Chapter 3-The Hogwarts Express
Arita looked around and spotted Professor Lovegood standing a little ways away with what looked like 2 families. She beckoned to Arita. Arita walked up, and stood shyly by the Professor. Through her bangs, which she was growing out, she saw a tall man with black, untidy hair and a strange scar shaped like a bolt of lightning standing with his arm around a pretty woman with long, vivid red hair and lots of freckles. Standing with them were 2 boys and a young girl-the boys were almost exact duplicates of their father, while the girl was a duplicate of her mother. Arita turned and observed the other family. There was a tall, gangly man with vivid red hair and lots of freckles standing by a young woman with lots of bushy brown hair. The woman's arm was around a boy and her hand was resting on the shoulder of her daughter.
"Arita?" Arita looked up. The Professor smiled back down at her. "This is Harry Potter and his family." she said, gesturing towards the the tall man with black hair. "His wife Ginny, their eldest son James, their other boy Albus, and their daughter, Lily."
She then waved a hand towards the other family. "And this is Ron Weasley and his family. His wife Hermione, their eldest, Rose, and their son, Hugo. Lily and Hugo will be first years also, so you'll be in the same year together. Rose and Albus are in their second year, and James is in his third."
Lily bounced forward. "Hi! Your name's Arita, right?" Arita nodded. Lily smiled. "Nice to meet you! I can't wait to get to Hogwarts! Daddy's told me all about it! He says to watch out for Peeves, Filch, and Mrs. Norris, though."
"Peeves? Filch? Mrs. Norris?"
Lily laughed. "Peeves is a poltergeist. Filch is the mean old caretaker, and Mrs. Norris is his cat."
Arita looked over at Albus, Hugo, and James, who were play-wrestling. Suddenly, someone yanked her hair! She spun angrily around, ready to confront whoever it was. She saw a boy about a head taller than her with golden hair, smirking.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't take such liberties!" She said, hotly.
The boy merely looked amused. "Well sorry! From behind, you looked a bit like Rose! But I've never seen you before. What's your name?"
Arita crossed her arms and didn't speak. Lily jumped in. "This is Arita. She's a first year, like me."
The boy held out his hand. "Hi Arita, I'm Teddy. I am sorry for pulling your hair."
"Pulling! More like trying to make it all disconnect with my head!" Arita mumbled, but she smiled a little and shook Teddy's hand. He smiled, and his hair turned blond. Arita gasped, and drew back.
"Huh?" Teddy looked confused. Then he saw where she was looking. He laughed. "Oh, that. I'm a Metamorphmagus, like my mum was."
Lily leaned over and whispered in Arita's ear, "A Metamorphmagus is a person who can change their appearance at will." Arita whistled.
Teddy continued. "I haven't yet mastered the whole concept yet. Until I do, my hair generally changes color with my mood. See, yellow for cheerfulness."
Arita smiled. "It looks like I have a lot to learn! Lily'll probably have a head start on me." She grinned at Lily.
"Well, not really. Not once we start classes. I mean, there's so much to learn! Not even kids from wizarding families have much of a head start over the muggle-borns. Especially since we're not allowed to practise magic out of school. A lot of us don't know one spell for another yet, let alone the wand movements that accompany it." Lily answered.
There was a shout from behind them. Arita turned, and saw James running up. Teddy grabbed him and ruffled his hair. "Ready for Hogwarts, ole buddy?" James grinned.
"This year's the year I'm getting Celendine!"
Albus, coming up also, snorted. "Celendine Swanne? There's no way she's gonna go out with you!" James straightened, offended.
"And why not? I'm the best Gryffindor quidditch player!"
Albus opened his mouth to retaliate, but just then the train whistle blew.
"All aboard!"
Harry Potter, Ginny, Ron Weasley, Hermione, and Professor Lovegood all came over to the small group. Lily ran and gave her parents a big hug, and Hugo disappeared under his parent's arms. Teddy ran to the train with James.
Arita stood off a little ways, looking on. Professor Lovegood came up to her.
"See you at Hogwarts, Ms. Callister! Don't forget, Rascal will be waiting in the forest for you when you arrive." Arita smiled, and gave her a little wave. The Professor turned on her heel, and disappeared.
