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Of Earth and Stars

Chapter 3: Hopes Born In Fear

September 1988

Witches and wizards of all ages bustled around Suri and her grandmother on Platform 9 ¾. Smoke from the Express clouded the crisp air above, making it a day Suri would never forget. The slightest of smiles touched her face when she noticed some kids both her age and older board the train. All around her were families kissing their children goodbye while younger siblings whined because it wasn't their time to go to Hogwarts yet.

She then turned to her grandmother and her smile faltered. She reached for her necklace—a vial made of crystal that glowed with shimmering silver—and drew comfort from rubbing the smooth material between her fingertips.

This would be the first time since she was four years old that she would be the furthest she's ever been from home. Last time she left home, Suri thought darkly, she never got to go back.

Granna smiled at Suri, another tight smile. She had offered a lot of those ever since Suri decided to attend Hogwarts over Beauxbatons.

"Well," said Granna, looking over Suri and at the Express. A touch of nostalgia softened her deep blue eyes. "It's been a while since I've seen this sight." She then looked back down at Suri. Granna then produced a brown gift bag with pink and white tissue paper tastefully sticking out and held it out for Suri.

"Happy birthday, sweet Suri."

Suri took the bag, surprised by it's heaviness. She rested it atop her luggage trolley before she moved forward and wrapped her grandmother in a hug. She breathed in her grandmother's scent—warm amber—and felt her shoulders relax when Granna stroked her dark hair.

Finally, Suri pulled away and looked up at her Granna, noticing her tears.

"Don't cry." Suri gently squeezed Granna's hand, as Granna moved to dab her eyes with her free hand.

"When you want to come home, just send me your owl, and we can try again at Beaubatons," said Granna.

Suri looked at her own, a beautiful red-brown bird with big brown eyes. She had named it Godfrey.

"I'm staying at Hogwarts," Suri said decidedly, facing her grandmother once more.

"You're so much like you're father," Granna laughed, touching the side of Suri's face.

"I thought he was bad," Suri murmured, feeling panic set in her stomach. Why would Granna call her bad?

"Before he was that," Granna said, "he was a stubborn boy with a streak for mischief. You got that good thing from him. And his wild hair; you've got that too."

"Oh," said Suri, still uncertain.

Granna smiled. She then crouched down so she would be eyelevel with her granddaughter. "You also have a lot of your mum in you too. You are just as strong as she was, and just as loving."

"Do you think I'll make friends, Granna?"

"I think you will," Granna agreed. "Just make the right ones."

"Like Sophia, and Mia, and Eloise?"

"Whoever you think the right ones are," said Granna with a smile. "You're a clever girl, Suri, the right friends will come along."

"THE EXPRESS IS LEAVING IN TEN MINUTES!"

Suri jumped when she heard the conductor make one of his last calls. She looked at her Granna again who gave her a peculiar look.

"That's me! love you, Granna."

"Love you, Suri," Granna said, giving her a final squeeze. "Don't eat too may sweets, while you're there. And whatever you do, stay safe."

Suri could feel her grandmother's eyes watching after her…as well as her grandmother's fear and anxiety when she turned her back. A couple years ago, Suri had learned to keep surprise off her face whenever she felt another person's thoughts or feelings.

I hope she's more like you, Contessa, than Sirius.

Suri shook off her grandmother's thoughts and boarded the Express.

She pushed her trolley past four, full compartments before she found an empty one. She breathed a sigh of relief as she strategically angled her trolley to unload her belongings. It wasn't that she was shy—but she needed space to process her feelings of leaving her Granna, and process the idea of starting her schooling for witchcraft.

Suri put her gift on the seat and set Godfrey's cage next to it. She looked down at her heavy trunk, then up to the overhead space that was meant for trunks and suitcases, and frowned slightly. Her trunk was heavy, Suri knew and she sighed. Unlike her Granna, and supposedly her parents, Suri was not gifted in height.

"Alright, I can do this," Suri murmured to herself as she reached for her trunk. "I can put this trunk way up there, all by myself."

