Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express
Mother Apparated them straight to Platform 9 3/4 so they didn't have to go through the weird looks from the Muggles as they had so many things. She had to Apparate back and forth a few times to get them all there. Gerhaze came with them, but soon went off to his own friends.
"Wow..." Matilda breathed as she saw the magnificent view of the bright red and streaming train.
"Is that Harry Potter?" Sylvia looked at the famous "Boy Who Lived" and the "Chosen One", alone with the former star Chaser of the Holyhead Harpies, Ginny Potter and their three children.
"It is," Matilda was looking at them too, "We've seen them before, remember?"
She sure remembered. James Potter came to the shop four years ago, Albus Potter had come to pair with his wand two years ago, and they had met Lily Potter during this summer.
"Looks like they have a problem." She murmured as Albus pointed his wand at a piece of parchment that seemed like to be his Hogsmeade permission form and made it into a ball of fire that floated across the platform. She had heard that Albus was sorted into Slytherin and didn't get on well with his family. She shook the worries off and set her mind back to her own business.
"Let's go!" Sylvia levitated her trunk to make it lighter and had Natasha's cage in her other hand, "See you in Christmas, Mum!" She turned to say goodbye before abording the train with her sister.
They found an empty compartment near the back of the train and settled down. Natasha leapt onto Sylvia's lap while Howard fell asleep in his cage.
"I can't believe we're going to Hogwarts so soon," Matilda exclaimed happily, "It only seems like yesterday when we left the orphanage."
The orphanage... Sylvia had almost forgotten about that place where she spent two years of her childhood. Too many things had happened in the Wizarding World to make the memory fade.
After about half an hour, the train began to move. She popped her head out of the window to say a last goodbye to Mrs Ollivander before the train turned and the platform zoomed out from the view.
"Are these seats taken?" Sometime later, a girl with silvery blond hair came in and asked.
"No, it's just us." Matilda replied and the girl sat on the seat beside her.
"I'm Davina. Davina Sayre," The girl introduced herself, "First-year."
Sylvia was taken aback by the surname, but Matilda didn't seem to notice, "I'm Matilda Ollivander, and that's my sister Sylvia. Both first-years."
Davina and Sylvia stared at each other with round eyes, until Matilda interrupted, "I know the Ollivander family is famous, but why...?"
"Isolt Sayre is the founder of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Sylvia told her, "American magical school." She added at the blank look from Matilda, whose mouth dropped open at that.
"Are you related...?" Her sister asked with interest.
Davina grinned nervously, "Isolt's father had brothers, and the bloodline continued in Britain."
"But why hadn't we heard of that name before?" Matilda asked.
"Most of my family went to Ilvermorny," Davina replied, "But Isolt always wanted to go to Hogwarts, so my parents decided to send me here."
"And I assume you would know the Boot family?" Sylvia asked, "The two boys Isolt had adopted?"
"Yeah, more or less." Said Davina.
The compartment door opened again, and a black-haired girl came in. "I hope you don't mind," She said hastily to the other three, "My brothers are so annoying, and I want to get away from them for a while." She sat down, "I'm Mora Viehe, by the way."
They all introduced themselves, then Sylvia asked, "You said you have brothers, which year are they in?"
Mora sighed, "Mike is in fifth, Musa's the same as me, first year, and Michael's starting next year."
"Four children in one family?" Davina looked shocked, "Wow. I'm the only child in my family." Her eyes darkened a little, "I wish I had siblings."
"You won't." Mora informed her, "Have you heard of the Weasleys? They have more children than they could afford, they had seven children in a quite poor family, though they're quite rich now. And having siblings could be annoying, which is why I'm here in the first place."
"True," Matilda muttered with a gaze at Sylvia, "Having siblings in a magical family means you could be hexed."
Sylvia sniggered, "And it means the other one will hex you back."
They went on chatting on the way. Davina had told them about the interesting things in American Wizardry. They called Muggles "No-Majs" and, instead of being sent to Azkaban like in Britain, American witches and wizards could face execution.
"My father is a dragon trainer," Mora boasted as they came to the subject of parents, it turned out that all four of them came from magical families, "I sometimes get hatchlings to look after."
"Because they won't let you even look at the full-grown ones," Sylvia laughed good-heartedly, "Far too dangerous for eleven-year-olds."
"Completely correct." Mora responded.
"Our father, well, you all know who he is." Matilda shrugged.
"Everyone's seen him." Sylvia rolled her eyes dramatically.
"My mother works for the MACUSA," Davina told them, "American Ministry of Magic."
"Which house do you think you'll be in?" Mora asked suddenly, "Mike's in Ravenclaw, so I think I might be too."
