September 1st at last! You thought to yourself as soon as you woke up, the first thing you did was turn on your small boom box and blast some music, Blue Monday by New Order was the first one.
After a little pouty face, Eliana had given in and bought you a boom box, it wasn't as big as the ones you had seen on TV but it did the job just right. You bounced around the room and picked your Hogwarts uniform, you knew you could just change on the way but you wanted to wear it immediately, you didn't put on the cloak, just the skirt and the shirt, after all it was still warm, summer wasn't just over yet!
"Camila!" you heard Eliana downstairs "Turn it down sweetie! Come have breakfast!"
Your trunk was already packed with everything you needed for school, more robes and your normal clothes, all your books and supplies, you even decided to take Eliana's old school bag. In your bed, the fuzzy Kneazle Morgana was wide awake and it looked like she was bouncing her tail at the rhythm of the song. You still shoved the cassette walkman inside, even though it wouldn't work in Hogwarts, maybe it still worked on the train and you could have a nice trip immersed in music.
You took the boom box downstairs with you, you skipped and danced all the way downstairs, bouncing from step to step happily like it was the best day of your life, you arrived in the kitchen and Eliana moved her wand and lowered the sound of the boom box and looked at you with a serious look. You grinned innocently and after a couple of seconds she chuckled and waved her wand again and upped the sound.
It now was playing "Rock you like a hurricane" by Scorpions, Eliana hadn't been a music person until then, it really seemed like you had brightened her life a little bit, she was enjoying the sound, bobbing her head with the rhythm while pouring herself a cup of coffee.
HERE I AM, ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!
You kept dancing through the kitchen until the song finished, after which Eliana turned off the boom box and placed a big plate of eggs and bacon on the table.
"It's the last day of music I'll get till Christmas! Can't I listen a little more?" you said pulling up the chair and sitting on it, Eliana had placed a plate with bacon near Morgana.
"You can, after breakfast. You still have time, the train only leaves at 11" she said while grabbing herself some breakfast too, you dig in into your breakfast happily, still bobbing your head as if there was still music. "I'll miss the music when you're gone" Eliana said with a bittersweet tone
"But auntie, you can always use the boom box! I'm not gonna need it in Hogwarts. You can have my cassette tapes" you said while munching on some bacon.
Eliana laughed a bit, but she agreed that she might turn it on in case she felt lonely. You two talked through breakfast, you couldn't contain your excitement about Hogwarts, after eating Eliana let you turn on the boom box again, but this time not so loud so you two could still talk. Time passed by like it was seconds, somehow the time always passed so fast whenever you started talking with your aunt, and you both looked at the clock it was nearly 10 o'clock.
"Come on sweetie, it's time to go, Charles will pick up your trunk" She got up and grabbed the Kneazle "Morgana needs to go into her cage too"
It was 10:45 when you arrived in Kings Cross station, Eliana had told you that there was a secret way to get into the Hogwarts platform, you were worried the non magic people would see a bunch of weirdly dressed wizards vanish through thin air, after Charles had placed your trunk and Morgana in a trolley he gave you a hug.
"Good luck missy, we'll be seeing you in Christmas!" He waved away and you and your aunt made way through platform 9 and 10, you saw some people that were definitely wizards, there was no mistaking those robes, you looked attentively to them, you saw them run with their children towards a wall between the two platform and disappear without a trace. You opened your eyes wide and tried to catch someone else doing it, they just vanished into the wall like it wasn't even there.
"Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool too" Eliana elbowed you gently and together you two made way into the wall "Don't be afraid, just run a little, I'm right here with you" you started walking faster and faster while holding your trolley, Morgana was asleep in her cage, you kept going and going and just as you thought you'd slam against the wall you passed through it like it was nothing but a door into another world.
The big scarlet steam engine stood before you, the smoke drifted over the crowd around the train. It was filled with families and their children that were about to be shipped off to Hogwarts. Eliana put an arm around you and led you towards the train. There was a lot of people, children and teens, some with their uniforms on, some with their muggle attire, you could see pets running around, some kids had their brooms on their shoulder. You had read all about Quidditch, you thought it was weird but to each their own, you were more afraid of having a flight class than anything else. Some families were big, some were just a mom or a dad with their kid, but the platform was filled with chatter and colors.
Some of the carriages had already people inside, some talking through the windows to their families, you noticed that most of those carriages already looked filled with people, you hoped you could find a nice compartment for yourself, you weren't against making friends, but you were in a completely new place and you had no idea if you would be able to make friends. You remembered your friends back in your island, they had no idea you'd be away in another school, and you couldn't possibly tell them about Hogwarts. You decided you'd apologize to them over summer break, they would understand.
Eliana crouched in front of you and placed her hand on your cheek and with a warm smile, she proceeded to kiss your forehead. "Everything will be fine, make sure to write to me tomorrow! And your mother too!" she said while helping you move your trunk inside the train, you found yourself an empty compartment and settled your things inside, Eliana stood by the window, it was nearly 11.
