Esme slowed down as she felt the bricks mold around her and she heard the hustle and bustle of a train station fade away as she was let onto an entirely different platform with many different people on it. There were witches and wizards galore with trolleys that had screeching owls and excited-looking children pushing them. Esme smiled feeling the magical buzz in the air, "This feels like home," she whispered to herself. Suddenly her mom came fumbling out of the barrier quite confused, "What just happened?" Esme laughed and hugged her tight, "You did it, mom! You crossed the barrier!" Mrs. Brown looked around with wonder, "Holy cow… This place is amazing, Esme." Mrs. Brown then came in behind them shaking her head, "I was hoping you'd wait for me to finish before you went headfirst into the platform, but no matter. We will hold your things while you get dressed, Esme,"
Esme looked at Madam McNutly surprised, "Changed… Into what?" Madam McNutly smiled and winked at her, "Your uniform, dear. Go on take your luggage and we will wait with the trolley over there," She pointed to a spot on the platform that was currently unoccupied, then Esme nodded and rushed to get into her school outfit. Mrs. Brown was fascinated by all the things around her: the rustic train, the strange clothing everyone was wearing, and the animals kept in cages. "Is this what the rest of the wizarding world is like?" Mrs. Brown asked with amazement. Madam McNutly chuckled, "Almost. This train is one of the only kinds known to wizardkind, meanwhile, this is how most of us dress. We do have interesting pets however, some of the felines in the cages look more Kneazle than a common house cat."
Before Mrs. Brown could ask what on earth was a Kneazle, Esme came back wearing a grey vest over a white button-up shirt with a grey skirt, white knee-high socks, and black dress shoes. She was also carrying a black robe adorned with the school chest, grey tie, and black witch hat with her, "I don't know how to do ties…" she mumbled embarrassed. Both ladies smiled and immediately went over to help her. Mrs. Brown fixed Esme's tie while Madam Mc Nutly showed Esme the steps onto the train. "You look adorable Esme. I am sure that you will look stunning in your house uniform." Esme smiled, "Thank you Madam McNutly, I'll try to make you proud."
As the group was heading to the stairs a tall girl with short brown hair and lots of black makeup, Esme noticed that she was a green skirt, badge, and a silver and green tie was helping students onto the train and waved to Esme with a smile. Madam McNutly briefly looked puzzled but shrugged and turned to Esme, "That is our cue to let you go on your way, Esme. Safe travels, my dear." Esme tried not to cry as she hugged first Madam McNutly, then her mother, she grabbed her trolley and walked over to the girl. The smiled at Esme and introduced herself, "Hallo, I'm Gemma. Nice ta meet ya first year. Let's get ya trunk loaded up then we can talk as we put the trolley away," Esme nodded and both worked together to get her trunk lifted and put away with all the other luggage. "So, where ya from first year?" Gemma asked curiously as she directed Esme, "Berkshire, Miss Gemma. Probably born, but raised there by my adopted mum and dad." Gemma looked surprised, "Adopted aye? That'll be a bit of a cover till ya find out your true lineage. Myself, am from East Germany. We moved to Ireland when I was little tho. Don't remember much but the smells of smoke and oil from the Russian factories."
Esme nodded and put the trolley away, "Must have been hard, moving to a new place." Gemma shrugged, "Fer my parents, of course. But fer me, I was glad to be in a place where I could breathe. The fresh air of Ireland was a lifesaver fer me, growing up in factory land was tough on my lungs and nearly killed me." Gemma then looked at the clock and nearly jumped out of her skin, "Meine Güte! It's almost 11! We must go!" She grabbed Esme's arm and rushed her over to the platform. They barely got on as the train whistle let off a long screech and the wheels started to turn. Esme held onto the rails for dear life as she was jerked by the train starting to move, Gemma merely chuckled and helped her inside the car. "Yer lucky, I was afraid we wouldn't make it. Luckily the prefect car is the closest to the trolleys."
Esme gave her a funny look, "Prefects?" The girl smiled and pointed to her green and silver badge,"To put simply, I'm in charge of making sure you first years make it to Hogwarts safely and stay out of trouble on the way there," Esme nodded understandingly, "Thank you for helping me, Miss Gemma. I appreciate it," Gemma smiled and ruffled her hair, "Not at all little kinder. Now let's get you to some classmates your age, then maybe you might make some friends," She then held her shoulder gently and led her to the other end of the train, passing at least five train carts full of older students. Esme saw that most of the compartments had students who were wearing one of four color combinations: red + gold, blue + bronze, green + silver, and finally yellow + black. Esme assumed these were the house colors which reinforced her excitement for getting sorted.
Finally, they arrived at the younger students' carts, where the first and second years were. The first compartment they checked had four first-year boys, but their luggage seemed to be taking up the two empty seats, Esme debated in her head if it would've been rude to ask them to move their luggage, when there was a flash of light and the compartment the boys were in suddenly filled with smoke. Chaos naturally ensued. The sandy-haired boy, who had been the cause of the explosion, was covered in ash as a tall black boy quickly worked to put out the fire. Meanwhile, the other boys, a dark-haired boy with sunglasses and an auburn-haired boy with a small, flat hat, did their best to open windows and get the smoke out. Gemma laughed at the mess as Esme watched in mild horror. Suddenly a male student who looked about Gemma's age but in a blue and bronze outfit, rushed by them to assess the situation.