Lily ran up to her, pulling her trunk and holding her owl's cage under her arm. "Come on!" Arita grabbed her trunk and her owl, and they made their way towards the back of the train. Arita helped Lily push their trunks onto the train, then they pulled them into an empty compartment and lifted them onto the seat. They sat down, winded. Then the train started moving. Lily pulled down the window and waved to her family. When they disappeared around a corner, she put the window up and sat down next to Arita. There was a knock at the compartment door, and Hugo entered.
"Can I sit here?" Arita nodded. Hugo pulled his trunk in, and sat down, a little owl in his lap.
"Ooh, you've got Pigwidgeon! Aw, he's so cute!" squealed Lily.
"He's old though. But he still makes deliveries. Dad let me have him."
Arita let her own owl out, and she hopped on Arita's lap.
"Is that a barn owl? They're supposed to be the most loyal owls! What's her name?" asked Lily, stroking her.
"I'm not sure yet."
"What about Violet? Daisy? Brisi?"
Hugo spoke up. "What about Misty?"
"Yeah, I like that!" Arita smiled.
"Hello Misty!" Lily cooed. "So do you have any other animals?"
"Um, I have Rascal, my unicorn foal." Hugo and Lily's mouths' dropped.
"A unicorn foal?! I only have Pig!" Hugo said, jealous.
"I have Eirene, my eagle owl, and I have a puffle." stated Lily.
"A puffle?" asked Arita. Lily took out a little puff-ball of baby blue fur. Two big green eyes looked out, and little feet poked out at the bottom. Now it was Arita's turn to be awed.
"It's so cute!" Lily smiled.
"His name's Calvin. Want to hold him?" She tipped Calvin into Arita's palm. Misty hooted, and fluttered onto the rack overhead. She stayed there, hooting disdainfully at the little creature who had disturbed her.
Arita stroked Calvin's soft fur, thinking. "What's Gryffindor?"
"One of the four houses of Hogwarts: Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. Ravenclaw's for smart people, Slytherin's for the sly and clever people, Hufflepuff's for the softies, and Gryffindor's for the brave." Hugo explained.
Lily chipped in. "They say that not one person from Slytherin turned out good. They're bad people."
Arita shivered. "Not any of those houses sound like one I'd fit in!"
"You're just nervous." Hugo said, leaning back in his seat.
"I know! I can't believe we're really going!" Lily said, bouncing up and down.
"Lily, what's quidditch?" Arita asked. Hugo groaned.
"Now you're in for it!"
"Quidditch," Lily started, "Is the wizard sport, played on brooms. There are 7 people on a quidditch team: a Keeper, a Seeker, two Beaters, and three Chasers. There are 4 balls: the quaffle, the snitch, and 2 bludgers. The bludgers fly around, trying to knock people off their brooms. The beaters are in charge of making sure no bludgers hit any of their teammates. The quaffle is the ball you score with. The chasers grab the quaffle and try to score in one of the tall hoops on either end of the pitch. The keeper makes sure the other team doesn't score. The snitch is the most important ball of all, and very hard to spot. If a seeker catches the snitch before the other seeker does, he wins 150 points for his team, and they usually win. The game doesn't end until the snitch is caught."
"Sounds fun!" Arita said.
"It is! And it's the best sport ever!"
They talked for a while longer, then Arita took out her books and started learning some spells while Hugo and Lily got into an animated argument over which quidditch team was going to win the Quidditch World Cup.
Soon they heard the call, "Anything off the trolley? Anything off the trolley?" A kind looking old lady pulled open the compartment door. She was pushing a large trolley full with all kinds of sweets and drinks. Arita jumped up. She was starving. After careful consideration, she bought several Pumpkin Pasties, a box of Chocolate Frogs, a bag of Sugar Quills, several Cauldron Cakes, 2 boxes of red Licorice Wands, a couple Fizzle Sticks, and a package of Carmel-Toffee owls. She paid the lady 20 sickles and 11 knuts, then sat back down. Hugo had gotten 3 of everything, and Lily had gotten some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Fizzle Sticks, and 5 packages of Carmel-Toffee owls. They piled everything between them and shared it all.
"You'd think we hadn't eaten for days!" joked Hugo, his mouth full with Cauldron Cake.
"Pig," said Lily. "Anyway, Carmel-Toffee owls are the best." She opened one as she spoke. A golden colored mini owl flew out and fluttered around the compartment. As it slowed down and started floating towards the ground, Lily caught it in her mouth. "Mmm," she said, and licked her lips.
