When stars collide.
Chapter 1:
God bless the Hogwarts Express, and all who sail with her.
Stella's point of view
Aurora Stella Ravyne stood on the platform on nine and 3/4 of King's Cross, silently thinking about how odd it must seem to muggles, to see so many people with are variety of animals; rats, cats, toads and owls, in the station on one day, walking alongside ordinary muggles, then for them to seemingly disappear into thin air. Like they all had spontaneously combusted at some point, not leaving any trace of their prescience known.
Oh sorry! I must have gone into a daydream, thinking my thoughts in 3rd person. I sometimes do that.
My name is not Aurora Stella Ravyne. Well, that's my proper name anyway. Most people call me Stella or just Ella. My mother's fascinated by the stars and the effects the sun plays on the sky; she's big on astrology. My dad was as well, until- well, I won't go into detail, it'll seem like I'm fishing for sympathy. Needless to say, life was never the same again.
So. Here I am. It's the 1st of September and I am about to get on the Hogwarts Express at any minute, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I wonder if the other children will be friendly. I've never had proper friends, as I spent most of my childhood helping my mum run her apothecary in Diagon Alley. I gaze around for my for her. But before I find her, my eyes connect with a pair of stormy grey eyes. The owner of the eyes is a boy with long, dark, elegantly messy hair. He doesn't seem to be older than me, despite the fact that he is almost a head taller than me. He smirks at me and I know he has been taking in my appearance.I unlock my eyes from his as I glance over for my mum. She's talking to another lady, who has a daughter with fiery locks cascading down her back in waves. I hurry over towards them, and as I do so, I hear the clock chime, warning me that it's eleven o' clock all ready.
"Ella! There you are! Off in your own little world, I presume?" my Mum says in a way of greeting, "This is Mrs.Evans, who I've just met, and her daughter Lily is starting Hogwarts as well!" She smiles, indicating the flame-haired girl next to her. I look at Lily and we exchange smiles. She has amazingly green almond-shaped eyes, which compliments her dark red hair in a pleasant contrast.
"Well, you two had better go and get yourselves a compartment. They fill up mighty quick!" My mum says to both of us. We say goodbye to our mums, then rush off dragging our trunks behind us. Fortunately, we find a compartment almost instantly. I shove my trunk underneath my seat and collapse on the seat.
"So, like my mum said, I'm Stella, or Ella as other people call me." I extend a hand towards Lily.
"I'm Lily." She states, pauses and says, "It's funny, cause your mum told us you were called Aurora."
"Oh. That. Aurora's my first name, Stella's my middle name. But my dad always called me by my middle name, so it stuck!" I smile as the shadow of confusion leaves Lily's face.
"I see." She laughs. She pauses again, then asks, "Wasn't that portal-thingy weird, though?"
"What, the entrance barrier to platform 9 and ¾? I don't really think so."
"I've never seen anything like it really. But then again, my whole family's non-magical, what's that strange word wizards call them?"
"Muggles. My dad was a wizard." I smile, reading between the lines. Muggle-borns and half-bloods can be looked down upon by other wizards, I remember mum telling methat ages ago when some greasy haired old man yelled that half-bloods arethe scum of theearthor words to that effect. So me and Lily are in the same boat, as it is.
"He was?" She comments, then pauses, "You mean he's -?"
I nod.
"I'm sorry." Lily says. "That was pretty insensitive of me."
"No, it's alright. It was ages ago." I try to smile, but it turns into a grimace.
There's an awkward silence. I decide to try and break the ice again.
"What about your family?" I ask tensely, hoping for a different answer than the one I gave her.
"Oh. I have a mum, dad and an older sister, Petunia. She's not very pleased for me going to Hogwarts, to say the least."
I am about to say something but suddenly two boys rush into our compartment. One of them is the one I saw earlier. The other is tall , with scruffy black hair, hazel eyes and glasses.
The other boy grins cheekily and says, "Alright, ladies.". He slides himself down next to Lily. The boy I saw earlier lounges onto the rest of my seat, almost knocking my pet raven's cage flying.
"Oops, sorry, sweetie." He flashes me a grin and puts the cage onto the table. I roll my eyes at Lily, who exchanges an impatient looks with me.
