By: CNJ
PG-13
4: A New School Year Begins!
Lily:
"It's around here somewhere..." I muttered as Amelia and I wandered with our parents around the Kings' Crossing station on September first. If we could just find that loo, the Leaky Loo as I heard it called, we'd be in good shape. All around us, trains took off, muggle trains. After about twenty minutes of not seeing any loos, I called over to a bobby in uniform rushing by.
"Excuse me..."
"Yes, miss?" He slowed and peered at me.
"Can you tell us where the Leaky Loo is?" I braved my question.
"Lots of leaky loos around her with the atrocious plumbing in this station," He shrugged and continued on.
"...whole muggle universe converged here at this time..." We heard someone say.
"There..." Mum waved us over and we followed a short, rather stout woman with four girls. One appeared to be our age. It was challenging dodging the crowds, but we managed to keep them in sight until they'd reached a small doorway at the end of the station. The loo, I thought. Yes, they entered the loo, the mum chattering away about the new school year and Hogwarts and all. The loo was empty, small and rather narrow.
"Hello..." the woman greeted us and we said hello back.
"I'm Myra Vinn and these are my four daughters...Wynona, Greta, Zara, and Arabella." She put a hand on each girl's head as she spoke. Mum then introduced us and told her, "Pleasure to meet you."
"This is Zara's first time too, so Lily and Amelia, you two can just follow..." Myra pulled out her wand and tapped on the bricks. "Three left, two down and one right..." Sure enough, the walls parted and we walked down a long tunnel and emerged to another train station.
The ceiling were higher than King's Crossing and there were hordes of muggles and magicals milling around, parents kissing their young goodbye, giving last-minute admonitions to do their homework, write home, get enough sleep and nutrition, etc.
In the midst of all this, on the tracks, was a large, long red and black train with a whistle. It resembled and older train, but was new-looking. On the front it said Hogwarts Express in black lettering.
"We made it," Myra announced with a grin.
"So...good luck, dear," Dad told me, giving me a hug. Mum came over and hugged me from the other side. Amelia's parents did the same. Myra gave her three older daughters a hug and the youngest one also hugged her sisters goodbye. I guessed her to be about nine.
"Write and all..." Myra called as the three of us got ready to board.
"Byyye..." we called. "We will..." As we boarded, my new owl, Lemon squawked in delight.
"Yes, Lem, we're taking off," I told my bright yellow owl as we entered the train and looked around for seats. It'll be easy to keep in touch with Mum and Dad with Lemon.
Inside the train was very modern-looking, similar to the tube in London, but even cleaner and the seats wider and more comfortable. We found a compartment and sat. Ebby squirmed nervously and huddled close to Amelia, her green eyes wide and scared looking at all the kids milling around. Amelia soothed her softly and stroked her dark brown fur.
"She gets nervous around crowds," Amelia told us.
"So does my owl, Bernie," Zara told us. She joined us while her older sisters wandered off with a chunk of older kids. Zara dug around in her pockets until she pulled out a gray, rather shaggy little owl.
"Timid little thing, suspect he was really meant to be a mouse," she told us.
"Hello, Bernie..." We said softly. Bernie was trembling a little and peered over at us with huge yellow wary eyes. Just then the train took off. It started slowly, then picked up speed, like an airplane taking off.
Good thing the compartments were separate since out in the corridor, a lot of kids were still horsing around. We talked about various things, but mostly our conversation centered around Hogwarts and what we were expecting.
"My sisters tell me different things, but I think it's some kind of hat ritual," Zara told us. She had shoulder-length dark brown wavy rather layered hair and large brown eyes.
"Say a spell and convert the hat to something?" Amelia's eyebrows went up.
"I'm not sure..." Zara shrugged. "But I know it isn't wrestling a giant or anything like that." Amelia and I let out our breaths in relief. "Wynona's the oldest; she's in her fifth year and Greta's in her third year. Arabella has two more years to go before she joins us; she's nine."
So I'd guessed Arabella's age. I'm good at telling how old people are, especially kids. Zara told us she'd heard of a spell and would try it to change her owl to orange.
"I'm not really sure how it'll turn out since underage witches and wizard aren't supposed to use magic in the muggle world...but here goes...Orange roses, clear dew..." she paused briefly. "Roses suck the dew..."
"Anything of the trolley, dearies?" a high voice interrupted and we looked up to see a short, fat witch with a trolley of scrumptious-looking sweets. Just seeing it made my mouth water, so we pulled out a few galleons.
"We'll take that lot," I told her and the next minute we were digging into chocolate frogs, sugar quills, licorice scrolls and all kind of goodies.
"Yuuuck..." Zara muttered. "This bean tastes like grass..."
"I guess they mean every flavor," Amelia laughed as she looked over the box of Bott's Every Flavor Beans. "They have grass-flavored and even...gross, vomit-flavored ones."
"Ohhh, God..." We all snickered and made faces. I looked them over carefully before picking out a safe-looking yellow one. Good so far, lemon-flavor.