"I hope you have a good year Camila" Eliana looked like she was about to cry "Make friends! Study and learn! And be good!" you nodded while smiling.
A whistle sounded, warning everyone that the train to Hogwarts was about to depart. Eliana smiled and said good bye, still waving her hand to you after the train had already started running. "See you on Christmas auntie!" you screamed, you watched the platform disappear, along with everyone in there after the train turned the corner, houses and gardens flashed through the windows.
You sat on your seat looking through the window, you felt like a little kid on a trip to a candy store, after a couple of minutes the door of the compartment opened up and a boy with brown hair and hazel eyes peeked in, he was carrying his trunk and looked somewhat awkward.
"Uh… can I sit?" he asked unsure
"Yeah, sure." You quickly replied, you were a little scared, he looked to be just about your age.
"I'm Adrian Pucey" he introduced himself while placing his trunk on top of the compartment, he also had a cat in a small cage.
You tried not to chuckle, but ended up smirking, to you Pucey just sounded too much like Pussy, he caught on your smirk.
"And you are?" he sat down next to you, you were expecting him to sit right across you so you could talk, but he looked rather nervous when he showed up, so you accepted that maybe he just wasn't very social.
"I'm Camila Fox" you kept looking through the window, and after a couple of seconds you heard Adrian open his mouth, but right at that instance something interrupted him, the compartment door opened again and two boys stood on it.
"Well, this is better than nothing. Unless you wanna sit with Percy?" said one of them, they were identical in every aspect, you had never seen twins before so you were very interested.
Both boys laughed at the same time and exclaimed "Never!" at the same time, they proceeded inside the compartment and placed their stuff on top of the compartment, still smirking. "Oh hi, didn't see you there!" said one of the twins with a smirk.
They had red flaming hair and brown eyes, they had a mischievous aura to them. They sat down in front of you and Adrian. "I'm Fred" one gestured to himself, he was the one sitting right in front of you by the window "and this is George" he elbowed his twin brother. They looked completely identical, you were sure you couldn't tell them apart.
"Camila Fox" you stuck up your hand and Fred shook it "Pleasure" you said while shaking the other twin's hand while smiling. You looked beside yourself , Adrian looked unsure but ended up introducing himself. You caught one of them smirking when they heard his surname, you weren't the only one with a foul humor.
"Sorry, Poo…see? Is that how you say it?" Fred asked with a clearly fake interested tone, George looked down trying to contain his laugh. Adrian looked red in the face.
"No. It's… like Pew say…" he muttered while grinding his teeth, he frowned and rolled his eyes, not looking into their faces.
"Ah I'm sorry, I totally thought it was…" you started coughing in an effort to disguise your laughing. "Sorry, it's all this… smoke…" you grinned slightly and looked outside through the window, you thought to yourself that you couldn't just start the school year bullying someone.
"What about you two?" Adrian finally said trying to stop them from laughing "What's your surname then?"
"Weasley." said the other twin looking very determined.
Adrian smiled wide "Sorry? Weasel? Like the animal?" he laughed in triumph and you couldn't help yourself this time and had to snort, you placed your hand over your mouth so it didn't seem too bad and continued staring out of the window.
"Uh funny one, innit George? We haven't heard that joke ever before right?" said Fred and you thought you heard the sound of cracking knuckles. "Right" said the other one.
"I have" you said quickly "People usually make fun of mine, because… Fox, ya know?" that was a lie, nobody in your island even knows what fox meant in their language and nobody cared either ways, but you were hoping your lie would defuse the situation a bit. "Ha ha… animal jokes… am I right?" you said, your face felt warm.
The twins laughed in sync, you weren't expecting for your lie to work, even Adrian chuckled a bit, it seemed like they made peace, little by little the twins and Adrian kept one upping themselves with jokes and witty remarks about each other's names, it wasn't so bad until the conversation turned into blood status.
"Make fun all you want, but the Pucey… we're pure bloods. In the end that's what matters." But then he added, in an uncertain tone "At least that's what my family says"
You looked around, Fred and George had raised their eyebrows in a look that screamed Excuse me? But you had no idea what a pure blood was, so you decided to ask. Up until now you had been silent, aside from laughing at the jokes coming from both sides.
"What's a pure blood?" you asked, looking at all 3 boys, they all looked at each other. Fred began to speak but was interrupted by Adrian.
"Are your parents a wizard and a witch?" he asked, you felt like he was now addressing you as something less than him.
"No… my dad was one. Mom is a… muggle" you heard Adrian sighing in relief, you didn't understand why.
"So you're a half blood. It's not so bad." He said shrugging his shoulders, you looked up to the twins and you could see that they were no longer laughing, in reality, the twin right in front of you looked like he would stare down Adrian to death. "You guys are pure blood too, I recognize the Weasley name." he added as if that would save him.
"So what if she's half blood? She could be a muggleborn for all I care, I still wouldn't treat anyone bellow me like that" said Fred in an accusatory tone.
Again you felt like you had to do something to stop the tension, but then stopped yourself wait, this is not me you thought.
