The platform was packed. There was barely any room to breathe, let alone run in.
"I wonder why the platform is so packed this year…" Sirius said out loud. I cleared my throat behind him and he seemed to remember. "Oh, yeah, now I remember. That weird Girl-Who-Disappeared is supposed to be coming this year."
I glared at him and jabbed my elbow into his back, which was a very good shield to the other people. For one of the first times, I thanked my dad for being on the smaller side.
"Behave, children," Uncle Remus scolded.
"Now, both of you have a good term. We don't want any letters from the teachers talking about how you decided to blow up more toilets or something. At least, not one every week," Auntie Tonks compromised.
"They are too much like the troublemakers in the families to not get into some trouble…" Uncle Remus agreed.
Sirius and I rolled our eyes before hugging them good-bye and hurrying onto the train. We almost got onto the train when we heard "Hey! There she is!"
"Run!" I shouted to Sirius before running onto the train myself, not even looking back to see how many people were following. Sirius ran after me and we went to a compartment towards the back of the train.
"Something tells me this will get annoying fast," Sirius commented like one would comment on the weather.
I stared at him incredulously. "Will? You aren't annoyed yet?"
"Of course not. Right now, it's amusing to see you freak out so much whenever someone notices you. Just wait until the sorting tonight," Sirius said.
"Speaking of the sorting, what happens? How do they sort you?" I asked, hoping he would tell me even though both of his parents refused to answer me when I asked them.
"You are going to have to find out yourself. In the meantime, we could look for a couple of my friends," Sirius suggested.
"Fine, but I'm wearing a hat. And I wish I had a facemask. Wait, you have friends? As in, plural?" I asked, teasing him this time.
"Yes, I do actually do have friends as in, plural. Now, we should go find them." And with that, Sirius left the compartment.
I took Star out of her cat carrier, put a collar and leash on her, grabbed a hat, and followed him. Sirius was waiting right outside of the compartment. He started walking down the train and stopped suddenly. I peeked around his shoulder to see why and saw a boy and a girl with very blonde hair.
"Oh, if it isn't the werewolf's kid. Wasn't his grandmother a blood traitor as well?" the boy asked his sister. I immediately realized the two people in front of us must have been the Malfoy twins I heard about. Wasn't it Orion and Violet?
Sirius' back instantly straightened in what I called his confrontation stance. "If it isn't the ferret children. Wasn't their grandfather put in Azkaban?" he asked me.
Unfortunately, I recognized the ferret comment and actually giggled a little, bringing the twins' attention to me.
"Hey, isn't that the Potter girl?" Violet said.
"I believe you are right. Maybe we should offer her better company," Orion suggested. He pushed away Sirius and came up to me, then put out his hand. "My name is Orion Malfoy and this is my sister, Violet. You don't want to make friends with losers like this," he said, indicating Sirius.
The loser comment made me a little angry. After all, I grew up with Sirius so the only person with the right to call him a loser is me. "Oh, I'm sorry, but last time I checked, I was allergic to small rodents. So that would mean being friends with you and your sister would be impossible since I would eventually have to meet your father."
Violet got an angry look on her face. "Fine. Go ahead and hang with him. Have fun making the same mistakes as your parents. Tell us, does his father howl at the moon?" And they brushed past me, pushing me into the wall, knocking off my hat. "Nice hair," she commented, laughing. Soon they were both out of sight, leaving Sirius and I glaring in the direction they left.
"Well, they were pretty nice. I hope everyone at Hogwarts is like that," I commented sarcastically.
"Oh, yes. So many times I've been called half-werewolf, half blood traitor, I don't remember what my true name is anymore," Sirius said just as sarcastic.
I shook my head sadly. "Sometimes I really wish your parents taught me my mom's specialty…"
Sirius started walking again. "What was it again?" he asked.
