Hogwarts Express
Katie watched out the window as her car drove slowly into the car park of Central Station. She couldn't help wondering how nobody would notice her, pushing a large brown trunk and carrying a small barn owl without thinking it strange. Her father had of course explained to her that the wizard community had their own platform which was only assessable if you walked through a wall. If she'd heard her father say something like that a year ago she would have been shocked but her father was a lot more laid back recently and knew a lot more than he had even let on about the secret magical community.
Almost immediately after her birthday their family had moved house, away from the glares of her father's parents. During the months in the countryside her father had lost all his excess weight and seemed more healthy and happy than she had ever seen him in her life. In turn this had affected her mother and herself so the three felt closer than they had ever been. It was almost as if none of them knew that they weren't related by blood. Her father had even volunteered to take her to buy her school supplies in the secret street in London just yesterday and seemed completely comfortable surrounded by people, just months ago he would have considered abnormal. He did however look on edge all day; as if he were worried he might meet someone in particular. Katie believed however, anyone who did know him would hardly recognise him he looked so changed. But other than that he seemed so proud of her. Both her parents did. They even bought her an owl, which she had named Merlin. Of course she would have preferred something from the joke shop, but for some reason her father took one look inside and refused to go in.
By now the Dursleys had arrived at the platform barrier. Here Katie hugged her parents and got ready to run through the barrier. After promising to send letters every week, her mother finally let go and she ran through the wall.
When she got through to the other side she gasped at the bright red train that loomed in front of her. She was surprised however, at the small number of pupils who were actually there. Knowing nothing and feeling out of place she slowly approached the train, mentally hitting herself for being so afraid. She'd never been scared of anything in her life.
Her feelings obviously showed as a brown haired boy came to her side.
'You're a first year right?' he asked. 'Me too, only I've a sister in fourth year so I've been here millions of times before.'
'Is it that obvious?' Katie laughed; glad to have someone to talk to.
'The name's Joe, Joe Finch-Fletchley.'
'Katie Dursley'
'Not heard of the Dursleys before, you must be Muggleborn?'
'Erm... I'm no sure what you mean' Katie replied.
The boy just laughed, 'your parents mustn't be a witch or wizard then?'
Katie grew afraid, 'there's nothing wrong with that is there?' she asked.
The boy stopped laughing, 'well, not according to me or my family, no, but to those that follow the dark lord...' the boy stopped as if not wanting to talk about this further.
'Come on.' He said. Trying to change the subject, 'the trains about to leave and we need to find a compartment.'
The two hurried onto the train, looking in each compartment as they passed. The first was filled with red haired children of all ages, others were filled with older children, some younger, but all the groups of students worried Katie.
'What if I don't fit in,' she worried, 'I don't know any magic after all'. She found herself wishing she had read the many books packed at the bottom of her trunk.
Finally they approached the end of the train and found an empty compartment in which they spent the remainder of the journey. It was great to be with Joe. He seemed to know a lot about the wizarding world and was able to explain to Katie about quidditch, the houses, the teachers, and anything else she didn't know about the school. It was clear he wanted to be put into Hufflepuff; he was completely biased towards that house in particular. Katie felt it would be best to be with her new found friend so also hoped to be sorted into this house, though neither knew what method the school used to place its students.
As Joe was talking, she put her hand into her pockets to feel for her wand. Hidden deep inside its magical core, the wand maker had told her, was a badger hair. By the look on his face this was highly unusual, in fact it was the only one of its kind he'd ever sold, due to widespread belief that it contained no raw magic. Personally she had never thought badgers possessed any magic at all, and to think, she could have had a wand with a unicorn hair in, if it had been right for her. One thought still worried Katie. Maybe she didn't possess enough raw magic to control a real wand. Her parents would be disappointed if she was sent home for being too weak. Perhaps her father's mood would have another turn for the worst.
Just then the train pulled to a stop and a loud voice was heard from the platform.
'Firs- years, over here!'
Katie and Joe scrambled up and on stepping out of the carriage looked up in awe at the man who stood before them. He was huge.
The enormous man, whose name was Hagrid, led the smallest students to a set of boats. One by one the students climbed in. Hagrid sighed.
