Nothing much else to say: just read!

The Girl Who Lived Chapter Five: Older than Most

The remainder of the summer Daisy was to spend her days in Diagon Alley with Maggie to look after her. She quickly learned, after trying to fill her entire room with sparks, that using magic under the age of seventeen was not allowed. She also studied the Everything You Should Know books, but there was so much in them that it was similar to reading a set of encyclopedias. Mostly she'd look up random things, but first she looked up auror, and You-Know-Who.
Maggie was gone on "important business" often. Daisy wasn't sure what was so important about the business because she had once seen Maggie with her friend Kurt at an outdoor restaurant in Diagon Alley. All they were doing was laughing and chatting. Daisy wasn't mad about it really. Maggie could date if she wanted to, but Daisy wished she wouldn't lie to her about it.
To earn money, Daisy worked at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, and opened a bank account at the Wizard bank Gringotts.
Hibou returned from delivering Maggie's note to Dumbledore a few weeks later. It was after Daisy's shift and the sun was just beginning to set. Daisy was window shopping in the skirts of the alley when Hibou flew over and hovered, stirring nervously.
Daisy checked to see if anyone was around, and said, "Hibou! You're back. What's going on?"
"I told Dumbledore about the sleeping spell." Daisy closed her eyes in remembrance. She had completely forgotten about it. Needless to say, she forgot to tell Maggie, too.
"He said we weren't the only ones to feel it. It's been going on for about a month now, but only at night, and only in Muggle London, not magical areas like here. The Muggles can't feel it, but they've been finding witches and wizards asleep on the street. It takes longer to affect some than others, so that's how we think you lasted four hours. He thinks You-Know-Who is involved, but Fudge, that's the Minister of Magic, won't hear it. He says it just some natural magical catastrophe. We all know that's a load of dung, but he's at least putting out a warning for Muggle London."
"Did you say Dumbledore thinks You-Know-Who has something to do with it?" Daisy asked anxiously. "I thought he was gone."
"Dumbledore says he's back, but no one knows for sure, few know anything about it at all. But if what Dumbledore says is true, we'll all know soon."
"What do you think?" Daisy asked.
"I trust Dumbledore and he's usually right, but this time I do hope he's wrong."
After that Daisy and Maggie kept away from Muggle London. Daisy tried not to think about You-Know-Who. She'd only heard about him, but she was forming a very personal fear, though she couldn't explain why. Maggie kept an eye out for anything suspicious, her auror instincts helped her with that, but nothing happened except wizards falling asleep in the street. And that was happening less and less as more people were avoiding Muggle London.
Soon, it was time to leave for Hogwarts. They packed all of Daisy's things into a trunk, and on September 1st they left for King's Cross Station. Daisy had read in her Everything Hogwarts Edition that they would be getting to the school by train, the Hogwarts Express. She also read that they were supposed to walk though a wall to get to Platform Nine and Three- Quarters, but she wasn't sure how that would work.
When they arrived between Platform Nine and Platform Ten, Daisy shot a sly look over at Maggie. They were both pushing large trunks and a disgruntled Hibou had been made to sit in a birdcage on top of Daisy's.
"You'll have to walk through the barrier, Daisy," Maggie said. "But you have to believe that you will go through or you'll just crash into it. Maybe it would be best to go at a run." Daisy nodded and looked at the brick barrier. It looked quite solid.
"Should I just run through?" Daisy asked, still not fully trusting the process.
"Well make sure no one's looking, the place is swarming with Muggles. Do you want me to go first?"
"No," Daisy said. It would be a fine thing to be stuck there all by herself if she couldn't do it. "I will. Tell me when."
Daisy took a deep breath, and waited.
Finally, she heard Maggie say, "Now."
She ran, pushing the trunk out in front of her, gaining speed as she neared the bricks. Just at the second when she knew she would collide, she was through. She opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut a moment before, and blinked up at the red train before her.
"You better move so Maggie doesn't hit you," Hibou said, so that only Daisy could hear, and just in time because just as she moved a few feet towards the right Maggie appeared from what was now an archway.
"See, it wasn't so hard," she said. "Let's get this stuff on the train."
They both headed for the door and lugged their trunks up to a compartment.
After leaning over to catch her breath Maggie said, "I have to go up to the front of the train to speak to the chief engineer. You should try to meet some of the other students."
"Okay," Daisy said. She didn't really want to be left alone like this, but she would manage. "I guess I'll see you later."