"You're judging me over who my parents were?" your voice was louder now, back in your island if this had happened to you there was a big chance the boy next to you would be on the floor crying, so you didn't stop "What, you think you're all better because your parents are distant cousins?"
"Well, it's not exactly like that…" started the other twin but you quickly shut him down
"Must be nice to be inbred, anymore of that and you might just become a sandwich."
Snorts. Chuckles. And a loud howl. Not only were the twins losing their breath laughing, but also was Adrian. You wanted to laugh at your own joke but you wanted to assert yourself, any more of those condescending comments about blood might just piss you off enough to actually pull your wand, even though you didn't know how to do any spells.
"That was a good one, Fox" said Fred in front of you still laughing.
"Yeah, I couldn't have put it better myself." said George.
"My parents aren't cousins though!" Adrian could barely breathe.
"Ours might be, who knows by now" George was looking quite red in his face "Our family is rather big so…"
You let yourself smirk for a second and turned back to the window, the sun was high up, it was probably lunch time, you missed the eggs and bacon you had for breakfast. You also wondered how Eliana was doing, you couldn't wait to write back to her and your mother. So far the trip to Hogwarts wasn't so bad.
The boys finally gathered their breaths and there was a knock on the compartment door.
"Anything from the trolley dears?" said a smiling dimpled woman outside
"Not us, we're already sandwiches!" spoke Fred
Now all four of you started giggling like mad, you couldn't help it this time, it really had been the best joke that ever came to your mind. The woman looked at you with a confusing look.
"No but really, we do are – I mean, we have sandwiches" George replied between giggles, and fell down on his seat, his head on Fred's shoulder who was hiding his face between his hands still laughing.
Adrian breathed in deeply and managed to stop his fit. "I'm hungry, I'm getting something off the trolley" and quickly exited the compartment before he could laugh again.
"And me" you catch your breath "I'm getting something too" and leave the compartment leaving the two twins laughing together.
The trolley woman had moved up some compartments, but you caught up with Adrian whose cheeks were as red as the twin's hair, he looked at you still smiling and rubbed his eyes. "Funny bunch isn't it? I hope we're all in the same house."
"Yeah…" you had just made friends but now you weren't sure if you'd all stick together, Eliana had told you that there was certain rivalry between the different 4 houses of Hogwarts, it would be nice to be in the same house as these boys, they were certainly funny enough to be your friends. "So, what does the trolley have? I don't know any of these sweets"
"I thought you said your dad's a wizard? How can you not know?" he asked
"My dad is… dead. I was raised by my mother, it's been only a month since I've come to know about… well everything!" Adrian nodded, it seemed like he no longer cared about your "blood status" and he proceeded to explain every type of sweet there was, and helped you with your sickles and knuts. You asked for Bertie Bott's every flavor beans , 4 chocolate frogs and some cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties.
"You're gonna eat all that?" asked Adrian on your way back to the compartment, he had only bought some cauldron cakes for himself.
"Nah, I'm sharing with my sandwiches, don't worry" you spoke trying very hard to not have another laughing fit. You open the compartment door to find the twins talking together, probably cracking some jokes, George had moved to your seat to speak closely to Fred.
"Oy! That's my seat" you tried to sound angry but you just couldn't contain your grin
"Finders keepers?" George grinned.
"If you go back to your seat I might consider sharing my pumpkin pasties with you" you said, and George quickly moved back to his seat "Good business you run there, Fox. That's all you had to say" he replied
"Yeah we're easily bought with food" said Fred extending his hand for some pumpkin pasties
"Jokes on you, I was already planning to share" you handed each twin a pumpkin pastie and sat back in your seat munching on a cauldron cake, Adrian sat next to you enjoying his own.
You gathered the rest of the sweets and shared with the twins, they didn't seem very appreciative of their sandwiches and thanked you for the food, you also handed each a chocolate frog, and turned to Adrian and gave him one too. He looked confused, but accepted your gesture.
After eating and cracking jokes the conversation deviated into Hogwarts houses.
"I'll definitely be in Slytherin, what about you guys?" asked Adrian after he examined his chocolate frog card, you didn't know any of the wizards, you got Celestina Warbeck.
"My whole family has been in Gryffindor so…" said Fred while exchanging his chocolate frog card with his brother "We have two brothers in Gryffindor right now" added George.
You had this conversation with Eliana, but you weren't sure what house you'd be sorted into, your dad had been a Ravenclaw, but then again Eliana had been sorted into Hufflepuff so maybe it didn't matter what house your family was in. You shared this piece of information with the boys.
"Ah, that's a shame though wish you'd be in Slytherin with me. Maybe Camila will be sorted to Slytherin" said Adrian hopeful
"Just because we might get different houses doesn't mean we have to stop joking around" you said, but the twins rolled their eyes, it didn't seem they wanted to hang out with anyone that wasn't from their own house. "Who knows, you might not even get Gryffindor"
"No way, when I say that my whole family was in Gryffindor I'm not exaggerating…" said Fred
"Dad was" said George
"And Mom"
"And Bill"
"And Charlie"
"And then Percy"
"So we're sure we're gonna end up there" finished Fred.
