When Winifred had reached the platform of 9 and 3/4, her original feelings of relief to get a break from Esme soon turned to feelings of dread. She was plagued by thoughts of her not fitting in or being teased for being different, what if she struggled to make friends at all? What if none of the professors could handle how naughty she was?
Looking down at Esme, this was probably the quietest she had ever been since she had learned to talk.
Winifred didn't have long to worry as soon enough, the young boy from outside of Gregorovitch's shop came tearing down the platform, weaving in and out of the crowds and causing several people to jump out the way of the trunk he was haphazardly hauling behind him at high speed.
"Hey!" He greeted them, coming to a stop in front of the pair. He grinned at Esme wildly, panting heavily from his run.
"Hi" Esme greeted him again, this time without quite as much gusto as earlier. Her stomach was tied into several knots.
"You coming? You can sit with me if you like, I wanna see that wand!" He took a moment to look at Winifred who looked absolutely horrified at the thought.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of her!" He assured her.
Winifred didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.
Esme however had already clearly made up her mind, the very presence of this boy made her excited to get started. She jumped up to kiss Winifred's cheek as a goodbye before she grabbed her own trunk and began to run after Sirius toward the train.
"Don't forget to write! I've packed you a sandwich, be careful- Don't use that wand on the train!" Winifred shouted after her, but it was pointless, her little tearaway was already dragging her trunk onto the train with the help of her new friend.
On the train, Sirius burst into a carriage where three fellow first years sat; a boy with round spectacles, a girl with flaming red hair and a rather shy looking boy with a hooked nose and hair longer than Sirius.
"Hi, can we sit here?" Sirius asked, already tossing his trunk onto the over head storage area above the seats before then doing the same for Esme's trunk. He hadn't exactly given them much choice.
"Sure!" The spectacled boy answered, moving down the the seat so that they could both sit down.
"I'm James."
"Sirius, and this is-"
"Esme" She interrupted before Sirius had the chance to become known as the one who spoke for her.
"I'm Lily."
The boy sat next to Lily had said nothing, so Lily introduced him on his behalf. "This is Severus."
Not long after the train journey began, the conversation eventually landed on the topic of the Hogwart's houses.
"Slytherin?" The boy who introduced himself as James spoke the word as though it tasted awful in his mouth after hearing Severus mention it to Lily.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He turned to face Sirius and Esme. For the first time since she had met him, Sirius didn't seem so confident anymore.
"My whole family have been in Slytherin." He replied, no longer smiling.
"Blimey, I thought you seemed alright!" James replied.
Sirius grinned back at him, sensing his teasing tone.
"Maybe I'll break tradition. If you've got the choice, where are you going?" He asked.
"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart. Just like my dad." He suddenly turned back to Esme and Sirius did the same.
"What about you Esme, does your family have a tradition for the house they're in?"
She just shrugged. "I don't even know who my mum and dad are, so knowing what house they were in would be a long shot." She joked.
The awkwardness consumed Lily and Severus and they inwardly cringed at James putting his foot in his mouth.
Sirius and James however sensed the humour in Esme's tone and they didn't miss a beat.
"I wish I didn't know my parents. You're so lucky." Sirius told her, shaking his head to toss the hair from his eyes.
James snorted at Sirius, "I'm not surprised if they're all Slytherins. That's alright Esme, you can join me and Sirius in Gryffindor." He lifted up an imaginary sword proudly.
"I thee dub you, Esme of Gryffindor. First of your family to start a Gryffindor tradition"
"...that you know of anyway..." Sirius added cheekily, causing the three to burst out laughing whilst Lily and Severus stared at them, seemingly not finding the humour in the conversation.
Sirius sat up suddenly, turning to face Esme. "Let's see it then!" He demanded.
"See what?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Your wand. The destroyer of Gregorovitch's shop!" He cried, dramatically.
"That was you? Whoah!" James also swivelled round to face Esme as did Lily and Severus out of sheer curiosity. "They were cleaning that up when I walked past with mum and dad..."
Esme was never one to boast, usually due to the fact she rarely had anything to boast about, but the confidence of her two new friends was beginning to rub off on her. She reached into her robes and pulled out her wand.
"Gregorovitch said it's probably one of his best creations." She remarked proudly, pulling it back out of Sirius' grasp when he reached for it. It was probably for the best that windows of the train stayed fully intact.
Severus scoffed slightly, unable to contain it and immediately Esme, Sirius and James turned to look at him.
"Something wrong?" James asked.
"Well he didn't say that did he? One of his finest creations isn't going to be for some first year!" Severus looked down his nose at Esme.
"Well, uh, yes actually he did say that cos I was there when he said it. I was there when she blew the windows out of the shop as well." Sirius told him, copying Severus' nasal tone.
"You blew the windows out of the shop? How dangerous! What's it made of?" Lily asked her curiously though she was rather alarmed at the thought of a wand doing such a thing. The most her own wand had done was flicker the lights on and off.
"Acacia wood and Veela hair core." She told her.
"What's a Veela?" Lily replied, her forehead creasing.
Severus answered before Esme could. "A half woman half bird thing. Freaks." He was attempting to dismiss the power that Esme's wand possessed but instead had managed to insult her very existence.
Her face flushed furiously and she shoved the wand back in her pocket. "For your information, Snivellus, I happen to be part Veela."
James and Sirius, who were already far from keen on this boy roared with laughter at the new nickname Esme had just given him. Despite neither of them knowing themselves what a Veela was, they jumped to her defence.
"You've a cheek to call anyone a bird with a beak like that." Sirius smirked at him, tapping the end of his own nose.
Lily sat up angrily at their words and her face burned red with anger just as Esme's had done.
"Come on Severus, let's go!"
'Ooooo' The two other boys chorused in a mocking manner of Lily's tone and fell about laughing once more as James attempted to trip Severus when he walked past.
"Bye Snivellus!" James shouted, slamming the compartment door shut.
After the three of them had finished laughing, Esme moved over to sit on the opposite side of the two boys, pulling her legs up onto the seat so she could sit cross legged.
"So..." Sirius said after a long moment of silence. "What is a Veela?"
"I've really no idea." Esme answered before the three fell into another fit of laughter.
