Disclaimer: Although I admire and love Rowling's brilliant work very much, I don't own any of her characters except for Natalia LaRoche and family.
The seconds on the big clock were ticking away. Fascinated as she was by the simplicity of this invention, she kept a steady pace towards platforms nine and ten, not wanting to miss her train. A passerby may have found the ease at which the girl weaved through the dense crowd amusing, but she was moving far too hastily for anyone to notice. Her gray cloak made her seem like a passing mist amongst the throng of travelers, steadily making its way to platform nine and three-quarters. So swift were her movements that no one noticed her slipping through a wall onto the magical platform. And so ended her first encounter with the Muggle world.
She made her way towards the closest car only to find that all the compartments were occupied. Proceeding to the next car to find an empty stall, she discovered that they too, were all taken.
"Need help finding a seat?"
Turning around, the girl found an explosion of freckles facing her. Cocking her head to the side, she cautiously replied, "Yes, actually, I was hoping there would be an empty compartment…"
"Well, you can come with me to the last car. A group of my friends and I have
one to ourselves if you join us. By the way, I'm Ginny Weasley, fourth year Gryffindor."
The girl in the gray cloak pondered on this for a moment. She had wanted to be by herself, but seeing as all the stations were filled already… "I hope I am not intruding if I join you."
"No, not at all, in fact, I'm sure they'd love to meet someone new. That is, if you plan on telling me your name," Ginny replied with a grin.
The pale traveler drew the hood of her cloak closer to her face. "My name is Natalia LaRoche."
Giving her a warm smile, Ginny took her arm, saying, "Well, that's a start." They made their way around the mass of students to the last car of Hogwarts Express, picking carefully around cages of owls and cats waiting to be stowed onto the train. Stepping into the car, Ginny slid open the door to the first compartment. Inside sat two boys and a girl, talking feverishly about one of the boys' new Veloxium 1497.
"I have never ridden on anything so smooth before! It beats out my Firebolt completely. And it's impossibly fast!"
"Fred tells me it takes a hundred Cornish Pixies to make one of them."
The girl turned to the redhead boy and gave him a condescending look. "Obviously they don't use Cornish Pixies to make them. How could they possibly control all those pixies just to make a Quidditch broomstick? And they don't even have the skills required to make a regular broom." She crossed her arms, saying in a patronizing tone, "I'll have you know that the design for the Veloxium 1497 was found in the wizard inventor Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks and took nearly five hundred years for the wizarding world to perfect the model. Last year, Arnus Cratee finally developed the first perfect model, surpassing all brooms before it. And, consequently, Harry got it for his birthday this summer. I suspect that your broom is the only one of its model so far."
Ginny knocked loudly on the opened door. "Excuse me, but I hope the lot of you don't mind if someone sits with us." Pulling Natalia up next to her, she continued, "This is Natalia LaRoche. Natalia, this is Ron Weasley, my older brother." The redhead with the trademark Weasley freckles gave a faint nod and smiled.
Pointing to the boy next to him, Ginny said in a higher tone, "This is Harry Potter. You must know who he is already." The boy with the large rimmed glasses and a mop of black hair smiled pleasantly at her.
"And this, is Hermione Granger, one of the best students at Hogwarts," Ginny announced brightly, causing a flush of color to appear on Hermione's face. Sweeping some of her mousy brown hair behind her ears, she replied, "Really Ginny, I thought you knew better than to give excessive flattery."
Ginny smirked back at her, saying as she nudged her friend, "It's not excessive and you know you deserve every bit of it, the way you slave away in the library all year."
Hermione shook her head disapprovingly and turned to Natalia. "What year are you supposed to be in?"
Natalia stood still for a second, taking in the intriguing common language they used. Her mother would go mad if she heard this. "I am to be attending the fifth year at Hogwarts."
"Really? So are we, except for Ginny that is. We're all in the Gryffindor house. Maybe you'll be sorted into Gryffindor also. Wouldn't that be fun?"
Natalia sat down and smiled politely, keeping her face hidden in her hood. She knew there was no possible way that she could be sorted into Gryffindor, even if the Sorting Hat made a mistake. Come to think of it, she was not even supposed to associate with Gryffindors, much less sit in the same compartment and socialize with them. Her mother would really go mad.
"So, where are you from?" asked Ron, already digging into a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. "Ugh…bogey."
Natalia had to suppress an urge to laugh as she watched the redhead gag on a rotten flavored sweet. She took a breath and slowly replied, "For the previous four years, I attended Durmstrang Institute, but due to recent events of the summer, I have had to make changes and transfer to Hogwarts."
The four nodded understandingly. Ron was dying to ask why she kept her hood up even indoors, but knew better than to say something rash. Mesmerized by the way her cloak moved through shades of gray like mist, Harry had to restrain himself from reaching out and touching the material. Ginny congratulated herself in being the first to befriend such an interesting character, and Hermione finally broke the silence. "I couldn't help but notice that your wand has beautiful carvings on the handle. May we see it?"
Natalia smiled openly for the first time. Her wand was something that she loved and was immensely proud of, more so than any other article she possessed. Taking it out of its carrier, she held it out for the other students, saying, "My father found this wand in Latvia and it happened to match me perfectly. It is particularly unique because the wand itself is not made of wood. It is made from mother of pearl and has an Occamy feather core. The handle has an Occamy inlaid on one side and a Sphinx on the other side. It is incredibly yielding to the touch and is nearly twelve inches long with charms as its forte. Would you like to hold it?" Natalia handed her wand to Hermione, placing it in her hands as if it were a sleeping child.
"It's incredibly light. How did your father come across this wand?"
"I do not know, he died before it was given to me. My mother gave this wand to me on my eleventh birthday. My father passed away when I was eight."
"Oh, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up," Hermione whispered, turning crimson.
"No, it is quite all right" Natalia said quickly, "One gets used to it after awhile."
Ron gaped at the wand in amazement. "I didn't think it was possible for a wand to be made of anything other than wood."
Natalia smiled and explained to him, "Wood is commonly used because it conducts the magic from the wizard to the subject being enchanted with great efficiency. However, mother of pearl has the same qualities but is more responsive to the wizard due to the patterns in the texture."
Ron looked at her with a puzzled look and turned to Harry. "I didn't understand a word she just said", he whispered.
Harry chuckled lightly to himself and turned to the window. He felt sympathy for Natalia, having lost her father at such a young age. He knew personally how it felt not having a parent there for all the special moments in life.