You looked surprised, they even finished each other's phrases, you were sure that was a twin stereotype but apparently not, they seemed to be soul mates.
"How many more brothers and sisters do you have? I mean, why have so many children?" Adrian scoffed "I'm no expert, but I'm assuming money is always tight with you guys" he looked down to the twin's robes, they looked a bit older, they weren't fully black but grayish, but still decent enough to wear. You looked up and the twins had yet again angry facial expressions.
"We have a younger brother and sister, but I reckon our money issues aren't any of your business" spat Fred, his eyes burned with anger.
"I'm just saying…" said Adrian with raised eyebrows "But yeah, it's none of my business" he added quickly
"You're not so bad you know? You just need to shut your mouth once in a while" said George with contempt and a sort of evil grin and Adrian looked to the other way as if he wasn't paying attention with a sour face.
"Wizards are weird" you sneered "You care about such tiny problems, houses, money and blood" you shook your head and resumed looking outside the window while everyone remained in silence. After a bit you remembered that you had brought your walkman with you, you leapt of your seat with excitement and searched your trunk for it, you weren't in Hogwarts yet, so it might still work for a while, you could enjoy some music now that the boys had stopped bickering with each other, Fred and George were now talking among themselves about things they wanted to do when they got to the castle and Adrian pretended he wasn't there.
You grabbed your walkman and popped a cassette in, the twins had stopped talking and were now staring at you and the thing you were holding, Adrian was mildly interested, he frowned his brows and looked at what you were doing. "What?" you said while looking at them.
"What's that?" asked George
"It's a walkman" your answer didn't provide any useful information clearly, because they were still looking at you with confused faces "It's to listen to music... Don't tell me you don't know what music is either" you turned your eyes back to your walkman, you clicked the buttons to rewind the cassette tape so you could listen to the first song, it was a best off 80's songs.
"We know what music is, right George?" said Fred, turning to his brother "Yeah it's the sound of cows obviously" replied George, you looked at them with utter confusion.
"What?"
"Yeah, cause they moo in sync" replied the twins at the same time. You close your eyes and bite your lip, there is no way you'd laugh at such a bad joke, even though it was genius. You shake your head and breathe deeply. Adrian was next to you trying to contain his laugh.
"I'm going to ignore that. This is a walkman, you use the tapes inside it which have recorded music and then you listen to it with these head phones" you showed them how it worked, even played a song in the max volume so it could be faintly heard by the 3 boys. "I'm glad it's still working, guess we're still far from Hogwarts" you looked outside, the sun was still in the sky, but it was already descending, it might have been around 3 o'clock already.
"I don't know what is playing but definitely sounds better than Celestina Warbeck" said Fred looking at George, and he nodded "Mum loves those cheesy songs she sings"
"Isn't it easy to just use a Gramophone? You know, like wizards do." Adrian added a lot of emphasis on the word wizard, you noticed his judgmental face.
"Ah yes, let me just shove an entire gramophone inside my pocket, right you are Adrian!" you replied mocking him "LiKE wIzArDS dO!" you repeated with a sarcastic baby voice. He scoffed at you and rolled his eyes, the twins convulsed with laugher, this time Fred was the one who had to support his head on his twin's shoulder whilst the other was grabbing his stomach as if it pained him.
"My god, is this how all wizards are?" you were speechless, the weird robes, the weird school supplies, owls and quills! You though the wizarding world was really so very old, too stuck up in the last century.
"Listen, it's just that we think muggle stuff is stupid! Totally useless to us because we have magic okay?" Adrian explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yeah Adrian, I wanna see your pocket size gramophone then" said Fred, his cheeks were scarlet "Let's see it then" asked George gesturing his hands as if he was going to be handed something.
"You could definitely put a shrinking charm on one and still use it" Adrian replied muttered while grinding his teeth, he seemed angry now, almost humiliated. "Muggle… what do you call it again? Technology? Is obsolete in our world." He crossed his arms and looked through the compartment window, staring outside.
"I don't see why, we've made life pretty easy without magic" you replied scoffing at Adrian
"Our dad absolutely loves muggle stuff, I reckon he'd be pretty impressed at this music box thingy" said Fred sitting back in his seat after catching his breath "He's a bit of a muggle fan, he'd probably like you Camila" added George smiling to you.
"It's not a music box, but thanks" you smiled back. You liked the twins, they seemed right up your alley in terms of humor, Adrian on the other hand… you didn't dislike him, he was just a little too different from you, but maybe that's just because he was a kid who was born and raised amongst wizards and witches, of course he wouldn't have any idea what muggle life is.
You started clicking your walkman, there was a song in particular you wanted to listen to, you didn't really care if they heard it or not, you weren't used to sharing music anyways. You started to wind up the tape until you could find it, you placed the headphones next to your ear so you could hear it, the twins kept quiet too, they seemed a bit more interested in the music but Adrian was still pissed.