I followed him again. "The bat-boogey hex. Then, maybe they would think twice before pulling something like that…"
We walked in silence until we met up with his friends. During the time it took to get there, I thought about the confrontation. Then decided not to dwell on it because I figured the friends my parents made were probably not the reason they died.
When we walked into the compartment, I thought a bomb went off. There was an explosion and Sirius was suddenly covered in soot.
"Oops, sorry Sirius. You just have to have the best timing," a red-haired boy said, holding what looked like the remains of a deck of Exploding Snap cards.
The brown haired boy sitting opposite of the boy was laughing at Sirius while the blonde girl in the compartment was shaking her head and reading a book.
"Yes, I know I have excellent timing. So great I know exactly where the Malfoy's are at a certain time since I run into them so much," Sirius commented dryly.
"They were down here. They said 'So, where's your ringleader? Decided not to come back this year to keep Gryffindor from more embarrassment?'" the girl informed the two.
"Hey, who's that standing behind you?"
"Oh, sorry. Kara, this is Adrian Jordan, Daniel Weasley, and that's Kiya Longbottom. Guys, this is Kara Potter," Sirius introduced.
"Hi," I said, waving at them.
"Hello," the three said in reply.
"My mom said you were raised by the Crumple-Horned Snorlacks or something of that nature. Dad seemed convinced you were with your muggle relatives like your father…" Kiya told her.
I blinked a couple times. "Umm…what are those Crumple-Horned things?" I asked.
"I forgot."
"I think the best theory was that you were being raised by Hagrid and was hidden underneath his bed," Daniel said.
"Did anyone ever guess that I was being raised by one of my parents' and grandparents' friends?" I asked, curious.
"No. Some people thought Harry and Ginny were still alive and raising you in secret," Adrian said.
"Nope, she was lucky enough to be raised with me!" Sirius said proudly.
"We are so sorry," Kiya and Daniel said together.
"Hey! You say it like it would be a bad thing," Sirius said.
"Well, it was never peaceful around our house, let's put it that way," I said, putting in my two cents.
"Have you heard some of the rumors?" Kiya asked.
"About what? And, who's that little guy you're holding, Kara?" Daniel asked.
"Oh, this is Star. No, I don't think we've heard any rumors about anything around our house," I started.
"We stopped getting the Daily Prophet at the house because of what they were saying about us," Sirius finished.
"Well, apparently the Minister is trying to get guardianship over you, Kara. What would you think about that?" Kiya asked.
"…Do you think I could get away with a no comment?" I said.
"This isn't a press conference, Kara," Adrian informed me.
"I know that. I think he can go jump off a cliff, along with all the reporters who come up with those stupid names," I said.
"And isn't there something else you usually add to that?" Sirius commented.
"Well, there is always the good stunning hex and a nice bat-boogey hex."
"Wasn't that your mom's favorite hex?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah, it was. I think she hit a couple Malfoy's with that in the war…"
"Well, enough about parents…" Sirius started.
"Wait, I doubt Kara knows anything about our parents," Adrian said.
This was true. Very nerve wracking to know that everyone knows a lot about your parents and even your life (though, I was trying very hard to keep everyone from knowing too much about me unless they are actually friends). So, I did want to hear what they would tell me about their families.
"Well, my dad always had fun being the commentator at the Quidditch games. Though, my mum was one of the ones in the game. She almost made it to playing for England professionally as a chaser," Adrian started off.
"Yes, and Adrian takes after Lee. Weren't you going to try and be the commentator this year?" Kiya asked.
"Yeah, I was going to ask Professor McGonagall about that when we got back," Adrian admitted.
"Well, as long as you aren't too biased during the games. I think there were a few times where she wanted to sock your father," Daniel said.
So, if I'm keeping score correctly here, Adrian's father is Lee Jordan, the guy who was commentator when my dad started playing Quidditch. I'm going to guess that his mother was Alicia Spinnet since I know Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson married my uncles Fred and George.
