Chapter 3 - The Hogwarts Express
"Go on then, Gina, run up." Regina's parents told her calmly. But Regina was not at all calm. This was the day she had been waiting for her whole life, and she wanted to savor every moment. That, and she was a bit nervous about going onto the platform.
"Would you like me to run with you?" Her dad asked.
Regina nodded. She and her dad grabbed the handle of the cart, and the two ran into the wall between platforms 9 and 10.
Regina ran up to the back of the train almost instantly, to get her biggest trunk onto it. So much for savoring the moment. She was struggling to load the heavy trunk on, when Ronnie popped up behind her, just coming onto the platform. "Why, hello, Gina! I see your daddy helped you onto the platform! Were you scared, Gina?"
Regina scowled. Her dad walked over to her and helped her load her trunk on.
Ronnie continued to tease, "Scaredy-Gina! Scaredy-Gina!"
Albus turned to his niece. "That's quite enough, Veronica. Would you like some assistance loading your trunk on?" He asked, watching as Ronnie tried to lug her huge frilly trunk onto the train.
"Not at all. I am independent. Unlike little Gina here." She said.
Regina rolled her eyes. Her dad focused his attention back on his daughter. "Listen, Gina. Ronnie is going to be one of many snotty rude kids that you'll meet at Hogwarts. I promise that I'm going to talk to your Uncle James about it. For now, just ignore her, please."
"Well… I'll try, dad." Regina said. She walked back to the platform entrance to see her family.
There were a lot of hugs between Regina, her parents, and her sisters, and Regina gave a few quick hellos to other family members. It was time to get on the train. She was so excited. She was on her way to learning magic.
But first, she had to find a place to sit. She wandered the train, trying to find someone she knew. And she knew a lot of people, having such a large family. Eventually, she found a compartment that was empty, except for Danielle. She decided to step inside because Danielle was pretty nice. Not like Ronnie.
Danielle was sitting and eating a box of Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans when she looked up and noticed Regina. "Oh, hi, Gina!" She smiled. "I'm really sorry, I would let you sit here, but I found out that some of my friends from Primary School are witches, and I told them I'd save them seats."
"Oh." It was disappointing, but Regina was kind of expecting this. Danielle was very extroverted, and Regina thought that she probably would have a large group of friends taking up her compartment.
"Oh, but Ronnie's sitting a few compartments away though, and I'm sure she'd let you in!" Danielle called as Regina walked away.
"I'll pass," Regina groaned.
Next, she found where all her sisters were sitting. As soon as she slid open the door, Claire exclaimed, "Gina! There you are! Come and sit with us!"
Regina was happy, but a bit worried. Their compartment looked very crowded. The four sisters were there, and there was also a pile of candy and garbage right next to them. When Regina tried to squeeze in between them, she made a crinkling sound sitting down on the candy wrappers. She was really cramped and could barely move.
She eventually got up and looked for another place to sit. She passed by Misty and Ivy, and their group of rowdy Quidditch enthusiasts. She found Dylan and Deirdre in a compartment, both taking a nap. She came to Ronnie's compartment, where she seemed to be talking to another group of girls. By the look of it, she was probably insulting their makeup.
Finally, she found Tutra in an empty compartment, curled up in the corner with, of course, a book. Regina thought about finding another place to sit, but at this point, she was getting desperate. She didn't know that many more people on the train, and at least Tutra would be quiet and keep to herself.
Reluctantly, Regina slipped into the compartment. She sat down and awkwardly sat there for about 5 minutes.
She decided it was time to break the silence because this was uncomfortable. "So… hello?" Regina weakly attempted to start up a conversation.
"Uh-huh. Hi." Tutra said blankly, still immersed in her book. Regina groaned.
She thought, What would the family bookworm want to talk about? The answer was pretty obvious: books.
"Um… cool book you got there, huh?"
"Yup. The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Tutra responded, still expressionless.
"Really? Have you never read it before?"
"Nope."
"That's strange. My parents read the stories to me almost every night when I was little." Regina said.
"Cool." Tutra still showed no interest in the conversation.
"Tutra." Regina touched the top of the book and pulled it down, not quite snatching it, but bringing it away from her face.
"Huh?" It seemed as though Tutra's eyes finally focused on the area around them. "Um, oh! Hi, Gina!"
