Prequel by Syriana
Chapter 2: The TrainLily was confused. Very confused. There was platform 9…and there was platform 10…but where is platform 9 ¾? Surely it would be somewhere between the two?
"Excuse me, but are you lost?" Lily whirled around and was staring into amethyst colored eyes. She nodded as the girl looked over Lily's luggage and asked quietly,
"Are you going to Hogwarts?" Lily nodded and asked quietly,
"Where is the platform?" The girl laughed slightly and threw her brown hair over her shoulder.
"Follow me," with that, she walked forward, heading straight for the barrier between the platforms. Lily was a little suspicious, but followed anyway. She braced herself to hit the barrier, but the hit never came. When she looked up, she saw a red steam engine with the Hogwarts crest. She grinned, and then felt an arm around her shoulders. She jumped and turned around to see the girl who had helped her onto the platform.
"What's your name, anyway," The girl asked.
"Lily Evans. Yours?"
"Teresa. But everyone except my mother calls me Terra,"
"Thanks for helping me out. Lets go find seats," Terra grinned. They both wandered on to the train and quickly found an empty compartment. Both sat down and talked like they had known each other their whole lives. Speaking to Terra, Lily learned a lot about Hogwarts, the four houses, quidditch, and even a bit about a few of the teachers. Then there was a knock on the compartment window, and a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
"Do you mind if I sit here? I'm trying to escape my brother and his new friends," Lily nodded and the girl sat down next to Terra.
"My name's Ahlia Potter, by the way," Lily saw that Terra shrank back from her a little, but Ahlia didn't seem to notice. "What are your names?" Terra gave Lily the 'help' look. Lily introduced them both.
"My name's Lily, and this is my friend, Terra," she said, smiling. The three girls continued their discussions, and Lily learned that Ahlia had a twin brother, James, who by her description was "half pig-headed, half sweet with an ego the size of a hot air balloon." They had been laughing about this when 4 boys their age came into the compartment. Ahlia rolled her eyes as one of them, with messy black hair and hazel eyes, burst out,
"LIA! My sister, my little baby sister there you---" but he never finished that sentence except for a sputtering sound when a ball of water hit him in the face. Lily was holding an open Poland Spring bottle and was laughing hysterically, along with Terra. James walked over and held his hand over the bottle, and a small ball of water snaked up into his hand.
"You're not the only one with special abilities," Lily said wickedly, holding out her own hand, and the ball from James' hand snaked into hers. She manipulated the shape from a ball to a star, and splashed him again. This time, everyone in the compartment looked amazed. Finally, Terra spoke.
"You're a mage?" Lily gave her a quizzical look.
"A what?" she asked, confused.
"You can control an element," Terra clarified, and Lily nodded
"Water," Terra looked ecstatic.
"Lily, we were destined to meet. I'm an earth mage, and I'm guessing by the way that James controlled the water as well; he is a water mage too. I'm also guessing that by her relation to James as well as her clothes, she is a fire mage. Am I correct?" She said slowly, and Lily looked around and saw Ahlia and James nodding. Terra continued,
"Only 16 mages exist, 2 girls and 2 boys for each element. There are 8 light mages and 8 dark mages. Both groups are destined to fight each other when we have mastered our gifts. Just as I am destined to fight my brother, a dark wind mage," Everyone looked shocked at her announcement. "I think that we were all destined to meet. I think that all of us here are mages," The three boys nodded, to everyone's surprise. Terra looked at them. Her amethyst gaze rested on the boy closest to James, who had long black hair and steely gray eyes.
"You are a fire mage?" she questioned, and he nodded. She then fixed her eyes on a boy with sandy hair and golden eyes.
"Earth?" came her question, and he nodded also. Her gaze rested on the last boy, who had blonde hair and watery blue eyes.
"Wind." This was more of a comment than the questions that she asked the others, but he nodded anyway. James spoke quickly,
"By the way, their names are Sirius," he said, gesturing to the fire mage, "Remus," he said, gesturing to the earth mage, "and Peter," he said, gesturing to the wind mage
"We are one mage short. There has to be one more-" as if on cue, there came a knock on the glass of the compartment. A girl with waist length black hair and dark eyes stuck her head around the door.
"I know there are a lot of people here, but would you mind if I sat here? No one will let me sit with them," the girl said, and Terra nodded smiling. The girl sat down, her dark eyes scanning over each of them.
"My name's Rachel by the way. Rachel Martin," she said. Terra smiled. And asked,
"Rachel, I know it is kind of quick to ask this question, but are you a mage?" Rachel nodded and said,
"Wind," Everyone around her smiled.
"All eight of us. I'm guessing because we haven't fought yet that we are all on the light team, because my brother is dark, and I have a strange feeling when I'm near him, like I can never trust him. But I have a feeling of trust for each of you, no hostility," She smiled again and after they introduced themselves, Rachel spoke up.
"I have the same feeling, and I have something for the girls, something handed down to the female light mage from the last generation of mages," She reached into her pocket and pulled out four necklaces, Celtic knot symbols on black adjustable necklaces. She separated one and handed it to Terra.
"The symbol of Earth Harmony, for the earth mage," Terra didn't ask how Rachel knew she was an earth mage, but did not ask her. She examined the necklace, a circle with embossed symbols around a hole in the middle that looked sort of like the sun. As she put it on and tightened it to the length of a choker, Rachel spoke again, separating another necklace from the group, and handed it to Ahlia
"The symbol of Spiritual strength, for the fire mage," Ahlia nodded, and looked at the necklace. It had many loops and metal crossing each other. She followed Terra's example and tightened it to chocker length around her neck. Rachel spoke again,
"The symbol Completion, for the wind mage," she said, tightening it around her own neck. The other girls looked at her necklace, it had a small pearl-like stone in the middle, surrounded by woven metal. She smiled and handed the final necklace to Lily.
"The symbol of Virtue, for the water mage," she said, and Lily looked at it. It had a center point surrounded by a 5 points connected by 6 Celtic knots. She tightened it, and all 4 necklaces started to glow, each in their own respective color; Terra's glowed green, Ahlia's red, Rachel's white, and Lily's dark blue. The light faded, and all of them looked at Rachel for an explanation. Terra smiled and spoke up before Rachel could.
"We are meant to be on this a team together. This can only be a sign to us of that. I don't know about the necklaces as much as Rachel does, but I still have an idea," she looked at Rachel for a confirmation of this, and Rachel nodded.
"I have nothing to prove the boys as light mages, the male wind mage should have something for them," Rachel motioned to Peter and he quickly came forward.
"The boys were born with their symbol. It was not shown to you until now, but now it should be, if you are a light mage. It is sort of a tattoo, it is white and it is on your left shoulder," Each boy lifted up their left sleeve to reveal the same Celtic symbol that the girls had on their necklaces. When they were all revealed, they glowed just as the girls had, but slightly different; Remus' glowed an earthy brown color, Sirius' orange, Peter's light blue, and James' sea green. Once the light faded, all of the symbols glowed once more, this time their own color, fading into bright yellow. When the light ceased, they all sat in silence until Lily spoke up.
"We should get changed into robes," and everyone nodded. Rachel took her miniaturized trunk out of her pocket and Lily enlarged it to full size for her with her wand, and the boys left to the compartment where they had been before coming to find the girls to change. The girls changed into school robes, keeping on the Celtic necklaces and thinking of how their lives would change now that the team had been found.