Chapter Three: Off to Hogwarts
a/n: So… I am very bad at math. Please don't try to figure out the pricing of the things mentioned. I tried using the actual amounts JKR mentions (accounting for inflation etc) but couldn't really get it to fit right. Then I tried using wizarding currency like muggle currency, but the amounts were too ridiculous. I've made my peace with this. None of the money will make a lot of sense and I'm really just doing what feels right. However, if it bothers you and you really want to draw me up a complete inventory of the amounts, I'll add you to a list of thankyou's I'll put at the end of this series.
"What did you end up telling your friends?" Her father asked over dinner the night before she was to leave for Hogwarts.
Rory sighed. It had been a hard conversation because she really wasn't sure what to tell them. Eventually she'd just gone with the truth. "I told them I was accepted into a boarding school for gifted students."
Her father nodded. "That makes sense. Telling them anything else probably wouldn't have worked, and we'll back you up of course. If you decide to write them any letters, send them to your mother and she can send them on to your friends."
That was what she had been considering herself. She wouldn't want to drop off the face of the planet after all. She was going to make new friends she was sure, but that didn't mean she wanted to give up on her old ones, not entirely. She supposed only time would really tell what was going to happen. Moving back to her spaghetti, it occurred to Rory that she'd never even really been on camp. She just wasn't sure how she was going to fair without either of her parents around. It was certainly going to be difficult, and she hoped that they would write her often. She was going to have to write them every day.
"Cheer up, Sweetie. You'll be back for Christmas."
Rory looked over at her mother and smiled. "You're right, it's just weird is all. I never really thought about what it meant."
Rory's father nodded and squeezed her shoulder softly. "It's going to feel weird for a while, but you'll understand more as you go. And I'll always be here for you, you can write your mother and I whenever you want, and you'll come home during breaks. You'll love it. You'll get sick of us."
Laughing as she forked more spaghetti into her mouth, Rory nodded along with both of her parents. Logan and Ellie had already asked her to send them stuff from Hogwarts and whilst she didn't think she would be able to send them anything magical, she was sure she could send them sweets, or something equally cool. Her brother for example was very curious about everything, so she was sure she would be able to find him something and Ellie was the sweetest of all of them, so she was sure she would be happy with literally anything Rory bought her, which was good, because the girl's taste changed every time she asked her, which made it difficult to figure out what to buy her.
"So, the train leaves from where?" Her mother asked, looking back at her father.
"Kings Cross station, Platform 9 ¾ at eleven." He said, turning to Rory. "It'll be dinner time by the time you get to Hogwarts and then you'll be sorted."
"What house do you think I'll be in?" She asked, curiously. She'd read a little about the houses but there was really nothing definitive. Hufflepuff called to her, but so did Ravenclaw, so she really wasn't sure. Though, as a red head, she didn't think she'd look particularly good in yellow. "Hufflepuff speaks to me." She told him, shrugging.
"Hard to say really, I was a Ravenclaw of course, and I am almost certain your mother would have been a Hufflepuff, but to be honest, it's not really an exact science and it doesn't always run in families."
"Did you ever know any families that were separated?"
"Not personally, though when I was at school all the Black girls were in Slytherin, yet one of the cousins, Sirius, he was a Gryffindor. He wasn't their brother of course, but that entire family were traditionally Slytherin from what I know of them." He didn't think it a good idea to mention what the man had done, there had been a lot of discussion around the wizarding world about his role in the murders of the Potters, but it wasn't a topic he was greatly knowledgeable on and it had only happened last year.
"So, I could go either way then?"
"Absolutely, I think it sort of sees inside you. It knows who you are on an intimate level and can kind of see the person you'll become."
Rory blinked. "What does?"
"The Sorting Hat."
"A hat sorts you?"
"Yes, it's a remnant from the beginning of the school, the Founders, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, created the hat and imbued it with magic, making it magically sentient."
Rory didn't think she would ever understand. "That sounds weird."
"It's extremely complicated magic, well above someone like me."
"Old magic."
"There's a lot of that going around." Her mother chimed in, shaking her head.
