Elsa 2
I knew the drill. I ran through the wall to platform 9 ¾ and ditched my sister and parents as soon as possible. I couldn't help but give a childish goodbye before I left, but it was my only break in character. I boarded the train and looked for solitude inside my own compartment. Outside, people I barely knew, and didn't care to know, very loudly said their hellos. I kept my head down because getting close to too many people can lead to discovery, and that's the last thing I need.
I have only ever told three people my little secret: my parents and naturally River, my best friend. My sister doesn't even know anymore, and it has to stay that way, for her safety and mine. I have spent years separating myself from Anna to keep her safe, and I have spent two years separating myself from the rest of the school to keep me safe. Everyone just chalks me down as the strange nerdy girl in the corner. River believes I should expose my secret, that it would make me popular, but I know it will get me shunned.
I heard there was another witch with the same 'gift' I have. Everyone made fun of her, she was always alone, and worst of all, they just assumed she was dangerous and unnatural. Like they are so natural themselves, magic is supposed to be a myth. This way I have a couple friends and peace. Different isn't celebrated, it's hated, so my secret remains a secret. Maybe I am dangerous.
The door to my compartment slid open, and my eyes lit up expecting to see a puffy haired girl, but instead I found the cute brown haired boy who finally had the courage to ask me out at the end of year two. I was glad he made an appearance because my thoughts were beginning to spiral into the pits of loneliness and despair.
During the summer, when I passed Anna in the halls she would always find a way to tease me about him, another ploy to get me to stay away most likely. It was a constant flow of "do you miss your boyfriend?" and "writing to your boyfriend again?" and stuff of the sort. Yet as much as it embarrasses me when she does it, the answer is usually yes.
There is something magical about his icy blue eyes that pierce my soul. He came and sat beside me and kissed me gently on the cheek. Taking advantage of the time without Riversong, we chatted about our summer aimlessly. He told me about his seamlessly endless quidditch practices and I told him about flute and dance. To which he gave his usual response with a laugh, "You know, your hobbies are great, but they could use a bit more… magic."
I countered, "Bold words from a muggle born."
"Well I'm a little bit more magical, and you are dating me, so your argument is invalid." He said with superiority.
I laughed and changed the subject "So it's Anna's first year and she wants to join quidditch. Maybe not this year necessarily, but eventually, and it just seems so dangerous."
"It's not that dangerous!" Jack rolled his eyes.
I turned to him "Have you read Harry Potter?! The kid gets chased by a dragon on that wooden death trap you call a broom. He also effectively loses all the bones in his arms, and that's just the tip of the iceberg!"
"Actually he loses the bones in one of his arms, and that was just because of an arrogant teacher who didn't know what he was doing." Jack responded turning towards me, a newly lit fire in his eyes.
"We seem to have a lot of teachers like that here. It's not too far from the truth." I respond.
He sat back bummed our book discussion ended there. "Especially that Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
I began to get annoyed. Jack seems to thoroughly dislike that teacher for some reason."Actually, as arrogant as he is, he knows what he is doing."
"You just have a high opinion of him because River-" The compartment door flung open announcing River had finally made an appearance.
"Because River what? I'm dying to hear you finish that sentence." River said slyly adding extra inflection to the word dying. Out of habit, Jack and I had quickly slipped apart. River stepped in dressed to the hilt with a cute black dress that fell to her knees and boots, with heels, that just came up over her ankles. She gave one of her signature smiles as she gave her usual greeting, "Hello sweeties!" She noticed the distance between us and continued "How are you two love birds doing?"
I stood excitedly to meet my best friend after she had put down her suitcase, and groaned, "Not you too! Anna has been doing that all summer." Jack blushed at my words.
River took her seat across from us. "What? She has been saying Hello Sweetie? If that's true then I'll have to have a talk with her. It's my line, copyrighted Riversong."