'there's getting less n less of you' he muttered, ' why I remember the days when I had 40 firs years to take over t' castle'
On hearing this Katie looked around. Including her and Joe there were only about 20 students following. If that. She couldn't help noticing that four of these were ginger. There were three boys and one girl, presumably related. They all knew Hagrid and began chatting away as if he were part of their family. Katie couldn't help thinking they were a bit of a rowdy bunch (that was the old Dudley in her thinking), and she tried to get as far as possible away from them without nearing the other end of the spectrum. For, there were also a group of solemn, evil sort of characters. Two large boys who could pass for about 14 stood either side of a smaller blonde haired boy, who looked quite out of place among them
Katie followed Joe into a boat. There were two others in the boat. Two girls. One had long brown hair, blue eyes and glasses. Katie couldn't help noticing the similarities in their eyes. Yet it was neither their colour nor shape that attracted her attention. This girl had the same sort of glazed look that Katie's eyes constantly had. As if there was no spirit behind them.
The second girl had jet black hair and an evil smirk on her face. Katie didn't dare look into her eyes; she feared what she may see. The presence of this girl appeared to unnerve everyone in their boat so they said nothing until they approached the castle. On seeing it Katie couldn't help but gasp. It was beautiful. She could hear Hagrid chatting away to the red heads in his boat, explaining the mysteries of the castle.
Too soon they were at the school and exiting the boats. When they reached the door a woman met them. She was average height and had long bushy brown hair. She began to scan the year, as if looking for someone in particular. The look on her face told Katie she had not found the person she looked for, though her gaze did stop on Katie for some time. She began to explain.
'I'm Professor Weasley' (the red heads cheered), 'you're about to be sorted into your houses. They are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Griffindor and Slytherin. While you're here your houses will be like your family. Any achievements will gain your house points; any rule breaking will lose points'
At this last part she looked toward the ginger haired group. Following her gaze Katie noticed that the look on this professor's face was almost identical to the look the red haired girl was giving her siblings at that moment. Katie wondered if they were related. At that she led the first years into the great hall where there were four huge tables, presumably one for each house. Although there were many people in the hall, the tables looked as if they could fit twice that amount.
As they walked up to the front of the hall, Katie heard the red haired girl exclaim
'Look at the roof, its bewitched to look like the nights sky. I read about it in Hogwarts. A History.'
The others laughed and Katie couldn't help exchanging a grin with Joe. However she was remembering that she herself had forgotten to read any of the assigned reading material. Katie looked forward, there in front of her lay a tattered old hat on a stool.
^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^
if you haven't yet. Please review. Advice is always well taken. K x
Katie watched out the window as her car drove slowly into the car park of Central Station. She couldn't help wondering how nobody would notice her, pushing a large brown trunk and carrying a small barn owl without thinking it strange. Her father had of course explained to her that the wizard community had their own platform which was only assessable if you walked through a wall. If she'd heard her father say something like that a year ago she would have been shocked but her father was a lot more laid back recently and knew a lot more than he had even let on about the secret magical community.
Almost immediately after her birthday their family had moved house, away from the glares of her father's parents. During the months in the countryside her father had lost all his excess weight and seemed more healthy and happy than she had ever seen him in her life. In turn this had affected her mother and herself so the three felt closer than they had ever been. It was almost as if none of them knew that they weren't related by blood. Her father had even volunteered to take her to buy her school supplies in the secret street in London just yesterday and seemed completely comfortable surrounded by people, just months ago he would have considered abnormal. He did however look on edge all day; as if he were worried he might meet someone in particular. Katie believed however, anyone who did know him would hardly recognise him he looked so changed. But other than that he seemed so proud of her. Both her parents did. They even bought her an owl, which she had named Merlin. Of course she would have preferred something from the joke shop, but for some reason her father took one look inside and refused to go in.
By now the Dursleys had arrived at the platform barrier. Here Katie hugged her parents and got ready to run through the barrier. After promising to send letters every week, her mother finally let go and she ran through the wall.
When she got through to the other side she gasped at the bright red train that loomed in front of her. She was surprised however, at the small number of pupils who were actually there. Knowing nothing and feeling out of place she slowly approached the train, mentally hitting herself for being so afraid. She'd never been scared of anything in her life.
Her feelings obviously showed as a brown haired boy came to her side.
'You're a first year right?' he asked. 'Me too, only I've a sister in fourth year so I've been here millions of times before.'
'Is it that obvious?' Katie laughed; glad to have someone to talk to.
'The name's Joe, Joe Finch-Fletchley.'
'Katie Dursley'
'Not heard of the Dursleys before, you must be Muggleborn?'
'Erm... I'm no sure what you mean' Katie replied.
The boy just laughed, 'your parents mustn't be a witch or wizard then?'
Katie grew afraid, 'there's nothing wrong with that is there?' she asked.