Her father laughed. "I suppose so, there's much more I could tell you, but to be honest I think it'll be better for you to experience all of this for yourself. It's much easier to understand when you're facing it."
Rory nodded. "Thanks for telling me though, I want to be as prepared as possible."
Her father got a knowing look in his eye, but he didn't seem inclined to speak. Rory watched him for a moment before shrugging and moving back to her spaghetti. She was sure it wasn't too important if he hadn't brought it up yet.
"Hang on." She said, looking up again. "You said platform 9 ¾ but I've been to Kings Cross station before, there's no such place." She frowned, dropping her fork.
He waggled his eyes. "Magic."
Her mother laughed. "That seems to be the go-to answer for you these days."
Her father shrugged. "Well of course, it is a school of magic, Dear."
Everyone rolled their eyes as the dinner came to an end. Rory helped her mother clean up as her father took Ellie and Logan up to their rooms. "You'll be careful won't you, Sweetie?"
Rory smiled at her mother, walking the plates over to the sink. It was the same words she'd been saying for the last couple of weeks and though Rory was tired of answering it, she was starting to understand what she was really saying. This was a whole new world she was walking into and for the most part she was going to be walking the path alone. It was a daunting reality, but one she felt she was ready for. "I promise I'll be as safe as possible, Mum."
She smiled over her shoulder and nodded, reaching out a hand and squeezing Rory's shoulder. Despite it all, the assurances, the calming words, the glimpses into that world, Hannah couldn't shake the feeling of dread and fear she felt at the thought of Rory going through it all the alone. "I love you, Hun. Remember you can come home whenever you want and if they won't let you," she started turning to look at her daughter seriously, "you tell them that even though your Mama's a muggle, I'll find my way in there and get you out myself."
Rory smiled and stepped into her mother's waiting arms. "Thanks Mum, I'll make sure they know."
TYA
September 1st arrived. Walking along the platforms between Platform 9 and 10 was strange, people were moving about but it was almost in slow motion. Her parents walked along each side of her, both her siblings were at school and so she had them all to herself for the first time in a long time. She wasn't sure what had been done about her muggle school, but she knew her mother had taken care of it somehow.
"Platform 9 ¾ is over this way."
Her father led her over to the column between the signs and she stared at them skeptically. She certainly didn't see how this was supposed to get her to the Platform, but she supposed she was going to find out in a moment. "What?"
Her father pointed to the column. "All you need to do is walk straight at the wall between the platforms and you can get straight through."
Rory narrowed her eyes at him. This all sounded like a bunch of hooey to her. "You what?"
He laughed. "Why don't we all do it together, it would be easier that way since Muggles aren't typically supposed to be able to get through."
Rory nodded and held tight to both of their hands. Her mother seemed just as apprehensive about all of this as she did though, so she was concerned as they walked slowly towards the wall. Her father was pulling the cart behind them and they got closer and closer to the wall. Rory was sure her father would stop any moment to laugh at them, but they only kept moving towards the wall. As they got closer he pulled them into a bit of a jog and then suddenly, the platform was sprawling out in front of them. Rory blinked and looked behind her to see a wall, and not the muggle filled platform she was expecting.
Her father leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Told you."
The gasp that followed from her mother was very close to a curse and Rory grinned. She clearly wasn't the only person impressed by all of this. Her father kept tugging on her hand, moving them out of the way of the wall so other travelers could get through. "The train will be leaving in about ten minutes, so let's get you all fixed up."
She wasn't wearing her robes yet, she'd opted instead for a short denim skirt with leggings and a pink jumper. There was only a slight chill in the air, but the school was to the North, her father had told her, meaning it was probably going to be even colder.
"Aurora, hey!"
Rory looked over to the sound of her name to see the gaggle of Weasley's already moving Bill's trunk into the train. She was most fascinated by the fact that they were floating it up and into the carriage. She smiled and raced over to them. "Hi, Bill, hey, guys!"
