Title: The Hopeless and the Highborn
Chapter One: Where dwell the brave at heart
A/N: I'm attempting to write this for Black Rose Blue's 100K Pairing Stories Competition. Because apparently I'm crazy.
I stilled my shaking hands and pushed my trolley alongside Bill's. He was entering his third year of Hogwarts already, two years older than me – I was just a first year, currently with no house and no friends (Bill didn't count. We might be inseparable at home, but I had no illusions about this extending to Hogwarts, where he had his own friends in his own year.). I pushed through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. This part was familiar, as I'd come to see Bill off and pick him up 4 times a year. It was the twins first time though – previously Mum had made them stay with Dad, as they caused so much trouble. They were staring at the enormous red steam train that was the Hogwarts Express with expressions of awe, while no doubt plotting what they would do in five years time when it was their turn. For six year olds, they were rather devious. Percy had hold of their hands, to prevent them running onto the tracks or anything equally stupid. Mum gave them a suspicious look, before coming over to me, pulling a hankie out of her robes as she went.
"Oh Charlie, you've got dirt on you again." She sighed and started rubbing at my face ineffectively. I submitted to her ministrations, purely because arguing the point had caused quite a scene in Bill's case. The dirt was generally imaginary, but Mum worried too much.
After that time seemed to blur a little. One minute I was on the platform promising a crying Ron that I was coming home at Christmas, the next I was dragging my trunk onto the train and searching for an empty compartment. I finally found one and was struggling to raise my trunk onto the racks above the window when another pair of hands took the end and pushed it up. I turned to find a brown haired boy, a few inches taller than me and wearing rather more convincing Muggle clothes than most wizards managed.
"Hey, I'm Eric, Eric Hadwin" He held out his hand, and I shook it uncertainly.
"Charlie Weasley. Nice to meet you." Mum had always drummed politeness into us when it came to meeting new people.
"Mind if I sit here?" He asked, but before I had a chance to respond a purple haired girl and a blond boy had slid open the compartment door.
"Can we join you? Everywhere else is taken. I'm Nymphadora Tonks, but don't call me Nymphadora. Or else. And this is... I'm sorry I still can't remember it all?" The girl spoke, looking between me and Eric.
"Dylan Jacob Taylor Erevu. My parents couldn't decide so they kept their favourite names." He grimaced and flopped down in the seat next to me. Nymphadora made for a seat opposite, but tripped over her own feet and landed directly on Eric, causing him to fall into his seat.
"Oh I'm so sorry! I'm stupidly clumsy." She picked herself up and apologised with the air of someone who had done this multiple times before, so the situation had lost all embarrassment. Eric however was slightly pink cheeked. She pulled a small mirror from her bag and examined herself critically. "Hmm, you know I'm not sure purples quite right for me..." She shut her eyes as if to concentrate, and her hair turned bubblegum pink. "Oh yes much better." She muttered to herself.
"You're a metamorphmagus?" Dylan asked, staring at her hair.
"Yeah, comes in handy. Never had a haircut at any rate. Probably fortunate, Mum did my cousin's hair one year, looked like she'd been dragged through a bush backwards..." I excused myself as her and Dylan entered into an in depth conversation about metamorphic abilities and the such like, Eric eagerly asking questions – apparently he was Muggleborn. I headed to the bathroom, then wandered back. I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going, so it was my own fault when I walked into a petite blonde girl. Her papers flew everywhere and I bent down to retrieve them for her.
"I'm sorry, I should have been looking where I was going." I stood and offered her the papers. She threw me a disgusted look.
"Yes. You should." I was a little taken aback by her rudeness, and continued on my way without another word.
When I opened the compartment door and slid back into my seat Dylan was teaching Eric wizards chess, with Nymphadora (I still didn't know what else to call her) attempting to help but by the looks of things was doing more damage. One of Dylan's bishops smashed into the remaining white knight rather viciously.
The food trolley arrived an hour or so in, with a reminder to change into our robes before we arrived. Eric stared like he'd never seen the sweets before – which he probably hadn't, in the Muggle world. I pulled tuna sandwiches out of my bag, and Nymphadora threw a chocolate frog at me. And when I say at me, I don't mean in my direction. I mean it hit me bang on the head.
"Oh sorry!" I had a feeling her apologies might get quite common. She headed to the bathroom so we could change in relative privacy, and soon all four of us were sat in our black robes. Mine had been Bill's first pair, so were fraying around the hems a little, but they didn't look too bad. In a few hours time, the ties would change colour and the house crests would appear.
"What are the houses then?" Eric asked. Dylan launched into a detailed explanation.
