Chapter 2: Train to Hogwarts
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter, I only own the Original Characters within this series.
AN: Okay well I think I actually might need some help with this story; I'm having trouble keeping it interesting in the POV I have chosen. I normally don't ask for reviews, but I really need some opinions on how the story is flowing, the tone, and if the POV is working at least in this chapter, my next one seems a bit better but this one feels slightly stuck. Any tricks you've used that helped you would be great too! Thank You!
5/31/12- Well this chapter has been updated numerous amount of times and each time it get seems to get better and better. The flow of the chapter is finally to the point where I no longer worry about it, and POV seems to be good here too.
MAJOR UPDATES: 5/15/12,5/20/14
Hundreds of people bustled about her, some were saying goodbye to family members, others talked excitedly to their fellow students and friends they missed over the summer break. She swallowed nervously and grabbed her Uncle's hand; she held on tightly as she took in the sights around her. Two girls rushed passed her to catch up with another girl whom they hugged before they all squealed in excitement. There was a couple on her right who were snogging, something she really hadn't wanted to see, and hundreds of trunks and bird cages seemed filled the empty spaces, a cat or two stared hungrily at an owl.
She felt Remus squeeze her hand and glanced up at his weary face. The full moon had been hard on him, and as always, it had pained her and Emma to listen to his lonely cry. She glanced to the witch on her right and smiled. The young witch had been there her whole life, she watched her during full moons and made Wolfsbane potion for Remus, she was there for them every day. She practically was her mother, and Serenity knew she would miss her as much as she would miss her dear uncle.
"Are you ready Ren?" Emma had asked with a grin.
"As I'll ever be, I'm going to miss the both of you so much!" Serenity exclaimed as she let go of her Uncle's hand and hugged Emma tightly, "Take care of him for me Emma" she whispered.
Emma nodded as she swept back a piece of Serenity's hair from her face and kissed her forehead, "of course love you know I will" she whispered in response.
Serenity grinned at the blonde before she turned to her uncle, "oh Uncle Remus! I'll miss you! Promise to owl at least once a week!"
He just chuckled and nodded his head, "Serenity, you're going to be fine, and you will have so much fun that you won't even notice us not being there."
"I doubt that," she replied with a snort. With one last kiss and wave she followed the crowd of children onto the train.
She breathed deeply and tried to calm her nerves as she attempted to blend in with all the other students, most who were talking to their friends to catch up on summer events. Finally she spotted an empty car and hurried in, and closed the door behind her. She placed her satchel on the seat next to her and sat at the table so she could see out the window. She than leaned over to open up her bag and pulled out the book she brought to read on the train.
Serenity jumped as the train whistled its last call and quickly glanced out the window to see Emma and Remus as they stood near the edge of the platform and waved at the train as it prepared to depart. In a flash she had climbed onto her seat and opened the window as fast as she could; she waved and out to them that she loved them as the train jerk into motion and began to pull away from the station. She waited until their figures disappeared from her view before she turned back down into her seat, and almost jumped in fright again as she spotted a girl with dirty blonde, bushy hair, who continuously tried to get her attention though the compartment door window. The young girl bit her lip, as she took a deep breath and told herself everything would be just fine, she nervously got up and helped the girl enter the car.
"Oh thank you" the girl sighed as she breathed heavily before setting down a large satchel full of books, and sat down across from her.
"No problem" Serenity replied with a smile, she instantly took a liking to the girl who looked as though she should be disheveled and at the same time very put together, something that reminded her of Remus.
The other girl shook her lion's mane out of her face and reached out her hand towards her, "I'm Hermione Granger."
Serenity paused only slightly before she shook Hermione's hand, this was it, the big moment, "Serenity Black."
"Are you a first year here?" Hermione questioned without suspicion.
She almost sighed in relief that the Hermione didn't even question who she was. "Yes, and I'm so nervous!"
"Me too! I never thought anything like this was real before, but when I got the letter my parents and I were so excited."
"So you're muggle born then?"
"Yes and you?"
Serenity grinned, happy of her that the first friend she seemed to have made had no knowledge what so ever of her family history, if all students were this unaware it would make her life at school so much easier! "I'm half-blood, my father is a pure-blood and my mother was muggleborn like you, and my Uncle whom I live with, he's half-blood as well."