I gave her a agitated smile, "You know what I mean." I looked at her and realized how ironic it was that the two closest people in my life were Slytherin, but I still don't approve of the house, there has been too much of a bad influence there, even with Harry Potter being fictional.
We could hear the chatter of friends being united and parents giving last hugs and saying goodbye. River read the look on my face and nimbly spun a spell I had never heard of before. Almost immediately, all outside noise vanished. I looked at her gratefully, although we both knew we weren't supposed to do magic outside of Hogwarts. The train on the way there was close enough.
River rarely got in trouble when she breaks the rules because she is always as quick as a cat. It's no wonder she is in Slytherin.
Finally, I spilled my thoughts, confident that the room was soundproof. "I am worried about Anna. No offense, but I don't approve of your House very much and what if she is placed in Slytherin and she falls in with the bad kids! Our family isn't like how you grew up River, surrounded with magic. Our parents like things done the muggle way, something about finding our roots, and if she blows it, it's over for her. No more magic, and she loves it so much, I couldn't bare to see her go through that. Then it might as well be over for me too because they don't want to see me make the same mistakes and wouldn't let me come back to the place that led Anna down a bad path. I would never get to see my only friends and peers who care for me again, and I couldn't bear to live with a wandless Anna." Suddenly I remembered to breath. The mask I had been wearing had peeled off and my skin had become suddenly very exposed.
"She is a good kid from what you have told us about her, and you are not her parent." River spoke gently, but with the power she knew she possessed.
"Yeah, but-" I tried.
"And like I always say: Spoilers. You don't know what's going to happen. Lets make it to the sorting hat before we jump to conclusions, and if she somehow does land in Slytherin, which I doubt, then…" She paused and smiled slyly at Jack whose eyes grew in slight fear and anticipation. "Then Jack will definitely take her under his wing."
Jack began to protest "Hey I never agreed to-" My eyebrows rose and I shot him a look. He began again quickly "I mean of course I'll watch out for her."
I laughed at his response and it felt wonderful. River continued "Unless we are the bad influences you were talking about." She fought to hold back a smile.
"Well, I wasn't going to say names, but now that you mention it…" River and I began to laugh. When it subsided I noticed Jack was still sitting there looking very uncomfortable. "Oh don't worry. It's not like you would have to babysit her if it does happen. She isn't five! Well at least last time I checked she wasn't. A lot can happen on the train to Hogwarts."
Jack finally gave a timid smile. Then fire rose back to his cheeks as he said incredulously, "What do you mean you don't approve of our House?! You do know no offense doesn't actually get rid of the offense."
"Well… you see… it's just that, not you, but… bad things-" Just then another boy about our age, with casually mussed hair, opened the compartment door. Marshmallow who had been quietly sitting next to me took advantage of the opportunity and darted out past him into the hallway. He looked shocked as I jumped up and called "Marshmallow!" Secretly glad for the change in topic.
The boy blushed then with sigh begin moving away while calling "I'll get him! I'll be back!"
"Very like Hiccup, too. Probably let the cat out on purpose, so he could have some fun running around the train." River said with a pointed look at Jack.
Soon after Hiccup's quick entrance and exit, River removed the spell she put on the cabin, so we wouldn't get caught using magic, and I finally asked the question that had been burning in the back of my mind. "Where did you learn that spell? Definitely not in first or second year of school, and we aren't supposed to use magic outside of school…"
She held a finger to her lips and and simply said, "Spoilers." River is a genius wizard, but insists on not doing her homework, so she gets awful grades. Right now, I am the top in our class and that's expected because I'm a Ravenclaw, but River is so much smarter than I am and could totally be top in our class if she would put in the effort.
Whenever I pose the question of why she doesn't strive to be the best, she always insists there are too many adventures for her to go on and too many opportunities she would miss if she wasted time on homework.
I looked around, content with the little world I built around me in this second home. River sat across from me thinking up some scheme, Jack sat quietly taking it all in, in his good natured quiet way, and Hiccup was off running around the train after a cat he won't catch until it finds what it is looking for, probably Olaf or some other poor unsuspecting owl. Everything just seemed to be in it's place.