Her parents soon followed her, bringing her cart with them and dumping it all amongst Bill's stuff. Not that he appeared to have much. It seemed they'd managed to fit all of his things in one trunk, and since he had no pets, he seemed to have had an easier time. Rory on the other hand had her trunk full of her books and a couple of clothes and a bag or two filled with extras that she had managed to sneak out before her father noticed. Of course, Nibbles and Salem both seemed to be snoozing the day away too. "Are you already wearing your robes?" Rory turned to her mother to see she was addressing Bill, who indeed seemed to be doing just that.
Bill shrugged, and his cheeks reddened slightly. "I was up early this morning and I may have gotten slightly over excited."
Rory had to cover her mouth to hide her laugh but judging by the sulky look she got for her efforts, it hadn't gone unnoticed. "Sorry, but it's funny. You have a magical family and I don't."
He didn't look impressed and so Rory tried desperately to sober herself enough to get to work. "Are you using magic to move the trunks?"
"Yes, would you like help with yours, Dear?"
She was about to answer when she noticed her father had already moved over to do so with the help of Mr. Weasley. She turned back to Mrs. Weasley and gestured to the two adults and smiled. Mrs. Weasley nodded and turned back to the boy beside her, Charlie, she thought and said something to him that Rory couldn't hear. She looked over at Bill who was fussing with the sleeves of his robes. "Shall we try for a compartment together?" She asked hopefully. She didn't know Bill well, having only met him a few weeks ago and then not having spoken to him until now, but she already liked him and believed they would easily become friends. He was also the only person she knew here and wasn't sure what sharing compartments on the train was going to be like.
Bill looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, that would be good. There's one or two friends that might join us, but if you're okay with that, then I'm happy to share."
Rory nodded. "Yeah, that's okay, I want to make more friends, so you can help."
"More friends," Bill said, looking at her, "who do you already know?"
Rory blinked. "Oh, I just thought that… you know since we met in Diagon Alley and stuff…" she drifted off, not looking at Bill. She was embarrassed to think he didn't at least consider himself to be on friendly terms with her. "Sorry, I just thought-"
Her words were cut off by a bark of laughter that had her whipping her head up to look at Bill who was holding himself up against the train as he descended into fits. Rory glared at him her face pinking in further embarrassment and the situation he'd caused.
"Merlin, your face!" He cried, slapping his thigh in glee. "Oh, that is hilarious, oh Merlin, oh Merlin!"
Rory turned her face away to pout slightly before, not able to stop it, she too began to laugh with him, the adults shaking their heads and sighing at the pair who weren't even bothered to help with the loading of trunks or pets.
"That should do it then." Mr. Weasley called to them, alerting them to the fact that all their belongings had been loaded onto the train. Her father had gone so far as to load their things into the racks of the nearest compartment, which was towards the front of the train. "You're about four or five compartments away from the prefects, so try not to get into any trouble."
Bill shot his father a look, but Rory didn't understand it, instead turning to her mother and wrapping her arms around her torso, pressing her face to her mother's chest. Having a whole year without her was going to be strange and quite hard, she thought. She'd only just gotten used to not having her father around all the time, because of the Divorce, but this was something else entirely. She wasn't sure how she was going to cope. She'd never really thought about a boarding school being part of her education.
"Don't forget to write to me." Her mother said, wrapping her arms tightly around her head. She smelled like cherries and hot chocolate and Rory was never going to forget the smell.
"I'll write you as soon as I've been sorted." She promised, making a mental note to start her letter as soon as she got on the train. She never wanted to forget a single moment of Hogwarts and she would use her mother as a diary if she had to. Although, perhaps a proper diary would be the better idea.
"I'll have to start insisting your brother helps with the chores." She said, pulling away slowly to look down at Rory. It was a bit of a joke to be honest. Getting Logan out of her room at any point was almost as hard as baking a soufflé. A feat she'd not yet mastered but was determined to accomplish at least once in her life. She wondered, briefly, if she'd be allowed to use the kitchens at Hogwarts.
"Good luck." She murmured, shaking her head. She'd have to check and see how that goes when all of this was over.