After a few minutes you hear a loud bang, it scares you and everyone else in the compartment, the cassette had blasted off the walkman into the air, strands of tape flew around the place and fell over you and the boys. You shrieked in panic and the walkman slipped from your hands and fell on the floor. Everyone kept quiet looking around to the mess of strings of tape around. Your mouth opened in panic, the cassette was completely ruined.
"I guess we're getting close to Hogwarts" said Fred surprised.
Not a second passed after he spoke, the walkman on the floor started to release smoke and sparks started jumping off it, you moved your legs aside just in time to not get burned as it caught fire. Adrian squealed in panic and leapt to his feet, Fred pushed his feet up to the seat and elbowed George "Get Charlie!" he begged.
George got to his feet and ran out of the compartment, the walkman kept jumping around while burning and blasting hot sparkles as if it was fireworks, some strings of tape were catching fire now. Outside you heard George speaking rather loudly "Charlie! We set the train on fire!"
"YOU DID WHAT NOW?" you heard the voice of an older student and then footsteps running through the carriage's corridor up to the compartment door, George stayed aside while Charlie entered "Fred we haven't even reached Hogwarts and you're already setting things on fire?" he screamed, behind him another older student showed up. "It wasn't me!" said Fred who was now standing on top of his seat.
Charlie took his wand off his robe's pocket and pointed to the burning walkman "Aguamenti!" and a jet of water came out of his wand extinguishing the fire, the walkman was now soaked.
"Great… it's ruined." You grabbed the walkman, water fell from the inside of it, you sighed, it was the only thing that kept you happy and now it was gone, sooner than you expected. "Thanks, I guess" you looked at Charlie and smiled, he had the same red flame hair like the twins, his face was covered in freckles.
Charlie looked at both twins with a stern face. "Explain. Now" George went inside the compartment and sat back in his seat. "Guys, seriously, I can't leave you two alone for ONE trip?" the student behind Charlie shook his head and chimed in "Always acting like this! You're not children anymore!" he too had the same red hair as the other three, freckles and glasses.
"We didn't do it!" spoke Fred loudly, he truly sounded offended he was being blamed for it.
"He's right! It's my fault" you said quickly "I was using it and it… caught on fire because… well I don't know why but it must be because we're getting close to Hogwarts." Charlie looked exasperated and sighed
"Don't you know that muggle stuff usually stops working when there's too much magic around?" he said looking annoyed.
"I wasn't raised among wizards!" you stood up "I didn't know!" you lied and crossed your arms "And now it's all broken" small tears started forming in your eyes, you were sure it was ruined forever and it cost too much to buy a new one, your mother would scold you for not being careful. Charlie sighed deeply.
"I'm sorry, I'll fix it" and he moved his wand again "Reparo!" you saw the walkman getting its coils and buttons back together and the strings of tape winding back inside the tape, it looked fixed but it was still burnt "It's the best I can do" he finally said after a few seconds
"It's alright…" you shoved the burnt walkman and tape back inside your trunk and sat back in your seat.
Before Charlie could leave the compartment Fred screamed "Hey! What about us? We didn't even get an apology!" and George added "Yeah! You guys always blame us for everything"
"It's because most times it's your fault. Now try not to blow anything up, we're almost at Hogwarts." He looked at the other student who was outside by the compartment door "Go on Percy, nothing to see" and both boys left.
"I'm sorry" you looked at the twins with guilt.
"Oh we're used to it" Fred immediately smiled like nothing had happened "He was telling the truth, more often than not it's our fault" he said smugly "This is just the beginning" added George "We have more things planned don't worry"
Adrian still looked rather shocked at the situation, he was back in his seat, his brown hair was messy and his face was just as red as the twin's hair. George kicked his leg and he finally snapped out. "Scared of fire?" Adrian finally gave in and started giggling, you were again all laughing like mad.
"Your brothers are scary" Adrian pointed at the door "Did you see how angry the other one was?"
"You mean Percy? He's always like that, he likes to think he's a moral compass" replied Fred
"I'm way more scared of Charlie" George spoke "He's Quidditch captain, no way anyone wants to mess with him"
The sun was starting to go down, the boys had started talking about Quidditch and their favorite teams, something that you really didn't have an opinion about just yet, you had talked about Quidditch with Eliana but the way she described it seemed very silly. A bunch of people on top of brooms throwing some balls into goal hoops in the sky? Yeah, you couldn't wait to see and laugh.
Their conversation went on for at least one more hour, the sky outside was already dark, you had spent the time staring out of the window, you had already made a list of things you just had to tell your mother and Eliana, maybe you'd ask for a new walkman for Christmas, who knows you might just get a new model. But would they give in? It was your fault that the last one had burned down.
Finally, the big scarlet train started to slow down, a voice echoed through the train informing them that they were just about to arrive and to leave the luggage inside, when it came to a stop you looked outside, a plaque read "Hogsmead Station". You and the boys left the compartment, everywhere you could see students leaving the carriages and making way up to some horseless carriages and getting inside them.
