Disclaimer: I do not own the Marauders. I only own Swara.
Swara Anya Patel looked around her at the bustling train station. "Are you ready, Swara?" her mother asked.
Swara nodded but her parents sensed their daughter's apprehension. "It's okay beti "(form of endearment for a daughter) her dad reassured her. Her parents glanced towards each other as they took in the fear in their daughter's eyes. Swara didn't like to be around a lot of people, and the train was flooded with bustling strangers. Her parents also knew that Swara is rather closed off and finds it hard to make new friends. But Hogwarts is the best magic school, and they both graduated from there. Swara tugged on her dad's hand.
"Daddy, will you write to me?" Swara asked anxiously.
Her mom smiled at her. "Of course we will! We'll write so much that you'll get tired of us." This caused Swara, who would laugh at anything, to smile. "Now, let's get you on the train, okay? You don't want to be late and miss it." Her words did the trick. Swara's eyes widened in dismay. Even though she was scared, Swara prided herself on her punctuality. She quickly grabbed her parent's hands and dragged them towards the train.
"Bye mommy, bye daddy," Swara whispered.
"Bye dikra" (my child) said her mom tearfully. Her dad just pulled her in for a hug. The time had come to say goodbye. Swara fought the tears and left her dad's warm embrace. She looked at them and waved and left, squaring her shoulders. Her parents saw this and smiled to themselves. Their daughter would be okay.
Swara, to her surprise, quickly found an empty compartment. She lifted her trunk up to that ledge and sat down with Great Expectations. Engrossed in her novel (she absolutely loved Dickens), Swara didn't notice when four boys walked into her compartment. "Hey mate, do you mind if we sit here? We were kicked out of our compartment," a boy said. Startled, Swara looked up to see a boy with glasses and messy hair looking questioningly at her.
"No. Go ahead," Swara replied. The boy smiled and took a seat next to her. The other three followed in. A handsome boy with black hair and grey eyes sat across from her. Another, weary, sandy-haired boy sat next to him. The last to come in was a mousy little boy.
Once they all got situated, the glasses boy held his hand out to Swara and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm James Potter."
Swara shook his hand and replied with a "Hello. My name is Swara Patel." One by one, the others introduced themselves. The grey-eyed boy was Sirius Black. Black, where had she heard that name before? Hmmm, she would think about it later. The sandy-haired one was Remus Lupin. Swara noted the origins of his name mentally and wondered if there was any truth in the name. The last boy, Peter, spoke at a whisper so low she had to strain her neck to hear.
"What are you reading?" Remus asked.
"Great Expectation by Charles Dickens. Have you heard of it?" Swara asked.
Remus' eyes gleamed. He rushed to tell her in what seemed like a rare moment of excitement for him that he loved to read books, and especially Muggle books and that Dickens was one of his favorite. A smile immediately overtook Swara's face. She had already found a kindred spirit in Remus. Maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be as bad as she thought.
Remus and Swara continued to discuss the book for a few minutes until James nudged Swara a little. Swara was taken aback by the familiar gesture. James certainly took no time to feel comfortable with people. But both her and Remus recognized that they were boring their new friends. The topic moved on to something everyone enjoyed: Quidditch. Swara found herself really enjoying their company and having a good time. They good-naturedly fought over which Quidditch team is the best. Swara and Sirius thought Puddlemere United was the best but James was banking that the Chudley Cannons would make a comeback this year after that fiasco from last season. Remus and Peter did not have an opinion, but Swara thought they were just saying that to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Before they knew it, they had arrived at Hogwarts. The five quickly changed into their robes still bickering about Quidditch with James and Sirius arguing the most.
"Come on Swara! Back me up here!" Sirius exasperatedly told the quiet girl. She only smiled and was about to say something but then a very, very tall man with a booming voice introduced himself as Hagrid. Oh, Swara realized with a jolt. Her parents had told her about Hagrid, the half-giant. They said he was very kind and loved animals. Swara loved animals too. Hagrid instructed the first-years to get in the boats. Swara found herself separated from the others and in a boat with a fiery-haired girl, a black-haired boy who seemed to be her friend, and another girl who gave them all dirty looks. As Hogwarts loomed in front of her, Swara felt her fear returning. What if I'm terrible at magic? What if I fail everything? Her insecurities came back. Even after they had unloaded, Swara stood there looking up at the castle that would be her home for the next 7 years in terror. "It's magnificent, isn't it?" Sirius asked her in amazement.
Swara returned to reality with a jolt. She hadn't realized that the boys had snuck up behind her. She actually didn't think they would come to find her. "Come on Sirius, Swara. We're supposed to be going in now!" James called them.
Swara took a deep breath and walked into the great school.