"Er, no offence, but who are you?" Lily asks pointedly, as we both glare at the boys.
"Don't worry, no offence taken, babe." The boy next to Lily drawls. When she hears the word 'babe' mentioned, Lily sends a death stare at him.
"Jamesie, these honeys don't know our names!" The guy next to me says.
"And you won't live to introduce yourselves if you call us 'honey' or 'babe' again!" I threaten to them both, in what I hope is a menacing tone.
"Ooh, temper, temper! You know, Sir, these two beauties really need to chill out a bit." He raises an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yeah, I think they do…cheeky madams!" His friend replies and looks at me again, "The wonderful Sirius Black, at your service!" He smiles cockily at me and extends a hand to both me and Lily
I sigh, roll my eyes and grudgingly shake his hand. "Stella Ravyne."
"Cute name." He replies, not letting go of my hand. I have to wrench it from his grip in the end.
"And I'm the equally wonderful James Potter." Says his friend, following suite. This time it's Lily's hand that's trapped.
"Well we'd love to stay and talk to you lovely ladies all day, but we have business to attend to." Sirius says as he stands up, flashing us what he seems to think is one of his winning smiles. They leave the compartment and swagger off, obviously looking for more girls to annoy.
"In Merlin's name, those boys are so…arrogant, egotistical, arsehole-like…it's impossible finding one word to describe them!" I blurt out as soon as they are out of earshot.
Lily raises her eyebrows and giggles. "You can say that again."
"Nah, once was enough for me." I join in the laughter.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" A kind voice asks.
"Er, do you have any crisps?" Lily questions her.
"No, only magical food dear. Have you heard of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans or Chocolate Frogs?"
Lily shakes her head. "I'm muggle-born, you see."
"Oh, well you'll get used to magical sweets in time, my dear. Anything else? We do have pumpkin sandwiches!" The old witch says brightly.
"Erm…ok. I guess it can't hurt to try." Lily says bravely.
"Ok. That'll be 2 sickles and 5 knuts, dear."
Lily hands over the money, and the elderly witch turns to me, "What about you, dear?"
"Only a box of chocolate frogs. I've brought my own lunch, you see."
"Alright. That will be5 sickles then."
She departs and moves onto the next compartment.
Lily takes a bite out of her sandwich and asks me, "Ella, what's underneath that black cloth?"
"Oh. That's my raven, Sabriel." I reply as I uncover his cage.
"Wow! He's beautiful!" She mumbles through her pumpkin sandwich.
"Thanks! I was going to introduce him to you earlier, but then those boys came in and disturbed us."
I look at Sab, who's looking hungrily at the chocolate frogs I'm unwrapping.
"Aww! Looks like he knows it's lunchtime!" Lily giggles.
"Yep, he's greedy. I've never known he'd eat so much. He was only the size of a teacup when I got him a few months ago!" I reminisce as I let Sabriel finish my chocolate frog.
"Does he like pumpkin sandwiches?" Lily laughs, beginning to tear a bit of her sandwich in half.
"Yes, but he's already got a bag of food and he knows that! He's just trying to cheat you out of your sandwich, I reckon!" I chuckle as I rummage around in my bag for his food.
"Oops! I almost forgot! Help yourself to the chocolate frogs, Lily! I think there's enough for the both of us and Sabriel!" I remember.
"Thanks." Lily says, taking one.
"No problem." I smile as I fill Sab's food dish with dried food.
About an hour goes by, me and Lily talking as we eat our way through the chocolate frogs. This seems to be the beginning of my first proper friendship.
An older student comes in, judging by the badge on her robes, she's a prefect. "Alright, girls. You had better start putting on your school robes. We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon. You leave your trunks and your pets here. They'll be taken to the school separately."
Sure enough, after a while, Hogwarts Express slows down and eventually stops at a station platform. We leave Sabriel and our trunks in our compartment and hurry out of the train, feeling quite lost. That is, until a big booming voice bellows, "Firs' years over here! Firs' years come over here!"
We follow the voice and merge into a crowd of first years. I see this man who's as tall as a giant, has dark bushy hair and a beard, with sparkling beetle black eyes. "Are there any more firs' years? Alrigh'. I am Hagrid, keeper of grounds and keys at Hogwarts. Follow me, now."
