The next few hours passed quickly. After the run in with Potter or James, there were too many Potters, they had all retreated to the compartment and stayed their. Nobody bothered the other than the candy lady and the twins and their friends.
Sadly they eventually got around into the topic of their parents wishes.
"What house does your parents want you in?" Lyra asked. Natalia exchanged a look with Nate. "Well," she answered slowly. "Father wants all three of us together and in Ravenclaw of Gryffindor otherwise he threatened to take away our flying privileges." Scorpius looked shocked. "He threatened to take away your brooms? But you guys need to practice! I mean like, watch you guys get signed to some huge name team as first string chasers!"
Nate sighed. "So, we decided on Gryffindor. Ravenclaw's too boring. What did your guys's parents tell you?"
"Same deal, but our threat is no Hogwarts." Lyra answered. Everybody burst out laughing. Draco would never follow through. Never.
"CHOCOLATE FROGS! ZONCOS LICORICE WANDS! OVER HERE!" The candy lady yelled as she walked past, the sudden pattering of footsteps as people ran past to get candy. Scorpius and Lyra both gave the infamous Malfoy smirk. "It pays to befriend the house elves." Lyra said as she opened her bag. She pulled out a huge basket, filled to the top with delicious food. They all eagerly reached into it.
It soon became evident that the basket had a undetectable extension charm on it. Delicious smells drifted out of the basket as they ate. Natalia eagerly ate a tomato, mozzarella, basil, and pesto sandwich. She loved how the flavors mixed so elegantly. Next to her Nate tore into a flame men-yon and Nicoletta ate a steaming bowl of mac n cheese.
"Damn, I wish we had house elves instead of old Mrs. Nettle." Nicoletta said as they ate.
"Salazar Slytherin I know." Nate replied as he reached for a bottle of lemonade.
"Your house elves know how to cook." Natalia informed the twins. Lyra giggled. "If you want more just send them a mismatched pair of socks each. They'll send you food every holiday."
"Will remember." Natalia replied and tapped her head before grabbing another sandwich.
"You guys act as if you've been starved." Scorpius observed when Nicoletta finished off another huge bowl of mac n cheese, while Nate finished eating. Nicoletta rolled her eyes. "Mother is striving to get Nat and I married off. We can't go outdoors useless we are fully covered and we can only eat 1000 calories a day. Its torture." Nicoletta shuddered. "And it's only plain salads. nothing yummy."
"No wonder you two are so skinny! I thought it was just from so much quidditch!" Scorpius burst out, shocked.
"Nope." Natalia shook her head. "We both only weigh 52 pounds. We both need to eat up and get some muscle for quidditch season otherwise we are not making the team." After that they started a wild round of exploding snap.
"BAM!" Natalia's cards exploded and she shrieked as the door opened, revealing a prefect.
"What is going gone in…" He noticed the cards and Natalia's face covered in soot.
"Scourgify." He waved his hand and Natalia was once again clean. "Please try to not set the cabin on fire. The Weasley's already did and I would rather not have to put out another one." He walked back out the door.
"Wait, he used magic? He was like a… Fifth year!" Nate noticed. Scor's eyes got an evil glint in them. "You didn't know we can use magic on the train?" He asked innocently, dropping his wand from his sleeve to his hand.
"Protego!"
"Aguamenti!" A stream of water burst from Scor's wand and hit Nicoletta's shield.
"Muffilato!" Nate managed to get out between laughs so the prefects wouldn't hear them.
"Suadena!" Sparks blazed out of Natalia's wand and burned a hole in Lyra's jeans.
"Oh your going down for that!" Lyra shrieked and leaped across the compartment, tackling Natalia to the ground. They knocked over a lamp but it was fixed with a quick reparo. They dueled for quite a while, trying out spells they have learned of. Eventually Scorpius disarmed them, with a quick "Expelliarmus!" He handed them back and Natalia ran her fingers over the smooth wood. Her wand was 12 inch, had unicorn, thestral and pegasus hair core and was made of unknown wood. According to Ollivlander who had made their wands, the three wands were very special.
The core types didn't exist together in any other wand. Ollivlander's great great great grandfather had made them as an experiment. One hair was plucked from a thestral, one from a unicorn. He broke each hair into three pieces. One piece of unicorn hair, one piece of thestral hair went into each wand. But a third hair had to be given. The third hair came from a pegasus, a creature known for being good and bad. His great great great grandfather claimed to have put the wand together, and watched it form itself. He repeated the process each time, and each time he was given a beautiful cream wand with ornate details on the handle. But each time, the details were different. On Natalia's wand they were feathers. On Nicolette's they were diamonds and on Nate's they were vines. Very few ever noticed the difference.