"First Years! This way! With me!" you saw a very big man with a wild beard and hair, he was waving and calling forth the first year students. You followed the man along with the rest of the kids, you were surprised to see a lot of people, you wouldn't be starting the year completely alone it seemed. After a small walk through a narrow path you were led to the biggest lake you had ever seen before, it was glistening with lights that came from the castle which was above a mountain. You heard a lot of voices saying "oooh". You felt like this couldn't be real, but just what were you doing there?
"Now, off on the boats! No more than 4 on one! You wouldn't want to go for a swim with the giant squid!" as soon as you heard this you looked at the twins, you couldn't tell which was which now, but one of them had just whispered something on the other's ear and you saw both of them smirk. You looked around for Adrian but he was nowhere to be found near you.
"Must have separated from us" you muttered while making way into a boat, the twins followed you. "Who?" one of them asked.
"Oh, Adrian. I don't see him anywhere." You replied, still looking around, he must have gotten into another boat by now. A boy with dreadlocks and a big smile came behind you and asked if he could join. "I'm Lee, Lee Jordan" you shook his hand and welcomed him into the boat with the twins.
"Everyone in?" shouted the big man "Alright then! Forward!" and every boat started slowly drifting away from land, towards the castle in the distance, it was a beautiful sight.
"Anyone fancies a visit to the squid?" whispered Lee. "That was the plan" whispered one of the twins back, he lifted his sleeves back and placed his hand inside the water and started moving it around in an effort to call the squid, and Lee joined in and started splashing water around.
"Oy! You there! You don't wanna do that, believe me!" said the man "The squid eats children for dinner!" he laughed
"I FELT SOMETHING!" screamed Lee in front of you "Here squid! Come here squid!" screamed one of the twins. You were in the back of the boat with the other twin, you both laughed at their pathetic attempts to get the squid's attention.
"So, which one are you again?" you asked smirking
"I'm George" he smirked back "Nobody can tell us apart, don't worry"
"I hope one day I might" you confessed "can't be that hard can it?"
"We're identical twins, so good luck" he replied, Lee and Fred were now trying to scare the other kids saying that they had just seen a tentacle float around.
"Challenge accepted!" it was now you most important mission, to be able to identify who was who among these two menaces.
"Hey you two!" the man pointed at Lee and Fred "Sit down! Everyone put your heads down now!" he yelled
You ducked and the boats were led through a heavy mist into an opening on the cliff, and then through a tunnel that seemed to go underneath the castle.
"Wait" you turned to the twin "How do I know you're telling the truth? You could Fred"
"Yes, I could. You'll never know" he whispered back, grinning.
"Damn"
You reached an underground harbor, all the boats stopped and everyone got off, the man gestured for everyone to climb the steps, following everyone closely, you noticed that Lee had immediately hit off with one of the twins, they were speaking excitedly about finding out every secret passage in the castle. Up the stone steps there stood a big oak door, and a witch with her dark hair tightly tied in a bun stood there, her robes were emerald green, they shined with the moon light. She looked stern, after thanking the man "Hagrid" you came to know his name now, she opened the door into a big hall, the light was coming from huge torches. Again you heard excited voices, talking about how beautiful it looked and how they couldn't see the ceiling at all. She motioned to follow her and everyone was taken to a small chamber just aside, you stood next to the twins and Lee.
She started her speech, it sounded automatic, it was clear that she had spoken those words many times before, perhaps for years she had been saying the same thing over and over.
"… Your house will be like your family, you will have classes with them, sleep in your house dormitory …" she kept explaining, behind you the twins had started whispering to each other.
"… Your triumphs will earn you house points" she made her voice louder suddenly and you could tell she was looking to the twins "ANY rule breaking will lose house points." They shut up, and she kept going "At end of the year, the house with more house points is awarded the house cup, a great honor!"
Everyone kept quiet, the witch looked mildly rigid, you definitely didn't want to mess with her, and you wondered if she was teacher, you wondered if you should have asked Eliana about who the teachers were, but surely it wouldn't be the same teachers she had over 11 years ago right?
"Now, the sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the whole school, smarten yourselves up as you're waiting, I'll return when we're ready for you" and she left the chamber, immediately after she left you heard everyone talking, asking each other if they knew how the sorting was going to happen, some looked worried others very eager.
"It's just a hat. Charlie told us" said one of the twins "He even sings a song"
After a couple minutes the witch came back "The sorting is about to start! Please form a line a follow me" Everyone gathered together in a line, you ended up behind Lee, and the twins behind you, you felt someone pass by you and touching your shoulder, you looked around and saw Adrian smiling and waving, you returned the gesture.
You walked across the hall right into a pair of double doors on the great hall, inside there was noise, people talking loudly but when the doors opened everyone quieted down, it was an amazing sight, the great hall was huge, it's ceiling looked like the sky filled with many stars, also there were a vast amount of candles floating around lighting up the place, in front of you there stood 4 large tables filled with students already sitting in their respective house tables, their uniform was black just like yours but also had some parts with the color of their house, green for Slytherin, Red for Gryffindor, Yellow for Hufflepuff and finally, Blue for Ravenclaw, the house that had once been your father's "family". You still weren't sure which house you'd belong to.