Pushing her hair out of her eyes, Suri lifted her trunk and silently chided herself. Granna said over-packing would be her undoing, but Suri hadn't cared then because she wanted to make her own choices. Now, she thought grudgingly, maybe it was still fine to take advice from others.

"Ugh," Suri groaned when her hair fell into her eyes again, and she ignored it as she lifted her trunk once more. This time, when she lifted it, her trunk easily lifted from the trolley.

"I got this side!"

Suri stood on her toes in order to get her trunk pushed into the overhead bin. Moving her hair to get a look at her helper, Suri found herself face to face with a boy who looked to be a year older than her with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. He grinned at her.

"Thanks," said Suri with a smile.

"Don' mention it. You just looked like you could use a hand. You're not very tall, by the way. You must be a first year." He paused as he gave her an appraisal from head to toe.

"I am," Suri narrowed her eyes, irritated by his comment. She knew what the boy saw when he looked at her: long, black wavy hair that fell down her back, her dark blue dress and grey tights beneath her mustard yellow cardigan, and her uncommon grey-blue eyes, all attached to her body that she felt was four inches too short and ten pounds too heavy.

She watched as he easily loaded his trunk beside hers and plopped on the seats across from her belongings. Warily, Suri sat across from him.

"You'll like Hogwarts," said the boy. She noticed her had a Scottish accent.

"I hope so," answered Suri. She then looked at the boy who cocked his head to the side. "I chose between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons."

"You've got a funny accent," the boy said. "Some of your words sound like you're from Northern Ireland, and other words sound different."

"I was raised in Vienna, Austria but my Granna was from Northern Ireland," she shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, you're the one with the funny accent!" Suri crossed her arms irritably.

"Hey now, I didn't mean anything by it," the boy said, holding up his hands in surrender.

Suri turned away from him and stared out the window, noticing that the Express had begun to move, and they were almost out of the station.

Guilt.

Suri's shoulders sagged when she realized she was picking up the boy's guilt because he thought he had offended her.

"Hey, lass, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to make you mad."

"I'm not mad," Suri said stiffly, her grey-blue eyes slid back over to the boy who seemed to fidget with nerves.

"I'm Oliver Wood, and I can be a bit daft, or so my Ma and my older sister like to tell me."

This brought a smile from Suri, and she could see Oliver's shoulders sag with relief. The funny thing about him, Suri realized, was his honesty. Whatever Oliver said, he meant.

"I'm Suri." She took the hand Oliver held out. He had a strong handshake for someone so young.

"Nice to meet you," Oliver smiled in a way that animated his whole face.

"Likewise." Suri followed Oliver's gaze as he looked past Godfrey and at the present beside her owl.

"Going to Hogwarts present?" he guessed.

"No, er, it's ah, my birthday today," Suri felt the blood rise to her face when Oliver's eyes widened.

"Wow! Happy birthday! Why don't you open it?"

She reached for the present and put it in her lap. She wanted to save it for when she got to school, and was sorted into her house, but Oliver's insistence made her eager to find out what it was.

"Why not?" Suri smiled gamely and tugged out all the tissue paper. She pulled out a heavy square box that was similar to a wizard's chess box. But instead of wizard's chess, in gold calligraphy, the title of the game sprawled across the box: Quidditch Quest.

"Oh wow!" Suri eagerly turned the box over to read the rules.

"Quidditch Quest!" Oliver exclaimed excitedly, leaning over to look at the game. "I've been looking for this game! It's like Wizard's Chess where the pieces destroy each other, but in this game, each player creates a play in order to score on their opponent!"

Suri smiled softly at Oliver's excitement. She didn't need legilimency to know how badly he wanted to play.

With one hand, Suri undid the latch beneath the window and a small table popped down between her and Oliver. She plopped the game between them and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "You like quidditch?"

Oliver laughed. "Like quidditch?" He laughed again. "It's my dream to play on a professional team!"

"Well, let's play!"

