Author's Note: Woohoo a relatively normal length chapter (I think)! Please tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything owned by J.K. Rowling

Oswin pushed her long, wavy hair out of her face as she stepped onto platform nine and three quarters. She panted as she hauled her trunk and practically sprinted to keep up with her long-legged family. Her parents and her brother had come to see the two young witches off, although her younger sister was left with cousins.

As they neared the train, Oswin began searching for an empty compartment and Monique went to chat with some other Ravenclaw students she knew. All parental conversations about responsibility and being nice to others had already happened at home. Eventually, Oswin plopped down in an empty compartment and waved out of the window to show her parents where she was.

Oswin's mother, Janice Mielbois, was a tall, curvaceous woman with wavy, shoulder-length, brown hair. Her father, Samuel Mielbois, was slightly short than her mother. His tattooed arms and scruffy beard made him look like a sailor. The three had a light-hearted conversation about school that was full of "don't forget to"s and "I can't wait to"s and "did you remember"s. After a little while, they had to leave and Oswin settled back into her seat just as another first year girl awkwardly shuffled into the compartment.

The small, chubby girl looked mortified and was practically hiding behind her curtains of dark brown hair. Though her dark hair contrasted with Oswin's own golden hair, her skin was nearly as pale and the two could have been a pair of china dolls. The girl looked over at Oswin wearily.

"Uh … can I sit here?" The girl said in a voice that was barely over a whisper. Oswin gave a little nod and the girl clumsily sat down across from her. An awkward silence filled the compartment that both occupants were desperate to break but neither were sure how to break.

"My name's Oswin Mielbois," Oswin said, in the most boring start to a conversation that has ever happened in the history of conversations.

"I'm Beatrice. Grey. Beatrice Grey." the girl responded. Oswin could tell that Grey was even more awkward in social situations than she was and searched as hard as she could for a topic of conversation.

"So … are your parents magic too?"

"No," Grey responded hesitantly, "you?"

"Yeah, my whole family's magic," Oswin said offhandedly, "I'm pretty familiar with transfiguration and potions if you ever need any help with that." Grey looked a little startled at this.

"Wait, did- do we have to know stuff already?" she stuttered.

"Oh, no," Oswin reassured her, "You'll learn everything you need to know once you get there. But, like I said, my whole family's magic. It ... wasn't exactly hard to get some early studying done."

Beatrice let out what must have been the breath she was holding in and slumped a bit in the bench, indeed looking reassured.

"I bet it was really exciting to get your wand when you didn't even know that magic existed," Oswin tried again, "if you don't mind me asking, what kind of wand do you have?"

"It's ... um … 10 ¼ inches of … spruce with a unicorn hair core," Grey half mumbled.

"Well then I don't think you should worry to much." mused Oswin.

"What do you mean?"

"Spruce wands typically choose confidant spell-casters," Oswin said, "so just believe in yourself I guess. Trust your instincts and all that. At the very least your wand thinks you can do it, or it wouldn't have chosen you."

This seemed to lift Grey's spirits as she participated more easily in the conversation. The topic turned to spells they wanted to learn and classes they were excited for. The friendly banter had continued to be light and fun when the sweets trolley came around. Beatrice politely refused but Oswin stocked up on Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, and Pumpkin Pasties. Beatrice, who could hardly imagine that someone so small would ever be able to eat that many sweets, looked at Oswin a bit quizzically.

"They make for a good midnight snack if you're up late studying," Oswin explained. "You can have a couple if you like." Thanking her, Beatrice picked up a Cauldron Cake. The two also took out their real lunches (they had both brought sandwiches), and resumed their conversation over their food.

Eventually there was a knock on their compartment door and a young, round faced boy slid it open.

"Sorry," he said tearfully, "have either of you seen a toad anywhere?" They both shook their heads but soon after he left, a girl with a mane of bushy brown hair came in to ask the same question.

"No." Oswin said a bit sharply, "if we had we would have said so the first time." The girl backed out of the compartment looking taken aback and a bit awkward. Beatrice looked at Oswin wearily, but Oswin ignored the look.

"Hey ... " said Beatrice, trying to rekindle the conversation. "I keep hearing about these 'houses' that people … feel really strongly about … what's the deal with that?" Oswin looked up at her, still bristling slightly but quickly calming down.

"There are four houses that all the students are sorted into: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." Oswin explained, "they determine where you sleep, where you eat, when your classes are, stuff like that." A slightly confused look fell onto Beatrice's face.