"Wouldn't it be wicked to give the gross-flavored ones to muggles as a joke?" Zara grinned. That would be a joke. Hey, I wonder what Petunia's reaction to that would be. Petunia had mostly stayed away and left me alone the last part of summer, thank goodness. Once we'd slowed down on the sweets, we sat back, feeling full.
"Want to try that spell again, Zara?" I asked. I belched then and the others chuckled. "My stomach...settling down." I grinned and rubbed it.
"Take two...Orange roses, clear dew...roses suck up the dew, so turn this owl orange like the roses," Zara chanted. Bernie jumped a little under Zara's wand and he drooled a little chocolate out of his mouth, but he stayed gray. "Oh, well..." Zara shrugged. "An unverified spell."
It was growing dark, so we pulled out our robes and changed into them, knowing we were almost there. The outskirts of London grew sparser and more mountains appeared.
"It looks like an old-fashioned castle...the school, " Zara told us. As the train got closer, some kids got louder and there was even a soft thud outside our door.
"Hey, James, knock it off..." someone said. I had the feeling kids were getting restless and antsy. I was feeling excited myself; it was excitement tinged with nervousness. We pulled into an outdoor station, then slowed to a stop.
"We're here..." Amelia whispered and we all held hands and squeezed.
"Aaaall riiight, all out!" a voice boomed. We slowly got off onto the platform. "Leave your bags, pets, and things in the cars; they will be picked up and taken to your dorms!" Standing on the platform was what appeared to be a person on a horses' body.
"Whoaaa..." some kids muttered.
"It's a Centauri..." Zara told us as we first-years bunched together. The Centauri waved us over, smiling.
"First years over here...onto the boats..." he led us first years to a huge lake and we gathered in fours onto boats. The Centauri introduced himself as Xyron and identified himself as the Gamekeeper/Groundskeeper of Hogwarts. Xyron lay sideways in a boat and rowed with his short muscular arms.
Amelia, Zara, and I were fortunate enough to get a boat together. Our fourth occupant was the boy we'd seen in the robe shop, Remus...Lupin, if I remembered correctly.
As Xyron rowed, our boats automatically followed suit across the lake. Kids talked until a huge dark shape loomed up in the night and we gasped to see a huge castle.
"Wicked..." Zara murmured.
"Neat..." "God..." "What a place..." were some of the other comments. The castle was indeed enormous and perched on the edge of a hill. Bit by bit, the boats beached. One group leaped out and landed in the grass with laughter and a huge clatter as someone dropped a little box.
"Oh, God, my rat's run off again..." Someone moaned as we mounted the incline up toward the castle. Who'd have thought I'd be attending classes in an old castle and a magical one at that for middle and secondary school? I thought with a grin as Xyron knocked on the door. A tall woman with short salt-and-pepper hair opened the huge double doors.
"The first years, Professor Pierce..." Xyron introduced us.
"Welcome, come in..." Professor Pierce led us in, Xyron following. She led us into what appears to be a foyer and told us, "Wait here, students...the sorting ceremony and start of the year feast will begin in one moment." She and Xyron vanished into through a door. Whispers rustled among us, some fearful, some eager as to what we'd expect next.
"So do we hafta fight a giant?" A tall skinny boy with dirty blond hair asked loudly. He spat through his teeth as he talked.
"No, we have to eat frogs," another boy with longish greasy black hair said sarcastically.
"Ohhh, shut it, Pettigrew and Snape," a girl near the back said. "We won't know until we get in there." Soft debates rippled through us until Professor Pierce came out and waved us into a huge hallway.
"The Great Hall..." someone whispered. The hall was huge and floating candles lit the four long tables. The older students sat on their tables. I guessed each table represented each house.
Once we gathered around the teachers' table, Professor Pierce told us that we'd be called one by one to try on the sorting hat and the hat would decide what house we'd be in. The hat sat on a stool, looking like it had been through a lifetime of trials and triumphs with its frayed black material and dust, but it burst spontaneously into a song describing each house and the Hogwarts school and all.
Slytherins were known to be cunning and stealth planners; Ravenclaws were known for logic; Hufflepuff students were known as loyal while the Gryffindors were known for courage and integrity.
God, I hoped I'd be in Gryffindor. I looked at my friends nervously and their wide eyes mirrored my own nervousness.
"Aberdine, Amy!" Professor Pierce began with the names. My heart thunked wildly in my chest and when my name was called, I swallowed suddenly then went up on shaky legs to the stool and hoped I wouldn't do anything embarrassing like faint. The hat slid over my head, obscuring my vision.
I jumped at the voice from the hat. Ohhh, now here's a good mind, a good planner...the hat mused. Not Slytherin! I mouthed, feeling my brows tighten in worry.
I'd looked over the Slytherins and to me, they seemed cliquish and seemed to have a one-upmanship attitude that I didn't like. The Gryffindors looked more open and seemed to welcome just about everyone. The Hufflepuffs seemed pleasant enough; they seemed to have their groups but weren't too cliquish about it. The Ravenclaws appeared to be open and non-grouped like the Gryffindors, but unlike the Gryffindors mostly seemed to be analyzing each other.