"Ravenclaw," Sylvia said, "Father's house. Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
"I just hope I don't end up in Slytherin," Davina looked down, "It was Gormlaith's house. But Isolt wanted to be in Ravenclaw, maybe I can get in there. How do you get sorted, anyways?
"Who's Gormlaith?" Matilda stared blankly.
"Honestly, you should read more about other wizarding communities." Sylvia sighed and started to explain, "Gormlaith is a dark witch who killed Isolt's parents – "Davina winced slightly, "- And nearly destroyed Ilvermorny when the school was first created. As for the sorting, you get sorted by an enchanted Sorting Hat that can read your mind."
"Cool," The silver-haired girl breathed, "In Ilvermorny, you get sorted by standing in the middle of the hall and the enchanted carvings of the house creatures lighting up."
"Interesting." Mora commented.
"Have you tried any spells yet?" Sylvia started another conversation.
"You definitely have," Matilda huffed, "Like the time you hex my hair."
"And you have too," She retorted, "Like after I reversed it you tried to charm my books. Besides that, I tried loads. Wingardium Leviosa." She pointed her wand at Mora's coat, and it lifted into the air before landing squarely on the girl's face.
"I tried doing the levitating spell once," Mora told them after pulling the cloak off her head, "But I ended up setting the tissue on fire and Mum had to conjure water and put it out. Musa had a good laugh on that."
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" The Trolley Witch came, and the compartment door was open once again.
"Great, I'm starving." Sylvia mumbled and got up. The others followed. She bought a few Chocolate Frogs, a Cauldron Cake, and a few Pumpkin Pasties. Taking a huge bite from the cake, she sat back down and enjoyed the rest of the journey.
"You might want to get changed into your robes." Matilda announced after a while, she and Sylvia were already changed before they met the others, "We'll go for a strode." And they left the compartment, leaving Lora and Davina alone.
"Is that someone fighting?" Sylvia heard a bang somewhere.
"Probably." Matilda frowned and hurried towards the chaos.
"Get off me, Slytherin git!" A boy with messy brown hair yowled. He was obviously in a fight with the other boy with even messier black hair.
"Don't you dare insult my family, Ravenclaw nerd!" The other boy retorted.
"They're covered with Wrackspurts," A girl with curly brown hair and misty blue eyes sighed beside them, "It makes their brains fuzzy."
"What are Wrackspurts...?" Matilda frowned, "You're not from the Lovegood family, are you?"
"I'm Miya Scamander," The girl answered in a calm voice, "And yes, my mother was a Lovegood."
"Stop it, will you?" An older girl with long, silver hair came to the front of the crowd, "Stop." She commanded again and the two boys finally broke up.
"You're both first-years, right?" She looked at them and they both nodded, "Isn't it a bit too early to talk about house rivalries?"
"She's right, you know." The brown-haired boy shot his enemy an angry gaze.
"Nice one, Weasley." Someone called.
"Oh, please do call us by first names," A redhead rolled his eyes, "It really gets mixed up if you call us all Messrs Weasley and Misses Weasley."
"You're the only Mr. Weasley here, Fred." James Potter chimed in.
"Oi!" A silver-haired boy barked, "I'm part Veela does not mean I'm a girl!"
"Oops, sorry Louis, I miscounted." James chuckled.
"How many Weasleys do you think there are in this school?" Matilda stared at them and murmured.
"Well," Sylvia replied, "There's Dominique, Fred, Roxanne, Molly, Louis, Lucy, then Rose and Hugo are Granger-Weasleys, James, Albus and Lily's mother was a Weasley, and Victoire has done her NEWTs last year. So yeah, loads."
"Blimey, how did you know that much?" Asked her sister.
"I read, Matilda, read." She responded.
"How some you two started fighting, anyways?" Another prefect interrupted.
"I was trying to have peace when you budged into my compartment, and said your whole family's in Slytherin, Lestrange!" The first boy spat out the name.
"Then you were being a git and started insulting my family, Davies!" The boy named Lestrange hissed.
"Which happened after you called my family un-pure!" Davies retorted.
"It's true, though!" Lestrange protested.
"I don't care even if I'm Muggle-born," Davies spat, "Only evil Slytherins care about blood status!"
"That's when you started saying things."
"And that's when you decided to fight and jumped on me." Davies finished the story.
"Stupid first-years." The prefect sighed, "Everyone go back to their seats, please! I can't believe you got into trouble so quickly."
"Can I join you?" Miya asked them and the crowd slowly scattered.
"Sure." Matilda led the way to their compartment.
"What are your names?" Miya's tone was still dreamy and calm.
"I'm Sylvia Ollivander," Miya's eyes rounded a little at the name, "And she's my sister Matilda." Sylvia introduced themselves as she opened the door, "That's Davina Sayre, and the other is Mora Viehe."
The five girls did not notice that they had just formed a great alliance that would last for longer than they imagined.