The rest of the ride went peacefully, and in no time they were changing into their robes and getting of the train. From her shoulder Ni, her nickname for her cat, mewed softly. Natalia reached up with her hand, and stroked her with a finger softly before whispering.
"Go to the castle Ni. Make sure my bags are good okay?" She got a high mew in response before Ni jumped off, trotting away with her tail held high. Natalia gave a soft chuckle before schooling her face to one void of emotion. She couldn't wear her heart on her sleeve. She took a deep breath before speaking in her mind.
"Ready to go?"
"Ready." Nate answered.
"Ready." Nicoletta echoed Nate.
They joined the sea of students, pushing across to the side until they made it over to a tall man. They stood towards the front, their heads poking out in the crowd. She felt stares on her back. She wasn't sure if it was because of her veela blood, or because of her name. Nott wasn't a common household name, Malfoy was though and the twins stood to her right. Natalia finger her wand in her sleeve softly, running her hands along the feathers. She was always ready for any danger, something she prided herself on. Nicoletta stood to her left, and on Nicoletta's left stood Nate. Lyra stood next to her and on her other side was Scor. The boys flanked them for protection, their eyes briefly scanning the crowd for any danger. Natalia knew they were not well liked if recognized and they had been attacked in Diagon Alley before, in fact the most recent one was when they were getting their school supplies. Her father had quickly hexed the attacker before turning him in. Why the boys had purposefully put her in the middle, she didn't know. She could protect herself the best out of the girls. That was the one difference between her and Nicoletta. She could fire hexes like no problem while Nicoletta was a bit slower. Not by much, but by enough for Natalia to win the duel. Fractions of a second.
Natalia glanced over at her family's faces. They were all calm and silent. Even a accomplished aruor would never guess. It was known as the pureblood mask. Quietly Natalia returned her eyes to the man in front of her as the rest of the first years walked in.
"Who is he?" She asked.
"Don't you know?" Nicoletta responded, even in her head she sounded surprised.
"He looks like Rubeous Hagrid but he had brown eyes."
"It is Hagrid. He just as blue eyes at the moment because of a burst of accidental magic from a family friend a couple weeks ago. It was all over the newspapers last week." Nate explained patiently.
"Your lucky you get to read the newspaper." Nicoletta replied.
"Yah, fashion magazines are boorrinng." Natalia agreed. Their mother refused to let the girls read the newspaper.
"It's mostly about the Wotter's and quidditch. Nothing special."
"HOW IS QUIDDITCH NOTHING SPECIAL?" Natalia shrieked in her head.
"Calm down calm down. It's just the rankings. The real statistics are in the quidditch magazines mum lets you read." Nate attempted to assure her.
"Its not fair." Nicoletta whined. "It still had the most recent rankings. I have to worm the information out of Father."
Suddenly Natalia felt something pierce her in the back. She turned faster than ever and has her wand firmly clutched in her hand in seconds. A girl with plain brown hair looked at her, wand in hand. "Something wrong veela?" Natalia flicked her wand. A powerful wind blew the mud into her face. "Careful." She growled before turning back around, flipping her hair as she turned, letting the boys ogle it. The girl would quickly be on their bad side. She smirked before turning back to her conversation.
"Are their any Wotter's in our year?"
"Yep. Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. Don't you pay attention to the social standing books mother gives us?" Nicoletta asked.
"No." Natalia retorted.
"Clearly." Nate added, earning him a whack on the head.
"Ahem." Hagrid cleared his throat and Natalia turned her attention to him. "Time to go down to the boats." He led the way down the rocky path, nobody followed. Shrugging Natalia went first. She glanced down at the beaten path. Little pieces of granite littered the path, it was going to be slippery.
"Watch out it slippery." She warned her siblings as she started down. She slid down the first part on her feet, nearly losing her balance but she didn't wave her arms or do anything horrendous. She carefully walked on the flat ground before picking up pace as she figured out how to grip the ground with her black converse. She heard a few shrieks as some people slid down the first part but she knew her family was fine.
"Bloody hell, how did the veela's do this?" She heard somebody grumble from the back. She followed Hagrid carefully as they made their way down the cliff. She slid a few more times but didn't fall. After a couple minutes they made it to the dock. She glanced at the water. Waves were crashing against the cliff sending up spray. A storm was rolling in.