We approach a fleet of small wooden rowing boats.
"Four students per boat! Be careful! The lake is deep an' I'm not ruddy divin' in to rescue anyone!"Hagrid mutters cheerfully.
I find myself a place in one of the last boats, with two other girls and a boy. As the boats set off in the direction of Hogwarts, the boy I'm sitting next to offers me his hand saying quietly, "Hi, I'm Remus Lupin."
"Stella Ravyne."
The other two girls use this opportunity to introduce themselves as "Francesca Rivers" and "Susanna MacDaniel". I notice the chattering from the other boats has violently stopped, I idly wonder why. Then I understand and let out an involuntary gasp, as I see my first glimpse of Hogwarts. I'm lost for words for what seems an eternity, taking in this mystic castle towering above me. Even the reflection of it on the surface of the lake seems to be magical.
Sirius' point of view
"Remember, Sirius, try your best to avoid talking to mudbloods. And try and get into Slytherin house." My mother says coldly, putting a disgusting emphasis on the M-word. I can't see why she and my whole family hate muggles and muggle-borns so much. It disgusts me how so many of my relatives are obsessed with only mingling with 'pure-bloods'.
"Yes, mum." I say grudgingly, in defeat. My eyes stray to a small girl standing nearby me. She has a pretty heart-like face and long iridescent black hair, like a raven's feather. I catch her eye; she has big twilight-coloured eyes and I can't help but melt a little as I feel her eyes upon me. I think she kind of likes me, so I flash her one of my most charming smiles.
My mum taps me sharply on the shoulder, "Sirius Orion Black, you are going to be left behind if you do not hurry! Go on! Go!"
"Bye then." I mutter moodily as I drag my trunk into the train. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting her to give me an emotional farewell, but at the least she could have said goodbye. That's my Mother for you. I'm not special, unlike 'darling Regulus'.
'Oh well at least you're going to be away from them at Hogwarts.' A tiny voice says in my head as I struggle to get my trunk into the train.
"Need a hand there?" A boy asks me.
"Yeah."
After a while, we have managed to get my trunk into a compartment. I collapse in a seat, feeling pretty much exhausted and in need of some beauty sleep. Well, I've got to look my best for the ladies!
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Hi, I'm James Potter." The guy tells me. He is tall for his age, like me, so we're round about the same height. He has dark hair that sticks out in all directions, glasses protecting his hazel eyes, which seem full of mischief.
"Sirius Black." I state.
"Oh, another member of the infamous house of Black, are you?" James smiles.
"Unfortunately, I am. But don't talk to me about my family, they're a bunch of pure-blood obsessed psychos." I grin. "I'm sure there's no way I can be related to any of them."
" I see. Seen any girls you like already?" James asks cheekily.
"There's one girl, she seems cute."
"Cool. I haven't seen many girls that look that great," He sighs, then adds, "Well not any girls that look like they're in our year, you know!"
"Why don't we go on a hunt for more beauties, Jamesie old chap?"
"Why, Sirius, old bean, that would be absolutely top hole!" James cottons on to my 'joke'.
We go through a few carriages, glancing into carriages.
"Hmm…there's a alright blonde there…" James mutters.
"Eww! That's my cousin, Narcissa!" I burst out in hysterics. "I don't think Lucius Malfoy will be too pleased to hear that you're after his girlfriend!"
"Oops." James turns red, then changes the subject. "It does't look like any of the people in that carriage are that nice anyway."
"Well, judging by my background knowledge of Narcissa, I think they're Slytherins…they're not the nicest of people. Trust me, I come from a whole house of them." I say knowingly.
"Uh-huh. What house do you wanted to be in?" James asks as we continue to walk slowly down to the end of the carriage, James kicking a ball of parchment down the corridor.
"Well, it'd be great to be in Gryffindor. But to be honest, I don't mind that much as long as I'm not placed in Slytherin." I shrug casually as I join in kicking the bit of parchment.
"Yeah. Just being placed in Slytherin's enough to make anyone go insane." He mumbles.
He casually looks into one of the compartments, then has a double take. "Sir, old chap, I do believe I've found some fine fillies here!"