Well, at least she pays enough attention to know my nickname, Regina thought.
"Hi, Tutra," Regina said. "So. The Tales of Beedle the Bard?" At this point, Regina had heard enough to be just a little bit curious. She wasn't just trying to break the awkward silence this time.
"Oh. Yeah…" Tutra chuckled and her freckled face turned pink. Tutra was just one-fourth Weasley, but she looked like she inherited almost everything from her grandpa, Ron Weasley. "So. This is my grandmother's copy of the book. She gave it to my mum. It seemed like the most interesting thing on our bookshelf when I was little, and I would always ask my mum to read it to me. But, she never ever had the time. My mum has always been super busy. By the time I had learned to read, I lost interest in it. I forgot it existed until today, when my mum said, 'Here, Tutra! Here's something to keep you busy on the train ride to Hogwarts!' and gave me the book. I don't think she thought it through very well. We're thirty minutes in and I'm already on the last story."
Regina laughed. "You love your books!"
"Yeah… they're amazing…" Tutra trailed off, and slowly lifted her book back up to her face so she could finish reading The Tale of Three Brothers.
Regina stopped her. "Nuh-uh. Not yet. We are still talking." Tutra scowled, but Regina could tell she wasn't really angry. "You need to learn how to spend more time in the outside world."
"There's a whole other world in books, you know," Tutra argued. "Much better ones, usually… and you learn things." She muttered under her breath.
Regina smirked. "I bet you'll be a hardcore Ravenclaw!"
Tutra's eyes lit up. "Ohh! I'd just love to be in Ravenclaw! It's been my dream house forever! A whole common room filled with people just like me, that love reading and learning and studying as much as I do! Books lining the walls! It sounds like paradise!" She exclaimed. "What house do you want to be in, Regina?"
Regina thought for a minute. "I'm not really sure. I've heard good and bad things about each house. My mum and Dorothy are in Hufflepuff, My dad and Ellie are in Slytherin, Claire is in Ravenclaw, and Louise is in Gryffindor. Plus, there's that whole, 'Gryffindor is the best' thing. All of my family members have told me that, 'Oh, you have some of these Hufflepuff traits' and 'oh, you're such a Ravenclaw!' all that rubbish."
"It's not rubbish!" Tutra was shocked. "Being sorted is important! Every house gives you a family of people that are similar to you. A house can reveal things about your personality that you never knew yourself! If you're put in… say, Gryffindor, but you don't think of yourself as brave, the other Gryffindors around you and you're time at Hogwarts can make you discover it."
Regina never really thought of it that way. Of course finding out what house she was in was exciting and fun, but she never really thought it was really that meaningful, she never thought it was a really meaningful experience, especially because there was no "family reputation of houses" or something to uphold.
Tutra and Regina were still having this conversation when a Trolley Witch came by. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"
This was great because Regina was hungry. Tutra went ahead and bought every kind of sweet she could see. Regina got them each a glass of pumpkin juice.
Many hours later...
Finally, it was dark outside the train, which meant that they would be arriving at Hogwarts very soon.
Tutra was lying down on her seat, nearly asleep with a book on her face. Regina was too excited for Hogwarts and not feeling drowsy at all. She pressed her nose against the window, trying to look at the scenery, even though it was dark. She popped an Every-Flavor Bean into her mouth, and then spit it out. Yuck. Earwax flavor.
"Well, that's disgusting." Said a voice from behind her. It certainly wasn't Tutra's voice. Regina turned around and saw Ronnie standing in the compartment door.
Regina sighed. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm here to remind you two nerds to change into your Hogwarts robes." At the sound of the word nerd, Tutra jumped awake. "We arrive in thirty minutes you know." Ronnie continued, examining her perfectly manicured fingernails.
"We are fully aware, Ronnie," Regina said through gritted teeth.
"We are?" Tutra said, still confused from just waking up.
"Well," Ronnie said. "Just thought it's my duty as… the leader of this year of Potters and Weasleys!" She grinned.
"And Grangers," Tutra mumbled.
"So, who nominated you the leader, Veronica?" Regina asked her.
"Oh, no one! But, I am the best, so naturally-" Regina pushed Ronnie out of the compartment and slammed the door.
"Well. That was rude." Regina heard her say as she walked away.
Ronnie was right, though. They really needed to change into their robes.