You followed the witch inside the hall, everyone was looking at you and everyone else around you, must be thinking how small and young you all were, the witch stopped near the podium and placed a 3 legged stool on the floor and then she placed a very old hat on top of it.
"See, told ya" whispered one of the twins "And here comes the song" whispered the other.
The hat sprang to life and started singing, everyone kept quiet during the song, it sang about how he came to be and what his job was and about the 4 houses of Hogwarts, all of this while rhyming every other word, it used some words that you didn't really understand but in the end of the song everyone applauded. The time has come for the sorting, you felt really unsure about it now. You weren't sure if it would be an embarrassment to be sorted into a house other than the one your father belonged. The stern witch grabbed the hat and pulled a list from inside her robes.
"Now, when I call your name, you'll sit in the stool and put on the hat!" she started calling names in alphabetical order by the surname, so yours wouldn't be the last, which meant that you'd be the first one to be called amongst the twins, Lee and Adrian.
"Diggory, Cedric!" she called and the hat screamed "HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Davies, Roger!" and the hat yelled "RAVENCLAW!" the Ravenclaw table applauded and screamed in joy, it didn't seem so bad to be a Ravenclaw.
A couple more names went by, and finally it came yours.
"Fox, Camila" you made your way slowly towards the stool and sat there, you felt nervous now, this was something that would change your entire life at Hogwarts and you were afraid you'd be sorted into something that wouldn't fit you. She placed the hat on your head and it didn't immediately yell anything, but inside you heard its voice.
Ah! I've been placed under your father and aunt weren't I? A Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff, they were two very different siblings! But you aren't alike, no, you belong in…
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat, and a loud sound of joy and applause erupted, you stood up and the witch took the hat off, you skipped with joy towards the Gryffindor table, on your way you looked over the crowd of kids who hadn't been sorted yet, the twins were applauding loudly while smiling at you, Adrian on the other hand looked at you with a disappointed look, you could almost see a bit of sadness in it.
You sat next to a familiar face, Charlie Weasley, this time he was smiling and you could see his face clearly, not only did he have a lot of freckles, but they were so many that made him look extremely tan, he shook your hand "Welcome to Gryffindor, try not to burn dormitories down though!" you felt a little embarrassed but chuckled.
"Johnson, Angelina!" a rather tall girl with dark skin stepped up to the stool, her hair was braided into a single piece that hanged on top of her left shoulder, after a couple seconds the hat yelled "GRYFFINDOR!" and she ran excitedly towards the table and sat next to you, she was beaming with joy and shook your hand "I'm Angelina, pleasure!" you returned the gesture and introduced yourself.
"Jordan, Lee!" you saw the boy you had met on the boat walk towards the hat, he had been very laid back before but he looked terrified now, and then he too was sorted into Gryffindor.
"Nice, we're getting a big lot this year" you heard Charlie comment aloud.
Lee was beaming when he got to the table and sat right next to Angelina and introduced himself to her with a charming smile.
"Pucey, Adrian!" you looked towards the crowd, Adrian had said on the train that he'd definitely go to Slytherin, so it wasn't a surprise when the hat yelled for the house of the serpent, he smiled and was met with loads of applause when he made way towards the Slytherin table, you felt a little disappointed and hoped that wouldn't mean you'd have to start hating him over it.
"Spinnet, Alicia!" another Gryffindor, then a couple more other houses, finally Kenneth Towler was sorted in Gryffindor.
Finally it had come to the letter W "Warrington, Cassius!" was sorted into Slytherin, now came the twins.
"Weasley, Fred!" you watched one of them proudly walk and sit on the hat, you thought for a minute if they would try to pull a prank and change places, but if that happened nobody caught on, and so the hat yelled "GRYFFINDOR"
"ANOTHER WEASLEY, WHOOHOO" you heard someone scream somewhere in your table, Fred ran to the table and sat in front of you smiling "Hey Charlie" he said beaming.
"I knew I couldn't get rid of you kids" said Charlie as soon as George had been also placed in Gryffindor, George sat next to Fred and screamed "NICE TO SEE YA PERCE!" you looked towards the end of the table and saw Percy who was applauding but also shaking his head, it looked like he was preparing himself mentally for a couple of years of dealing with the twins.
After the sorting was over, the headmaster got up with open arms, he was wearing purple robes with yellow stars on it, he had long white hair and a long white beard, actually looking at it, you couldn't tell when the hair ended and the beard started, he looked very happy to see everyone there, behind his half moon glasses you could see a twinkle in his eyes.
"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I don't have much to say, so instead, let's eat!" he said gleefully and when you looked back at the table it was filled with high amounts of food, it caught you by surprise and you realized you were actually starving, it seemed like ages since you ate your last cauldron cake.
You didn't need anyone to order you to eat, you were already filling your plate with a bit of everything, Angelina asked for some potatoes and you grabbed some for her "Thanks, can I call you Mila?" she said suddenly out of the blue, you raised your eyebrows in confusion. "I like to give my friends nick names" her skin was dark but you could see a hit of blush.
