the hat out of the kitten's grasp, sat on the stool and put the hat on, her face reddening.
"Quite a feisty little cat you have there! Hmm…let's see…what house to put you in?" said the hat's voice inside her head. She was comforted a little by the feel of Sage rubbing her head on her leg. "Quite a little prankster…but there are some good qualities there, too…well, then it must be…GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table cheered. Vida grinned, put the hat back on the stool and picked up Sage before going over to the Gryffindor table. She took the empty seat by Lee. They started to talk, but someone shushed them and they looked across the table to see Charlie and Percy looking at them. Or rather, Charlie was looking at them and Percy was glaring in disapproval. They settled down and watched the rest of the sorting.
"Rosseau, Maren!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Spinnet, Alicia!"
"GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table cheered as the short brunette joined their table and sat on the other side of Vida.
"Weasley, George!"
"GRYFFINDOR!" George grinned and made his way to the Gryffindor table as they cheered.
"Weasley, Fred!"
"GRYFFINDOR!" Gryffindor table cheered yet again as Fred went to join his twin. As McGonagall took away the hat and stool, Dumbledore stood and addressed the students.
"Welcome to our new first years and welcome back to those that are returning. As we start a new year, I would like to make a few start-of-term announcements. First of all, those interested in playing for their House Quidditch team, please see Madam Hooch. However, only second year and up will be permitted to attend tryouts." There was a small murmur of disappointment from some of the first years. "Also, I want to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. Now, I would like all of you to give a warm welcome to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrel!" A young looking man stood up and took a bow, glancing nervously around as the students applauded. "And now, we feast. Tuck in!" Dumbledore sat and all the plates on the tables filled up with food.
"Why is there guacamole?" asked Lee. Vida looked around the table for anything else to go with guacamole.
"No idea," she said.
"That's not guacamole," said the brunette girl sitting beside me. She was currently sporting a peculiar look on her face. "Tasted it. It's wasabi sauce to go with the fish." Others made sounds of disgust at this revelation.
"What's next, haggis?" asked Vida, wrinkling her nose. They looked around and sure enough there was a plate of haggis a few seats down. The girls exchanged looks and laughed.
"I'm Alicia by the way." Everyone sitting around them then introduced themselves to each other and soon everyone had gone into separate conversations. Fred and George had been bragging about pranks they had pulled in the past, particularly on their brothers, and Vida had been more than happy to share her own tales. Soon, it had evolved into sort of competition to see which prank was better.
"…so I switched two of the keys around. Her playing was so horrible in the first place, though, so you really couldn't tell the difference. But the funny part about it was that everyone at the recital thought it was a big improvement!" said Vida. A few chuckles rose from the table.
"Ah, now I think we can top that one!" said Fred. "It was when we were six. Our little brother Ron had broken one of our broomsticks, so we waited until he least expected it to get revenge. There he was, hugging his teddy bear, and I turned it into a big spider!"
"He hasn't been the same ever since," added George. "Every time he sees a spider he gets all shrieky like a girl and won't stop until someone kills it!"
"Humph!" said Vida, amused but unimpressed. "Well, my best one happened on accident. Mistress Hibbins was getting on my nerves one day. She kept telling me off for the smallest of things, like my shoe coming untied, and she made me scrub the floor of the foyer clean with a toothbrush! Anyway, she had a date that night and she was fussing like mad over her appearance, screaming at everyone. Everyone was so annoyed at her. I was wishing that there could be some way she could get her act together and not be so snooty. So when she answered the door, all of a sudden the bloke starts screaming 'You're a man, you're a man!' and ran off. She slammed the door and turned around, all fuming, and we took one look at her and almost died. She had this big black moustache and a goatee to match!" People snorted into their plates.
"Was she ever the same?" asked a third year boy named Oliver, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.
"Well, I never could explain how I did it. She tried going to her doctor, but he was no help, so now she has to shave," said Vida, shrugging and giving an innocent smile. "She has her work cut out for her though, trying to explain her five o' clock shadow to everyone!" Those listening, particularly the boys, had trouble containing their mirth.
"Very well done, my friend," said Fred, grinning from across the table. "With you in our ranks, we could make the greatest chaos yet."
"Indeed," said George. "And if you can get your cat to snuff that old rat of Percy's then--" As if on cue, Percy yelped and everyone looked to him anxiously. He reached under the table and lifted up Sage by the scruff of the neck glaring at Vida.
"If you're going to keep a pet here, learn to teach it some control!" he yelled. The kitten mewled fearfully and Vida hastily stood and plucked the kitten safely from the older boy's grasp.
"I'll decide how to control my cat, thanks!" she said indignantly. They glared daggers across the table at each other until Charlie intervened.
"That's enough," said Charlie sternly. "Let's not make enemies before the first week is over." The queue of cooing girls wanting to pet Sage distracted Vida from the pompous boy sitting across the table. Soon after it was time to retire for the night. The first years followed Charlie through various corridors and up staircases until they came to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Carpe diem." The frame swung on its hinges, revealing a hole in the wall that led into a homely looking common area. Charlie directed the girls to their dormitories and then proceeded to lead the boys up the staircase to their respective dorm. Vida waved goodnight to the boys and then followed Angelina and Alicia up the girls' staircase. Once tucked in, she could barely settle down due to her excitement. In a few hours time, she would be sitting her first class at Hogwarts.