"But if that's all it is," said Beatrice slowly, "then why do people seem so up in arms about it?"

"Well," said Oswin hesitantly, "part of it is competitive spirit run rampant. Houses compete for the house cup by accumulating points and the house quidditch teams compete for the house cup - er, quidditch is a magic sport," Oswin added, "but it's also kind of historical. You see, each house is named after on of the four founders of Hogwarts. Salazar Slytherin had a … falling out with the other founders and left. A lot of nasty rumours surrounding that. Also …" Oswin trailed off.

"What?" asked Beatrice, "What is it?"

"There was this wizard about a decade ago," said Oswin, "a really bad wizard - a murderer in fact." Beatrice's eyes widened in shock. "He had a whole bunch of followers. They killed a tons of people - it was chaos. And… well… most of his followers had been Slytherins."

"Who was it?" Beatrice asked with a quiver in her voice.

"His name was Voldemort, but no one says it. They get real spooked if they hear it too, think it's bad luck. Better just call him 'you-know-who' so no one gets mad at you."

"But then … why did you say his name?"

"I'm not superstitious," said Oswin nonchalantly, "besides, I thought you should know who people are talking about, if you do hear his name."

"What happened to him?" Asked Beatrice, suddenly eager for answers, "did he die?"

"No one really knows," said Oswin mysteriously, "last thing he did was attack this family that didn't support him. Killed the parents. Tried to kill the kid too, but he couldn't for some reason. After that he just … disappeared. You should really read Modern Magical History to get caught up on stuff like this. I'll bet they have a copy in the library." Beatrice shuddered.

"I had no idea all this magic had so much … baggage," Beatrice said.

"It's just history," Oswin replied, "There have been plenty of bad stuff that happened in muggle history."

"I guess you're right," Beatrice sighed, "Still, I can understand not wanting to be in Slytherin: the house that he was in." Oswin simply hummed in response. "If there are magic criminals … are there magical police too?"

"'Course there are," said Oswin, "We call them Aurors."

"There must be loads of jobs that only exist in the magical world," Beatrice said in awe, "What do your parents do?"

"My family runs a magical produce farm," said Oswins, "Enchanted and magical plants and herbs." Oswin cocked her head to the side a bit. "We also do some beekeeping. The farm comes from my mother's side, and we inherited the beekeeping business from my father's."

"Is there much need for enchanted honey in the wizarding world?" asked Beatrice.

"Maybe," said Oswin, "but it's really more about the wax for making candles."

"Oh." Beatrice blushed, feeling as though she should have guessed this.

"What do your parents do?" Oswin asked, mostly out of courtesy.

"My mum doesn't work, but my dad's a mail deliverer." said Beatrice.

"We just use owls to deliver post." Oswin mused.

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the train "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." In a bit of a panic, the two girls pulled on their long school robes as quickly as they could. Oswin crammed her pile of sweets into her trunk and the two filed out of the train with the other students.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over hear!" a man's voice boomed over the crowd, "C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" The massive man was easy to spot among the sea of eleven year olds and they all awkwardly stumbled after him down the dark, narrow path. "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,"

Oswin didn't hear what he said after that. She had sucked in her breath in amazement just as the castle came into view. She had been to Malfoy Manor, and her own country home was nothing to scoff at, but Hogwarts was like a fairy tale. The beautiful towers loomed over the lake like watchmen and even as a silhouette against the night sky it was breathtaking.

Oswin and Beatrice clambered into a boat with two other girls and at Hagrid's command, the boats began to gracefully glide toward the castle. Oswin marveled at the beauty of the still lake as it shimmered in the moonlight, silent as death.

Everyone ducked their heads under a curtain of ivy and into a wide, hidden opening. The boats travelled along a dark tunnel until they reached what was like an underground harbour. The students carefully climbed out of the boats and onto the rocky shore. After a brief pause when the boy from the train found his toad, the group ascended a flight of stone stairs at the top of which stood a great wooden door.

"Everyone here?" The gigantic man asked, "You there, still got yer toad?"

The man raised a huge fist to the castle door and knocked three times.

Author's Note:

Please leave a review! I love hearing what y'all think because it helps me improve my writing and inspires me to write! :) I would especially like to hear your predictions for what's gonna happen next. What houses do you think my characters will be in? Do you predict any ships? Let me know! :)