"Well there are four houses, named after the four founders of Hogwarts school. Hufflepuffs are loyal and true, and will stick with you till the end. Ravenclaw are -"
"A bunch of nerds." Nymphadora cut him off. "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" She added hastily as Dylan glared at her.
"As I was saying, Ravenclaws are intelligent and curious, while Gryffindor are brave and courageous. Slytherin are -"
"A bunch of sly bastards." Nymphadora finished for him again. From the look on Dylan's face it was an unwelcome intrusion, but an accurate one.
They finally arrived at Hogsmeade Station, the first years clustering together on the platform, uncertain of where to go. The issue was soon cleared up as an enormous man carrying a lamp yelled
"First years over 'ere!" They followed him, some rather nervously, to a hidden lake, as the rest of the school got into horseless carriages. We were directed into little boats, three in each. At this point Nymphadora cheerfully waved to us and headed towards a small group of other girls, sliding seamlessly into their chatter. The giant man waved his umbrella and the boats glided across the inky black lake. I peered over the side, where the boats lights reflected and twinkled back at me.
"My brother said there was a giant squid in there." I informed Dylan and Eric, who joined me staring over the side.
"You'll get yer first view of the castle in just a moment." Hagrid called from up ahead. We immediately shot back up, searching the darkness for Hogwarts. The boats pushed through a leafy sheet and it came into view, blazing with light. It was enormous. Bill's and my parent's descriptions never did it justice. What seemed to be hundreds of towers, from the minuscule to the gigantic, grew out of the magnificent spread of courtyards and buildings. Bridges connected some, and stairs wound round the outsides of a few. They disembarked at a wooden pier and were lead up to the castle, across a small portion of the sprawling lawns that eventually gave way to the forbidden forest in the distance. A tall, thin and strict looking woman stood at the top of the steps.
"Thank you Hagrid. Welcome to Hogwarts. Shortly you will be sorted into your house. While at Hogwarts, your house will be your family." She had a slight Scottish accent, and I assumed that this must be Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house. "Achievements will earn you points, while any rule breaking and you will lose them, or even – heavens forbid – be expelled. Now follow me in an orderly fashion!" She turned and made a slight pushing motion with her hands, causing the truly enormous front doors to swing inwards, then led us across a marble floored entrance hall to another set of doors, which also opened at her approach. The entire student population turned and stared as we marched past them to the platform at the top of the hall, in front of the staff table. The sorting hat was brought out, and sang of the four houses, then we were each called up to sit on the stool. A few people in I saw 'Celsus, Anais', the girl from the train, go into Slytherin. Dylan was the first Ravenclaw, Eric a Gryffindor. Nymphadora became a Hufflepuff. A few people later, it was my turn. I sat down and let the hat slide over my eyes. I could hear Bill with his friends, in the near silence of the hall.
"That's my baby brother." His friends laughed.
"Five galleons says he's a 'Puff." One offered, laughing even harder.
"Your on. Weasley blood will out, Gryffindor." I nearly smiled. Bill was always a little protective of us, as the oldest. But then the worry redoubled it's attack. What if I wasn't a Gryffindor?
Well well, another Weasley here already. Are there many more of you to come? A voice curled inside my head.
Five more, really? Well anyway, better be...
"Gryffindor!" It shouted. I made my way to join Eric at the cheering red and gold table. After the sorting, Professor Dumbledore stood and made a speech of some kind – I didn't think many people were listening. Food appeared, piled high on the plates. Me and Eric both grabbed anything in reach and started eating. Those tuna sandwiches seemed rather a while ago now, and the food here was delicious. We ate until we could eat no more, including a slice of apple pie and a creamy strawberry cheesecake for dessert, and then the plates were cleared and Dumbledore called for silence again.
"The prefects will show you to your dormitories and show you how to enter. Please do not forget this, the amount of mishaps with forgotten passwords was rather astonishing last year and I'm not sure I can cope with a repeat. Now, off to bed! Chop chop!" There was another burst of sound as benches were scraped back and we all stood, half asleep.
"Please follow me to the Gryffindor tower!" A prefect called. We trailed after her up staircase after staircase, until I wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed. I was too tired to take anything more than a cursory glance at the moving stairs, and Eric fell into one of the trick steps halfway up. We eventually reached a portrait of a woman dressed all in pink, smiling down at us.
"Password?" She asked.
"Tantum sperare." The prefect replied. In the common room the older years vanished, yawning. "The password changes every 2 weeks, please don't forget it, don't write it down. Girls dorms up the stairs on your left, boys, the same on your right." We climbed up what I fervently hoped was the last set of stairs, to find the first year dorms with our trunks left at the bottom of our beds. I pulled on pyjamas and crawled in between the covers, and was asleep within seconds.