She watched the young girl in front of her process her words, she seemed very confident, a little too confident. Hermione fidgeted under her gaze and soon gave a defeated sigh before she glanced back up, "I'm worried, I mean I can do simple spells I've been practicing at home, and they are easy, but how do I know if I'm going to do well, I mean everyone has had experience for most of their lives and they know what to expect. I just have books and…"
"Hermione!" Serenity exclaimed and shocked the girl into silence. She giggled a little at the look on Hermione's face and shook her head, "If you can do simple spells I'm sure you're going to do fine, and as for you adjusting, well, I suppose it is good thing then that the first person you met is a half-blood isn't it? I know the best of both worlds, and I promise I'll help you out if you need it."
They smiled at each other as they both realized a great new friendship had begun to form.
The next few hours were filled talking and giggling as they tried to get to know one another; what books, music, movies and foods they both liked, as well as all the differences between the muggle and wizarding world that Hermione asked about.
"So are there other wizarding schools? I mean we can't be the only ones right?"
"Oh no! There are schools all over the world! Let's see, there is The Academy of Magic which is in France, Brazilian Wizarding School, Salem Institute of Magic is in New England, America, of course those are the only ones I know of, I'm pretty sure there are a few more, but Hogwarts as far as I'm concerned is the best of all of them."
"What house do you think you'll get?"
"Don't know" she shrugged "Anything except Slytherin is good enough for me, see most Slytherins are known for becoming dark wizards."
"Really?"
Serenity nodded, "yeah they say that there has never been a wizard who ended up in Slytherin that didn't go bad."
Hermione's face paled to a sickly white, "Oh dear! What if I get placed in there?"
She rolled her eyes a little before she gave her new friend a warm comforting smile, "Don't worry so much 'Mione you'll be fine, you're too nice to be mean." That and she's muggleborn, something no Slytherin ever was but Hermione didn't need to know that, at least not yet.
Hermione's cheeks turned pink and she giggled nervously, "Well, I hope we're at least in the same house."
Serenity broke out into a huge grin, "Me too."
Just then, their compartment door slid open, a gangly boy with a round teary face and shaggy brown hair peered in, "Have you seen a toad, I keep losing him!" he whimpered.
Serenity watched with faint amusement as the once unsure girl in front of her stood and an air of confidence once again breezed around her in full force.
"Oh, you poor dear! Don't you worry we'll help you find him. What's your name?"
"Neville Longbottom"
"I'm Hermione Granger and this is Serenity Black."
Serenity waved cautiously and noticed Neville waved back very carefully. At first she thought he knew the truth, but he didn't say anything, of course that didn't mean he didn't have his suspicions. With that in mind, she stood up from her spot, determined not to let his, or anyone else's hesitations influence what they thought of her or keep her as cautious as she had been all morning, and followed the other two into the train corridor.
"Why don't we split up Neville, You go ahead and go down that way and Hermione and I will go the other way."
He nodded still a little unsure, "I've already been down there" he admitted mournfully.
Serenity smiled and touched the arm of his robe lightly, "well maybe they'll have seen him this time. Don't worry Neville we'll find him."
Neville nodded and turned to go down the other corridor, she and Hermione shared a look and went in the opposite direction. After a few students gave negative responses, Serenity began to feel her hopes in helping Neville dwindle down.
"I'm starting to think his toad is gone" she admitted to Hermione.
"I know!" she groaned to her, "why do you think he has a toad anyway, I mean I understand what they were used for in the past, I read in Hogwarts; A History, but why on earth would anyone want a toad!"
Serenity snorted and swallowed down her laughter. "I know, they aren't popular at all! Most students get Owls or Cats, but toads don't even do anything! I mean, maybe his family couldn't afford anything more, or maybe they thought it would be easier for him to take care of. Emma has a cousin whose parents got him a toad because he has a habit to forget to take care of his animals and they figured he wouldn't get attached to the thing, that way when it died or ran away it would be less... heartbreaking for him. I don't think it worked though, if I remember correctly he still has it."
Hermione giggled, "I guess I understand, but a toad! I almost don't want to find it, the last time I saw one I screamed and jumped into my dad's arms!" Both girls giggled at the thought and then slowly calmed down as they continued their search. Finally, Hermione slid open the door to the last compartment in the carriage and peered inside, "Have either of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one."
Serenity stood next to her and peered into the carriage spotting two boys. The first seemed tall and gangly with bright red hair and freckles splattered on his face. The second boy seemed a little shorter with wild dark brown hair and striking green eyes that were slightly covered by glasses fixed with tape. She glanced at Hermione and followed her gaze to the redhead boy who held his wand in mid-air pointed towards a rat in his lap.
"Oh are you doing a spell? Let's see then," Hermione sniffed as she entered through the doorway and sat down in the seat across from them. Serenity blinked, her eyes wide in awe at the sudden change of her friend's attitude, she followed suit and silently sat down as the redheaded boy cleared his throat in preparation of the spell.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow; turn this stupid fat rat yellow."
