Penny Perish:
I was so glad to be back aboard the Hogwarts Express, on my way to my sixth year and surrounded by my best friends, Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe. My little brother, Oliver, joined us in our car. He was instructed by my mum and dad to sit with me on the way to school. "Watch over your brother please, dear. He is extremely nervous about his first year at Hogwarts," my mum had prompted me. If I ditched Olly, I would receive a Howler within the week and that would not be an ideal way to start off the term.
"Olly, are you excited for your first year at Hogwarts?" Marietta asked him to try to make conversation light.
Oliver looked up at her with big olive-green eyes like a doll. "I'm scared actually. What if I get put in Slytherin? Or worse, what if they don't put me in any house?" He had been stressing about this all summer since he received his acceptance letter. Interestingly enough, my family and I weren't all that sure Oliver had magic at all. He barely showed any magically signs and not too many weird occurrences happened around him. The most noticeable happening was when just this past June, when we were at my dad's parents house, Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop, lounging around the garden eating sandwiches. Oliver already ate his and was complaining how he wanted another, when all of the sudden my sandwich poof-ed and magically appeared on Oliver's plate. Other than that, there was no other indication; we all thought that maybe Oliver was a squib.
Oliver possibly being a squib was a concern that I shared with Cho and Marietta, so they knew how seriously possible it was for him to get to Hogwarts and have the Sorting Hat tell him he isn't a wizard. Although this has only happened once over a hundred of years ago to Angus Buchanan and never again since, there was still a slim chance the letter was wrongly sent.
Marietta patted Oliver's shoulder in comfort and said, "Don't worry Oliver. The sorting hat takes into consideration what house you want to be in, so there is no way you will be put in Slytherin if you don't want to."
Cho sneered, "Why would he want to? All the Slytherins are mean."
We all giggled at how true this statement was. Oliver laughed nervously along with us, but I could tell he still was worried about being the first wizard in over a hundred years to not be sorted into a house. "Olly don't worry! You got an acceptance letter, so I know you are a wizard," I gently squeezed him and reassured. Marietta and Cho agreed, nodding and smiling.
Oliver loosened up and began to smile. "You are probably right, Pen."
"Of course, I am right. I'm your big sister."
From then and for the rest of the train ride, Oliver was nothing but smiles and anticipation. Cho told him all about Quidditch matches and how she had been seeker for Ravenclaw, meanwhile Marietta told him all about classes and the professors, her favorite being Professor Flitwick. Olly interjected with questions, until he ultimately got so tired that he fell asleep against the window. Thankfully, this presented the perfect opportunity to have one-on-one girl talk with my friends.
Marietta started by explaining all about her summer shenanigans: how her parents made her work at a Muggle community pool to keep her busy. They thought it would be a good character-building opportunity. She explained how she was completely annoyed at having to work for the summer, but it turned out to be a great time. At the pool she met a sweet, attractive Muggle boy named Rodrick who worked with her. She even snogged him in the pool-house once they closed for the night. She made the whole experience sound so dreamy and whimsical; I was jealous.
Marietta and Cho turned to me. I shared with them my summer adventures to Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop's house, the time we spent in Naples for my dad's business trip for his Muggle job, and when we took Oliver to get his school supplies at Diagon Alley. Overall a good summer, but nothing all that exciting happened. Marietta turned to Cho and asked about her summer, but we both knew that was a mistake. Cho had spent the entire summer crying over Cedric, her ex-boyfriend who died last year during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Marietta looked at me in instant regret and mouthed the word, Help!
"Well, I hear this year there is a new Professor starting in the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Mum, said she works for the Ministry of Magic," I stated, trying my hardest to change the subject before Cho could begin to cry.
Marietta jumped in, "Oh, really? What's her name? Maybe my mum knows her too!"
"I think Mum said her name was Dolores Um-something. Honestly, I forget, but apparently, she is high-up in the Ministry, just below Fudge."
"Hmm, I'll send my mum a letter to see if she knows her. I hope she is nice and actually sticks around for the teaching position."
Cho calmed herself down enough to join in the conversation. "Considering the past few years, I'm doubtful she will stick around."
Marietta and I laughed at her remark. "I'm still surprised Professor Lupin didn't stay and teach longer. He was cute," Marietta stated.
Cho and I winced, and I exclaimed, "Ew! Mare, he is so much older than us!" She just laughed and ignored my comment.
Just then, we were interrupted by a familiar pair of red-headed twins peering into the compartment.
