Disclaimer: Not mine, I only own the plot of this fanfic and Carya, some parts are copied from the book, The REPELLO - Charm is my invention ^_^, Ron's a git in this fic by the way

A/N: Sorry for the delay but I HAVE to work and I'm kind of stuck with a few plot problems right now but it'll work out ^_^. Enjoy the chapter. I love this chapter *grin*. All of you who love Ron PLEASE don't flame me. It's nothing personal ;)

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Chapter 04 – The Hogwarts Express

Finally on September 1st Uncle Vernon drove them to Kings Cross Station in London. Since they had read about Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters they didn't need any help to find the train. They were very early with about two hours to spare - the train would leave at eleven o'clock and it was only a few minutes past nine - and therefore had no problem to find a nice and empty compartment near the back of the train.

The twins spent the time reading in their new books about transfiguration and in Carya's case potions. Her mothers diary was safely stored in her trunk. The twins took their time and watched everyone else get onto the train. They were glad that they'd gotten here so early. It was really full on the platform and it was quite amusing to watch some of them.

Crying first years, overprotective parents and annoyed older students. Soon the train started to leave and for about half an hour they luckily stayed alone in their compartment. Then the door slid open and a pale blonde boy looked inside.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the empty seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."

Carya didn't even bother to look up from her book and just shook her head. She didn't want to appear unpolite but she had found an interesting hex in her book and wanted to know how to do it properly. Little did she know that exactly this one would come in handy today. Harry shook his head too and the boy sat down.

He then introduced himself: "Hello, I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," he said and extended his hand towards Harry.

Carya raised an eyebrow and looked curiously at the new occupant of their compartment. She had read about the Malfoy's. They were assumed to be strongly involved with the Dark Lord but it had never been proven. Harry shook the hand Draco extended and began introducing them.

"I' Harry. Harry Potter and this is my twin-sister Carya."

Draco's eyes widened and for a brief moment his gaze flickered up to Harry's scar and then over to Carya but then he smiled and said: "Hi Harry, Carya. It's nice to meet you."

Carya's reply from behind her spellbook sounded like »same here«.

When the trolley came by they each bought a bit of everything the witch had to offer and soon the boys started talking about Quidditch. Sometimes Carya threw in a comment or she told the boys about a particular interesting hex or curse she had just found. Draco was surprised that Carya Potter read about hexes and curses but he wisely kept quiet about that.

Meanwhile they were happily eating what they had bought and Harry was the first to get a nasty tasting Bertie Botts Bean. He had a golden-brown bean and it tasted like ear-wax. Harry spit it out immediately. His sister and their new friend laughed at him and he just made a face.

Draco got a grass flavoured one once but only Carya was lucky. She didn't have even one nasty flavoured bean. Harry first card from the chocolate frogs was Dumbledore. He decided to collect them. The boys went back to talking and Carya once again immersed herself into her book.

Much later that day the compartment door opened again and a tall boy with red hair and hand-me-down robes walked in: "They say that Harry and Carya Potter are in this compartment."

He looked around, sneered at Malfoy and looked at Harry and Carya for a short moment before continuing, "So it's true. The Potter twins are on their way to Hogwarts. I'm Ron Weasley by the way. You two," he said pointing at the twins, "really shouldn't hang out with people like Malfoy. They are the wrong sort."

While saying this Draco had gotten constantly angrier. But neither he nor Ron had time to say anything else because Harry spoke up: "I assume you must be the RIGHT sort of people then?" Harry replied sarcastically and then spat, "You know what? Get lost Weasel!"

"And what if I don't want to?" Weasley said while eyeing the pile of sweets lying on the seat besides Carya.

"Then I will hex you from now until easter," Carya said coldly with her wand drawn and aimed at him. But Ron simply started laughing and so Carya did what she said – she hexed Ron.

"Repello!" she shouted and Ron as literally thrown out of the compartment and that almost knocked him out. Draco shut the door.

"Wow, where did you learn that? That was cool," Draco asked impressed.