"Hurry now! We need to beat the storm! We got new boats so its five to a bat now! Five to a boat!" Hagrid called out. Natalia stepped in the nearest boat, it was at the back of the fleet. Scorpius helped Lyra in and they were followed by Nate and Nicolette.
Natalia shivered and wrapped her cloak around her tighter as other first years walked past them quickly. Once everybody got into the boats it was beginning to drizzle.
"Anybody remember the water repelling spell?" She asked. They all shook their heads. Nobody remembered it.
"When I say three push your boat off the docks!" Hagrid yelled over the thunder. "One! Two! Three!" Scorpius and Nate heaved them off the dock quickly as a swell threatened to flip them. Natalia gripped the side of the boat hard and braced herself as Nate and Scorpius both gripped Nicolette and Lyra. The one downside to being the strongest was you had to fend for yourself. Swell after swell came and buckets poured from the sky. Her fingers ached and she shivered while clutching her wand to start warm. She had only read about DADA, not charms. She was beginning to regret the decision. The storm continued to get worse as they crossed the middle of the lake.
Suddenly a giant swell appeared and Natalia reached out to grnabthe side of the boat too late. She fell out, cold water dousing her. She screamed just before she went under. The cold water sent tingles across her skin. Her cloak weighed her down as she fought to the surface. She shrugged it off before bursting to the surface, another swell crashing down over her head. Send ducked down desperately before kicking back up. She couldn't find the boats. She let out a groan, that turned into a scream when she felt something tickle her foot. Before she could identify it, something wrapped around her waist and took off swimming, holding her above the water. She looked down. A giant, black, squid held her, racing below the water. Once the boats came back into view it dropped her and swam away. She fell back into the water and clutch her wand before swimming for the boats. It took her a moment to find hers as she fought over the swells. Eventually she gripped the side and swung back into the boat, shivering like mad. She looked down at her skin. It was tinged blue. Next she looked at her siblings and cousins. They all had their heads down, gripping the sides of the boat. They never knew she had been gone. She huddled back down as well until they docked again.
"Natalia your drenched! Where's your cloak?" Lyra looked at her in shock. Natalia shrugged. "I fell in. My cloak…" She walked around to the back of the boat. It was hooked onto the side. "Is right here." Lyra continued gaping at her before shaking her head. "Oh dear."
They fell in at the back of the first years this time, being led up to the castle. Natalia shivered and her teeth chattered. It was freezing out. Especially after being soaked to the bone. She looked at her reflection in a window as they passed. Her skin was still tinged blue. It had an odd effect on her. It made her dark blue hair glow even more and her eyes pop.
They were lead into a small room and told to get into a line. After some shuffling and more shivering on Natalia's part they got into one.
"They all here Hagrid?" A tall, frail looking woman strode into the room. A pin on her chest said 'headmistress'".
"Aye Professor Mcgongall." Hagrid responded. "One of the Nott triplets and Rose Weasley fell in but otherwise they're all good." When she was mentioned she saw the headmistress's eyes glide over her siblings before stopping and resting on her.
"Alright." The headmistress moved her gaze over everybody. "I will lead you into the Great Hall where you will wait until your name is called. When it is we will put the sorting hat on you and it will determine your house. Go to whatever banner has your house's name on it. Understood?" They all nodded. There was no saying no to this formidable woman.
"Follow me." Somehow she ended up at the front of the line when she had been aiming for the back. She sighed and followed the headmistress out into the Great Hall. She had put her cloak on again earlier when they had walked into the building. She shook her blue hair out of her face as the headmistress gestured for her to stop and hold the line. She stopped and turned to face the crowd. A few locked gazes with her before flitting on to the next.
"Remember, Gryffindor only." Nate reminded them.
"Gryffindor."
"Gryffindor."
Natalia kept on her mask, not letting her emotions be shown as the sorting started.
"Jack Adams!" A nervous looking boy with dirty blonde hair sat on the stool and a tall, willowy blond teacher sat at a ratty looking black on his head.
"Hufflepuff!" The boy jumped off the stool smiling and walked over to a table filled with yellow.
"Rachel Bulstrode!" A short and skinny girl with pale skin and plain brown hair sat on the stool. Rachel was from a pureblood family the Nott's often visited. However, the children were stuck up brats and the triplets despised visiting.
"Slytherin!" No surprise there.
"Leann Coal!" A teacher called out.
"Ravenclaw!"
