Uncle Vernon had taken one look at her ticket and laughed himself silly. Then he offered to drop her off at the station and told her not to come back until next summer. Primrose nervously wandered with her cart until she found Platform 9, and then next to it… Platform 10. I knew it, she thought wildly. It was just a joke, a cruel joke, and the books are all fake, and the wand is battery operated-
"-packed with muggles, of course."
Her head whipped around so quickly that her neck cracked. There, approaching the platforms, was a family of blazing ginger hair. The woman who was talking, apparently the mother, was herding five children of varying ages, pausing now and then to scold one - particularly a set of identical twins. As Primrose watched, the woman sent the oldest three children… somewhere. They had gone somewhere, as they weren't there anymore, but she hadn't been able to see where they went or how they did it. She hurried forward as she saw the woman talking to the fourth child, a tall, gangly boy with a long nose.
"Excuse me?"
The woman whirled around in surprise. "Oh! Yes, dear?" Her eyes took in the huge, worn clothing and tatty trainers, and Primrose shifted uncomfortably.
"It's just," Primrose stuttered. "How - how do I-?"
"How do you get onto the platform?"
Primrose nodded in relief. The woman smiled at her as if she was one of her children.
"Not to worry, dear, this is Ronald's first time too!"
The tall boy waved at her, smiling shyly. The woman drew her close and pointed her in the direction of a brick wall between the platforms. "Now, all you have to do is run straight through that barrier. Best to do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."
Seeing Primrose's disbelief, she directed Ronald to go first. Primrose gaped as he ran straight at the wall and disappeared through it.
"There, now, you next dear!" The woman gave her a gentle push.
Primrose took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and ran at the wall, fully expecting to be splattered against it. Only, when she opened her eyes, she was in a completely different place! When the boy, Ronald, gestured for her to get out of the way, she dragged her eyes away from the great red steam engine and leapt to the side just in time for the woman and her last child to come through.
She nodded gratefully at Ronald as the woman went about making sure none of her children were missing anything. Then, she pushed her cart through the crowd of children over to the giant red train. It was tough work getting her trunk off of the cart, and even tougher trying to wrestle it onto the train, especially as she was still sore from the punishment she'd got for the tail Hagrid had given Dudley.
"Want a hand?" A voice asked. Primrose turned around and found the ginger-haired twins from before.
"Yes, please," she panted, helping them maneuver it onto the train and into a compartment. When it was finally put away, Primrose pushed her hair out of her eyes and stood up straight to thank them.
"What's that?" One of them asked, pointing at her forehead.
Primrose flushed, realizing they had seen her scar. She still wasn't used to how fascinating people seemed to find it. "It's a scar," she told them, tilting her head so her curly hair curtained her face.
"You're not-"
"You are!"
"Aren't you?"
"What?" Primrose said blankly, trying to keep up with their disorganized twinspeak.
"Primrose Potter!" they chorused.
"Oh, her. I mean, yes. That's me."
The twins gawked at her for a moment before snapping to attention as their mother called them. When they had left the compartment, Primrose settled down on a seat to watch the platform. The red haired family was gathered just outside her window, and the twins excitedly hopped over.
"Guess who we've just met on the train!"
Primrose leaned back so they couldn't see her through the window, feeling her face flush again.
"You know that girl with black hair?"
"The one who got on the platform with you?"
"Guess who it was!"
"Who?" their mother questioned, clearly used to their speech patterns.
"Primrose Potter!"
"Oh mum!" the little girl squealed. "Can I get on the train and see her? Oh, mum, please!"
"You've already seen her, Ginny. Good heavens, no wonder she was by herself! And she was ever so polite when she asked how to get to the platform!"
"Do you think she remembers You-Know-Who?"
"I forbid you to ask her, Fred!" the woman said sternly. "Poor dear has enough to deal with, I'll not have you reminding her of that on her very first day of school!"
A little late for that, Primrose thought wryly as she tuned out the rest of their conversation. It seemed she was destined to be freakish in the magical world, too. She cracked open her Potions textbook and began to read chapter five. She had read through almost all her textbooks, but she kept going back to Potions. It reminded her of cooking, which was pretty much the only thing Primrose was good at (besides cleaning and gardening and being freaky). It was certainly much more interesting than cooking, though, as potions were magical. Primrose had never seen a pot roast change a person into another person!