Arita opened one of the Fizzle Sticks, and bit a piece off. Suddenly her mouth started fizzling and bubbling. She opened it, and little sparkles bounced out and ricocheted off the compartment walls, sending off little sparks and making little buzzing noises. She giggled, and took another bite.
The train had carried them out of London, and now they were speeding through the countryside. Then they plunged into a forest and crossed a bridge overlooking a frothing river.
Arita finished eating, and started to read Famous Wizards and Witches: a complete guide to the amazing people of our past.
"Lily, your dad's Harry Potter, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"He did so many amazing things!"
"Yeah. He doesn't brag about them though. He acts like a normal dad."
The compartment door opened again, and a girl in her second year entered, with strawberry-blond hair that gently waved to her waist and curled slightly at the ends. She sat down next to Arita.
"Hi. I'm Celendine. Celendine Swanne." she said pleasantly. "This your first year?"
"Yes. I'm Arita Callister." Arita said. "And this is Lily Potter, and Hugo Weasley."
Celendine smiled. "I hope you're in Gryffindor." she noticed the book in Arita's hands. "Oh, is that Famous Wizards and Witches? I love that book!"
Arita grinned. "Me too. My favorite wizard is Dumbledore. I can't believe he did all those things!"
"Same here! Did you read the part where they talk about his reason for letting Snape kill him?"
"Yeah! He had such an amazing mind!"
Celendine's face lit up. "Hold on one second, I'll be right back!" She darted down the corridor.
She returned shortly with 2 books in her hands. She handed them to Artia.
"Here, I think you'll like these." Arita looked at the titles: Hogwarts Today—the history of Hogwarts, up to Harry Potter's 7th year; and Hogwarts, a History. She looked up at Celendine.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome! Oh, read Hogwarts, a History first. It was written first, and it has some things that Hogwarts Today doesn't—that way you'll get the whole story." Celendine looked outside. "Oh, look! We'll be there in about an hour and a half. Better get your robes on! I'll see you around?" Arita, Lily, and Hugo nodded. "Bye!" Celendine left, Hugo following, heading towards the restrooms with his robes on his arms.
Arita and Lily changed, then Arita sat down with Hogwarts, a History while Lily played with Calvin.
"Well she was nice," Lily said. "I'm surprised. Usually James goes for the snooty and beautiful ones. This time he chose a nice and beautiful one."
Arita laughed.
Hugo returned, and plopped down on the other side of Arita. He picked up Hogwarts Today and flipped through it. "Hey, my mom and dad are in here! So's your mom Lily!" Lily scooted over and read over Hugo's shoulder. Soon, a 5th year came and told them to pack up, they would be arriving in 15 minutes.
Arita put away her books and tucked Misty into her cage. Then she helped Lily find Calvin, who had run away, and picked up the wrappers from the candy. Her stomach growled. The candy seemed ages ago. She couldn't wait to go and eat dinner. She then helped Hugo lure Pigwidgeon back into his cage and chased Calvin down again, who had taken off down the corridor. By the time she got back and handed Calvin over, they had arrived.
Arita, Hugo, and Lily pushed their way out of the train, leaving their things and their animals behind to be picked up and transported to Hogwarts. Before they had left, they had made sure to leave the compartment door tightly closed so Calvin didn't make another escape.
They stepped out, and Arita got her first glimpse of the school. It was a towering castle, with towers and turrets and everything. On the edge of the school grounds she saw a large field, which she supposed was for quidditch, and the forest beyond that.
She followed Lily and Hugo over to where someone was calling, "Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!" It turned out to be a giant. Arita held back, but Lily and Hugo pressed forward.
"Hello Hagrid!" said Hugo.
"Why, hello there Hugo! Hello Lily!" he said pleasantly. "Come on, we're goin' by boat. Down here, watch yer step!" he turned back and called, "Firs' years! Come on now, follow me! Keep up!" he led them down a steep path to a lake. There were several boats docked there, waiting.
"Only four to a boat! No more'n four to a boat!"
Arita, Lily, and Hugo climbed in a boat, and were joined by a boy with brown hair. Once everyone was in a boat, the boats started off themselves. After an eerie ride across the lake, Arita felt a gentle bump, and climbed out. They set out across the grass towards the castle, traveling right along the forest. Arita thought she saw Rascal, but then they veered away from the forest, and walked up several stone steps to a large stone door. They stopped abruptly. Everyone held their breath. Hagrid raised a hand, and knocked on the door 5 times. It creaked open, and a woman stood there. "Welcome to Hogwarts."