The boy stopped laughing, 'well, not according to me or my family, no, but to those that follow the dark lord...' the boy stopped as if not wanting to talk about this further.
'Come on.' He said. Trying to change the subject, 'the trains about to leave and we need to find a compartment.'
The two hurried onto the train, looking in each compartment as they passed. The first was filled with red haired children of all ages, others were filled with older children, some younger, but all the groups of students worried Katie.
'What if I don't fit in,' she worried, 'I don't know any magic after all'. She found herself wishing she had read the many books packed at the bottom of her trunk.
Finally they approached the end of the train and found an empty compartment in which they spent the remainder of the journey. It was great to be with Joe. He seemed to know a lot about the wizarding world and was able to explain to Katie about quidditch, the houses, the teachers, and anything else she didn't know about the school. It was clear he wanted to be put into Hufflepuff; he was completely biased towards that house in particular. Katie felt it would be best to be with her new found friend so also hoped to be sorted into this house, though neither knew what method the school used to place its students.
As Joe was talking, she put her hand into her pockets to feel for her wand. Hidden deep inside its magical core, the wand maker had told her, was a badger hair. By the look on his face this was highly unusual, in fact it was the only one of its kind he'd ever sold, due to widespread belief that it contained no raw magic. Personally she had never thought badgers possessed any magic at all, and to think, she could have had a wand with a unicorn hair in, if it had been right for her. One thought still worried Katie. Maybe she didn't possess enough raw magic to control a real wand. Her parents would be disappointed if she was sent home for being too weak. Perhaps her father's mood would have another turn for the worst.
Just then the train pulled to a stop and a loud voice was heard from the platform.
'Firs- years, over here!'
Katie and Joe scrambled up and on stepping out of the carriage looked up in awe at the man who stood before them. He was huge.
The enormous man, whose name was Hagrid, led the smallest students to a set of boats. One by one the students climbed in. Hagrid sighed.
'there's getting less n less of you' he muttered, ' why I remember the days when I had 40 firs years to take over t' castle'
On hearing this Katie looked around. Including her and Joe there were only about 20 students following. If that. She couldn't help noticing that four of these were ginger. There were three boys and one girl, presumably related. They all knew Hagrid and began chatting away as if he were part of their family. Katie couldn't help thinking they were a bit of a rowdy bunch (that was the old Dudley in her thinking), and she tried to get as far as possible away from them without nearing the other end of the spectrum. For, there were also a group of solemn, evil sort of characters. Two large boys who could pass for about 14 stood either side of a smaller blonde haired boy, who looked quite out of place among them
Katie followed Joe into a boat. There were two others in the boat. Two girls. One had long brown hair, blue eyes and glasses. Katie couldn't help noticing the similarities in their eyes. Yet it was neither their colour nor shape that attracted her attention. This girl had the same sort of glazed look that Katie's eyes constantly had. As if there was no spirit behind them.
The second girl had jet black hair and an evil smirk on her face. Katie didn't dare look into her eyes; she feared what she may see. The presence of this girl appeared to unnerve everyone in their boat so they said nothing until they approached the castle. On seeing it Katie couldn't help but gasp. It was beautiful. She could hear Hagrid chatting away to the red heads in his boat, explaining the mysteries of the castle.
Too soon they were at the school and exiting the boats. When they reached the door a woman met them. She was average height and had long bushy brown hair. She began to scan the year, as if looking for someone in particular. The look on her face told Katie she had not found the person she looked for, though her gaze did stop on Katie for some time. She began to explain.
'I'm Professor Weasley' (the red heads cheered), 'you're about to be sorted into your houses. They are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Griffindor and Slytherin. While you're here your houses will be like your family. Any achievements will gain your house points; any rule breaking will lose points'
At this last part she looked toward the ginger haired group. Following her gaze Katie noticed that the look on this professor's face was almost identical to the look the red haired girl was giving her siblings at that moment. Katie wondered if they were related. At that she led the first years into the great hall where there were four huge tables, presumably one for each house. Although there were many people in the hall, the tables looked as if they could fit twice that amount.
As they walked up to the front of the hall, Katie heard the red haired girl exclaim
'Look at the roof, its bewitched to look like the nights sky. I read about it in Hogwarts. A History.'
The others laughed and Katie couldn't help exchanging a grin with Joe. However she was remembering that she herself had forgotten to read any of the assigned reading material. Katie looked forward, there in front of her lay a tattered old hat on a stool.
^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^ ^O^
if you haven't yet. Please review. Advice is always well taken. K x