"Coming, Aurora?"
Rory looked over to see Bill had already pulled himself up and into the train, leaning out the door to wave her over. She turned to her father and smiled, throwing her arms up around his neck with a tight squeeze. "I'll write to you too, thanks for everything."
He shook his head. "I only regret not being able to share all of this with you sooner. You're not strictly allowed to do magic outside of school, but I tell you what, we'll arrange some weekends for you to spend at mine and we can sneak some practice in, alright?"
She nodded, she was sure her knew what he was doing and wouldn't allow her to get into trouble. "I need to go, love you!" She quickly rushed over to the train and reached up for Bill's hand to get up. They turned to wave at their families before moving into the carriage and making for their compartment.
When they got there, they noticed a girl already in there. She was sitting with her back to them as she waved out the window to someone on the platform, though Rory couldn't see who. There was a distinctive burn mark on her ear and her hair was dark brown with green dye at the tips. The hair was mid length, coming to her shoulders with braids thrown in haphazardly. She was wearing strange, mismatched clothing and what looked like gardening boots. Bill made a noise and when the girl turned around, Rory had a sudden though that she was giving off a sort of playful air. Her face was wide with a cleft chin, thin nose and full lips that really rounded out the rest of her face. Her eyes were almost black and full of excitement and something else that Rory couldn't quite work out. "Sorry, this your space?"
Rory and Bill shrugged. "Our trunks are in here, but you are too, so you can stay, or we can stay, not sure how the protocol works."
Bill laughed from beside her and squeezed past her to sit down. "Don't mind Aurora, I'm Bill Weasley." He said, putting his hand out for her to shake.
The girl grinned, shaking his hand happily and holding hers out towards Rory who moved in to sit beside Bill, across from the stranger. "I'm Penelope Anderson, but you can call me Pez, I prefer it."
"Nice to meet you," Rory was glad that the girl seemed nice. "You're a first year?"
Pez nodded. "Sure am, the rest of my family been and gone already, so I've heard all the stories."
Bill grinned. "I'm the oldest, but I heard stories from my Mum and Dad."
Pez looked at Rory then. "What about you?"
"My Dad's told me some stuff, but he says I should see it for myself."
The train lurched as it started moving and Pez, who had been leaning forward, almost fell into Bill, snorting to herself as she fixed herself up before throwing an apologetic look at the red head. "Sorry about that, Bill Weasley, I didn't get you anywhere did I?"
Bill chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, I moved before you did, luckily."
Rory grinned. She was glad they were all getting along so far, she wasn't sure she wanted to share a compartment with someone she wouldn't like. That wouldn't be fun at all. "What do you think of Hogwarts?" She asked, the question open for either of her companions to answer.
Bill nodded to Pez to go first, and she nodded her thanks to him. Rory was momentarily amused by all the nodding. "First thing you need know about me, yeah, is that I'm adopted. Well, kinda. I'm an orphan, see, and there's five of us in a group home." She started, shrugging. "Well, there were, they're all gone now and I'm the only one left." She told them and though she seemed sad, her smile never faltered. "I grew up listening to my sisters all talking about how amazing the school was and all about the different houses. They were all in either, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, so I'll be interested to see where I end up."
"My whole family has been Gryffindor for generations, I'm certain I will be there too, I can't be the first Weasley not in Gryffindor."
Bill and Pez laughed together, leaving Rory feeling a little left out. She didn't really understand the politics and intricacies of house dynamics, which sounded pretty important from all the information she'd gathered so far. Still, she was sure she would be happy in any house, she had no biases for any of them, though she was sure her father would want her to follow in his footsteps, as a muggle-born, he had no legacy to follow. "I don't know much about the houses." She admitted, both stopped their conversation to look at her.
"Oh, right!" Bill said, his voice louder than usual. "Right, sorry Aurora, I forgot."
"Forgot what?"
"I was raised in a muggle household."
Pez nodded. "Ah, that explains it, yeah. Are you parents muggles?"
"Not my Dad, but Mum is."
"She's so nice." Said Bill, though Rory wasn't sure why he felt the need.
