Hello all! I'm so happy to finally be posting Chapter 2 of The Magical McGowan Sisters! There are some descriptions and dialogue in this chapter that I took from PS, so I hope it doesn't sound wholly unoriginal. I also changed some very minor things in the chapter that I thought would be different due to Emilia's - as well as Nora and Phoebe's - presence(s). I have more to say, but I'll save it for the end. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please don't hesistate to leave a review telling me what you liked/didn't like/etc.

Happy reading!


The rest of the morning passed relatively quickly for the McGowan sisters, with teeth to be brushed, breakfast to be eaten and – in Phoebe's case – trunks to be packed. Before the girls knew it, they were packing into their father's old station wagon for the hour-long drive to Kings Cross Station, leaving their cozy village behind.

"I can't believe all three of you are going to be at Hogwarts this year!" Mr. McGowan marveled, smiling at his daughters through the rearview mirror. "Seems like just yesterday Nora was off, and now look! I'm so proud of you, girls."

Emilia smiled fondly. She was really going to miss her dad this year, having grown accustomed to spending a great deal of her time with him while both Nora and Phoebe were at school. She would miss his blueberry waffles on Sunday mornings, and his long sermons, and the way he still insisted on telling her stories before bedtime. She would even miss the wacky flea markets he was always dragging her along to, where he encouraged her to bargain with the salespeople.

As if reading her mind, Mr. McGowan gave Emilia a knowing smile. "Going to miss my Emi, though, that's for sure," he said. "Who else is going to be my partner-in-crime this market season?"

Emilia giggled. "I'm sure you'll manage, dad."

"I guess I'll have to," Mr. McGowan said, letting out an exaggerated sigh. Emilia giggled again, and Mr. McGowan winked at her before turning his attention back to the road.

In seemingly no time at all, they arrived at Kings Cross Station. Mr. McGowan parked the station wagon and the three sisters clambered out with trunks in hand. Phoebe held tightly to the cage holding the family owl, Bertie, as the bird rustled around, annoyed by the sudden movement. This caught the attention of several passersby, who eyed the family strangely before hurrying on their way.

Mr. McGowan secured two carts and the girls loaded their belongings onto them, Bertie calming down considerably once he wasn't being jostled about.

"Well, girls, I guess this is where we say our goodbyes," Mr. McGowan said, looking like he was trying very hard not to get emotional. He pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped his forehead.

"Aw, don't be sad, Dad," Nora consoled, stepping forward and hugging their father round the middle.

"Yeah, Dad! Christmas isn't that far away, really," Phoebe added. She, too, stepped forward and joined Nora in the hug.

Emilia felt a little emotional herself and didn't trust herself to successfully comfort her dad. Instead, she silently joined the hug, content in her family's embrace.

The group stood like that for a few more moments until Mr. McGowan pulled away, kissing each of his daughters on the forehead and giving them a watery smile.

"Don't want you to be late," he told them. "Take care of one another, and I'll see you all at Christmas."

"Bye, dad! Love you!" the girls chorused, steering their carts towards the entrance to the station. Just before they went through the doors, Emilia looked back and saw her dad wiping his eyes with his handkerchief. A lump formed in her throat, but she had no choice other than to follow her sisters. She knew her dad would be okay, eventually, but she worried about him sometimes.

Kings Cross was packed with people, all of them heading in different directions with varying amounts of briefcases, luggage, pets, and small children. Emilia had to try very hard to avoid hitting people with her overloaded cart.

"Look – there are the Weasleys!" Phoebe called, pointing to a group of redheads walking a few feet in front of them. The Weasleys were a family of purebloods, but from what Emilia had heard about them from her sisters, they didn't believe in blood status the way other pureblood families did. Phoebe was best friends with Fred and George, twin Gryffindors in the same year as her. Nora was friendly with them as well, as they were all members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"Fred, George, wait up!" Nora called, walking as fast as her piled-up cart allowed.

Upon hearing their names, the two redheads turned around in sync, identical grins spreading across their identical faces as Nora and Phoebe finally reached them. Emilia trailed a bit further behind, feeling weirdly shy all of the sudden.