She giggled as she watched the spark hit the rat waking it from his slumber only to promptly fall back asleep, she suspected the spell was fake mainly because any spell she heard Emma or Remus use was in Latin.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione asked skeptically. "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." She turned and faced the boy with the glasses, "for example, Oculus Reparo, there that's better isn't it." The boy pulled off his glasses and examined them in shock, all the while Hermione ignore him and continued to speak, "No one in my family is magic at all, it was ever a surprise when I got my letter, but I was so ever 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's enough. I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Serenity Black, and you are?"
Serenity choked back a laugh as Hermione said this very fast; it was clear to her that Hermione definitely was uncomfortable talking to boys, though the way Hermione's cheeks were faint with pink suggested it may just be one boy in particular. She desperately wanted to laugh instead she looked back at the two boys who glanced at each other, stunned and weary of them.
"Ron Weasley," the redhead muttered.
"Pleasure," Hermione responded with a slight sneer that caused Serenity to look at her in slight shock and even more in amusement as the pink on Hermione's cheeks seemed to grow, well, how interesting.
"Harry Potter," the other responded, and she turned her head back so fast at his words her neck almost hurt, her eyes caught his green ones.
"Really?" she asked slightly breathless, this was the savior of the wizarding world! She tried not to gape like an idiot, but it was really quite amazing, she never thought in her whole young life that she would ever meet the boy savior she had heard so much about. Said boy nodded and a faint red blush soon covered his cheeks, he moved his eyes away from hers and put his glasses back on.
Hermione's eyes widened. "Oh I know all about you! You were in a few extra books I read for some background reading."
"I am?" Harry asked slightly dazed.
"You didn't know? Goodness if it was me I woul…"
"What house do you hope to get?" Serenity asked in an attempt to interrupt the beginning of Hermione's new rant. "I'm hoping to get Gryffindor, my favorite uncle and mum were both in Gryffindor, but I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw. One of my friend's cousins, she was in Ravenclaw and well I've always looked up to her you know?" she paused and glanced at her watch and stood up, "Anyways it was nice meeting you, but Hermione and I need to continue to help Neville find his toad, and you probably should change into your robes I expect we'll be arriving soon." She waved to them and got up to leave.
Hermione stood to follow, before she suddenly paused for a moment before she turned back around towards Ron, "You have dirt, did you know, just there" she said and pointed to the left side of her nose. With that she walked passed a wide-eyed Serenity who gave the boy a small apologetic smile and decided that her friend must have found him cute, and just really didn't know how to talk to boys, quickly she followed Hermione out into the corridor, not sure what to say and extremely thankful that they caught up to Neville so quickly.
"Any luck?" Neville asked, with the most hopeful look in his eyes.
Both girls shared a frown and shook their head. "I'm sorry Neville" Serenity said.
Neville shook his head, "It's okay, I've lost him before," he said with a sigh, "unfortunately he always finds his way back. I just don't want to have to tell my grandmother I lost him again."
"Well if that's the case, maybe you'll find him before you have to let her know, you did say he always comes back" Hermione pointed out logically.
After finally they finally gave up the search they returned with Neville to their compartment, Serenity's stomach growled and she opened up her bag and grabbed some money Emma had given her for the train ride. "I'm going to catch up to the trolley lady for some chocolate, would either of you like some?"
Both Hermione and Neville shook their heads; Serenity shrugged and left their car once again. She found the trolley lady a little ways up, crowded around by a group of boys, two of which were identical twin redheads, who she instantly thought looked very much like Ron.
"Excuse me," she said as she slightly pushed through the crowd.
"Hullo, there is this your first year?" asked one twin.
"Must be" the other responded, "I would never forget a pretty face like hers."
Serenity felt her cheeks burn up, never before had a boy given her a compliment like that! Let alone two boys! The boys at primary school in her village only ever pulled her hair!
"I'm Fred Weasley, and this is my twin brother George."
"Weasley? Are you related to Ron?" That would explain the similarities.
"Awe did you meet ickle Ronniekins?" one of the twins, though she wasn't sure which one, asked.
"He's our brother" replied the other with a grin.
"Oh." Serenity nodded as she accepted the answer. "I'm Serenity Black."
The twins glanced at each other and Serenity fidgeted with nerves, one shrugged and the other nodded then both looked at her with identical grins and asked simultaneously "So Serenity which house do you hope to be sorted in?" and she grinned knowing they had accepted her despite suspicion and she realized then her Uncle Remus was right, it was going to be a great year.