Pez seemed to have ignored him though. "What was your Dad?"
"Ravenclaw, he says he thinks Mum would have been a Hufflepuff, but I don't know enough."
Bill laughed. "None of us really do, that's the sorting hats job.
"Bill!"
The door to their compartment slid open revealing two boys. One slightly skinny, with big blue eyes and black hair tucked behind his ears. The other was tall, lanky with a slim build and green eyes. He had a closely shaved head with funny patterns shaved into the sides near his ears. He was wearing a blue and bronze scarf.
Bill beamed. "Myron, Kirley! I wondered where you'd got to."
The pair stepped into the compartment and shut the door behind them, both dropping down onto the seat beside Pez who eyed them cautiously. "Bill, man, you will not believe the trip we had." The skinny one was saying, shaking his head. "We had to go back for Kirley because his cat tried to fly!"
Bill snorted, and Rory wondered if the story was true. "Sorry, guys. Aurora, Pez, these are friends of mine, Myron Wagtail and Kirley McCormack. They're a bit weird, but you'll grow to love them."
Pez didn't seem convinced but smiled at them and nodded. Holding out her hand to shake. "Nice head." She added to the one with the funny shaved patterns, Kirley.
"Oh, these?" He pointed to the patterns. "Yeah, I was trying out a new style, normally I have my hair longer, fringed and stuff, thought I needed a bit of a change."
Bill snorted again, and Pez held Rory's gaze for a moment, before looking to the heavens. They both could tell their ride to Hogwarts was going to be filled with lots of the three boys. Rory didn't mind though, she was used to having a lot of people around her. Not just with her family, but she was friends with almost everyone at her school and the group she tended to spend time with the most consisted of a large group of people, fifteen on average. Though she was only close to a handful of them.
"You're Aurora, right?"
Rory was pulled out of her thoughts to look up at Kirley who seemed intently focused on her. Pez, Myron and Bill were in a conversation with each other, which left it up to her to engage Kirley. "Yeah, you got it."
"Do you have a nickname?"
She thought it was an odd question, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah, Rory."
He smiled. "Can I call you Rory?"
She shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
He frowned. "You can say no. I'm not going to call you Rory if you don't want me to."
Rory shrugged again but smiled. "It's okay."
Kirley sat for a moment studying her, before moving to sit beside her. "Sorry, you just seemed a little out of it, are you okay?"
"Are you a first year?"
He blinked at the question but shook his head. "Nah, I'm a second year, so's Myron."
"What house are you in?"
He smiled. "I'm a Ravenclaw." He said, pointing at the blue scarf around his neck. "I thought this would give it away."
Rory frowned. "I don't know much about the houses. I grew up with muggles, or well, a muggle Mum."
Kirley nodded. "Ah, that's okay. My Dad was a muggle."
Rory felt more comfortable with that information. He knew what she was going through. "My Dad only told me about magic a couple months ago on my birthday."
Kirley nodded in sympathy. "I understand. My Dad wasn't really around much, but because he was still in the picture, Mum didn't really explain magic to us. So, my sister and I, she's a sixth year now, kind of had to figure it all out by ourselves."
"That's a bit scary for me." Rory admitted. "It's this whole other world of stuff that I just don't know what to do with."
Kirley tentatively reached out and moved his hand to rest on her shoulder, when she didn't move away, he nodded and squeezed lightly. "Look, Rory, I'm going to give you a bit of advice I really wished my sister had told me before I got to Hogwarts." He said, making sure she was looking him in the eye. Rory got the feeling this was going to be one of the most important pieces of advice she'd ever receive in her life. "Change is difficult. Worldview and normality keep us safe, prepared. We know what we want to do, we know where the dangers are when we're prepared and when something major happens to change how you see the world, sometimes you can fight back and try to make things go back to how they are." He dropped his hand to his lap. "Fear is real and it's good. You can't have bravery without fear. Sometimes it just takes something a little extra to unlock the potential we didn't know we had in ourselves." He finished, smiling down to her encouragingly.