Just anything but Slytherin, I thought. Not Slytherin, no? the hat asked. No, I pleaded in a mouthing, hoping no one could hear me. Better be then...the hat paused briefly.
"Gryffindor!" the hat finally decided in a bellow and I let out my breath in a whoosh of relief as Professor Pierce lifted the hat off me and I walked shakily over the the Gryffindor table.
The other Gryffindors grinned and welcomed me along with the other first year to their table. I then crossed my fingers that my two friends would be selected for Gryffindor also.
Luck was with us because they were. Once the sorting ceremony was over, the three of us leaned over and hugged.
"Ohhh, isn't this great, we're all going to be together in one dorm!" Amelia squealed.
"Congrats, little sister!" Zara's two older sisters leaned over from the older kids' side and gave her a little hug. I relaxed.
The headmaster, Professor Morocco Vester stood to welcome us. He was a somewhat heavyset man with white hair and added a warning to avoid the first floor. As he told us this, he waved toward a skinny, rather bedraggled man holding a scrawny, scruffy-looking cat. "Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris wanted to emphasize this admonition; there are many dangers there...and now, let the feast begin." With that, he sat and food appeared on all the tables.
"Woaah..." several of us gasped because it wasn't just ordinary food; it was swell food like roast beef, a huge plate of chicken legs and what seemed to be five million other delicious delectables. We dug in and as we ate, white forms gushed through the table and sent what felt like a cool wind.
"Hello, Nearly Headless Nick!" called some of the older girls.
"Hello..." the ghost who appeared to be from the sixteenth century responded. "Welcome to Gryffindor."
"Nearly headless?" Zara asked, puzzled.
"Ooops, always one first-year asks and he gives a demonstration..." Wynona groaned and looked away from Nick. The next second I saw why. Nearly Headless Nick pulled his head to one side, showing us where his neck had been severed, held only by a shred of flesh. Ohhh, gross.
"Yuuuck..." Amelia muttered. I made a face and Zara turned away and pretended to gag. Nearly Headless Nick laughed and putting his head back on, whooshed off to the ceiling. Other ghosts laughed, moaned and waved at us.
The feast was incredibly delightful and even though my friends and I had hogged out on the Hogwarts Express, we found even more room for this feast and by the time dinner was over, I was feeling sleepy. We finally got up to head upstairs.
"First year Gryffindors on this side, follow me..." a tall boy called. We did and walked down a long hallway, the boy, a prefect, as his position is, told us various sites and explained the rules of the dorms. He introduced himself as Robert Myer and told us he was a sixth-year.
The other prefect was Gretchen White and the other first-year Gryffindors would catch up to us upstairs. Robert led us up long narrow staircases. We felt a jolted and the staircase we were on actually shifted to point in the opposite direction!
"Whooo..." Zara gasped.
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you...the staircases like to shift and move around," Robert grinned. We nodded nervously and hurried up after Robert to our dorm. All around us were moving pictures of people, mostly long-ago people.
"Password?" A moving portrait of a fat lady asked.
"Discus tops," Robert told her. The portrait opened like a door and we entered a very cozy-looking room with a fireplace and gold and red rug. "This is the common room," Robert explained.
By then, the other first years had arrived and Robert went on to explain about the dorm bedrooms. "The girls' dormitory is up the stairs on the right; the boys' is up the stairs on the left...all of your things are already there."
I smiled softly and had the feeling that I was going to like these dorms. The Common Room was especially pleasant and I knew at that minute that I'd spend a lot of time reading and doing my homework here. As we went up to our rooms and unpacked, identifying what was ours, an excited chatter washed over the girls in the dorm.
"God, this place is wicked..." "Am I going to have a great time here..." "These beds are swell..." were some of the comments that flew around as we finished unpacking and got ready for bed. My friends and I grabbed beds together and Zara laughed as her bag fell open and cluttered her floor around her bed.
"Thank Merlin for these curtains!" she indicated the red curtains that surrounded our beds. "Then my usual mess'll stay contained! Neatness isn't my specialty." We grinned and looked around.
I sat on my own bed and organized my things and put my things in drawers, put a few family photos up on the dresser and my school things in the night table. I'm a generally neat person.
I was the last one to go to bed that night. A million thoughts were racing through my head as I thought over the changes my life had gone through in the last month. I wandered over and sat by the window with Lemon. Lemon would peer at me thoughtfully from time to time and I stroked her and occasionally shared a treat with her that I still had from the feast.
I wondered what further changes
and experiences awaited me. In another week, I'd be eleven.
Eleven sounded so much older than ten. It was nearly midnight by
the time I finally felt sleepy enough to turn in. Tomorrow was the
first day of classes and I wanted to be awake and alert for my first full
day at Hogwarts.
Next chapter classes will begin!