Sitting on a magical train heading towards my second, more preferred life, where I belonged as much as I was an outcast, all my problems and worries flew off like an owl, into sky. The engine to the train huffed and puffed as it worked to power the long heavy train.
I hadn't heard when we took off, so it must have been sometime during the period when River had silenced the room. I missed the ludicrous actions of parents and their children and wasn't sure if I was relieved or disappointed.
The three of us sat in silence, listening to the soundtrack of the world. Smoke from the front of the train swept gracefully past our window and cleared our souls like a filter sending it all squandering behind us and onto the tracks. We were moving toward another year, and I decided River was right, so I just sat back and began to soak it all in.
Anna 2
Mom pushes my cart and Dad pushes Elsa's. Mom starts to speak when the barrier comes into sight.
"Anna, you know Elsa-"
"Stop, Mom. Don't speak for her. It doesn't work like that. If Elsa ever wants to forgive me, she will." We reach the barrier, and Elsa goes through first, saying goodbye to our parents, but never hugging them.
"Forgive you for what?" Mom looks confused as I hug her and Dad when he comes over. He looks at her wondering what we're talking about.
"For whatever I did to make her hate me." I say, then I run through the barrier before they can say anything.
Elsa's nowhere in sight when I pass through the barrier. She's probably gone off to find River and Jack. I still can't believe Elsa has a boyfriend! She's hardly spoken to me in years! I get to an open door on the train carriage, and try and haul my trunk on board. It's a lot heavier than it looked when Dad was putting it on the trolley! I make it up one step, then I start to teeter like a one legged tight-rope walker under my trunk. Oh no! I'm gonna fall, I'm gonna fall, I'm gonna-
"Easy there lass!"
"Carefull!"
Two voices shout, one from the train in front of me, one from the platform I just left. One pair of hands pushes on me from behind, keeping me from experiencing an embarrassing fall, and another pair grabs my trunk, pulling me onto the train. As soon as I'm on, I drop the trunk, and look at my rescuers. They both look like they're my age, and one of the girls is in her school robes. The girl who helped me pull my trunk on board is dressed in a plain green t-shirt, jeans with a big hole in one knee, tennis shoes, and has a mane of vibrant red curls to top it all off. The other girl, the one who pushed me on from behind, is obviously a first year too. Her robes don't have any of the Houses crests decorating them. Her blonde hair is pulled back from her face in a braid, except for her long bangs, which obscure one of her stormy blue eyes.
"Thanks!" I say to the both of them.
"No problem!"
"Don't mention it."
"No thanks necessary if yeh sit wi' us." The redhead says.
"Okay! Lets go!" I can't believe it! They're asking me to sit with them! The blonde girl helps me carry my trunk to their compartment. "I'm Anna Arendelle."
The three of us push my trunk up into the compartment between both of theirs. "Astrid Hofferson" The blonde girl gives my hand a brisk shake.
The red head drops down onto one of the seats "An' I'm Merida DunBroch. Pleasure to meet you." I sit down next to her, and Astrid sits across from us. A black owl is in a cage up by the trunks, and Olaf flies off of my shoulder and up to meet him. "An' that's Angus. My noble steed. Well, the closest I could get to a steed. Mum would'nae let me get a horse."
"That's Olaf. He's easily excitable." I say.
"So, Anna," Astrid says "What house do you want to be in?"
"I don't know. I haven't really given it much thought."
"Well, I know where I wan' to be" Merida speaks up. She places a clenched fist over her heart and points an imaginary sword towards the sky "Gryffindor! Where dwell the brave at heart!"
"Oooh! Are you guys talking about the Houses?" A voice squeals from the door. Another first year is standing in the doorway. She's got a golden complexion, with a few freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, bright green eyes, and a little, frog, I think, sitting on her shoulder. But her hair's the real eye catcher. It's in a thick, golden braid that hangs down almost to her ankles. Before any of us can say anything, she asks "Can I sit with you guys?"