"Of course. Goodbye," Maggie said.
"Bye." Maggie slid out of the compartment towards the front leaving Daisy alone with Hibou.
"Well, will you let me out?" he said, sounding very ruffled.
"Sure," Daisy replied, fiddling with the latch and setting him free. He stretched his wings and glided around the room.
"Should we go meet some people?" Hibou suggested.
"But you can't," Daisy reminded him. "I won't actually talk," Hibou said indignantly. "You do enough of that. I'll just come along."
"Okay," Daisy agreed. They departed through the opposite door Maggie had left from. They ended up in a section filled with some kids who looked a bit rough. There were two girls that, though Daisy could tell were a few years younger than her, out-heightened her by a few inches each. Daisy was planning on just slipping past them, but a girl who was with them (she was rightfully shorter than Daisy) greeted her. "Hello," said the pale girl, with a smug twinge to her voice. "Are you a Slytherin?" Daisy had read about the four houses of Hogwarts in her Everything book: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. She also knew that to have a house she first needed to be sorted.
"No," Daisy said coolly, pretending that she wasn't abnormally old for this situation.
"Oh," said the girl. Her face, framed with neat silver blond hair, darkened a bit. "What house are you in?" Daisy's spirits fell; she didn't want to explain how much of a squib she was to this younger girl.
"I haven't got one yet. I was accepted late," Daisy said, feeling
awkward.
"I've never heard of that," said the girl, superiorly. "Well, I'm Alana Malfoy. I just know I'm going to be in Slytherin. My whole family has been. This is Gina and Cassidy," she said gesturing at her large companions.
"Daisy Peterson," Daisy said.
"Hmm," said Alana, as if trying to remember something, but not coming up with anything. "I suppose you haven't met my cousin, Draco," "No," Daisy replied. She was beginning to feel very small, despite the fact that she was much older than these girls. They had obviously been brought up in wizarding families.
"I could go get him if you want, he's probably with their brothers," she said, again gesturing at Gina and Cassidy.
"That's fine, I'll probably see him around," Daisy replied. She really wanted to leave.
"You're sure?" Alana asked.
"Yes," Daisy said with a smile that she hoped gave the impression that she wanted to leave.
"So, your parents are, you know, one of us, right?" Alana asked, obviously not getting the message.
"What do you mean?" Daisy said uncertainly.
"They're a witch and wizard, of course," Alana said. From the way she said it, Daisy could tell she thought it would be filthy or something if they weren't. So she considered for a moment. She wasn't sure if her real parents were magical or not.
"Yes," Daisy guessed, because that was what the girl wanted to hear.
"Good. Because Draco might be the kind of friend you'll want."
"Well, I really think I should be going," Daisy said, wanting to get very far away.
"Alright," said Alana boredly, "I guess I'll see you at the sorting."
Relieved, Daisy and Hibou hurried through the other door. They met various people, mostly nicer than Alana, but Daisy soon grew tired of explaining her situation. After about an hour they went back to their original compartment to talk, but when they got there, they found that they were not alone.
A small boy, maybe eleven years old, was sitting in the seat. He was all by himself. Daisy could only see the back of his head, covered in sandy hair. He suddenly turned around and noticed them.
"Oh, hello," he said in a friendly, distinctly Scandinavian accent. "Am I in your spot?"
"Sort of," Daisy said, "but there's room for both of us."
"Well, I was wondering whose trunk that was," he said, laughing.
Daisy broke into a smile. "It's mine. I'm Daisy."
"My name's David Oakes, but everyone calls me Davey. I'm starting this
year at Hogwarts," he said. He seemed exceedingly enthusiastic because his big blue eyes lit up every time he said something.
"Really?" Daisy asked. She liked him very much so far, so she was trying to talk to him like an equal. She knew she always hated to be treated like a little kid when she was his age.
"Yeah, I really hope I'm in Gryffindor. Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad either. My mom was in Hufflepuff, but my brother and dad were in Gryffindor," Davey said. He seemed to be glad for someone to talk to. "What house are you in?" he asked, in an openly curious way. Daisy was sure he wouldn't think less of her if she told him that she was a first year, too.
"Well, it's a funny thing," she started, "I didn't even know about Hogwarts until this summer. It seems they forgot about me. I should be in about fifth year, but they're going to try to catch me up by the end of this year. So I guess I don't have a house yet, but I think Gryffindor or Ravenclaw would be my first choices."
"That sounds just like something Dumbledore would do, give you a second chance," Davey said. "He's a great headmaster.'