Both Oliver and Suri broke the game open and set up the board and pieces in silence. With everything set, they took up the two drawing boards and leaned back in their seats to hide their strategies.

Suri peeked at Oliver and noticed his eyebrows furrowed together in deep concentration. She almost laughed out loud when Oliver exclaimed suddenly, erased something, and drew it over. Looking back at her drawing board, Suri refrained from bouncing with excitement. She loved quidditch, and her only friend who shared her interest back in Vienna were Mia, and her older brother who played at Beauxbatons. Even then Mia, Eloise, and Sophia rarely wanted to play quidditch; they preferred to watch.

"Just about ready," Oliver murmured as he put finished touches on his play.

"About time." Suri raised an eyebrow and laughed out loud at the look Oliver gave her.

Before Oliver could respond, there was a knock at their compartment door. A kindly old witch pushing a trolley full of treats smiled at them. "Anything from the trolleys, dear?"

Suri stared longingly at the chocolate frogs, cauldron cakes, fizzing whizbees, and all the other sweets that tempted her from the trolley. Finally, with a sigh she shook her dark head just as Oliver passed a sickle to the witch in return for two chocolate frogs.

"No, thank you."

"You sure," asked Oliver, "it's your birthday! Not even a cauldron cake?"

"No," Suri smiled in a way that suggested otherwise. "I shouldn't have one."

"That's stupid. It's your birthday and your first year!" said Oliver, emphasizing her birthday. He turned to the trolley witch and handed her more money. "One cauldron cake, please."

"Oliver, no—"

"A birthday?" The witch smiled as she bent down and produced a chocolate cauldron cake. She smiled kindly at Suri and handed her the cake and handed Oliver back his money.

"This one is on me. Happy birthday, dearie." The witch winked at her before she moved on, alerting other compartments of her arrival.

"Oh go on, Suri, enjoy it," he said, "you only get a birthday once a year."

Suri stared down at the chocolate-filled treat; chocolate was her favorite. "I really shouldn't. I need to diet—"

Oliver groaned loudly and rolled his eyes. "You sound like my sister! You look fine, you don't need to diet." Oliver continued his grumbling as he bit into his chocolate frog, cursing girls and their dumb diets.

He didn't notice the heat rise to Suri's face when he said she looked fine. Suri looked down at the cauldron cake again before she dug into it, enjoying the chocolate-y goodness.

"So you have a sister," asked Suri.

"Yeah, her name is Laurel. She's a seventh year, and she's sitting with all her friends somewhere," answered Oliver around a mouthful of chocolate frog. "So, Beauxbatons, huh? I think you chose right in coming to Hogwarts. Our quidditch teams are better than theirs—even Slytherin." Oliver scoffed at the mention of Slytherin.

"Slytherin," Suri echoed. "I know there are four houses, but I don't know much about them."

"Oh well, there's four houses," Oliver said excitedly. "There's Hufflepuff—they have a lot of nice people in that house, and their quidditch team is decent. They're definitely better than Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw is for the clever ones. I figure they're too concerned with their assignments to really care about quidditch. Then you've got Gryffindor, where I am, we've got the best team and the bravest of people in our house. Then finally, Slytherin—they're Gryffindor's biggest rival and there isn't a witch or wizard in that house that isn't bad."

"Are you on Gryffindor's team?"

"No," answered Oliver, "First years aren't allowed to play, but I'm going to try out this year." His brown eyes lit up with such intensity, that Suri feared for what would happen if he didn't make the team.

"Oh, well," Suri looked to the drawing boards they had put aside for their snacks. "We'll see if you have any skill worth talking about."

Oliver choked on a chocolate frog leg and his choking turned into a chuckle. "Right, well, I went easy on you."

"Is that supposed to build up your self-esteem for when I beat you?" Suri stuck her tongue out at Oliver and giggled when he glared at her.

"Wood! There you are!"

Suri looked up to see two boys enter the compartment unannounced. They both looked like they were in Oliver's year—one had blond hair, and the other boy had brown hair.