"Sure!" I chirp. We help her stow her trunk, introduce ourselves, (her name is Rapunzel, and her pet chameleon is named Pascal) and then me and Merida change into our school robes. We're just putting our trunks back when the door opens again. Another blonde first year, a boy this time, is standing in the doorway. He mumbles something, about everywhere else being full and needing a place to sit. "Sure!" I scoot over to make room for him, and a big, fluffy, brown dog pads in behind the boy. "I'm Anna, and this is Astrid, Rapunzel, and Merida." I point at each the other girls in turn.
The boy mumbles again.
"Nice to meet you, Christopher!"
"Its Kristoff." He says it louder this time "And this is Sven." He scratches the dog behind the ears.
"I though' dogs wern' allowed at school!" Merida gasps.
"I got special permission."
I reached out to pet the dog "He's so- Marshmallow NO!" The demon cat had snuck into our compartment behind Kristoff. And I know why he's here. Olaf. Who had managed to squirm into Angus's cage with him.
Before anyone can do anything, Marshmallow leaps onto a seat, springs off of Merida's head, and up into the luggage compartment, knocking the bird cage out. The five of us leap to our feet, adding to the chaos in the cabin. Rapunzel must be really jumpy, because she lept out of her seat and up into the empty space in the luggage compartment. Merida tries to catch the cage, but it bounces off her head, knocking her face first into the seats. Astrid ends up grabbing the cage after it hits Merida, and Marshmallow leaps at her. I grab her robe and pull her out of the way, sending her sprawling to the floor, and me, embarrassingly, into Kristoff's lap.
Marshmallow soars over Astrid, bounces off the door, and (of course) lands on all four paws. Svens been barking the whole time, and now he steps in between Marshmallow and the rest of us. Marshmallow hisses and snarls, pressing his ears flat against his skull, looking like he wants to fight Sven! Before anything can happen between the two pets, the door opens, and Marshmallow darts out, weaving around the legs of the third year Hufflepuff boy standing in the doorway. He looks startled, and I can see why. We're quite the sight.
Rapunzel is climbing out of the luggage rack. Merida is pulling her hair out from between the cushions, rubbing her head where the cage hit it. Astrid is standing up, bird cage and owls held undamaged in her hand. And my robe had somehow become wrapped around Kristoff's arm, so I'm stuck in his lap until we can fix that.
"Uhh…" The Hufflepuff is scrawny, with shaggy, dark auburn hair, and as many freckles as Astrid.
"Hey Hiccup." Astrid says. She passes Merida the bird cage, and the redhead hops up on the seat to put the owls back. "Whats up?"
"I was following the cat. He belongs to a friend's girlfriend, and I wanted to make sure he didn't get into any trouble."
"Wait, your friends with Jack?" I ask
Hiccup's brow furrows a little. "Yeah. Who are-"
"Elsa's little sister. Anna."
"Ohh! I didn't know you were starting this year!" Hiccup's expression changes, brightening a bit.
"Elsa mentioned me before?" I'm surprised. I didn't think Elsa would even think about telling her friends she had a sister.
"Yeah. She talks about you all the time! Tell me, did you really tie a couple of brooms to a bike after watching E.T. last summer?"
"She noticed that?"
"Trust me, she noticed. She was laughing too hard to tell us if it worked, though. Did it work?"
"Well, it flew pretty well, but the ramp wasn't steep enough to launch me all the way over the roof, and the steering was pretty sloppy, so I ended up falling down the chimney and breaking my wrist. But it was pretty fun in the beginning!"
Everyone started laughing, including me. It was a funny story, even if Mom and Dad locked me in my room for a month afterwards. Hiccup leaves after saying an awkward goodbye, and not long after the lunch trolley comes by. Its being pushed by a man who's even shorter than me. His nose is large, his eyes are small, he's got two white tufts of hair sticking out over his ears, and he's wearing a ridiculous outfit, with brown pants that poof out over his thighs. His voice is nasally, and he's got kind of a lisp when he speaks.
