Ashlinn's eyes widened as her and Rob passed through the barrier. She loosened her grip on him slowly and let go altogether as Justin and Caleb appeared on their side of the barrier. There were so many different new sights, sounds, and smells all around her. She looked around the platform.
It wasn't till Caleb nudged her did she focus on where she was. "Come on," he said walking towards where Justin and Rob were getting on the train. She hadn't noticed them walk ahead of her. She looked around once more before fallowing her brothers onto the train.
"Wait for me guys!" Ashlinn called, pulling Caleb along with her, trying to quickly catch up to her other two brothers on the crowded platform. Rob had kept on walking but Justin paused until his other two siblings had caught up
"Well if you weren't so distracted" Justin teased.
"How can Ash not be distracted Justin? She's ADD!" Caleb cried cheerfully ruffling his sisters hair much to her displeasure. Ashlinn pouted, smacking Caleb's hand away and fallowed the two closely.
Rob found them an empty compartment where they set their stuff down. They all went into the loo to change into their school robes. Caleb, Justin, and Rob had on their Hufflepuff robes, while Ashlinn had on her plain Hogwarts robes. She looked at her Brothers, Caleb and Justin putting on house quidditch pins and Rob putting on his prefect badge. She hoped she was sorted into Hufflepuff like they were. She wanted to be able to stay with her brother, not sure if she could make it through the school year alone.
The O'shea family was a close knit bunch. At least these four were. As it happened, they were the only four in there whole family to be witches and wizards. Apart from Ashlinn's three brothers, she also had two older sisters named Emily and Amy, and had once had another older brother named Braeden.
Ashlinn was so lost in her thoughts she jumped as someone tapped there compartment door. The two boys that were there laughed at her reaction and beckoned to Justin to come on. They also both wore Hufflepuff robes. Justin shrugged apolitically to his family and took his stuff to fallow his friends
"Come on O'shea!" The taller blonde on called while the shorter one echoed him
"Well I'm off to oversee these dimwits. I'll see you after the sorting Ash," he said and kissed Ash's head. "I'll try to make Jake and Blake stay out of trouble till we reach Hogwarts Rob." Calling over his should before the compartment doors closed fully.
After Justin left Caleb lounged across the bunch on one side of the compartment while Rob and Ashlinn sat on the other side, causally throwing witty banter back and forth. It was almost time for the train to start moving when Ravenclaw prefect opened their compartment door next. "Hey Rob there is a..." the girl paused for a moment looking at Ashlinn. She had short black hair and blue eyes and seemed strangely familiar. "Is this your sister?" she asked surprised.
He chuckled and nodded. "Yep," he said popping the 'p', "That's Ashlinn, Ashlinn this is Becky. She is one of my best friends." That's why she seemed familiar,Ashlinn thought. There was a picture of her and rob in his room.
"That's what I thought," smiled Becky. She extended her had to Ashlinn. "It's great to finally meet you, Rob talks none stop about you. He is such a worry wart." she said slyly.
Ashlinn smiled then giggled and shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you too," she said softly.
Becky looked triumphant. "HA HA HA!, Woopie!" she shouted making Ashlinn jump slightly. Rob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Caleb looked on amused and muttered something like "you can sure pick the weird ones Rob," Ro must of heard because Caleb received a foot to the shin as Becky continued celebrating. "I got her to smile and laugh! You lost the bet! Nener nener nener! HA I..." Becky didnt get to finish because Rob cut her off not wanting to explain the bet he had made on his little sister. In one of the many owls he exchanged with Becky over the summer, he had made a bet with the Ravenclaw, that she wouldn't be able to get the shy girl to laugh or smile the first time they met. Much to Rob's chargrin, he hadn't won.
"Why did you come here?" he asked looking slightly annoyed at this point. "You started saying something earlier but never finished."
Becky thought back for a moment, "Oh yeah," she drawled smileing brightly before plopping down on the bench that Caleb was lounging on, "There's a prefects meeting in the prefects cabin so come on!" she whined and dragged Rob away from his family. As soon as they were gone Caleb burst into laughter. Ashlinn smiled and shook her head and looked out her window at the platform.