"We've been looking all over for you," said the blond, his gaze then flicked over to Suri, as if noticing her for the first time.

"Sorry," said Oliver, looking down at his drawing board. "I started looking for you, then I met Suri who needed help with her trunk, and then she brought out Quidditch Quest…"

"Quidditch Quest?!" The two boys exclaimed in unison. They took seats on Oliver's side of the compartment to look at his drawing board. The brown-haired boy smiled and looked up at Suri.

"You've got no chance, er," he paused when he realized he didn't know her name.

"Suri," she supplied.

"You've got no chance, Suri," he said with confidence.

"I thought you were going easy," Suri asked, arching an eyebrow at Oliver.

"He is," the blond boy confirmed with a cocky grin.

"I'll see about that," Suri replied, mischief brightening her eyes. She and Oliver put their drawing boards into the slots on the game board shaped like a quidditch field. The board was charmed to read the two drawing boards and the pieces would enact the drawn out play.

Suri and Oliver watched intently as their pieces flew into action. Suri's red pieces took control of the quaffle and zoomed past Oliver's blue pieces—but she did not account for the beater knocking her player with the quaffle off its broom, causing the piece to shatter and the ball to drop. An available blue chaser plucked the falling quaffle and raced toward the red keeper. The blue piece faked right, faked left, and threw the quaffle through the middle hoop.

The boys cheered and Suri's mouth dropped open.

"That was a good play," Oliver said around a wide, proud grin. He pointed at Suri's red pieces, "you went offensive immediately, which I didn't expect."

"You still won!"

"If your play was defensive, I might not have won," said Oliver. "So, good play."

"So," said the blond boy as he and his friend stood to leave, "you coming or not, Wood?"

Suri and Oliver shared a look, and she was surprised to feel a sinking feeling at the thought of Oliver leaving. She planned on being alone, but his company was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Oliver ran a hand through his reddish-brown hair and waved to his friends. Suri looked down at her hands, uninterested in watching Oliver make his choice.

"I think I'll stay for now," he said, and Suri looked up, surprised.

"I don't think a first year should have to sit by themselves."

"I'm not a baby!" Suri fired indignantly.

"I didn't say you were! Also, I kind of settled in here, so if you don't mind, I'll stay."

"It's fine with me," said Suri, and she and Oliver shared a smile.

Oliver's friends looked at each other and then looked at the game, and then at Suri. "Would you mind if we had a go at the game?"

"Sure." Suri and Oliver scooted closer to the compartment door so the boys could sit by the window.

Suri and Oliver watched as his friends set up the pieces and argued while they drew their plays.

"Any thoughts on the house you want to be in," Oliver asked, looking away from his friends.

Suri paused for a moment and twirled her thumbs in her lap. "I haven't really thought about it," she said, her tone somewhat guarded. "I don't see anything wrong with any of the houses. Gryffindor doesn't seem bad, I kind of fancy the idea of being brave."

"It's the best house," said the blond boy sitting next to her. All three boys heartily agreed.

"We'll see," answered Suri. It was true, all of the houses sounded fine to her. But she knew her mother's family came from a long line of Slytherins, as did her father's family. Only her father, Sirius Black was deviant enough to be in Gryffindor. Tradition made her want to follow in her mother's footsteps, but she also liked being in the house known for their courage, even if it made her more like her father, as Granna seemed to worry so much about.

Oliver and Suri looked over the shoulders of Oliver's friends as they created their games and offered advice for positioning players. Every so often, Suri snuck glances at Oliver who was oblivious to stares—he was engrossed in Quidditch Quest.

Her grandmother's advice about making the right kinds of friends resounded in her memory. Gently, Suri touched her vial, turning it between her fingers. Oliver seemed like the good sort.

So far, her journey at Hogwarts was off to a good start.

Author's Note:

Thank you for joining me on this new journey known as Of Earth and Stars.

Also, I noticed I have a few international readers-for those of you who's first language might not be English (specifically US English), thanks for reading and following along! You all are rockstars!

Your reviews are love!

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