"Hello first years! I'm Candy Kingman, owner of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, and this humble cart you see before you. Anybody care for some snacks?"
Snacks! I forgot to pack snacks! I stay seated as the others move around. Astrid and Merida pulled coins out of their pockets and started lining up by the cart, Rapunzel reached into her bag and pulled out a Ziploc of chocolate chip cookies, and Kristoff brought out carrots for him and dog biscuits for Sven.
"Don' you have anythin' Anna?" Merida's picking out her treats, but she's also noticed that I'm the only one who doesn't have food.
"Nah, I'm fine. I had a huge breakfast." My stomach grumbles loudly as I talk, cutting through my lie.
Merida gives me an unimpressed look, then turns back to Candy "I'll take three o' everythin' Candy." I protest, but Merida is deaf to me as she pulls more coins out of her pocket and dumps her bounty of sweets on the seat between her and Rapunzel.
"You didn't have to do that. I'm fine." I say.
"Its not jes for you, its for everyone. To share." She looks at all of us, but no one moves. She scowls "Now eat, or you'll be sittin' in the hall for the rest o' the train ride."
Astrid throws her Cauldron Cakes onto the huge pile, then grabs a small box and throws it to me. "Here Anna, you'll like these."
The box is labeled Chocolate Frog. I open it up, and the frog actually leaps out of the box, and onto Kristoff's head.
"Sorry! I didn't know they did that."
He grabs it before it can jump again, and hands it back to me. "It's fine."
"Anyone want a cookie?" Rapunzel holds up the bag. "I got up early and made like 30 this morning"
"I'll take a cookie if you take a carrot."
The tension in the compartment has completely vanished. The five of us are talking, laughing, and joking like we've known each other for years. I guess there are some things you just can't go through without becoming friends, and a Marshmallow attack is one of them.
When the train finally stops, we're watching Astrid and Merida having an arm wrestling competition. Instantly the atmosphere is electric, all the tension and nervousness from before coming back and intensifying, and looking at my five new friends, I say something crazy. "Guys, I know we've only just met and everything, and that we might not all be in the same House, but I still want us to be friends." I stick out my pinky, asking for the most unbreakable oath I know of. "Friends?"
For one terrifying moment, I think they won't do it. After all, if my own sister doesn't want to be friends with me, why would four strangers, who probably all have other, better friends than me? Then, Kristoff reaches out and hooks his pinkie around mine.
"Friends."
Astrid and Merida do it next, looping their pinkies around mine and Kristoff's, and Rapunzel has to bend her arm around to get her pinkie secured, but she gets it after a moment.
"Friends"
"Friends"
"Friends"
I smile, overjoyed that they actually want to be friends with me. "Friends." And then the five of us step out of the compartment, off of the train, and into our new home. Hogwarts.
Elsa- 3
It was about lunch time and the food cart had long gone by, so Jack left the compartment to get some food. "You're sure you don't want anything Elsa?"
"Positive." I responded with an affectionate smile as he smiled right back.
"You've got my order right Jack?" River interrupted.
"Like I have told you many times before, I have your order." He sighed exhausted.
"Go on."River looked at him expectantly with a glimmer in her eye. "Repeat it to me."
Jack looked at me lost, and I shrugged at him. He turned back to River. "Fine, but I will repeat it only once, so listen closely. 1 pumpkin pastie, 2 Bertie Bott's every flavor bean, 1 chocolate frog, and 2 liquorice wands."
"Good boy." River smiled then turned to me. "You have trained him well Els."
"I am not a dog." Jack responded biting into River's game.
River sat back ignoring his comment. She added haughtily "I'll pay you back once it is delivered. Don't want to make a bad investment."
"I am not your delivery boy."