There were many parents seeing their children off to this school. Why couldn't her parents accept her and her brother's fates. She remembered when Caleb got his letter when she was five. Up till the moment the owl came through the window, her parents absolutely adored Caleb, along with every one younger than him too. They only seemed to ignore and despise, Her older brothers Braeden, Rob, and Justin. Braeden...
She missed Braeden. It had been the day Caleb had gotten his Hogwarts letter that the accident occurred. The accident that killed Braeden and her little sister Kasey. Her dad was so mad that we had another "freak" in the family, as he had put it, that he hadn't been watching where he was driving. The card had drifted over and flipped into a ditch. The last thing Ash remembered was flying towards the roof. When she awake in the hospital she was the worst news you could tell a six year old.
* flash-back *
A young girl opened her eyes and all she saw were blobs and blurs. It gave her a head ache trying to focus on an thing and made her dizzy.
"mum?" she called out weakly. Her voice was soft and raspy. It hurt to talk.
"I'm here baby," replied a soft voice. The voice slid a pair of glasses on the young girls face. The world came back to focus then and she stopped squinting. She slowly looked at her surroundings. She was in a white bed inside a white room. She looked back up at her mum. She noticed the rest of her family standing behind her mum who was kneeling at the bed holding her hand. He dad's hand was on her mums shoulder. He was pretty beat up but nothing too serious. Rob and Justin stood behind them holding the twins hands. Their names were Emily and Amy. They both had dark red hair, like their fathers and freckles with green eyes. Those four hadn't been in the car with Dad, Braeden, Kasey, Caleb, and her...
Wait! Were are they? She though worriedly about her other siblings. She glanced franticly around the rest of the room. She gave a small sigh of relief to see Caleb standing behind Rob. He smiled sadly at her. He had a cast and sling with a black eye and a multitude of other cuts and bruises. She continued to look for the other brother and sister but she couldn't find them.
Her Dad noticed. "Stop looking for them they aren't here." he said somewhat emotionless.
The rest of her family flinched slightly. "You're not going to tell her are you?" her mum asked.
"And why shouldn't I Cynthia!" her father demanded angrily. He then faced back to Ashlinn. She shrunk into the bed slightly. "Braeden and Kasey are both dead." he said flatly. He turned around and left. As he left the room he called back, "you can thank the stupid freaks for that!"
Ashlinn's lip quavered slightly. "Mum, it's not true is it?" she croaked softly. She loved her big brother and little sister. Her mother said nothing, but she stood up and went out after her husband taking the twins with her. After her Mother left Rob came over and sat down on the edge of her hospital bed. He stroked his little sister's hair and wiped away her tears. Justin walked around to the other side of her bed and sat in the chair there. Caleb went over to stand at the foot of the bed not looking up at Ashlinn.
"Why?" she croaked. The older two looked at Caleb hoping he would speak, but he didn't. Justin sighed and answered instead.
"Kasey's side is the one that hit the ground. So was yours but Braeden was able to get you out...Braeden refuse treatment until you guys were treated first...by the time his ambulance got there..." He didn't finish but he didn't have to, even a six year old could tell what happened. Rob shot Justin a glare, "what?" replied Justin to the glare he was getting. Rob sighed and just comforted his sister was sobbing her heart out.
*end flash back *
When she got her Hogwarts acceptance letter her mum and dad shunned her like they did her brothers. Even the Twins ignored her after the letter arrived. She only had her brothers to comfort her now when she had night mares, when her parents verbally abused her, or when the kids at school teased her about her scar. It was her only reminder of the fateful accident. The accident she lived through. The accident her big brother died in. The accident where should of died. She killed him. That was always her conclusion.
Ashlinn absentmindedly rubbed the scar that ran across her stomach and across part of her back. They had started moving the middle of her flash back and were now racing threw the country side. Caleb saw her and sighed guessing what she was thinking about. "Ashlinn, it's not your fault. There was nothing you could have done," this was the same argument that they had had over a billion of times now.