Rory opened her mouth to speak before she saw a hand fly out of nowhere and clap Kirley on the back. She turned to see Myron grinning at him and Pez and Bill with raised eyebrows. "Damn, Kir, if I didn't know you were a natural Ravenclaw, I might've thought that was pretty wise."
Kirley caught Rory's eye from the corner of his and gave her a small eye roll. She smiled back in turn before realizing the moment was gone and turning into a conversation with Bill.
She was going to have to find a way to say thanks to Kirley later. She hadn't realized she needed that advice until he'd given it to her and crazily enough, it was the exact right thing to say.
TYA
Dear Mum,
I told myself I would start writing this the moment I got on the train, but I have to admit it's been a couple of hours since I walked into the compartment and I think my head is going to explode.
I already made some new friends, which I can't believe and two of them are in second year, so I've been asking them questions for the last several hours. Like, there are apparently stairs all over Hogwarts that change direction and lead to random areas of the castle. Hogwarts is a castle as I've found out. You won't believe what they had to say about the meals in the great hall, I think they would put Aunt Annie to shame.
To be honest, I was really scared about what might happen when I get there, what house I would be in, the people I would meet, the classes, whether or not I'm really cut out for magic, but the truth is, and this is advice that was given to me by an apparently very wise person, fear is a good thing. Fear is what helps us be brave and learn from experience. Fear keeps us safe and helps us assess the world around us. Very hard to learn I think for an eleven-year-old, but I'm going to give it a try.
"Anything from the trolley, Dears?"
Rory folded the paper she was writing on and looked up from the corner of the compartment. Bill and Pez and given her some space to write that she was grateful for, but they had now both moved closer to the door to see what was on offer. Rory looked into her little purse at the small amount of money she had there. She could see handful of Knuts in Bill's hand and wondered at what he would be getting, but found she wasn't all that interested in sweets. "You want anything, Rory?" Bill asked over his shoulder, handing over the Knuts and accepting the every flavour beans in return.
"Nah, I don't actually eat all that many sweets." She admitted, crossing her legs and looking out the window.
"Do you want a Pumpkin Pasty then?" Bill asked, pointing at them.
Not knowing what a Pumpkin Pasty was, Rory frowned over to him and looked where he was pointing. "I don't know what that is."
"It's a bit like a Cornish Pasty. Except it's pumpkin instead of meat and veggies." Kirley informed her, handing over a couple of sickles for the three or four chocolate bars and stack of cauldron cakes she could see in his arms.
Rory thought for a moment. She didn't have pumpkin, so she didn't see the harm in trying and she was hungry after all. She stood up then and stepped over to the small crowd and surveyed the goods. It appeared it wasn't all sweets after all, though she did wish they had a lunch trolley or something. "Hm, okay I'll grab a Pumpkin Pasty, a Jelly Doughnut and… is that apple juice?" The witch nodded. "I'll grab two bottles please, Bill do you want one?"
She watched the look of confusion fall over his face. "Why?"
"Well, you've got those every flavour beans, you'll need something to wash the taste down with if it's a bad one." She wasn't sure what the big deal was.
He seemed conflicted for a moment, a wave of emotions flowing over him before he shrugged. "Sure, if you want to, I'll pay you back, promise."
Rory shrugged and handed over the 4 sickles and 12 Knuts the items cost before handing one of the juices to Bill. "Sure, take your time. I'm not in a rush I still have a bit of money left." She still had at least 3 Galleons, a handful of Sickles and a bunch of Knuts to work with, so really, she was thrilled.
Pez sat down without buying anything, whilst Myron was attempting to juggle all the random sweets he'd managed to grab off the cart. Rory wasn't sure why he'd grabbed so many since they were now only about four hours or so out from their destination, as the Prefects had walked along the train to tell them. "Are you going to be able to eat all of those?"
Myron shook his head with a laugh. "Of course not, this is like 15 galleons worth of stuff you know. This is going to last me all year." He told them. "You all should follow my example. The sweets cart is less expensive than at Honeydukes, so jokes on you."