"Hey there ladies! We are perusing for some young wizards looking for part-time work. A couple Knuts for our subject to try our latest products," said a twin.
As if broken out of a trance, Olly opened his eyes and turned to listen to the twins' spiel.
The other twin, interjected, "Yessir, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes is looking for young wizards like you," he pointed at Oliver, "to help us with some research and development."
The first twin asked, "What do ya say, mate?"
Oliver jumped up to shake the twins' hands in agreement, when I pulled him back down to his seat. With a thump he yelled to me, "Penny what's that for?"
I glared at him, then turned to the Weasleys to say, "Sorry boys, but he isn't interested."
"Yes, I am!" Oliver yelled.
"No, he isn't. He will not be getting into trouble his first year at Hogwarts because of some pranksters."
"But Penny…" he whined.
The twins exchanged a look and turned back toward me. "Well, Miss, this is a great business opportunity for young, err…" the second twin started.
"Oliver!"
"…the young Oliver would be interested in being a part of. See, not only will our associates help with some valuable research and receive Knuts for their time, but once we open our business for the public, all our associates will be allowed discounted products as well."
The first twin continued, "This business will be worth much more than a few Knuts, and I assure you that…"
I cut him off, "No thank you."
Cho and Marietta nodded in support of my decision, whereas Olly sat there utterly defeated.
The second twin smiled and replied, "Think it over and get back to us." He winked to Olly—or was it to me? Then the duo disappeared from the doorway and down to the next compartment.
"He isn't interested!" I yelled after them, even though they had already gone and left. What part of my response did they not understand?
"Man, that was pushy, huh?" Marietta said.
Oliver stood up to face me, clearly pissed off. Even standing he was just barely my height as I sat in my seat. "Penny, why did you do that? They wanted to be friends with me!"
"No, Olly, they wanted to use you as a lab rat for their pranks."
He puffed and plopped on the seat. "Still, it could've been fun. And then you wouldn't be the only people I knew at school."
Cho looked at me. I knew what she was thinking, and I felt for Oliver too. I remember being a first-year student. I was so scared and didn't know what to expect or if I would make any friends. Getting on the train at King's Cross and saying goodbye to my parents for the semester was very hard, and I cried a little when I couldn't find a compartment that wasn't already occupied. If I didn't bump into Cho, I probably would've hopped off the train and ran back to my parents. Cho was small back then, well, smaller than she was now, and she was timid. We both were looking for seats when we walked into each other in the hallway. We bonded immediately over being new to Hogwarts and decided to sit together on the train, the whole time nervous about what was to come. Five years later, and here we were, best friends and inseparable.
Oliver pouted the rest of the way to the school. Until the train stopped and panic consumed him again. We all took turns exiting the train and a familiar half-giant, Hagrid called for all first-year students to follow him. Oliver looked up at me, a nervous wreck.
I smiled down at him, saying, "Hagrid is great. Don't worry."
Cho added, "We will see you in the Great Hall, Olly."
"Besides, you get to take the cool route to the school," Marietta joined.
Oliver sighed and left my side, reluctantly, to join the other first-years. Meanwhile, the rest of us collected our bags and waited for the self-driving carriages. It took a while, but one finally came and filled up fast, mostly with some of our other friends: Terry Boot, Michael Corner, and Anthony Goldstein.
All aboard and settled, we began talking again about our holidays, when Cho got distracted by a certain Gryffindor walking up to our carriage. She went to make space for him, but as soon as she did, the self-driving cart began to roll away, off toward the castle, leaving Harry behind. Cho looked upset, which I immediately noticed. She caught my eye and just blushed. It was obvious she liked him, but understandable that she was reserved to have a crush as well, considering what happened to her last boyfriend.
We arrived in the Great Hall and took our seats toward the back of Ravenclaw's table. The entire room was bustling with excitement and chatter. Then the doors swung open, and a stern-looking Professor McGonagall entered, followed by a stunned group of young witches and wizards. Amongst the crowd was Oliver, animatedly talking to another little boy and staring at the bewitched ceiling. As the professor took her spot in the front of the room, the small first-year students all gathered around looking anxious.
"This is my favorite part of the Start-of-Term Feast," Marietta whispered to us before McGonagall started her speech and pulled out the legendary Sorting Hat.
After a long song sung by the Hat, and a number of names of new students, Oliver was called.
"Perish, Oliver."