"Well done, I say, James old pal, I say, that's absolutely spiffing!"I glance briefly into the window one of the girls is the girl I saw earlier.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go and introduce ourselves!" He laughs then enters the compartment, saying casually, "Alright, ladies?" Then James sits next to the redhead girl.
The girls seem to be mildly amused. I slide next to the girl I've seen before, almost knocking some sort of covered box off the seat. I swear the box made a noise.
"Oops, sorry, sweetie." I smile cheekily at her. She and the other girl exchange exasperated looks…heheh.
Her friend breaks the silence by getting to the point, "Er, no offence, but who are you?"
"Don't worry, no offence taken, babe." James replies. She sends him a stare that I think is meant to be a bad thing, but James doesn't seem to give a damn.
I smile and declare in mock shock, "Jamesie, these honeys don't know our names!"
"And you won't live to introduce yourselves if you call us 'honey' or 'babe' again!" The dark haired girl threatens; I think she's trying to get rid of us but quite frankly, I prefer girls who are feisty.
"Ooh, temper, temper! You know, Sir, these two beauties really need to chill out a bit." James smiles and raises an eyebrow at me.
"Yeah, I think they do…cheeky madams!" I turn to look at the girl next to me then continue, "The wonderful Sirius Black, at your service!"
I offer them both a hand. The redhead says her name is "Lily Evans" the other girl sighs then shakes my hand saying, "Stella Ravyne."
"Cute name." I think aloud But then again, it does suit her. I must have had a brain freeze for about five minutes cause the next thing I know, she's trying to untangle my hand from hers.
James does the same. Now it's his turn to get brain freeze I think, as Lily ends up having to wrench her hand from his.
After this, I decide it is time to leave, just in case there are any other girls that are just as cute as these two.
"Well we'd love to stay and talk to you lovely ladies all day, but we have business to attend to." I tell them, giving them a last parting smile and walk out of the compartment, James following suite.
When we reach the end of the end of the train, however, we can't find any other girls that are quite so hot . So, on the spur of the moment, we both start running and race each other back to our compartment.
"And James Potter, champion of the world, beats Sirius Black by a split-second!" James 'commentates'
"Hey!" I stammer as I catch my breath, "I won! You slowed down towards the end!"
"Let's just say we both won, ok?" James states diplomatically, who seemed to have lost interest in our race," The food trolley is coming!"
"About bloody time!" I laugh. I'm suddenly aware of my stomach moaning for food as I try to find my money.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" An old dear with the food trolley questions us.
"Hmm…well, for starters, I'll have 4 pumpkin sandwiches and three butterbeers, followed by your biggest box of chocolate frogs and a bag of Bertie Bott's Every-flavour Beans, thanks!" James smirks as the witch's jaw drops open at the size of his order.
"Er, ok…that'll be 3 galleons and 5 sickles, dear."
"And I'll have what he's having." I grin boldly, handing over the money.
"Ok then. Have a nice year at Hogwarts!" She says with a cheery smile.
"Ooh…looks like we've got a new admirer, Jamesie!" I joke.
James laughs and decapitates a chocolate frog at the same time…not a very wise move, as a moment later, he starts having a coughing fit.
A prefect comes in as we're finishing our lunch and tells us to get changed into our school robes.
Soon afterwards, we step out of the Hogwarts Express.
"Sirius, I think we've got to follow Hagrid." James pipes up suddenly.
"Huh?"
"Just follow me."
I follow James and soon understand him. A sturdy man with a great bushy beard standing at about 8 feet tall introduces himself to the first-years as 'Hagrid'.
We follow Hagrid to a fleet of boats. I get in a boat with James and a boy and a girl I don't know. The boy isn't particularly friendly towards anyone and makes this blatant by staring in the water. He's not exactly the most nicest of people judging by his harrowing looks. He has dark, lank, greasy hair down to his shoulders and a hooked nose. The girl seems to be fascinated that the boats know how to row by themselves. I can't find Stella or Lily in any neighbouring boats, so I presume they're at the back. After about ten minutes or so, we catch our first sight of Hogwarts.
"Wow." James mutters, simply lost for words. I nod in agreement.