He began to exit and I couldn't help myself as I added. "You kinda are." With a little giggle.
He poked his head back into the room. "Don't encourage her." Then with that he was off.
As soon as he closed the compartment door, River who had been nonchalantly sitting with her hands behind her head, sat straight with a glimmer in her eyes and spun her sound blocking spell again.
"This spell is very useful. I still don't understand why you insist upon getting bad grades in school. You are a genius!" I said in awe.
"Yeah, well being you wouldn't be all that fun." She smiled then suddenly got really serious. "So any news? You didn't write much this and I assumed you were having trouble with the…" She tapered off and glanced around even though the sound spell was encasing this room. "you know..."
I smiled at her concern. If there was one person I can trust with my secrets it was River. "No. No. Nothing like that. We were just so busy getting Anna ready for her first year at Hogwarts. It took forever for her to find her wand, all of them seemed to explode in her face. Plus, ever since she got that owl I have to pay extra attention to Marshmallow. I try so hard, and she doesn't help by keeping him in a cage, yet she still gets mad when something goes awry. Although, it's so cute how excited she is."
"I wish I had a sister who…" River stopped herself. "Oh! Now that the danger has passed let's get rid of this pesky charm." With a wave of her wand and the muttering of "Litpotusen" sounds of the outside world returned.
"Are you ever going to tell me where you learned that spell?"
"Yes, now that Jack is gone, I have something to show you" She grabbed her bag and unzipped it. There, underneath tangled robes and everyday clothes, were rows of old spell books. "Apparently they belonged to my mother. She was a gryffindor and circled tons that could help in battles and whatnot. They are amazing! The spell I used today was from Tips and Tricks of a Secret. Though, Danger and Adventure has to be my favorite so far."
"You know if you packed everything in a spatially dynamic position, your bag wouldn't bulge like that."
"Fine, if you don't want to see what's inside the books…" She began to close the bag with a sly smile, knowing very well she had me hooked.
"Oh stop. I'm sorry, ok? Your bag is just usually so neat."
She quickly opened the bag and grabbed the book sitting on top. The book had a tinged green cover with gray lettering. Inside, the cream pages were scuffed and yellowed with age. The entire thing had an exotic beauty about it. River pulled out her wand and we flipped to the first page. It was filled with spells I had never heard of before.
"Where did these come from?" I asked awed. "They are older than our headmaster."
"I have no idea." She said looking at me, then smiled and out of no where pointed her wand at the door and shouted, "Trimtolusta!" The door frame turned a bright pink.
"Uh, is that supposed to happen, River?"
"Sorta, I need more practice though because it's supposed to turn a light purple and sprinkle a dust onto anyone who walks in, causing them to treat the charmer like royalty until the spell is broken. But It's better than when it was orange, that was a disaster. Poor Vanellope was throwing up for a week after she walked into our bedroom. I wonder what the pink does… should we find out when Jack comes through the door?!"
"No! We are not using my boyfriend, or anyone for that matter, as a test subject."
"Oh come on. Please! I know the reverse spell! It fixed Vanellope!"
I paused a moment in thought. I'd never reveal it, but I was kinda curious as to what would happen,"Fine, but only if you promise to reverse it right after we find out what it does."
"OK!" River put the old book back with the others and attempted to close her bag again. It took the efforts of both of us to get the thing closed. Right as we were standing back to admire our work, none other than Hiccup came through the door with a fluffy white cat sitting in his arms.
The pink paint on the frame fell and landed on him. The cat jumped out of his arms as he reached up and brushed it out of his hair. "What was that? Was that supposed to be a jok-ak!" He covered his mouth, surprised. He tried to finish his sentence again but all that came out was, "Becak! Becak!"
"Oh! So that's what it does! It's so cool!" Hiccup had clamped his mouth shut. "C'mon Els can we just leave him this way? There is a lot less chatter. It is kinda a nice."