He stumbled on the step up on the way up to the Sorting Hat but caught himself just in time before he hit the floor. The room giggled quietly at the incident, to which Marietta, Cho and I shushed the crowd. The Hat was placed on his head, and a few moments went by. I could see the panic taking root in Oliver's mind as he sat there. Luckily, he looked my way and I mouthed words of assurance to him. He breathed and closed his eyes, and not a second later the Sorting Hat yelled out, "Gryffindor!"
His eyes shot open, a beaming smile across his face. Oliver basically skipped over to Gryffindor table as the whole house cheered his arrival. I was happy for him; Gryffindor was a good house and I could see how he would fit in there. Cho smiled too, but she was looking at another Gryffindor boy across the way: Harry Potter. The two of them kept eye contact, meanwhile, Harry's housemate was trying to catch my gaze. One of the Weasley twins was making direct eye contact with me. I turned to see if he was staring at someone behind me, possibly in Slytherin, but no one from that house was even looking in this direction. As I turned back to face him, he smiled and pointed at me. I got tense. Why was he looking at me?
George Weasley-
After the feast, which was great, as always, Fred and I made our way over to the young, new Gryffindors. Amongst the short group, were Cho Chang and her two friends from the train.
"So, little Oliver is a Gryffindor now, eh?" I announced as we got close to the group of Ravenclaw girls.
"Looks like he can be our associate after all," stated Fred. We both laughed light-heartedly. The little boy, Oliver, looked absolutely pleased and began cheering with his new friend and fellow Gryffindor, Jacob Burke.
The blonde girl who protested against us before turned red in the face. "I will not let him help you with your silly pranks," she huffed all agitated. She was kind of cute when she was mad.
"You can't tell him what to do now. He is a big boy, and can make his own decisions," I pushed.
She was practically fuming but remained speechless.
Fred turned down to face the young wizard. "Come on, mate. Let's head up to Gryffindor tower to talk about our arrangement." The boy followed, along with all the other new Gryffindor students.
"Don't let him get into trouble, Weasley," she yelled to me, as I made for the door. It was more of a plea than anything else, and with that I could tell how much she cared for her little brother. I raised my hand in an acknowledgement to her statement and left.
The first-years followed Ron and Hermione, now made prefects, to our dormitory and showed them around the Common Room. After their tour, Fred and I called them all over to the corner where we had our Skiving Snack Boxes set-up. All the young kids were big-eyed and excited to see our inventions. Oliver, especially.
"Oliver, what do you think about our business?" I asked the boy.
He looked up at me, big green eyes aglow. "This looks so cool! I'm glad I'm in your house so I can try this stuff!"
I smiled and said, "Yeah, me too. Your sister sure was adamant about you not joining in, huh?" He nodded, annoyed. "What was all that about, mate?"
Oliver rolled his eyes, replying, "She is just a bit over-protective, I guess. But it's only because mum and dad ask her to be."
"Really? Why's that?"
"I think because I'm not that strong of a wizard," he said, looking sad at this supposed truth.
"What do ya mean, 'not that strong of a wizard?'"
"They thought I was a squib for a long time. In fact, they didn't think I was a wizard until this summer when I got my letter."
Realization dawned on me. Made sense they'd want to protect him if he was a squib in a magical world. Squibs got treated so poorly and were often seen as second-class citizens compared to witches and wizards. I was lucky to live in a family completely magical, but I could imagine how growing up, everyone convinced you were a squib, could feel pretty crappy. "Well, Oliver, you did get your letter, and you are a Gryffindor, so you most-certainly are a wizard," I comforted the boy.
He looked up at me with a grateful look. Then stated, "I want to be part of your business."
"What about your sister, won't she be mad?"
He shrugged and answered, "Maybe at first, but she will get over it. She means well, so don't worry about her too much."
I smiled. The two siblings truly and clearly cared for one another, and it was a nice thing to see. Oliver didn't mind his sister being sort of overbearing, which I found annoying, but respectable. In a way, Fred and I were like that sometimes with Ginny, so I could relate to Penny in a way.
Fred came bouncing over to me, all excited. "Georgie, we just got all these students to sign-up for testing. That's more than we need, but the more the merrier, right?"
I nodded in agreement and grabbed the sign-up clipboard from my brother's hand. He was right, we had many more volunteers than we expected. "We should start Friday with the trials," I said enthused for our business to get set into motion. Fred nodded and smiled. This was going to be great.