"That's what everyone says," Daisy said, contemplating. "I think so, too." Davey smiled when he heard this. Daisy hoped he would be in the same house as her. They would have classes together, right in the beginning anyway.
"So, where are you from?" Daisy asked, changing the subject. "I kind of recognize your accent, but..."
"Oslo, Norway," he said proudly. "My family's in the dragon business. Control, not breeding of course. There's a good Ridgeback population near there. Where're you from?"
"Um, Godric's Hollow, here in Britain," Daisy said. Then more nervously, "Did you say dragon?"
"Yeah, didn't they tell you about dragons?" he asked, surprised.
"No," Daisy said, a bit unsettled. "What else is there that I don't know about?"
"Well, that you would have heard of: unicorns, centaurs, fairies. Most Muggles don't really believe in them, but many of their magical creatures are real."
"That's wicked! Are there vampires?" Daisy asked. She wanted to know everything.
"Yeah, but I don't think they're considered magical animals. See, there are beings and then there are beasts."
Daisy and Davey continued to discuss magical creatures the entire afternoon, stopping only to sample the eccentric wizarding candy that Davey had grown up with, and Daisy had never seen. They took their fill of Cauldron Cakes and Chocolate Frogs. Daisy started her Chocolate Frog collection with Morgana and Paracelsus. They quickly returned to their conversation, and soon the sky grew dark.
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately," said a voice through the air.
"Oh no, we need to get our robes on!" Davey said.
"Well, you go first, and then I'll go. C'mon quick!" Daisy said, leaving the compartment. She waited outside tapping her foot and feeling impatient. She watched the people going by, and hurrying to get ready, when something caught her eye. It was a trio of kids about Daisy's age. Two boys and a girl were walking through, discussing something in great interest. The girl had bushy brown hair and a silver pin was pinned to her front. One of the boys was tall with red hair; the other had black messy hair. They were all already wearing their robes. The boy with black hair was turned toward the girl, saying something. Just as he was about to turn his head around so Daisy could see his face, Davey came out from the compartment.
"Go on," he said. "You've only got a few minutes!" Daisy hurried to get on her robes, but when she was ready, nearly everyone else had left the train, for it had stopped. Davey however, had waited. They left through the side door.
Outside they found themselves on a cold platform. A mob of students stood around, some looking anxious. Daisy saw Maggie, grabbed Davey's arm and pulled him over to Maggie.
"Maggie! What's going on?" Daisy asked. Maggie looked back at her, a bit stressed. Davey looked at both of them, confused.
"It's nothing, just the carriages are late. And it's Professor McKinnon now, remember."
"Yeah," Daisy said, "What should we do?"
"You two should have gone with Hagrid and the other first years to the boats. If you hurry on that path, you can catch them," Maggie said, pointing to a dirt path to her left.
"Alright," Daisy said.
"That looks pretty dark," Davey said, speaking for the first time.
"Oh," Maggie said. "Daisy do you have your wand with you?"
"Yes," Daisy replied.
"Give it here," Maggie said. Daisy handed it over, and Maggie pointed it at the ground. "Lumos," she said. Instantly a beam of light extended from the end of the wand, making it look like a skinny flashlight. Maggie handed it back to her and said, "Now, go!"
Daisy and Davey took off down the path. Daisy held her wand out for them to see. It was very steep, so they didn't stop in case they fell. Finally it began to even out. They went around a corner, and saw it, Hogwarts. Across a dark lake was a gigantic castle, towers stuck out from every angle. Mountains surrounded the area, and a large forest covered one edge of the castle. They also saw a group of first years, clambering into boats.
"Wait, wait!" they yelled. Everyone in the group turned their heads toward them. A very large man, twice the height of some of the kids, dressed in a huge furry coat, waved his platter sized hand at them. They ran to him.
"Righ'" said the man. "I though' we were missin' sumone." His small black eyes looked them over. "Yeh must be Daisy."
"That's me," she said sheepishly.
"Well, get a boat," he suggested. Daisy and Davey chose the one with no occupants, and settled in. Daisy could see everyone staring at her; it was obvious she was older than all of them. She saw Alana, Cassandra, and Gina whispering and pointing.
"FORWARD!" roared Hagrid. All the boats began to move across the water and towards the school.

A/N: Isn't Alana just lovely? Sorry if I didn't get Hagrid's voice quite right. If you leave me a review I'll review one of your stories, ok????