She was about to retort when Rob walked in looking frazzled. "Hey guys, I have to patrol so I won't be sitting here for the rest of the ride." he said and Ashlinn frowned. She didn't want him to leave her too. Justin always left, so she was used to that but Rob always made sure he was close to her just in case.
"But," Rob continued, "These two will be sitting with you though." Rob let two other people, one girl and one boy into the compartment. They both had on plain black school robes so they both must have been first years too, like her.
The girl had shoulder length mosey brown hair and gray eyes. She had a mischievous smile plastered to her face. She was short and thin with pale skin. The cat has caught the mouse Ashlinn thought. She looked like a trouble maker but friendly enough.
The boy pretty much had the same facial expression as the girl did, but his was slightly guilty. He was slightly taller the Ash was. He had a mop of red hair on his face and a mass of freckles. He also seemed friendly.
"Caleb," he looked at the third year boy. "Please, I beg you please, that you make sure that these two don't make any more trouble." Caleb grin and nodded. "I cannot stress it enough that they stay here or in eye distance of you. I think Becky is going to curse them if you don't." He said warily. He hugged Ashlinn. He then walked out to patrol the train.
The two Kids laughed and sat down on the seats opposite of Caleb and Ashlinn. Caleb watched his brother disappear around a turn before talking. "Sooo," he drawled out. "What did you do to ol' Becky that was so bad?"
The two exchanged a look with each other before replying together. "Threw Dung bombs at 'er."
This cause Caleb to double over in laughter and Ashlinn to look on confused. When Caleb finally stopped laughing and calmed down enough to talk he propped his feet up on the seat across from him and next to the boy. "So what are your guys names?" he asked putting his hands behind his head.
"Well I'm Charlie Weasley, and this is my friend Nymphadora Tonks." The red haired boy replied motioning to himself and Nymphadora.
Nymphadora looked annoyed and added, "But you better not call me Nymphadora, it's just Tonks." she replied with a huff.
"Well I'm Caleb, like my brother said earlier, and this here is Ashlinn," he said simply and put an arm around her. "You two will be in her year this year."
"yeah-ya!" Said Tonks happily, "Where going to be best-est friends!" she threw open her arms hitting Charlie in the face.
"Hey!" cried Charlie elbowing her back, "Watch it" Tonks rolled her eyes at him. Ashlinn smiled in amusement.
"What houses do you think you'll be in?" Ashlinn asked talking for the first time.
"Gryffindor!" they answered together smiling.
"Oh, Well I want to be in Hufflepuff with my family." she admitted and Caleb fist pumped in the air.
"We can still be friends," put in Charlie.
"Yeah!" interjected Tonks enthusiastically.
They talked lightly and jokingly the rest of the way. Ashlinn really started to open up to them as they arrived at the station. The Three first years walked out of the Compartment and off of the train with Caleb in tow.
"F'rst 'ears 'fallow me!" called a giant man holding a lantern. Ashlinn's eyes widened and Caleb rolled his eyes and nudged her in the direction of her friends and the boats. Tonks and Charlie eagerly got on one of the boats. Ashlinn eyes the boat for a moment and climbed in after them.
"eek! I'm so excited!" Tonks squealed, oozing with excitement. She continued to rant on and on and on, as Ashlinn and Charlie merely smiled and nodded.
"Umm, can we join your boat," said a small voice. The three friends looked up to see a group of three girls.
Tonks jumped up almost tipping over the boat, "Sure why not!" she smiled.
"Tonks! Sit down you great buffoon! You're going to tip us," charlie said pulling her back down as the three other girls now warily climbed into the boat. Tonks started rambling again.
Ashlinn turned to the three that had joined them in the boat, "Hi I'm Ashlinn, and that's Charlie and Tonks," she said quietly motioning to her friends. "What's your names?"
The one with short hair answered, "I'm Aubrey, and this is Keeley," she said pointing to the short blonde haired one, "and that's Maura," she painted to the one with the short brown hair. They both waved. The rest of the ride there was mainly uneventful, besides the fact Tonks almost pushed Charlie into the lake. When they got there they all exited the boat and staid in a tight group as they walked up to the castle.