"Lola Ever-Heart!"
"Hufflepuff!" The process went on, person after person kept going up, and being called to a table. Eventually the clapping died down and Natalia stared vacantly ahead.
"Lyra Malfoy!" Natalia returned her attention to the sorting hat as Lyra walked up the steps, her long white hair swishing behind her. There was a long pause before the hat decided. "Gryffindor!" Stunned silence filled the hall. A Malfoy in Gryffindor? Natalia focused their task. One in Gryffindor, four more to go.
"Scorpius Malfoy!" This time whispers filled the hall. Twins? Scor easily walked up the stairs. He was used to stares. Natalia watched with dread as Scor waited for his answer. Finally a shout came. "Gryffindor!" More silence as Scor sat down next to Lyra. Natalia was up soon.
"Avery Moon!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"Natalia Nott!" Natalia briskly climbed the stairs, her palms a bit damp. She let her robes billow behind her. She had to get Gryffindor. She sat down neatly on the stool and the hat was put on her head.
"So, a Nott. I was wondering when you would get here." The hat said in her mind, like her siblings did when they were having a telepathic conversation.
"Huh, a triplet. You guys are telepaths. Interesting. Well, what house do you want in?"
"Gryffindor." Natalia replied without skipping a beat. She wasn't going because her father had ordered her to. It was because it seemed like the most fun. Hufflepuff wouldn't suit her, she wasn't cheerful. She wasn't selfish either to be in Slytherin and she didn't enjoy learning like a Ravenclaw. As if the hat could hear her thoughts, as it probably could, it agreed.
"Yes, you are right. You belong in Gryffindor, with you siblings." The hat paused before speaking aloud. "Gryffindor!"
The hat was lifted off her head and she happily walked down to Scor and Lyra. They both grinned as she took a seat across from them, her blue hair still dripping from falling in.
"Come on guys, Gryffindor." She prayed for her siblings.
"Nathaniel Nott." A gasp escaped from the crowd as Nate confidently walked up the steps. She heard whispers around her. "Another set of twins?"
"No look, there is another blue haired girls still standing."
"This is weird."
"He is sooo hot." A girl sitting at the hufflepuff table sighed.
"He's a year younger!" Her friend replied.
"That doesn't matter when were fifth years." The first girl pointed out.
Nate sat on the stool and the hat barely touched his head before screaming "Gryffindor!" Nate gave a grim smile as he sat down next to her.
"I think you convinced the hat to let us all into Gryffindor." He told her quietly. She nodded in reply as the teacher called Nicolette. "Nicolette Nott!"
"They're triplets?" A voice asked surprised.
"The Nott's already have a pair of twins in the fifth year!"
"Do any of you read the paper?" A voice asked in disgust. "It wall over the front cover today. The Nott's have twins named Noel and Nolan in fifth year Gryffindor, triplets in first year who are mostly likely going to be Gryffindor names Nathaniel, Nicolette and Natalia and another pair of triplets that are ten, coming next year named Nika, Nick, and Nathan."
"Thats a lot of n's." Somebody pointed out as the sorting hat was put on Nicolette's head. Just as it did with Nate it screamed "Gryffindor!" the moment it touched the top of her head. As Nicolette happily skipped over Natalia let out the breath she had been holding. They were fine. They had their brooms and they were together.
"We get to keep our brooms!" Nicolette shrieked in their heads.
"We get to eat more food!" Nate shrieked in reply.
"Were aliiiiivvvvveee!" Natalia sang.
"When do you think try outs are?" Nate asked as Tara Ome was placed into Ravenclaw.
"I don't know. Do you think there is going to be three open chaser spots?" Nicoletta responded thoughtfully.
"I hope so because if on of you don't get on then I am not on the team." Natalia said.
"They are going to have two teams. Remember?" Nate told them.
"What?"
"First years are going to have their own team for their house while the older kids play in the normal divisions. Something about learning 'teamwork'."
"And how do you know this?" Natalia asked.
"Newspaper."
"NOT FAIR!" Nicolette shrieked like she had earlier.
"CALM DOWN! YOU CAN READ THE BLOODY PAPER HERE!" Nate roared back.
A loud screaming filled their ears and Natalia shot back to the outside instead of her thoughts.
"Whats going on?" She asked Scor. He rolled his eyes. "Albus Potter got placed into Gryffindor. Big deal. We didn't get a very warm welcome."