Both girls turned to each other quietly and silently went to go check the next few compartments. However, there was a problem that kept appearing, either the cart was full or the students gave nasty looks to Gemma which made Esme very uncomfortable. After being declined so many times, Esme was starting to lose hope in finding some friends on the train. Gemma explained that she was in Slytherin and they, unfortunately, got a bad rap with the rest of the houses. Esme however, felt that this was extremely unfair. To her, Gemma was the nicest girl on the train and most people refused to talk to her simply because she was wearing green. It made her blood boil unlike anything else had before.
Despite the lack of hospitality, they decided to try at least one last time. Gemma took a peek in the compartment and gave an amused smile, "This ought to be fun, it's a blondie and his henchmen. You sure you want to try this one, kinder?" Esme merely shrugged, "I would rather try than sit out in the hallway by myself. What could happen?" Gemma smiled, "Spunky. I like it." Gemma then opened the door and looked at the three boys, "Hallo first years, enjoying your time?" Esme curiously looked at the compartment dwellers. The first boy had curly dark-colored hair, and brown eyes, and looked like he could use her trunk as a hammer throw and win first place. The second boy had buzzed hair that reminded her of the color of obsidian with a chubby face and body.
Then there was the third boy, he looked surprisingly familiar to someone she'd never seen before. He was a bit on the skinny side, paler than most of the kids she had seen with platinum blonde hair that was elegantly slicked back. But out of all his attributes, one stood out to her, his piercing silver eyes. She wracked her mind trying to remember where she had seen eyes like that before, ignoring everything that was going on in the cart. After a minute or two, the boy noticed she was intently staring at him and smirked, "Is there something you want, young lady?" Esme immediately remembered where she had seen those eyes, at Fortescue's shop! "You're Mr. Malfoy's son! Drago or something!"
Silence filled the compartment, Esme went pink as she realized that she had spoken her thoughts out loud, embarrassing herself in front of these boys. The "henchmen" turned to each other confused while Gemma quietly watched the scene with interest. After a moment, however, the blonde kid started to laugh relieving most of the tension. He turned to the bewildered Esme, "You are half right, I am a Malfoy. But my name is Draco, not Drago. Honestly haven't heard someone mispronounce my name like that before," Esme went even pinker and looked down at the floor, "My apologies sir. I met your father once and was reminded of him. You have the same eyes… Very beautiful color…"
Draco blinked in surprise, then chuckled amused, "You're different. Most people compare me to my father with my whole appearance…" He then took a moment to quickly analyze her then gestured to the seat next to him, "Have a seat. I'm sure Crabbe and Goyle would enjoy your company," The other two boys, who had been fighting for the window seat, turned at the sound of their names and nodded to Esme before Goyle shoved Crabbe aside and took his spot by the window. Esme turned to Gemma for approval, who smiled and nodded to her, "You know where to find me if things get dicey with those two…" She turned to Crabbe and Goyle giving them an 'I'm watching you' gesture before gently nudging Esme inside, "Have fun, Esme, good luck little kinder," Then Gemma closed the door and walked back to the prefect car.
Before she could change her mind, Esme walked past the boys and took a seat across from the curly-haired one. Draco turned to her amused and leaned back in his seat, "So. Your name is Esme? Who came up with that for you?" Esme went pink and looked out the window, "Mhm. I go by Esme for short, since it's bouncier than Esmeralda… Plus, it's a lot less serious. My… My dad was the one who picked it since it sounded… Elegant…" Draco nodded, "My mother was the one who named me Draco, after the dragon constellation. Most of my mom's family was named after the stars and celestial bodies. Quite fitting for who we are," Esme turned to him, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and excitement, "Seriously? That is so cool! One of my favorite constellations is Ursa Minor, due to Polaris being so helpful when I needed to get home on-"
She stopped midsentence when she realized all three boys were watching her intently, making her flustered and unable to finish her thought. Draco raised an eyebrow impressed, "I haven't been able to find someone who knew so much about astronomy before, who taught you?" Esme, starting to get over her embarrassment turned to him with a smile, "My father. When I was younger he would send me to sleep with stories about the constellations and if I was feeling energetic he would pull out his telescope and we would look at the beautiful night sky until I couldn't see without having to cross my eyes," They both chuckled at the story, clearly understanding the joy and pain of using a telescope when the curly haired boy impatiently interrupted the moment, "Can we get back to the world cup now? You were just at the good part!" The other boy nodded in agreement, "Yeah! I wanted to hear about the clobbering on the quidditch pitch!"
Draco rolled his annoyed, "Forgive them, Esme. I was in the middle of describing the quidditch match between Israel and Yugoslavia I went to this summer when you and the Prefect came," Esme merely smiled, "No, it's alright. I would love to hear about the tournament if you don't mind. I haven't had the chance to go to a big game before, so I'm very curious about how you enjoyed it," Draco sat up and put on his storytelling face, "If you all insist, then I won't waste another moment," Esme smiled as Draco described the match, the tense moments and the luxurious seats he was able to witness the game from, all the while capturing his audience's attention.
She thought he was an amazing storyteller and could make her believe in the most fantastical of stories. 'He seems charming, and the other two aren't so bad. Maybe the four of us can be friends? I would like that,'' Esme thought to herself. Little did she know that by choosing to sit with these three boys, she had managed to find the sons of unprosecuted death eaters who had been some of the last people to see her father, her biological father, alive so many years ago.