"It's fairly easy and I've found it in this morning in the book I'm reading right now," Carya stated calmly as if it was nothing special.

"This morning? And you are already that good? Geez, I do so hope that we'll be in the same house, really!" Draco said and masked his nervousness with a slight smirk but Carya noticed anyway. She was quite perceptive for her age.

'Shit, what if they get sorted into Gryffindor like their parents? And I will surely go to Slytherin, just like father. I don't think I want to be on their bad side,' he thought.

Draco's face must have shown his thought because the twins were suddenly smirking at him. When Draco looked up and blushed their smirks got wider than before.

"What??" Draco asked confused.

Now the twins started laughing and Carya managed to tell him something.

"You know, ... you do look cute ... when you blush like that...," she said between fits of laughter.

Draco did not find this funny and pouted which made them laugh even harder. Soon they had calmed down again and returned to the talks they had before Ron Weasley had interrupted them. For the rest of their journey they were pretty much left alone since a few people had witnessed what happened to Ron Weasley.

~*~*~ Further down the train ~*~*~

"Have you heard about Ronald Weasley?" "No, what happened?" "He got blown out of a compartment by a curse. They say Carya Potter has done that." "What? A Potter hexing a fellow student? You must be joking!" They occupants said.

Those who were walking down the corridor could hear every word and soon the story was all over the train. At some point Draco Malfoy had made his way into the rumour and no one knew if he had been the one to curse Ron Weasley or if really Carya Potter had done it.

No one went to find out. Those who wanted to be or already were in Slytherin didn't care if a Weasley got hexed, the current and the supposed Ravenclaws silently discussed it, the Hufflepuffs decided to drop the topic and the Gryffindors didn't believe the rumour.

Well the Weasley family did but then again that wasn't really surprising. But they weren't stupid enough to try anything on the train for retaliation.

~*~*~ End Further down the train ~*~*~

It was already dark outside when the train reached Hogsmeade Station. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" called a huge man who introduced himself as Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. C'mon, follow me -- any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

The students followed him down a narrow path. Sometimes you could hear murmured apologies when one of them was stumbling again and accidentally bumped into someone else.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." There was a loud "Oooooh!"

Suddenly the stood at the edge of a great black lake. On the other side at the top of a mountain they could see a huge castle. The windows sparkled like fires in the nightlike sky. And it had many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.

Harry and Carya were followed into their boat by Draco and a girl with very dark red hair. "She looks a bit like that stupid Weasley git," Draco whispered towards Harry but Carya heard him.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat all to himself. "Right then -- FORWARD!"

And the fleet of small boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. No one dared to say a word. It was such an astonishing sight that they all stayed silent as they sailed towards the cliff below the castle above them.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.

They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

They were led up a flight of steps and stopped in front of the huge, Oak front door. After Hagrid knocked, the door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursley's house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry, Carya and Draco could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here -- but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Draco asked Harry.

"No idea, there wasn't anything about it in the book about Hogwarts."

He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked nervous, too. No one was talking much except a girl with bushy brown hair who they would know as Hermione Granger. She was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Harry tried hard not to listen to her.

He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursley's saying that he, Carya and Dudley had accidentally broken the windows of the teachers lounge while playing soccer outside. He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back.

A glance over to his sister told him that she wasn't any better. Well, to everyone else she seemed totally calm but he knew her. She was biting her bottom lip slightly and that meant she was really nervous about a problem or anything else.

The girl caught his glance and tried to smile reassuringly at her brother but she only succeeded halfway because then something happened that made them jump about a foot in the air -- several people behind Harry screamed.

"What the --?"

He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance --"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to jelly, Harry got into line behind Draco, with Carya behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting.

These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.

The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.

He heard a tall blonde girl whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Carya just rolled her eyes, they had read about that too but didn't show off like the other girl apparently did. It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.

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Repello = throw back

@anonymous: glad to know you like my story ^_^

Please Read AND Review.

Thx ^_^,

Carya