Ellen
Athena was in her element - this was the sort of thing she had dreamed about, wrote about, sang songs about, thought about, all her life. She was never content with flat reality - when we moved to our new house, she searched for secret passages. When we gave her the boxed set of Sarah the Sorceress, the "fad" fantasy series at the time, she looked for hidden meanings in the names, maybe something that would give her a clue that this wasn't all. Even though I wasn't there quite yet, I bet when she was born she gave everyone a look that clearly said, "That's it?"
Jane was being sardonic about the whole thing, trying to pretend she'd been expecting it, like she planned it or something. Leave it to her to spoil that enchanting moment. Maybe I was just imagining it all, but she sure did seem to have it in for me somehow - I couldn't quite place it, but...we'd never been the best of friends. I loved her incredibly - she's my sister, after all! - but Athena and I were always the closer ones, even though Athena's close to Jane as well. Jane's just the fighting one, she thinks she's the warrior champion of us all. But she can be so loyal, and sisterly - I'll never forget the day she gave Molly McKinnon, the bully of the neighborhood, a black eye just for insulting a perfect math test I'd gotten. Yes, Jane does have her moments!
And I guess it's only reasonable that Jane try to be the leader of us all, even if sometimes she doesn't do it right. She was the firstborn of us, 2 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of me, 1 minute and 4 seconds ahead of Athena. I don't mind being the youngest and being almost "the baby" at times - I do get the best grades - but I really wish I could be in Jane's spot sometimes, or even Athena's. Oh, well - back to Hogwarts.
Mom was so excited about us getting in that she bought us each a completely new set of school supplies, and also gave us a different pet each so that people could tell us apart. I got a beautiful coffee-with-milk-colored barn owl, and named him Cocoa, satisfied that I had gotten the best end of the deal - but then I realized that Jane and Athena would have to borrow him to send letters, and sobered.
Jane got a sleek black cat called Ghost, clever and tricky and hungry. Fitting, I thought - they fell in love almost at once. And Athena - Athena. Athena found a phoenix.
Nobody knew just how a phoenix got into the Magical Menagerie, but she spotted it first. She told us that its, or her, name was Firestreak, and I loved her - Cocoa was still better, though, and I was glad I'd gotten an owl. Phoenixes were valuble - probably some jerk would steal it.
Anyways, time in the car passed like a blur - suddenly, incredibly, we were standing in front of King's Cross, and Jane pulled out the letter again to read to us all what to do.
"To get to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, just walk into the wall between Platforms Nine and Ten. Don't worry; just walk. It helps if you jog lightly, too, but try hard not to attract the attention of the Muggles," she recited.
"Ellen, why don't you go first?" my mother suggested. Jane sniffed, but said nothing, and Ghost snorted expressively. I shot them a glare and jogged forward towards the barrier.
Disconnected strands of my favorite songs passed through my head, I couldn't believe I was doing this - in a minute I'd be lying unconscious on the floor - I could almost feel the bang - but instead, I heard a train whistle. I opened my closed eyes and looked up in wonder as I saw the huge train getting ready to go, students milling around everywhere, talking, laughing, yelling, hugging their parents. Athena appeared behind me and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Amazing, isn't it?" she said, breathless. I nodded, grinning widely. This would be the best school year of my life!!
Mom and Jane walked up next to us and my mother wrapped her arms around us all in a big hug, a single shiny tear rolling down her cheek.
"I am so proud of you girls," she said in a choky voice, "and I know Ellen will work hard and Athena will make tons of friends and Jane will make sure you all stay out of trouble." I smiled at her ability to pick the things each of us valued most in ourselves. "I love you and send lots of owls to me on Cocoa!! I'll send Dove over plenty, too." Dove was the family owl, a beautiful snowy one. "Well - you'd better get on the train," and she kissed us all on the cheek and handed us our luggage.
Together, the three of us walked onto the train, wondering what would happen next. We grabbed a compartment near the bad I waved out the window to Mom, scared now that we were without her. It turned out, however, that I didn't need to be.
Four people strode into our compartment together, two girls and two boys, and they were smiling. Soon, we were all sharing a compartment, talking shyly.
"I'm Meg Brown," said one girl with long cinnamon-colored hair and dark green eyes. Her face was narrow, but her eyes smiled all the time, and I thought she looked friendly. Another girl with dark skin, pretty, curly black hair, and serious brown eyes spoke up.
"Erin Thomas of West Ham," she said, bowing melodramatically, and we all laughed.
"Patrick Martin," the first and tallest boy introduced himself, short blond hair combed straight and brown eyes dancing, shy as he was. He offered his hand all around, and I firmly shook it. A little too formal, if you ask me, but okay. "And this is my friend -"
"Jack Frost," the other boy told us, blue eyes stern. "Don't laugh, my parents thought it would be funny. At least I might be able to get away from the teasing here," and he made a fake gag as Jane, Athena, and I got ready to introduce ourselves in the special way we'd practiced - this would be fun!
"And you're -" asked Erin.
"Jane -"
"Athena -"
"Ellen -"
"Ellinski," we finished together, beaming. We were just quirky like that. Everyone laughed, and by the time the friendly witch came around with the candy cart, we were all laughing and chatting.
I looked at the amazing selection of food I'd never seen before. I bought a four-pack of Chocolate Frogs, they looked good, and a pack of Droobles Best Blowing Gum with the allowance Mom had given me from our new Gringotts account.
"Want one?" I said, offering the dozen sticks of gum all around. The only one to decline was Meg.
"I'm vegan," she explained, and we all nodded and smiled politely, even though inwardly I was thinking, how could she? I loved meat.
As Jane, Erin, and Patrick took up conversation again, Athena and Meg leaned close together and began deep conversation, which left me with shy little Jack Frost. I stifled a giggle at his name, knowing how much it would hurt him, and bit into a Chocolate Frog as I scooted closer to him.
"So how do you think you're going to like Hogwarts?" I asked hesitantly, but eager to talk to someone.