The compartment door slid open abruptly, and Primrose found the youngest boy of the ginger family hesitating in the doorway. "Er, all the other compartments are full. Do you mind…?" He gestured to the seat across from her.
Primrose put down her book. "Not at all," she hurried to assure him.
The boy sat down, shifting a bit and eyeing her forehead. "Do you really have the… the scar?"
Primrose tilted her head so her hair fell away from her face.
"Woah!" the boy exclaimed. "Wicked! Er, I'm Ron Weasley, by the way."
Primrose shook his hand. "I'm Primrose Potter." She hesitated, then asked, "Are all your family wizards?"
"Mostly," Ron said, squinting in thought. "I think we've got a distant cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."
"So you must know a lot about magic already," Primrose commented, fascinated.
"I guess so. I heard you live with muggles. What are they like?" Ron asked curiously.
Primrose made a face. "Horrible. Mind you, not all of them are, just my aunt and uncle and cousin. I wish I had three wizard brothers."
"Five," Ron said glumly. "The oldest two, Bill and Charlie, are already out of school. Having loads of older brothers isn't all that great, either, because I get all their hand-me-downs. Like this," he pulled a grey lump out of his pocket. "Percy got an owl from Dad for being Prefect, so I got his old rat."
Primrose leaned forward to look at it. The rat was obviously very old, as it was very fat, and its fur was very thin. Ron poked it, but all it did was shift over and go back to sleep.
"His name's Scabbers, and all he does is sleep. Wish I'd gotten an owl, only we couldn't aff-" Ron suddenly went red and quiet, as if he'd said too much.
"Before I found out about Hogwarts, I didn't have any money," Primrose told him. "Aunt Petunia always just gave me Dudley's old clothes." She plucked at her old, grey t-shirt and made a funny face at Ron, who laughed a bit.
Primrose and Ron got on very well after that. When the snack trolley came by, Primrose bought loads of sweets, and the two kids shared them. Ron taught her all about Bertie Bott's beans, and Chocolate Frogs, and Quidditch. They were just debating about a grey bean that Primrose thought was pepper and Ron thought was mold, when the compartment door slid open.
The blonde boy from Madam Malkin's stood in the doorway, flanked by two huge boys who reminded Primrose of Dudley. "They're saying all up and down the train that Primrose Potter is in this compartment," he said imperiously. "Is it you, then?"
Primrose wanted to ask him if he saw any other girls in this compartment, but only nodded. "Yes, that's me."
He offered her his hand as if it was made of silver. "Draco Malfoy."
Ron snorted, and the boy rounded on him, his face going red. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
Ron and Primrose both jumped up, and Primrose saw that Ron was even more red than Malfoy.
"You'll soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You wouldn't want to get involved with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held his hand out again, smirking confidently at her.
"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks," Primrose said through gritted teeth.
Malfoy's face went red again as he dropped his hand. He seemed to be trying to think of something to say, and when he couldn't, he stormed out of the compartment, nearly bumping into a girl with frizzy hair and buck teeth.
The girl huffed, clearly offended, then turned to Primrose and Ron. "You weren't fighting, were you?"
She sounded incredibly scandalized. Ron and Primrose glanced at each other and Ron shook his head.
"Good. Now, have either of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one."
"Sorry," Primrose said, settling back onto the seat.
The girl's eyes focused on her, then widened. "Holy cricket! You're Primrose Potter! I've read all about you!"
She chattered on while Primrose thought about the fact that there seemed to be books written about her. Finally, the girl stopped and took a breath. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. And you are?" she asked Ron, grimacing at him as he took a huge bite out of a chocolate frog.
Ron cleared his throat. "Ron Weasley," he managed.
"Pleasure," Hermione said, not looking very pleased at all.
Hermione talked at them for a while longer before leaving the compartment with a stern command to put their school robes on. Primrose and Ron looked at each other, a little dazed.
"Mental," Ron said.
Primrose hadn't known exactly what to expect of Hogwarts, but it was certainly more brilliant than anything she could have come up with. They'd ridden in boats across a huge lake, and the view of the bright castle against the night sky had sucked all the breath out of her. Of course, that was nothing compared to the Great Hall, which had a bewitched ceiling. Primrose's eyes kept slipping up to look at all the stars.
When her name was called, she dragged her gaze away from the sky to timidly approach the stool. The Sorting Hat was placed on her head, and she felt the urge to giggle when it slid halfway down her face.