Natalia watched a boy with coal black hair sit down next to the boy she had dueled on the train. Fantastic. If he was anything like the boy she had dueled she would be having the time of her life for the next seven years. She snorted and turned her attention back to her conversation.
"So, do you think we are going to have the same classes?"
"Duh. Were in the same house." Nicolette responded.
"Are we going to help each other out with homework?" Nate asked.
"Of course. I get transfiguration and DADA." Natalia called.
"And I call charms and potions." Nicolette replied.
"So, that leaves me with History of Magic and what?" Nate asked.
"Herbology." Natalia and Nicolette replied at the same time.
"What about the practical tests?" Nate asked.
"We can all learn that, we gifted. Splitting is just for homework and written." Nicolette suggested.
"You two figure it out. We all know I can only talk quidditch." Natalia replied with a thin smile. It was known in her family that she could't make decisions but could decide anything quidditch related split second.
Roars erupted around them again. Natalia gave a exasperated sigh and turned around to the Malfoy's.
"What now?"
"I dunno know. We were talking." Lyra replied. Before Natalia could sigh again a girl with firetruck red hair sat down beside her.
"Hi! That's me their cheering about. I hate it though. Rose Weasley." The girl extended a hand for her to shake. Natalia took it out of shock. Before she could introduce herself the girl kept talking. "Your the Nott that hexed James on the train aren't you? Good job, he's a prat." Natalia blinked. "How can you tell me and Nicolette apart?"
"Oh, don't worry other's won't be able to. I am just super observant. For instance, you have a slightly wider stance and are more independent than your sister. You tend to stand with more hostility and you have a habit of gazing over the crowd for any danger every couple minutes. You also have a better poker face."
The triplets stared at her. "You are observant." Nate finally said. "Well, shall we watch the rest of the sorting?" The girl giggled and turned back to the sorting. No more were sorted into Gryffindor. When they had been talking some people had joined them, and they introduced themselves over dinner.
"I'm Bella Stryker." The fifth girl in gryffindor said. She had dark brown hair, tan skin and hazel eyes. Something about her made Natalia instantly like her. Maybe it was the feverish light behind those eyes, craving adventure or the way she made sure anybody she didn't like came near her. Bella wasn't the thinnest girl, but she wasn't fat. Instead she was clearly muscle. Her legs were well defined from running and she had rock solid abs. However, she had no arm muscle which Natalia found funny.
"What sport do you play?" She asked Bella.
"I'm a muggle born." She explained. "I play soccer, I was one of the best players for my age over in America. I can't wait to ride a broom!"
"America?" Rose echoed Natalia's thoughts.
"I was born here in England but my parents moved to California soon after I was born. I decided to come here instead of Llevermore."
"Thats… Interesting." Lyra supplied for them all. Bella shrugged. "It's just life for me I guess." Suddenly Nicolette's head snapped to the side and her fingernails dug into Natalia's skin. Gossip. Nicolette had a talent for finding it.
"Merlins pants." She breathed. Natalia followed her gaze. Noel and Nolan stood with their friends on one side of the table while Potter and a few others stood on the other side.
"I refuse Potter." Noel snarled.
"Just once? Go out with me?" Potter whined in response. Natalia stared. She had never seen Noel get so worked up. Natalia and Nika were the girls of the family with the most veela, and the biggest temper. Noel was the calmest, always had her cool. Even earlier on the train.
"Potter." Noel warned, her eyes beginning to turn gold. Natalia felt her eyes begin to burn as well. Shoot. This was not good.
"Your beautiful when your eyes turn gold." James sighed. Nolan whipped out his wand before gripping Noel's elbow. He growled something in her ear and Natalia felt the gold in her eyes vanish. All of the triplets visibly relaxed. It was hard to control the veela in them when it was a family member that got worked up.
"Must I hex you? I will gladly have the triplets do it. I can't bear to touch such filth."
"Why? Because your a pureblood?" One of James's friends taunted. Natalia instantly stood, her own wand shining brightly in her hand. "Actually, were half bloods." She called before walking down the row to stand by Noel.
"What?" James cried shocked.
"Dude. Were part veela. How the hell did you not know that?" Nolan growled in response. James desperately switched tactics. "Need a first year to defend you? Pity Nott."
Five wands were drawn and five spells were shot. All five of those spells hit their mark. All spells were jelly legs. Potter collapsed to the ground. Natalia smirked before walking back to her seat and sitting back down, triumph flooding through her.
"You know." Bella started. "I think you'll be a good roommate." Natalia grinned. Maybe this wasn't going to be too bad after all.