"Gred, could it really be them?" one of the twins – though Emilia didn't know which – said. He turned to his brother in fake shock.

"It is, Forge! The famous McGowan sisters!" the other twin cried, placing a hand to his forehead. "How wonderful are they –" he started.

"- to bless us common folk with their presence," the first twin finished.

"Oh, knock it off," Phoebe said, shoving the shoulder of the twin closest to her. The twins laughed, stopping their awed fans act and leaning forward to give both Nora and Phoebe one-armed hugs.

Emilia stood awkwardly to the side, watching the exchange, before Nora took notice of her.

"Boys, this is our younger sister, Emilia," she introduced, beckoning Emilia closer and putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Em, this is George," Phoebe said, pointing to the twin on the left. "And Fred." She pointed to the twin on the right.

"Pleasure to meet you, Emilia," the two boys said at once. "We've heard a lot about you."

They winked, and Emilia felt herself getting red. This twin thing was definitely something that was going to take some getting used to.

"Fred? George? Do hurry up, won't you?"

In the distance, Emilia could see a plump woman – who she assumed was Mrs. Weasley – straining her neck in order to find her sons in the crowd.

"Coming, mum!" the boys called, waving to get her attention.

The group moved forward and slowly caught up to the rest of the Weasley family, who stood between platforms nine and ten. Mrs. Weasley looked very stern, but any impending lecture was interrupted by Phoebe.

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley!" she said, smiling brightly.

Mrs. Weasley's face immediately softened as she saw the two oldest McGowan sisters.

"Oh, hello, Phoebe and Nora. How are you, dears?"

"We're just great, Mrs. Weasley, thank you," Nora responded, ever polite. "This is our sister, Emilia."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley," Emilia said.

The redheaded woman gave Emilia a kind smile. "Very lovely to meet you, too, dear. How nice that you'll be in the same year as Ron."

She gestured to a tall, gangly boy, who waved at Emilia awkwardly. Emilia was sure her wave in return was just as clumsy.

"Now, we should get a move on," Mrs. Weasley continued, grabbing the hand of the young girl next to her. She did not have a cart in front of her, so Emilia assumed she was not yet old enough to go to Hogwarts.

"Oh, mum, can't I go…" the girl moaned.

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet," Mrs. Weasley warned, confirming Emilia's suspicions. "All right, Percy, you go first."

Emilia watched as the oldest of the gathered Weasley children marched toward platforms nine and ten. He seemed to have a very haughty air about him, and a silver badge was affixed to his jumper. In an instant, he had disappeared beyond the barrier.

"Nora, Phoebe, and Emilia, go on ahead dears," Mrs. Weasley told the three sisters. Nora walked quickly towards the barrier and vanished, then Phoebe did the same after throwing a wink over her shoulder at Emilia.

Emilia hesitated. The others had made getting onto the platform look so easy, but she was still a bit nervous. What if she did something wrong and crashed right into the brick wall?

Seeming to sense her fears, Mrs. Weasley placed a gentle hand on Emilia's shoulder.

"It's okay to be nervous, dear. Just take it at a bit of a run."

"Good luck," said Ginny, smiling kindly.

Emilia gulped and nodded. She jogged, steering her cart as best she could, straight towards the brick wall in front of her. She closed her eyes just before she reached it and suddenly –

She was there!

Emilia looked back at the seemingly solid wall she had just come through and grinned. That hadn't been so bad! She rounded the corner and saw the large, scarlet steam engine that could only be the Hogwarts Express. All Emilia could do for a few moments was stand in awe – this was the train that would finally take her to Hogwarts!

"Em, over here!" a voice called, quickly pulling Emilia out of her trance.

Phoebe and Nora stood a few feet away, waving and smiling widely. Emilia hurried over to them, not wanting to get lost on the packed platform. Wizards and witches of all ages were carrying trunks, broomsticks, pet cages, and more, packing them on the train before saying their goodbyes.

