**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these wonderful characters; that credit goes entirely to Walt Disney and the spectacular JK Rowling.
This is my first story so please R/R!
Ariel stood in King's Cross Station completely lost. She nervously looked at the huge crowd, hoping to see Sebastian, her father's right-hand man and her guardian for all shore excursions. Although in the sea he took the form of a small crab, Sebastian was in fact an animagus, capable of changing from human to animal shape at will. He had lived in the wizarding world for most of his life until his parents were killed in the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. After that he decided he needed a change of scenery and chose to try his luck in Atlantica, as King Triton's royal court composer and sometimes babysitter of his youngest daughter, Ariel.
Ariel hopped up and down a couple of times, trying desperately to find Sebastian. After quite a few failed attempts at locating him, her shoulders slumped and she bit her lip in frustration.
Think, Ariel. What would a muggle do? Although Ariel's family was almost entirely magical, she had a fascination with muggles, most especially with their gizmos and gadgets. She was always finding odd treasures in sunken ships and near beaches. I should find someone taller than me. That should work. She nodded her head in determination and looked around her for someone she could ask to help. She saw a girl with brown hair that looked about her age, and she was standing next to a boy that was really tall—maybe they could help her.
Ariel elbowed her way through a group of people and tapped the girl on the shoulder.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
"Yes?" The girl turned around, and looked at Ariel. The boy turned to look at her too, but where the girl had a kind, if surprised, look about her, the boy looked irritated that Ariel had dared to bother them.
"I've lost my-" she hesitated. No one was really supposed to know that she needed a protector, "my uncle, and I tried to find him, but I'm too small to see over everyone. I was wondering if your friend could look for me?"
The girl's eyes softened.
"Of course! I'm sure Gaston wouldn't mind, would you Gaston?" The girl turned to look at the boy, who suddenly looked like somebody had asked him to eat gillyweed.
"How could I find him?" Arrogance soaked his voice, and despite her generally easygoing attitude, Ariel felt her eyebrow quirk in disbelief at his response. The girl sighed and Ariel felt a little more disgruntled at her situation.
"Well, you could at least try and be courteous." Now the girl had a hand on her hip and seemed like she was scolding her little brother. She turned her head a bit as if waiting for him to change his mind. Gaston simply pulled a Quidditch magazine out of his pocket and began flipping through the pages. Wait- A Quidditch magazine? Ariel gasped a little and the girl quickly turned to her with wide eyes.
"You're not muggles?" Ariel asked incredulously. The girl let out the breath she had been holding and began to laugh a little.
"No, we're not. And I'm guessing that you're not a muggle either?" She smiled.
Ariel shook her head quickly.
"No. I'm on my way to Platform 9 ¾ right now, but I've lost my uncle." Her hands and shoulders went up in a what-can-you-do kind of gesture. "My name's Ariel. What's yours?"
"I'm Belle." The girl replied, her smile growing bigger. "Are you going to be a first year?"
"Yeah." Ariel smiled shyly. "I'm really nervous."
"Oh don't worry about it." Belle swiped at the air. "It's not as bad as everyone tells you it'll be. And you can believe me, I'm a second year."
They both grinned, then Belle shook her head as if to come out of a daze.
"What are we doing? We need to find your uncle before the train leaves!"
Belle grabbed Ariel's hand and the two girls set off into the crowd in search of Sebastian, leaving Gaston to his magazine. About ten minutes later, they had wandered over to Platform 9, and still hadn't found the elusive guardian.
"Where could he be?" Belle said, placed her hands on her hips and looked around, thoroughly frustrated.
"I really don't know." Ariel said, more disheartened than ever. Suddenly she looked down at her watch. "Oh no! The train leaves in fifteen minutes!" She looked up at Belle and started to panic.
"Belle! There you are! I went looking for you, but Gaston said you'd left in search of an imaginary uncle!" A stout, balding, little man pushing a trolley came onto the platform and gave Belle an exasperated look.
Belle giggled a little. "Sorry, Papa. I made a friend and she needed help finding her lost uncle. How could I resist?" She lifted a shoulder and gave her father an innocent look. He spluttered.
"Well—" He glanced down at the pocket-watch in his hand and suddenly threw his hands up in the air. "You're going to be late for the train! We have to go!" He pushed the girls along with his hands toward the column between platforms nine and ten. Ariel looked up at Belle, confused and a little scared.
"It's all right," Belle said, "just hold tight to my hand and run." She grinned and pulled Ariel through the barrier and onto Platform 9 ¾ . Ariel gasped in astonishment at the sight of the Hogwarts Express. Her eyes widened in delight and she turned excitedly to Belle, who was grinning from ear to ear, remembering the first time she had stepped onto the platform.
"Ariel!" The girls turned to see a disheveled looking man hurrying toward them.
"Sebastian!" Ariel threw her arms open and gave the man a huge hug. Then she stepped back and got a stern look on her face.
"I looked everywhere for you! Where did you go?"
"I went to go and find the platform. I thought you were right behind me." The poor man looked positively shamefaced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you on your own."
Ariel's face brightened.
"That's alright! I made a new friend. Her name is Belle and she helped me find the platform." She pulled Belle forward, who gave Sebastian a little wave.
"Hello. Nice to meet you." She smiled.
"Belle! It's almost eleven, you need to get on the train!" Belle's father blustered toward them.
"Oh, okay." She turned back to Ariel. "Come find me on the train okay? I'll save you a seat."
"Okay I will." Ariel said, waving as Belle walked away. She turned back to Sebastian, who had folded his arms and had quite a serious look on his face.
"Princess Ariel, what do you think you're doing? You are putting yourself at risk. What if your new friend finds out your secret? How will you manage that, hmm?"
Ariel scrunched her face in frustration.
"So I'm not allowed to make friends at school? Who came up with that rule, you or Daddy? What's the point of going away from my sisters if I'm not allowed to make new friends?" She stomped her foot on the end of the last sentence.
Sebastian crouched down so that he was at eye level with her.
"Ariel, you are not an ordinary girl. You have to be careful. Don't let others find out who you really are. Some might hurt you or your family because of it." He straightened. "Now, do you have your wand? Robes? Good. Now remember, when do you visit Madame Pomfrey?"
"In three weeks, on the twenty-second."
"Good, don't forget it." He put a hand on Ariel's shoulder, but then changed his mind and pulled her into a hug instead. She held onto him tightly, realizing that she wouldn't see him or her family for four months. Sebastian stood up, wiping a small tear from his eye.
"Go on now, you don't want to miss your train." He shooed her off.
"Bye Sebastian!" Ariel shouted. She ran to jump onto the train as it began to pull out of the station. When she jumped, a boy with black hair and startling blue eyes reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her onto the train.
"Thanks!" She yelled over the loud whistle.
"No problem!" The boy yelled back.
Ariel waved goodbye to Sebastian as the train sped off down the track, carrying her towards a new adventure.
**Author's Note: So what'd you think? Every chapter is going to be from the point of view of a different character, but I'm not quite sure how I'm going to introduce everybody. Who would you like to see next? Please R&R, and thank you for reading! XD