Go ahead, it is rather amusing.
Primrose jumped at the sudden voice in her head.
As is that reaction.
Primrose felt an odd sensation, like the hat was shuffling through her brain, only she didn't feel uncomfortable or hurt.
Ah, the hat said. Plenty of courage, I see. A fair amount of cleverness, as well. She thought about how she often talked in circles to Dudley to distract him until she could run away. The hat chortled. Yes, and quite sly too, I see. Hmm, loyalty in spades, though entirely too stubborn to do well in Hufflepuff. Not quite driven to do well in school, either, though that's through no fault of your own. Not Ravenclaw, then. So, either Gryffindor or Slytherin.
Not Slytherin, please.
Are you sure? You could be great in that house, you know - it's all here.
She thought about being in the same house as Draco Malfoy and just stopped herself from shuddering - she did not want another Dudley.
Ah, yes, completely understandable. Slytherins do have a nasty habit of putting their foot in it. Something they have in common with Gryffindor, actually. Surprised, are you? They're rather alike - two sides of the same coin, you know. Quick to anger and proud, the lot of them. Well, if you're sure, better be -
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Primrose hurried to the Gryffindor table amidst deafening applause. The Weasley twins were shouting, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
Ron was soon sorted into Gryffindor as well, just as he'd predicted, and they grinned at each other as he sat down across from her. After Blaise Zabini was sorted, the feast began. Primrose was completely gobsmacked by all the different foods, and she ate as much as she could, seeing as the Dursleys weren't there to stop her. At one point, as her eyes were sweeping around the hall for what must have been the twentieth time, her eyes fell upon the teacher she had met at the Leaky Cauldron.
He was hesitantly talking with the teacher next to him, and Primrose didn't blame him for being timid. The man was dressed all in black, with black hair, pale skin, and a frightening expression. As if he'd heard her thoughts, his black eyes snapped in her direction and locked on her. She flinched as her scar stung terribly. She clapped a hand to her forehead, and Ron tilted his head.
"Alright, Prim?"
She lowered her hand as the pain seemed to fade, and quirked a smile at Ron, who had just given her her first ever nickname. "Just a bit of a headache."
She turned to Percy, who was Ron's older brother and seemed to know even more than Hermione. "Percy? Who is that man in the black robes?"
Percy adjusted his glasses and looked where she indicated. "Oh, that's Professor Snape - he's the head of Slytherin as well as the Potions professor. Try not to get on his bad side, as he's got a nasty temper. He's terribly biased against Gryffindor, though, so a more apt piece of advice, I suppose, would be: try not to get any more on his bad side."
Primrose pondered this. She'd really been looking forward to Potions, but if Professor Snape was as bad as Percy said, there didn't seem to be much hope that she would enjoy that class. She sighed. She supposed she could pick a different favorite subject.
There were six first year girls in Gryffindor, and Primrose was surprised that all their belongings fit comfortably into the same dorm.
"It's a charm," Hermione Granger told her. "Hogwarts automatically accommodates for the amount of students in each year."
Besides Primrose and Hermione, there were two girls who already seemed to be friends - Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Lavender had mousy brown hair, blue eyes, and a confident personality. Parvati, an Indian girl with long, shiny black hair, was a bit more quiet, but still giggled with Lavender when they found out that their beds were next to each other.
A girl with chocolate brown hair and blue eyes introduced herself to the room as Fay Dunbar and immediately asked if anyone else liked Quidditch. A girl with auburn plaits and hazel eyes smiled sheepishly and said that the sport was a bit too rambunctious for her.
"Really? I think it's the greatest sport in the world! But to each their own, I guess," Fay said amiably.
The girl grinned. "Good to know. I'm Sally-Anne Perks."
The girls got settled in and started changing into their pajamas. Primrose went to change in the loo, and Lavender asked her if she was shy.
"Er, a little, I guess."
"That's alright," Fay told her. "I'm only comfortable changing in front of other people because I want to be a famous quidditch player. They have to share a locker room with their team, you know."
Parvati shrugged. "I've always shared a room with my sister, so getting undressed in front of you guys doesn't really bother me."
After a bit more time spent chatting, everyone climbed into bed. Primrose immediately pulled her curtains closed and curled up, still feeling a bit paranoid about the marks on her back.