"Nice work, kiddo," Phoebe said, ruffling Emilia's hair.

"Come on," Nora instructed, "let's get our stuff on the train and find a compartment to sit in before they're all full."

Between the three of them, they were able to get their trunks on the train without much hassle. The first few compartments were already packed with students, and so the sisters walked a little further down the corridor until they reached one that was completely empty. They stored their trunks in the overhead, and Phoebe placed Bertie's cage on the seat closest to the window.

"We'll let you out to fly ahead when we get closer to the countryside," Phoebe promised.

Bertie, seeming to understand, hooted delightfully.

The girls settled into their seats just as the train began to move. Students hung out the windows, waving goodbye to their families on the platform. Emilia could see Ginny Weasley, half crying, half laughing as she ran to keep up with train before falling back and waving. She felt a pang of sympathy for the young girl; she knew all too well, of course, the feeling of being the only one left behind.

The train rounded a corner and picked up even more speed, the houses of London becoming nothing but a blur as they passed them. Emilia's heart leapt with excitement as she looked out the window. She couldn't believe she was actually here!

Emilia turned away from the window at the sound of the compartment door opening, admitting a burly fifth-year with brown hair cropped close to his head. By the way Nora's eyes widened, Emilia could only guess that he was the infamous Oliver Wood.

"Hi, Nora. Hi, Phoebe. Hi..." he trailed off, looking from Nora to Emilia quizzically.

Nora seemed frozen, unable to speak.

"Hello, Oliver," Phoebe said pleasantly, saving Nora from a potentially embarassing situation. "This is Emilia, our sister."

"Great to meet you. Do you play Quidditch?" Oliver said, smiling at Emilia. Merlin, he was as cute as Nora said he was. And seemingly just as Qudditch obsessed as Phoebe said he was.

"I'm afraid Nora is the only Quidditch star in the McGowan family," Phoebe informed Oliver before Emilia could respond.

"And quite the star she is. Nora, do you think you could join me in my compartment for a bit to talk strategy for this year?"

If possible, Nora's eyes widened even further and her face turned quite red. "Me? Um. I mean, um, okay then," she stammered, standing up slowly.

"That's okay, right?" She looked at Emilia pleadingly.

Emilia nodded and smiled encouragingly. "Of course."

Nora looked incredibly relieved and exited the compartment with a promise to be back later. Oliver waved goodbye before shutting the compartment door behind him.

Phoebe burst into a fit of laughter.

"Oh, did you see her face, Em? I thought she was going to faint!"

Emilia chuckled. "I really thought you were exaggerating about that crush."

"Oh no. If anything, I was downplaying it. Poor girl, she's probably going to lose her mind over it soon."

The girls kept laughing, wondering how their older sister was managing, when the compartment door slid open once again.

It was Fred and George, followed by a boy with dreadlocks. He held a mysterious black box in his hands.

"Hello, again!" the twins said, both of them plopping down across from Phoebe. "You'll never believe what Lee has."

The boy, Lee, sat down next to Emilia and stuck out his hand. "Lee Jordan."

"Emilia McGowan," she responded, shaking Lee's hand. "What's in the box?"

"Open it up and show them, Lee," one of the twins – maybe Fred? – said. Emilia was going to have to figure out a way to tell them apart soon.

Lee slowly lifted the lid off the box, and something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. Emilia screeched.

"What the bloody hell is that?" she cried, just as Phoebe exclaimed, "Wicked!"

"It's a tarantula," Lee explained. "I found it in the forest behind my house."

Emilia scooted as far away from the box as she possibly could. Spiders of any kind were her worst fear, and just the sight of the tarantula's leg was enough to make her sick.

"Um, I think I'm gonna go take a walk," she told the group. "Get some air."

She stood up quickly, and before anyone could stop her, exited the compartment and started walking up the corridor. She could let Phoebe explain her phobia to the rest of them.