"I never had a nickname" you said surprised "Yeah, Mila is fine" she beamed at you.
"I'm too excited about Hogwarts, this is amazing" she said enthusiastically "I'm a muggle born so, I'm still very surprised about this. What about you?" she looked at you with wide eyes.
"Hum, well, I think I'm half blood?" you looked at one of the twins, if you were correct, Fred was the one in front of you, he nodded in response "I was raised by my mother though, she's not a witch"
"So you didn't know you were a witch?" Angelina asked eagerly while munching on a sausage.
"No idea at all, I only found out recently that my father was a wizard and that I also had an aunt who was also a witch" you replied while picking some carrots "So I guess I'm more of a muggle born then" you spoke and Angelia smiled, you felt like you had found someone who would understand you better than anyone else.
You and the first of the first years of Gryffindor started talking amongst yourselves while eating, you realized these were the people you were going to hang out with from now on, have classes with and sleep with, and you couldn't wait to spend time with them. After everyone finished, the food disappeared from the table completely and instead you were met with a bunch of desserts, apple pies, cakes and even ice cream.
"Charlie" you heard a girl speak near you, she was older than you "What was that about a fire on the train?" she asked.
You opened your eyes wide, you totally forgot about it, you felt your cheeks heat up.
"Oh yeah, this little girl" said Charlie while pointing at you with his thumb and you looked down at your food pretending you had no idea what he was talking about "Tried to use some Muggle thing and it caught fire. You should have seen Fred's face when he ran out and screamed for me" he chuckled.
"Honestly Charlie, not even you can tell us apart?" replied Fred in front of you "It was George who ran to you!" he sounded offended.
"You're both identical, and gits. Don't blame me." Charlie laughed, but he didn't sound like he was being mean, just messing around with the twins.
"I'm glad it wasn't our fault" said George looking straight into your eyes, you could see that he was very amused with the situation.
"Yeah, knowing you two, I'm sure you had some fault" Charlie shook his head playfully "If you think I'm going to let you two do whatever you want this year you're wrong" you had just noticed that Charlie had a very shiny badge on his uniform, it was the letter P.
The twins smiled mischievously and looked at each other but didn't say anything, they had clearly already planned something and you made a mental note to ask them tomorrow about it.
It didn't take long for you to eat your bowl of ice cream, and immediately you tried some apple pie. You were feeling rather heavy now, you might have just eaten your entire weight in food, but everything seemed so tasty and you had never had so much food in front of you before, especially not so many different things that you had never tried before, you had no idea what a treacle tart was but it sure was delicious.
Finally, the food disappeared completely after everyone had already eaten their big share of it and Professor Dumbledore got up from his seat and shared some words.
"As always, before bed let me give you some start of term notices to you all" he opened his arms as if he could hug the entire hall "First years should note that the forest outside of the grounds is forbidden to all pupils" you saw the twins look at each other smiling, they didn't speak at all so you thought that maybe twins could read each other's minds, anything would be possible now, it wouldn't surprise you if those two had their own language.
"Also, Mr. Filch wants me to remind you that no magic should be performed on the corridors between classes. The house Quidditch teams who require trials will be able to hold them on the second week of the term, please contact Madam Hooch about joining." he paused for a second and then continued "Now! You're all well fed and exhausted I'm sure, so get to bed!"
Everyone got up and started leaving the hall, you heard Charlie call for the first years and together you all followed him out of the hall and up the marble staircase, you were led across doors and tapestries and more stairs until you got to a long corridor, at the end of it there was a large portrait of a fat lady using a pink dress.
"Password?" she asked
"Nifty!" replied Charlie and the portrait swung forward and revealed a circular hole in the wall, he motioned everyone inside, after climbing on the hole you found yourself in a circular room full of armchairs, it felt cozy and warm, the fireplace was beaming with flames.
"Alright, you all heard the password, if it changes you will be informed. Now the girls dormitories are through this door" he pointed to the left "and the boys through this one" he pointed right. "Just follow the stairs up and you'll find your rooms, you're sharing with other fellow first years" behind you one of the twins whispered a "yes!"
"Your trunks are already up there, so off you go! And good night!" he finished
Angelina grabbed your hand and Alicia's too "Let's go!" and the three of you went up together, you were lucky that you were sharing the same room as them, another 2 first year girls joined you, Gilly and Beatrice, the room had five four-posters beds, they were decorated with red velvet curtains, you walked to the one that had your trunk right under it.
"This is beautiful" gasped Angelina
"I can't wait to sleep!" spoke Alicia happily
You looked for Morgana's cage, she seemed to be wide awake so you opened the door and let her go explore. It was finally time to sleep, you put your pajamas on but you didn't immediately sleep, Angelina and the girls were getting to know each other better and you joined the conversation, and after a while everyone was yawning and sighing.
You said good night and everyone fell into a deep sleep, you couldn't wait for the next day. You had so much to learn, so much to do.