"My parents were there at the final showdown of the Final Battle. They are proud to tell any stories about Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. I think my mom wrote a rough copy of a book she was going to keep around of their adventures. I should see if I could borrow it…though, I'd have to make sure no one gets a hold of it," Daniel said.
Now I knew exactly who his parents were. Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. I had actually seen them a couple years ago when I was supposed to start Hogwarts. They came over to see how I was doing and to give me my mom and dad's first year books to study from. I also got my dad's invisibility cloak that year for Christmas and I know it must have come from them. Sirius also got a weird piece of paper. Uncle Remus paled but Sirius seemed excited. He never told me what it was...
"My mum is rather…interesting. She finally got the Quibbler from grandpa about five years ago when his health started declining. I don't know what made her happier, owning it or being able to write about any of the creatures she wanted to in the magazine. Though, she does allow dad to put in his papers on plants," Kiya said.
I knew who owned the Quibbler. I've always found the articles amusing to read; thinking it took a lot of guts to be different in a world where that's not accepted. So, I knew of Luna. And, I always enjoyed reading the papers on plants to be a rather interesting read.
For a while, we shared stories. Sirius and I tried to outdo each other by telling the most embarrassing story while Adrian, Daniel, and Kiya put in a story every so often about their family.
"Well, we've had so much fun talking, we're almost there. Kara, we kind of need to go back to our original compartment. We need to get changed unless you want to get sorted in that," Sirius stated. We all looked out the window and noticed it was almost completely dark outside. Then I looked down at my clothes and saw what he meant. I don't think the professors would be too impressed with a "Shut the stupid people up" shirt and jeans.
"Alright, lead the way," I said, standing up and collecting Star who had flopped on Kiya's lap.
"We'll see you guys later!" Sirius said.
While walking back to the compartment, I thought of everyone I met on the train.
"It's funny how I've already met two people who irritate me and I haven't even gotten to Hogwarts," I commented to Sirius.
"You've got more then those two to worry about. I know there are a couple people who had parents in Harry's year and they were always great fans of his, but would get suspicious of him for anything wrong happening. They were also pretty angry when you didn't come to Hogwarts two years ago," Sirius said in an offhand fashion.
"Great," I said, not in a good mood now. I mean, its not like I'm some sort of target or entitled to having privacy. I mean, it would just be too much to ask for some peace.
We changed quickly and had just finished putting on our shoes when we heard a voice come over the intercom, telling us to leave our things there and to get off the train.
So, we joined the mad rush out of the train. I had put a scarf over my hair to keep it from sight. It's not like my hair is easily hidden. The first thing I saw when I got off the train was a lake with paddleboats on it.
I took one look at them and turned to Sirius. "I'm not going to have to go across the lake in one of those, am I?" I asked nervously.
"Yes. Have fun!" he teased, leaving me there.
"Thanks Siri!"
"Anytime Mel."
Grumbling about Sirius, boats, bad luck, Sirius, and the fool who found out where I lived, I started looking for Hagrid. Uncle Remus told me to look for him when I got off the train. He also said he wouldn't be hard to miss.
Looking around, I saw a huge man. "I think I found Hagrid," I said to myself, in slight awe at his size. I walked over to him.
"Hello. My uncle told me to look for you when I got off the train," I told him politely.
(A/N: Sorry, but I can't type a Hagrid accent. If you can, just message me!)
"Well, if it isn't little Kara Potter! I was a very good friend of your parents. I'm glad to finally see you!" Hagrid boomed. "Just follow me onto the boat and you'll be sorted after the first years."
"Umm…about the boats. Is there any other way across?" I asked.
"Why?"
"I get a bit seasick," I admitted.
"Well, just pop this in. You won't get sick this time."
Taking the weird plant looking thing, I almost gagged. It tasted awful. Though, it tasted better then Sirius' latest cooking experiment.
I stepped onto the boat Hagrid pointed out and waited. And while waiting, I thought about the day and the up coming sorting.