As Emilia wandered aimlessly up the train, she looked in at the packed compartments as students laughed and chatted, catching up with their friends after the long summer. It looked like everyone had someone to talk to but her. She was about to go back to sit with Phoebe and her friends when she spotted the youngest Weasley boy, Ron, sitting across from a boy with glasses and very messy black hair. They seemed to be surrounded by sweets.

She opened the compartment door and the two boys looked up at her.

"Hi," she said, a bit shyly. "Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is pretty full."

"Sure," said the dark-haired boy.

"Oh, your sisters are friends with Fred and George!" Ron said, recognizing Emilia as she sat across from him. "Sorry, what was your name again?"

"Emilia."

"Well, I'm Ron Weasley, and this is Harry."

"Nice to meet you both," Emilia said. Harry smiled and brushed his hair away from his eyes, momentarily revealing a lightning shaped scar. Emilia couldn't believe what she was seeing – could this boy next to her be the Harry Potter? Nora and Phoebe had told her all about him, of course, and how he was the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse, bringing an end to You-Know-Who's reign of terror when he was only baby. No one knew where Harry had gone after that, since both his parents had died that night, but now she was potentially sitting right next to him.

Emilia had about a hundred questions swimming around in her brain, but realized that asking him would be quite rude, and that staring at him was even ruder. She instead turned her attention to the stack of sweets next to Ron.

"I guess I missed the trolley lady," she observed.

"Yes, she left a few minutes ago," Ron informed her around bites of a pumpkin pasty.

"Help yourself," Harry said, pushing some of his stash towards Emilia. "We got a sample of everything."

Emilia eyed the various sweets carefully, smiling as she spotted a Cauldron Cake – her favorite. Nora and Phoebe were always bringing home sweets off the train, which Emilia was very thankful for. She thought Cauldron Cakes were the best, but she liked Chocolate Frogs as well.

"I'll just take one of these, thanks." Emilia smiled at Harry as she unwrapped the cake and took a large bite.

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry as he tore open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger flavored one once."

Emilia shuddered. "I reckon I've had one of those, too. And rotten egg."

Ron pulled a face before he picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.

"Bleaaargh – see? Sprouts."

The three of them had a very fun time eating the Every Flavor Beans, as they chatted about what was in store for them at Hogwarts. Ron did most of the talking, filling the other two in on small things about Hogwarts, most of which Emilia already knew from Nora and Phoebe. Soon, the subject turned to houses. Ron wanted to be in Gryffindor, like his entire family before him.

"Is your family full of wizards, too, Emilia?" Harry asked.

"Oh, no," Emilia said, shaking her head. "We're all muggleborn, but Professor McGonagall told us that some of our ancestors might have been magical, and it just stayed dormant until us."

"Right, Ron said you had sisters. Are they in Gryffindor?"

"Yep," Emilia said. "Nora's in fourth year and Phoebe's in third, like Fred and George."

"They say Nora's a really good Quidditch player," Ron said. "Charlie thought so, too."

Emilia smiled. It was nice to hear nice things about her sister.

"Charlie just graduated, right?" she asked Ron.

"Mhm," Ron confirmed. "And now he's off in Romania studying dragons. Everyone thought for sure he'd go pro for Qudditch. He even got offers to play for England! But I guess he just liked dragons more."

Ron seem disappointed by this, but Emilia was impressed. She thought it was good that Charlie had decided to do something he was passionate about, even if it meant going against everyone else's expectations.

"What does your oldest brother do?" Harry asked curiously.

"Bill's in Africa right now, working on something for Gringotts," Ron said. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."

"I heard about that!" Emilia said. Nora got the Daily Prophet delivered to their house in Betchworth, and her and Phoebe had talked about it briefly over breakfast that morning.

"Crazy, right?"

Emilia nodded. "Gringotts is supposed to be one of the safest, most heavily-guarded places in the world."

"So what happened to the people who broke in?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught," Ron informed Harry. "Emilia's right, there's tons of security at Gringotts. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round them."

"That's what Phoebe said, too," Emilia said. "What's weird, though," she continued, "is that whoever it was that broke in - it doesn't seem like they took anything."