Bill smiled, and Pez shook her head. Rory and Kirley looked at each other before both springing forward to steal handfuls of Myron's precious sweets. Myron, to his credit, fought valiantly, but was unable to batter away the onslaught and didn't manage to save the three chocolate frogs or packets of licorice and sherbet lemons that the pair snatched. Stifling their laughter, Rory threw the sweets back to him and carefully opened her Pumpkin pasty, biting into it and finding herself surprised at the taste. It was curiously warm, which she wouldn't have believed if she'd not felt it herself and it seemed that the pumpkin wasn't the only taste either, though she couldn't quite pick the second taste. "Oh my god, this is actually really good." She said, eyes wide.
Pez grinned. "Wizarding food is so good because you can use magic to preserve and heat and all sorts of other things you can't do in the muggle world."
Myron nodded. "True, my mother cooks one day a week and just preserves everything, talk about food prepping."
Bill shook his head. "My mum loves to cook, she spends all day in the kitchen sometimes."
Rory laughed. "Yeah, my mum is actually a teacher, so she doesn't get to spend much time in the kitchen, but she works really close to where we live, and we go to the same school she works in, so it makes things easier, or at least I used to go to the school she worked in." She knew it had been hard for her mother to do that, but after her parents separated they hadn't have much choice. Maybe this would work out better for her mother in the long run.
"Were you writing a letter to her?" Kirley asked. Rory noted that he'd not handing the sweets he'd taken back to Myron yet.
"Yeah, she's a muggle, like I said, so she doesn't know anything about magic. I'm detailing it to her a little bit, not that I have much to say yet."
Bill smiled. "I'm sure she appreciates it anyway." He opened the bottle of apple juice and took a sip. "Blegh, that one was snot, I'm sure of it."
Pez's lips grew tight in an attempt to keep her laughter at bay. "Make a habit of eating enough snot to know the taste, do you?"
Bill rolled his eyes. "Just because you don't eat a nutritious breakfast."
"Woah, big words there, Billy."
Bill rolled his eyes at Myron before holding out his beans. "Anyone game?"
Rory thought to the packet still sitting in her trunk. She hadn't been game enough to try them at home, because she wasn't sure how true the whole every flavour beans thing was. "So, when they say every flavor…"
Bill nodded. "Yeah, they mean every flavour. You have normal ones of course, which I think are the most common and then you have the not so normal ones like spinach and salmon. My dad says he got a dog food one once and I'm almost sure I tricked myself into a fried egg."
Myron whistled. "I had a liver flavored one once and it was awesome."
Pez rolled her eyes. "I've never had a bad one really, I don't like lemon though and I seem to get those a lot."
"That would be right, they are magic beans, basically, probably know you hate them and make you keep eating them." Kirley added, shrugging.
Rory investigated the box Bill was slowly waving in her face and scoffed. "Oh, alright. I'll give it a try, what's the worst that could happen?"
Bill waggled his eyebrows at her as she stuck her hand into the box and pulled out a white bean. She sniffed it, but it gave nothing away. "Do the colours correspond to the flavour?"
Pez shrugged. "Mostly, I think, but I like to close my eyes."
"It's cheating otherwise." Bill confirmed.
"Well, too late now, I saw the colour. Just have to taste it I guess."
Kirley had a clear look of someone who knew something she didn't, and she had a horrible feeling that he knew what the flavour was but didn't want to tell her. "It's adventurous." Was all he allowed.
Throwing caution to the wind, Rory popped the small white bean into her mouth and regretted it instantly. "SOAP! No, God, this is cruelty!" She cried out, swallowing the bean and quickly fumbling with her apple juice to try and open it, with little success.
The compartment fell into streams of laughter as they watched her try her luck with her stubborn bottle cap, but fail miserably, until Bill took pity on her and opened it for her. She immediately downed almost half the bottle before she coughed and sighed. "I hate you all."
The compartment fell into laughter once more as Rory pouted. Though, even as she did so, she knew the bite of her words wasn't serious and, honestly, why would she hate people who are open to showing her a whole new world.