Yes there is rather a big gap in uploading, my apologies. I cannot promise a regular upload schedule, but hopefully the next chapter will be up slightly more promptly
Also I'm Scottish, so I'm allowed to be rude about the weather.
Chapter 2- Proof the setting is indeed Scotland
The rain pounding the window was rather alarming. Ellie hoped they wouldn't have to walk far to get to the school, as it didn't look to be anywhere near letting up. If anything it was getting worse. In many ways though, she found the constant pounding on the windows rather comforting, familiar in a way nothing else so far had been. Even with the rain the landscape outside the train was certainly beautiful, full of rugged mountains and blasted moors, and she didn't have to make conversation, just stare out and think. Often she found herself the best company. She supposed it was sad in a way, but she was content and that was that. She wasn't sure what to think about everything that had happened since she got her letter in August, back when the world was a logical place. She had thought it was a joke, or a trick maybe a dream. It was real though, right down to a secret station at King's Cross, right in the middle of the busiest station in Britain! How had no-one noticed all these strange children, with their trunks and robes and even owls, charging at the same pillar on the same day… There must be some kind of charm stopping people from noticing. She wondered what else magical she had missed in her mundane life… Was there a dragon under Westminster perhaps? Or flying carpets crossing the channel? The Loch Ness Monster lurking in the depths… She tried to imagine what life as a witch would be like. Should she grow warts? Could she learn how to fly? It would be nice to travel up above the clouds, to see the cold dark sky speckled with stars, to escape from all the complicated world below… She could practically taste the starlight.
The next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake, a little roughly, by Fliss wasn't that her name? "Wake-up sleepy head, you need to get changed into your robes, or you'll get to school in those muggle clothes!" Ellie scrambled to her feet, it was already dark outside and she had been right, the weather had not improved. "Thanks. What time is it?" The rest of the compartment was already empty, she assumed everyone else was getting changed or searching desperately for anywhere else to sit. "Earlier than it looks" Fliss indicated the window with a shrug. Even when she was only talking to one person her body language was exuberant. "The weather really is foul isn't it? I don't fancy crossing the lake in this." She seemed perfectly cheerful, despite this sentiment.
"Crossing the lake?" That had not been mentioned before. A lake? In a boat? The one time Ellie had tried to sail a boat she had capsized within 30 seconds, despite the instructor being in her boat. He had been thoroughly mocked for his failure, but she was fairly sure it was just her opposite of natural aptitude.
"Oh of course, muggle-born, sorry. Um to get to the school first years cross the lake in little boats. It's a tradition. I think it symbolises something or other." As she was talking she turned to the luggage rack, fumbling in her trunk, presumably for her robes.
"In the dark? In this?"
"Oh they have lanterns. Besides, Professor Hagrid, he's been crossing the lake for years. I reckon he could do it in his sleep. We'll be fine."
The reassurances of the obviously confident were not always particularly useful to those who were not. She suspected the Fliss would have a rather higher threshold for fine than herself.
"Who went to your parents to explain by the way?" Fliss said, turning back to face Ellie, "I know they have to send a member of staff to help out with all the newbies."
"Um I think she was called Professor Sinistra? She was very nice, considering. My dad got a bit emotional."
"I wouldn't envy her that job. She teaches astronomy, I remember my brother complaining about her in his letters for the amount of homework she gave him. He's in sixth year." The sheer rate of words fired out of the girl's mouth was impressive. Ellie had to work hard to keep up.
Ellie opened her own trunk and took the carefully folded robes from the top. They seemed a bit ludicrous to her, but she supposed she'd get used to them. "Where should I go to get changed?" she asked, it was hard to stay shy around someone who insisted on talking so much to you as if you were an old friend.
"I'll show you. Don't worry. Are you looking forward to the sorting?"
"Professor Sinistra mentioned it, but I don't really know much about it."
They were now walking down the corridor, dodging older students who looked at them with vague curiosity mixed with a sense of superiority at their greater experience. Cowering first years were always a great ego boost.
"You'll be fine. Just avoid Slytherin." Fliss made a face at the back of a third or fourth year in a green tie who had barged past.
"What? Why?" It was hard to keep up, with people constantly pushing past, talking and laughing and staring.
"They're not the nicest. You're muggle-born, they might take offense."
"That my parents weren't wizards?" seemed a bit arbitrary, most people weren't wizards after all.
Fliss gave a shrug and a sigh. "Stupid I know, but there's no dealing with some people."
Ellie decided to continue regardless, "Um okay. What house do you want to be in?"
"Well my dad and brother were both in Gryffindor, so that would be nice." Fliss grinned "Where dwell the brave at heart and all that."
"I'm not very brave…" Fliss had to admit Ellie didn't have an aura of dynamism, she was rather like a mouse, small and quiet and quite sweet. She felt rather protective of her new pet.
"Well there's always Ravenclaw, they're the smart ones. Don't get on their bad sides though 'cause they really know how to hex. And Hufflepuff of course." The last house seemed rather an afterthought.
"What's Hufflepuff like?" Ellie's face was like an open book, all apprehension and a desperation to be liked. Fliss decided to be nice.
"Generally decent. Honest, hard-working, all that jazz." She waved her hand vaguely, almost hitting a small third year in the face. He gave her a dirty look, which went completely unnoticed.
"That wouldn't be too bad I guess."
"Sometimes the other houses look down on Hufflepuff a bit. Soft you know, but very loyal."
"Maybe I'll be a Hufflepuff." That sounded about right, unexceptional but not disliked.
"Well good luck to you. Just in here." Fliss indicated a small side room, and the girls went to change hurriedly. By the looks of it they were some of the last to do so.