"Exactly!" Ron said, seemingly puzzled. "Why break-in if you're not actually stealing?"

Emilia thought about this for a moment. "To show that they can, I reckon," she guessed finally.

"I guess that makes sense," Ron conceded. "'Course, everyone just gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

Emilia involuntary shivered at the mention of You-Know-Who, but shook her head in agreement. Harry seemed to have paled at the mention of the name, and Emilia wondered what he must be thinking.

"What's your Qudditch team?" Ron asked suddenly, changing the subject.

"Both Nora and Phoebe root for the Holyhead Harpies, so I guess they're my team, too," Nora said, shrugging. She hadn't been exposed to enough professional Qudditich to choose a side, really.

"Er - I don't know any," Harry confessed.

"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining about the four balls and the positions of the seven players. Emilia tried to chime in when she could, but Ron was talking a mile a minute, so she elected to just sit back and listen to his animated stories about famous matches he had been to and a few Quidditch players he had met.

Before Emilia knew it, the sun had begun to set over the wild countryside flying by the window. Gone were the solid houses of London, and even the neat farming fields. Now they passed by woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment, and a round-faced boy wearing a tearful expression came in.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

"No, sorry," Emilia said, as Harry and Ron shook their heads. The boy wailed.

"I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," Harry said.

Emilia nodded and smiled at the boy comfortingly "He couldn't have gotten far on the train," she told him.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…"

He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," Ron said once the compartment door had clicked closed. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

He looked down at a fat, gray rat that was snoozing on his lap. Emilia couldn't be positive, but it looked as though he was missing a toe.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," Ron said in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway…"

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again.

The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth. She reminded Emilia a little bit of Nora, when she was younger.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," Ron said, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down next to Emilia. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er - all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. Emilia, not wanting to upset her new friend, tried very hard not to laugh.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

She said all this very fast, and Emilia struggled to keep up. Did she say she had learned all their course books by heart?

Emilia looked at Harry and Ron, and was relieved to see by their equally stunned expressions that they were just as confused, and probably hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Emilia McGowan," said Emilia, giving the girl an awkward sort of smile.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Harry. He looked very dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," Hermione said. Emilia felt a little annoyed with the girl; obviously it was a sore subject for Harry.

"Do any of you know what house you'll be in?" Hermione continued. "I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And as soon as she had come, she was gone, Neville following close behind.

Emilia felt like her head was spinning.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," Ron said. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

He flopped back in his seat, looking depressed.

Before either Emilia or Harry could say anything, the compartment door slid open for a third time. It was Nora, who, like Hermione, was already in her Hogwarts robes. Unlike Hermione, however, Nora's robes were trimmed with the scarlet and gold that represented Gryffindor house.

"There you are, Em!" Nora said, looking a bit relieved. "Phoebe said you left the compartment ages ago. Were you here this whole time?"

"Yes," Emilia replied. "Sorry if you were worried."

"Oh, it's fine," Nora said, waving her hand. She then smiled at the compartment's two other occupants.

"You're Fred and George's brother Ron, right?" she asked the redheaded wizard.

Ron nodded. "Yes, and you're… Nora?"

"That's right," Nora confirmed, before turning to Harry. "I'm sorry, I don't know who you are."

"I'm Harry Potter," said Harry.

Emilia could see Nora's eyes widen ever so slightly, but apart from this her eldest sister gave no noticeable reaction, which Emilia was thankful for. Harry looked relieved, too, after just being hounded by Hermione.

"Well, nice to meet you both," Nora said, smiling. "Em, you should probably come back to get changed. I think we'll be there soon."

"Okay," Emilia agreed.

She turned towards her new friends. "See you around, I suppose. Hopefully we'll all be in Gryffindor together," she told them. She was still worried about the Sorting, but she supposed Gryffindor wouldn't be so bad if Harry and Ron were there too.

Ron nodded enthusiastically and Harry just smiled. Emilia heard them say goodbye to Nora as she stepped into the corridor and Nora shut the door behind them.

