ThanI you for reading! Please make sure you read the authors note
"Hurry dad! We're going to be late!" Lani screamed as she ran through Kings Cross Station, pushing the luggage cart in front of her. She looked down at her watch; 11:09. As she hurried through the train station, she saw Natalie standing with a tall blonde man and a short woman with curly light brown hair.
"There you are! We've been waiting on you for ages!" Natalie ran up to Lani and pulled her along faster.
"Okay, now just watch us and do what we do." Natalie's parents walked over to the wall between platforms 9 and 10 and leaned against it, casually striking up a conversation. Then they slowly fell through the wall. Lani stared gaping at the now empty wall.
"No time for daydreaming come on!" Natalie pulled Lani and her father over to the wall.
"Now, put your cart in front of you and just start to fall backwards."
Lani did as she was told, leaning back. Suddenly, she felt the wall give way and fell through. When she fell through the other side of the wall, she noticed Kings Cross had disappeared and a shining red train labeled Hogwarts Express stood before her.
"Last call, all aboard!"
Lani hugged her father goodbye, the clock reading 11:14.
"I'll make sure to write dad. I love you, take care."
She hugged him one more time, before running after Natalie. They climbed the train right as it pulled out of the stations, waving goodbye to their parents.
"Let's go find a seat."
They wandered through the train looking for an empty compartment. After wandering up and down the halls twice, they decided to join a compartment with two young boys. One had pale skin with dark brown hair. The other had light brown skin and fluffy black hair.
Natalie opened the door, "can we sit here? Everywhere else is full." Both boys nodded and the girls bulled their things into the cabin.
"I'm Natalie and this is Lani."
"Hullo, Seamus Finnigan," said the pale one.
"Dean Thomas," replied the other.
The girls sat down, on the opposite side of the boys. Lani sat down Makai's cage on the floor beside her. Natalie took her brown tabby cat, Millie, and put her in her lap.
"So, where are you two from? I'm Irish. Me mum's a witch and me dads a muggle," said Seamus.
"I live in London. Both of my parents are wizards, although my mums muggle born. Gram and grandpa still get quite a shock sometimes." Natalie spoke to this boy as if they had known each other for years.
"What about you?" Dean said, looking straight at Lani.
"Oh, well I'm Hawaiian, but I just moved to Wales. My mums a witch, I think, she died when I was young. My dads a muggle, I only just found out about being a witch a few days ago."
Suddenly they were interrupted by a young witch roaming about the train.
"Excuse me, have any of you seen a toad?"
They all shook their head no, "well, in any case, Hermione Granger. First year."
"Dean,"
"Seamus,"
"Natalie,"
"Lani," they all said at once.
"Pleasure to meet you all. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to continue looking. Hermione strode out, continuing down the train. For the next few hours, they sat talking about Hogwarts: the houses, the traditions. Natalie had an older brother at Hogwarts, and he made sure to tell Natalie every little secret.
"Alec told me that there was a giant squid! In the lake, said its very friendly though. Alec and his friends feed it all the time, apparently the pudding is its favorite."
Seamus spoke up, almost bouncing with excitement.
"Me mum told me that the Sorting Hat sings!"
"Sorting Hat?" Lani questioned.
"I read about the Sorting Hat," Dean said, "it's very old. It's an enchanted hat used to sort first years into their houses. Quite astonishing really."
During that moment, they heard a voice coming down the hall.
"Anything from the trolley?" A giant silver trolley filled from top to bottom with sweets beyond ones imagination came into view. Lani got up, and bought almost one of everything. She sat back down and opened the first box she had, Bertie's Botts Every Flavour Beans.
"Careful with those, some of them aren't very pleasant." Dean said, taking one out of the box, "my point exactly," he cringed. "Grass flavour. "
Just then, two boys strode into the compartment. They were tall, skinny with bright orange hair. They had gleaming eyes, and a permanent smile upon their faces.
"Have any of you seen a girl named," the first one paused, and pulled something out of his pocket, " Lani Cooper, around here?"
Lani stood, "uhh, I'm her. Who's asking?"
"Ah right," the second spoke, looking her up and down.
"I'm Fred Weasley," spoke the one holding the parcel, "and this here is…" he was interrupted by the other.
"George Weasley. The more handsome twin. We're third years. Mum asked us to bring this to you, seeing as she didn't know your address."
He handed her the parcel. She set it down next to her, still looking at the twins. Fred turned to leave, but George lingered a moment, still looking at Lani. He winked, then turned, following his brother. Judging by the name, their mother must be Molly Weasley, the woman in the picture
"Seems you have an admirer," Natalie smirked. Lani hit her on the arm still smiling.
Hours later, the train pulled into the station. Dressed in their Hogwarts robes, the four first years climbed off the train, joint the swarm of excited Hogwarts students.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"
They followed the voice to where a man was towering over a group of first years. He was about 7 or 8 feet tall and had a long curly beard to go with his long curly hair. Once they all gathered around, he led them over to a dock, where several boats stood afloat.
"Four to a boat. Cmon now."
Once everyone was in, the boats lurched forward. They moved across the lake towards the tall beautiful castle. Lani stared up at it, gaping at its beauty. Once they reached the castle, they went under the rocks, through a tunnel into an underground harbor. There they walked up a flight of stairs and stopped around a huge oak door. The door opened to reveal a tall, black haired witch in green robes
"Firs' years, Professor McGonogall."
They followed the Professor across the stone floor, and all crowded into an empty chamber. Professor McGonogall stepped forward and began speaking.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.
"The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are here at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you House points, while any rule breaking will lose you House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, s great honor, I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I will suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return shortly." She walked out and left the first years standing there. Another red headed boy walked over to them, a black haired boy with big round glasses behind him.
"Oy, you're Lani aren't you?" Lani nodded
"Ron Weasley, mum told me about you. "
"You're Fred and George's brother aren't you?"
"Ah I guess you met the twins. Dunno why mum couldn't give me that package. Wait, I almost forgot this is Harry.
"Blimey! Is it really you? Harry Potter." Seamus asked staring at the boy in astonishment. The boy nodded. In that moment, Professor McGonogall came back to collect them. They followed her, in a line, into the hallways through a giant door. They were standing inside a giant room. The ceiling seemed to look like the night sky, with candles floating under it. There were 5 long tables, four covered in student and the other sitting up on a platform with what seemed to be teachers. There was a stool in the middle of the room, with an old beat up hat sitting on it. Then, the hat started singing. Lani was so surprised, she forgot to listen to the song, instead looking around her.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." She started in alphabetical order. Abbot, Bones, Boot, Brocklehurst, Bulstrode, Cooper.
Wait Cooper, that's me. Lani stumbled forward, taking a seat on the stool. Professor McGonogall placed the hat on her head. Suddenly she heard a voice in her head.
Ah yes, bright young girl. A trait perfect for Ravenclaw. But you have a hidden characteristic that makes me feel you would do well in
"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted. Lani smiled, and walked to the tables with the rest of her new house. She found a spot next to George who smiled down at her.
Thank you for reading! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review it would mean a lot to me.