A GAGGLE OF GRYFFINDORS
"Oh come ON, Ron!" Molly Weasley's voice rang through King's Cross Station. "We've only got five minutes until the train leaves! Ginny, do try to hurry, dear."
"I'm running as fast as I can, mum!" Ginny puffed from behind everyone else.
"Here we are," said Arthur Weasley cheerfully as they reached the gateway to Platform 9 ¾. "Go on, Ron and Harry, you two first."
The two boys checked to make sure there were no muggles watching before running through the barrier onto the platform. Hermione and Ginny came next, followed by Mr & Mrs Weasley. Harry had once, again, spent the last two weeks of his summer with his best friend Ron's family. Hermione had met them the day before in Diagon Alley and the three seventh years had enjoyed shopping for their school supplies together, but with a small tinge of sadness bubbling under the surface of their smiles, for they were about to begin their last year at Hogwarts.
"I can hardly believe this is the last time I'm going to board the Hogwarts Express," said Hermione wistfully, after the usual hectic goodbyes from Mr & Mrs Weasley (Molly had had to dry her eyes with a handkerchief; 'My babies!').
"Tell me about it," said Ron as all four of them stuffed their luggage into the overhead compartments. "Not long now til we actually have to DO something with our lives. Scary."
"Yes, well, it wouldn't be scary if you'd decided on a career, Ron," Hermione said, sniffing her disapproval.
"I have! I'm going to work for Fred and George!" Ron said.
"That's hardly a career," Hermione replied coldly as she pinned her Head Girl badge to her robes. "That's a job. You might as well be a check-out boy."
"A what?" he turned to Harry, who shook his head as if to say 'forget it.' "Look, stop sniping at me, will you? Let's just get to the front compartment before Malfoy has the chance to take three hundred points from Gryffindor."
Ron and Hermione waved goodbye and moved off to join the other prefects. Harry laughed and shook his head as he watched his two friends walk away, still arguing. After a moment, he and Ginny began to make their way down the aisle, looking left and right to find an empty compartment. On the way, they passed one with a single occupant – a pale-looking girl with long dark hair – but decided to move on when she shot them all a rather dangerous look.
"Here's one!" called Ginny, who was a few steps ahead. "Oh, hi Neville. How was your summer?"
"Brilliant!" Neville said enthusiastically. "Gran took me to Ireland to visit some of my relatives on my mum's side. I found out I've got an uncle who's a herbologist! He travels the world discovering and experimenting with different species of plants. He even gave me a Lilac Flamilius plant. Look, it self-ignites, I'll show –"
"No!" Cried Harry and Ginny, who recalled their fifth year trip on the Hogwarts Express, when Neville had sprayed them all with the ink from his Mimbulus Mimbletonia.
"Er, I'm allergic to Lilacs," Ginny mumbled.
"Oh," said Neville, who had bent down to pull the plant out of knapsack. "Alright then."
Soon the three of them were immersed in conversation, discussing Gryffindor's chances for a Quidditch Cup win this year ("We'd bloody well better win – I won't get another chance!" said Harry) and the fact that Remus Lupin had been re-appointed DADA professor ("About time!" Ginny crowed triumphantly, and Neville nodded madly, thankful that Snape had once again been denied the position). After an hour or so, Ron and Hermione entered the compartment and slumped into their seats gratefully, looking tired and slightly cranky. Nobody bothered to ask why, as all three of them knew that Draco had been appointed Head Boy and this was enough to turn even cool-headed Hermione into a raging bull (or lion, as the case may be). Before long (and at just the right time!), the plump witch pushed the food trolley into their compartment, and soon the entire group was happily making their way through a large pile of cauldron cakes and chocolate frogs.
"So have you seen her yet?" said Neville, through a mouthful of chocolate.
"Who?" Ron and Harry said in unison.
"The new girl. What's her name? Donna… Dorilla… Oh, you know I'm not good with names."
"New girl?" laughed Ginny. "There must be a two dozen new girls, Neville. What's so special about this one?"
"She's not a first year. She's your age!"
Everyone stopped eating and looked up at Neville in wonder. Hermione was the first to speak.
"Impossible," she said calmly. "You must be mistaken. Who told you that?"
"Dean Thomas told me, and Blaise Zabini told him," Neville said, in a rather hurt voice.
"But Hogwarts doesn't allow students past first year," said Ginny. "They wouldn't change the rules for one person, would they?"
"Of course not!" scoffed Hermione. "You can't believe everything you hear, Neville."
Neville looked disgruntled, but seemed to accept Hermione's point. "Well, Dean sounded pretty sure of himself."
"And it's not as if nothing funny has ever happened as Hogwarts before, Hermione," Ron said fondly, smiling. "Nothing at this madhouse of a school surprises me anymore."
"I wonder where she's from!" said Ginny animatedly. Everyone murmured curiously; suddenly the compartment was filled with a slight air of excitement.
"Come on," said Hermione, though her interest was peaked also. "Who could be so special that Dumbledore would break years of Hogwarts tradition for?"
"Well, probably the only reason the school's never had new students past first year is that nobody's had to come that late before. I mean, if they don't know you're a wizard or witch by the time you're eleven, you're probably not a wizard or witch at all!" said Ron, and Harry and Neville both nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. So why is this person starting so late?"
Everyone thought about it for a moment.
"Maybe….." Neville spoke up apprehensively. "Maybe she's come from another wizarding school. You know, like a transfer or something."
Everyone looked quite surprised at Neville, and even Hermione raised her eyebrows and thought about it for a moment. It didn't last long, though, because Crookshanks, who was sitting on Hermione's lap, suddenly caught sight of a fly buzzing around Ron, and leapt onto his head. Ron yelped and threw him off, and the next couple of minutes were spent coaxing Crookshanks out from underneath the seat. Their previous conversation was forgotten for the rest of the train ride.
