Chapter 1
Rose had led a normal life for the last eleven years, two month, and six days. So why, you may ask, is she standing on an Platform that shouldn't exist except in the imagination, next to a train headed to a place that is also as unbelievable? Well, nobody knows.
Rose watched as children and their parents exchanged farewells as the children headed into the trains. She stared at the cages of owls, cats that perched on the trunks, and the occasional toad. She could have sworn that one of the boy was Neville as he was holding a toad that just can't keep still. As she watched, she was suddenly pushed to the ground as something hit her from behind.
She groaned in pain. As she sat on the floor. Damn that hurts! Rose thought, what's with me getting pushed to the ground!
"I'm so sorry!" She heard a feminine voice coming from behind the cart of trunks, "I couldn't see you, are you alright?"
Rose slowly rose up as she turned to look at the girl who knocked her down. Her eyes widened as she came face to face with… Hermione Granger?
The girl…Hermione, continued to babble as Rose took in her features, it did look a lot like Emma Watson, for that she would give the ones who picked the actors credit, but the features are a bit more different, for one her hair was a bit more, bushy, was it, and it appeared as though her front teeth was bigger. Her cloth were neat, and she was rather clean, but not very pretty at this age. However, Rose never was one to judge someone based on looks and just smiled slightly and said, "It's fine, don't worry about it. My name's Rosemarie Castile, but just call me Rose, what's your name?"
Hermione finally paused and looked at Rose before offering her hand and said, "Hermione Granger."
She quickly grabbed Hermione's hand, shook it and said, "It's nice to meet you Hermione, I can call you that, right?"
Hermione gave Rose a smile and said it was fine just as they heard a train whistle blow in the station. Hermione squealed in horror and started to drag her trunks onto the train and Rose, taking pity, decided to help her as she didn't have that much luggage with her. Then, they both got onto the train just as the doors closed and it started to move. They gave a sigh of relief at the same time and looked at each other before proceeding to giggle. Finally, Rose said, "I think we should find a compartment."
Hermione nodded and they looked around for a place to sit. They finally found an almost empty compartment with just a boy in it who was looking around as though he had lost something. Hermione, seeing him, asked, "Hello, do you mind if we sit here? We couldn't find anywhere else."
Rose held back a gasp as the boy turned to reveal the face of Neville Longbottom. He looked at us nervously before mumbling, "Oh, um, it's fine. You don't have to ask me, I mean, that…"
Feeling a bit of pity for him, Rose said thanks and proceeded to put Hermione and her luggage up before sitting. Hermione sat down as well and the three of them became silent. Rose, never one to stand for awkward situations, said, "So, what's your name?"
Neville nervously mumbled out his name and Hermione and Rose introduced themselves. Hermione then took over as she started talking about Hogwarts. She went on and on about how she found out she was a witch, the visit to Diagon Alley, and everything she read about Hogwarts' curriculum and history. As she went on, Neville seemed to become more anxious and continued to look about. Finally, Rose interrupted Hermione asked, "Are you all right, Neville? You seem to be looking for something."
Neville looked at Rose as Hermione stopped talking and also turned her attention to Neville. He looked down, a bit embarrassed, and said, "Well, um, my toad, Trevor, he is, um, missing."
Rose gave a small smile as Hermione scolded Neville for not saying something earlier and then started to have them ask around for a bit. The three of them decided to split up as Neville went in one direction and Hermione and Rose the other. The girls went to each compartment as well as one with people crowding around a box with the Weasley twins and one which Rose had an inkling was Malfoy's based on how expensive the trunks looked. Rose quickly dragged shut the door to that compartment and proceeded to drag Hermione back the way they came after that. They met up with Neville and went back to check the way from where he came. Finally, after what felt like thirty more compartments, they came upon the one with Harry and Ron in it.
Just like in the book, and like every compartment they had stood in front of, Hermione slid the door open without knocking to reveal a boy with red hair and a black mark on his nose as well as a boy who looked scrawny with black hair and green eyes.
Hermione quickly asked, "Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."
I cringed a bit at how bossy it sounded.
"We've already told him we haven't seen it," Ron replied, but, just as the book described it, Hermione was now focused on the wand in Ron's hand.
"Oh," Hermione said with a touch of excitement, "are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."
She proceeded to sit down and Rose stood there, not quite sure what to do. Should she change how this first meeting goes? Maybe she should get Hermione to be friends with Harry and Ron faster this time, she thought. Rose had never really liked Ron. In her opinion, Ron held Harry and Hermione back from many things, including studying and magic. Throughout the book, she had always wanted Harry and Hermione to end up together. Although she didn't mind Ginny, but for Hermione to end up with Ron was a bit… well… she didn't really like it.
With this, she decided, she'll change Hermione's relationship. I mean, she mused, what harm would that be?
While she was lost in her thoughts, Ron proceeded to perform the 'spell' his brothers gave him. As predicted, nothing happened. Hermione, disappointed, said, "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well it's not very good is it? I've-"
Before she could continue, Rose interrupted her and said, "Hermione, I'm sure Ron was tricked into using that spell, if you can call it a spell. Don't be too hard on him. After all, the whole point of going to school is to learn how to do magic properly, right?"
Hermione sniffed a bit, probably annoyed that Rose had interrupted one of her rants, but nodded. Rose then turned toward Harry and Ron and said, "Sorry about that, I'm Rosemarie Castile, by the way, and she," with this she indicated to Hermione, "is Hermione Granger."
However, Ron didn't mutter his name, instead he was gapping at Rose like she was an alien.
"How the bloody hell did you know my name?" He sputtered.
Rose cringed at the slip and tried to cover it by saying, "I heard it when I was entering the platform. Your family is rather loud and noticeable. I merely heard your name, that's all."
The boys seemed to accept that, although Hermione was eyeing her suspiciously. Rose made a mental note to not try to make the same mistake. She turned to Harry and asked, "Who may you be?"
Harry hearing this said, "Harry Potter."
Hermione straightened a bit and said, "Are you really? I know all about you of course-I got a few extra books for background reading, and your in-"
"You really shouldn't believe everything you read, you know." Rose interrupted, "Not everything that are written down are true."
Hermione gave a small glare this time for interrupting her again. Rose decided that it was time to leave and said, "Hermione, we should probably go. We need to change and continue to look for Neville's toad."
Hermione nodded and they left the compartment with Neville, who had been patiently waiting outside. As they left Rose hear Ron say, "Whatever house I'm in, I hope they're not in it, both seems a bit nuts to me."
Surprisingly, Harry defended them by saying, "I don't know, they're not that bad."
Rose smiled. Success.