Hiccup tried again to say something, but all that came out was clucking. His arms decided to join the act, too, as they formed wings and flapped about. Fear filled Hiccup's eyes as he waddled around clucking and flapping his makeshift wings.
"No River. You promised!" I scolded, trying not to laugh.
River scowled. "Fine… Trimtolustan." Hiccup stopped clucking and straightened himself. Crossing his arms across his chest, he turned toward River. "I'm guessing that was your idea."
River was still laughing."Hey, she let me do it."
Jack walked through the door to see the pink paint chips splayed about the door of the compartment. "What did I miss?"
"Only your best friend doing an awful impression of a chicken." River laughed.
"It wasn't by choice. Apparently, not even your girlfriend can control her."
"Jack you were so slow, I don't think you are getting a very big tip. Do you have my food or not?" River complained."I'm starving."
Hiccup interjected before Jack could say anything. "Here is a tip: Be glad you weren't any faster and beat me here."
Jack laughed as he handed River her food. "So what have you ladies been up to? Other than setting up practical jokes."
"We opened up River's bag." I said adding a mock shiver. "That was really it though. What took you so long?"
We all sat. Jack sat by me and Hiccup, looking very unhappy, sat next to River. "The cart had already made it to the last compartment, so I had to walk all the way back there. Hiccup had found Marshmallow on the second to last compartment and was heading back right when I got there."
Hiccup sat a little straighter. "Yeah, I met your little sister. Marshmallow went ahead and ran all the way to their compartment. When I walked in they were everywhere and their cabin was a mess."
"Who was she with?" I asked trying to sound nonchalant.
"Um some redheaded girl, a blond one, a boy, and Astrid." He responded thinking back.
"How descriptive." I responded rolling my eyes.
Jack cut in changing the subject. He handed me a chocolate frog. "Here, I know you said you didn't want anything, but it's my treat. I couldn't just let you starve." He planted a kiss on my cheek and River fake barfed.
"Fine, but only because chocolate is my weakness."
The four of us chatted for a while until we realized how close we were to Hogwarts. "We should probably get changed into our robes." The whole compartment groaned in response. We each took turns leaving and getting our robes on.
Once we were united, all looking spiffy in our robes, I looked about and noticed each of our house colors. Hiccup had a canary yellow and coal black patch, River and Jack's were a scaly green and dazzling silver, and mine displayed lovely ocean blue and bronze. All that was missing was vibrant maroon and gold.
Though robes are tedious, it is clear we are all excited to get back to studying magic. Luckily for us it is not exam year, because that's when you have to start getting serious about careers.
"You ok?" River asked looking concerned.
I laughed. I hadn't realized how solemn I had grown. "Yes. I was thinking about career paths. I have no idea what I want to be…" I paused then added. "What about you guys?"
"Obviously I'm going to be an Auror." River proclaimed and nobody doubted it.
"Then you need to get your grades up." I made my case once again.
River gave me an exasperated look. "I have until year 5!"
"That is not a good way to look at it." I tried again.
River gave me a smug look as, Jack started hesitantly. "Auror would be cool, but I want to be a professional Quidditch player.
Hiccup gave a sneaky smile. "Or you could be a caretaker. I'm sure Frollo would teach you the tips and tricks of the trade. Or maybe gamekeeper!" Jack made a face at him. Th Hiccup added " I want to be a… Dragon Keeper like Ron's brother Charlie Weasley. Or maybe a Dragonologist. As long as it has something to do with dragons."
Jack jumped in, "Or maybe Owl Post Office Employee, or Arithmancer." It was Hiccup's turn to make a face.
I smiled at the lot of them, but it made me uneasy that I still didn't know. I worked with my dad over the summer, as an internship of sorts, doing Architecture and it was enjoyable, but I'm not sure if that's what I to do with my life. It seems so dull compared to my crime fighting, quidditch playing, dragon keeping comrades.
My thoughts were broken as the train came to a sudden stop, announcing we had arrived at Hogwarts.