The two sisters walked in silence back to their original compartment, which Emilia found to be a bit odd. Usually Nora would be asking her all sorts of questions about her new companions.

When they reached the compartment at last, Phoebe was just pulling up the privacy shade and Nora opened the door, letting Emilia go through first.

"Merlin's beard, Em! Harry Potter?!" Nora blurted just as soon as the door closed.

Phoebe looked up quickly from her trunk, which lay open on the seat as she stored away her Muggle clothing. "What's this about Harry Potter?" she demanded.

"Emilia was just sitting with him and Ron Weasley!"

Phoebe's eyes widened. "You're kidding."

"I'm not!"

"Well, how did you know for sure?"

"He said to me, 'I'm Harry Potter,' that's how I know for sure!"

"Oh, that could be any dunderhead pulling a prank. Did you see his scar, at least?"

"No, but…"

"Did you see his scar?" Phoebe asked, turning to look at Emilia.

"Well, yes," Emilia admitted hesitantly. She wasn't sure how she felt about Nora and Phoebe making such a big deal out of this. Harry hadn't talked at all about what happened to him when he was a baby, but from what she had seen from him over the course of the afternoon, he was really only starting to come to grips with it himself. He seemed just like any other first-year – nervous and excited to be heading to Hogwarts for the first time.

Emilia told her sisters this and they nodded. "Sorry, Em," Nora apologized, after she had taken a moment to fully digest what Emilia had said.

"Yeah, I guess we got a little carried away," Phoebe said, scratching the back of her neck. "It's just that we've been hearing about Harry for so long, it's hard to believe he's here at Hogwarts. And our own sister is friends with him!" She laughed. "Fred and George will never believe it."

Before Emilia could respond, a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Emilia gulped, hurrying into her robes as her heart raced, all thoughts of Harry forgotten. When she was done, the three sisters joined the already building crowd in the corridor.

The train slowed down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Emilia could just barely make out a soft light heading towards the group.

"There's Hagrid," Phoebe said, just as a booming voice called out: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Hagrid was probably the largest man Emilia had ever seen, and his face was half obscured by both his long, tangled hair and wild beard. Emilia knew the groundskeeper was not as scary as he looked, however, as both her sisters were quite friendly with him.

Hagrid continued down the platform, calling the attention of the first years as they disembarked from the train.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Nora and Phoebe pulled Emilia in for a hug.

"Follow Hagrid, okay?" Nora instructed.

"We'll see you soon," Phoebe told her.

They smiled at her one last time before they were swept away with the crowd.

Emilia tried her best to find Harry and Ron, but it was too dark and crowded to see anyone clearly. Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. Emilia stared in amazement, lost in the beauty of her new home, when someone bumped into her.

"Watch it," the boy said, shoving her shoulder as he passed. He had very blonde hair and a pointed face, and was being followed by two thickset boys, who sniggered at her as they walked away.

Emilia frowned. She would have to steer clear of that little trio, she thought.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Emilia finally spotted Harry and Ron, but they were already being followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. Instead, she climbed in a boat with two other girls and a boy, who introduced themselves as Hannah, Susan, and Justin.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"

The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Emilia resisted the urge to skim her hands through it. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. The sight was enough to take Emilia's breath away; her sisters' descriptions definitely did not do the actual, real-life thing justice.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads - Hannah at the very last second - and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Emilia smiled, happy that Neville and his pet had been reunited. She hoped he would be able to keep a better eye on him now that they were at school, but she somehow knew that this was not the last she'd be hearing about Trevor the disappearing toad.

The first-years clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

Emilia stood up a little straighter and let out a contented sigh. She was finally where she belonged.


I plan to focus more on Nora and Phoebe as the story moves forward. I just wanted to explore things through Emilia's POV to begin with as she's new to the whole Hogwarts thing and is the one who befriends Harry originally. The next chapter will probably be about Nora, including her conversation with a certain Quidditch captain and an introduction to her friends. I hope you'll stick around to read it!

Please don't forget to like this story or leave a review! Both are very much appreciated!

-Mary