Hi all! I haven't gotten much feedback on this story thus far but I'm really passionate about it, so, I'm hoping to keep posting until people take notice! I haven't updated in a while because I was busy with the end of the school year (including graduation!) but now it's summertime so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently.
This chapter provides a longer introduction to the eldest McGowan, Nora, who I love with all my heart. I hope you grow to love her, too! Please enjoy Chapter Three of The Magical McGowan Sisters! See you at the bottom for some closing thoughts.
Eleonora McGowan – or just Nora, as many people called her – worried about her younger sisters, probably more than was necessary, and she reflected on this as she watched Emilia disappear down the Hogsmeade platform with Hagrid and the other first-years.
She took her role as eldest sister very seriously, having lost her mother at a too young age. As Nora grew up, she found herself becoming part-parent, part-sister to Phoebe and Emilia. Their father loved them, of course, and raised them as best he could, but he was quite eccentric and there were just some areas involved in raising three daughters that he was not equipped to handle. Thus, by default, it was Nora who braided hair, gave period talks, and kept her sisters' secrets. She knew this was one of her greatest duties in life, having realized it the moment she was able to fully grasp what being the oldest sister in a motherless household meant.
In the past, sometimes, they had resented her for it – she was, admittedly, quite bossy when she was younger – but Nora knew deep down that her fierce love for her younger sisters was a mutual one. The freedom of Hogwarts had loosened up her previous overbearing personality, and the sisters had grown quite close by the time Emilia's letter had arrived.
Some old habits did die hard, though, and so the eldest McGowan sister always worried, and worried, and then worried some more, just for good measure.
"Emilia's fine," Phoebe reassured, after Nora had once again cast a nervous glance down the platform over her shoulder. "She's with Hagrid, what could be safer?"
Nora wasn't so sure if she agreed with Phoebe's assessment of Hagrid as a poster-child for safety, but did not have the time to argue as the crowd of students they stood in surged forward with the arrival of the Hogwarts carriages.
"I'm gonna hop in with Fred and George," Phoebe said, pointing to a carriage near the front of the line. "I'll see you at the feast, fingers crossed for another McGowan Gryffindor!"
Nora laughed and waved goodbye to her sister before she felt someone tug on the end of her braid, causing her to whip her head around angrily.
"Hey! -" Nora fumed, but her protest fell silent when she recognized the culprit – her best friend, Siobhan Jones.
Nora and Siobhan had met on the train their very first day at Hogwarts, and the two witches had become fast friends, which was only solidified when they were both sorted into Gryffindor. They had been attached at the hip their first year at school, with people often jokingly referring to them as "Godric's Twins," which was quite funny as the two of them could not be more opposite when it came to looks. Siobhan was tall and lithe, with dark skin, curly brown hair and warm brown eyes. Nora, on the other hand, had red hair, blue eyes, freckles, and was quite petite – but also muscular and lean, which came from playing so much Quidditch.
"Siobhan!" Nora squealed, reaching forward and giving the girl a warm hug. Once she pulled away, she pulled lightly on one of Siobhan's curls, smirking as she did so.
"That's payback for pulling my braid."
"Hey, I only did that because you were nowhere to be found on the train!"
Nora blushed at the mention of the train ride, the majority of which she had spent with Oliver Wood, her Quidditch captain and longtime crush. Oliver had talked for hours about strategy for the upcoming year and Nora had been thrilled that he genuinely seemed to want and value her opinions. Before she knew it, though, it had almost been time to change and disembark, leaving her no time to find her friends.
"Sorry, I was with Oliver. We were –"
"I'm sorry, did you just say you spent the train ride with Oliver Wood? The Oliver Wood?" Siobhan interrupted, her eyebrows shooting up towards her hairline. She reached out and placed her fingers on Nora's wrist.
"Huh, that's odd," she said, "you still have a pulse."
Nora pulled her arm from Siobhan's grasp, her blush deepening.
"Shut up," she muttered.
"So, did anything happen?" Siobhan asked, her tone suggestive.
"We talked about Quidditch, Siobhan, what else do you think would've happened?"
Siobhan rolled her eyes. "A beautiful witch like you and all Oliver can ever do is talk about Quidditch."
"Shut up," Nora said for a second time. "Oliver could do much better than me."
"That could not be further from the truth, Nor."
"What couldn't be further from the truth?" a voice from behind Nora questioned. She smiled as she turned and saw Cedric Diggory, another one of her best friends. His grey eyes sparkled with warmth, and Nora noticed that he seemed to have hit a bit of a growth spurt over the summer, as he now towered above Siobhan, who had always stood tallest among them.
Cedric was in Hufflepuff, but that hadn't stopped him at all from bonding with Siobhan and Nora about Herbology and Quidditch (respectively, since Nora despised Herbology and Siobhan barely tolerated Quidditch) when they had first met by the Great Lake during the first week of classes.
"Hi, Ced!" Nora greeted, allowing the wizard to pull her into a tight hug.
"Ced, tell Nora that Oliver Wood cannot, in fact, do better than her," Siobhan instructed, after the wizard had finished giving her a hug as well. "She's being stubborn."
Cedric chuckled, at this point very used to the ongoing Oliver saga. "You know, I've always been of the opinion that you could do much better than him."
"That's also true," Siobhan said, after a moment of contemplation.
Nora groaned. "Could we not talk about this now? All the carriages are going to be taken."
Indeed, the large crowd they had been standing in the middle of had shrunk significantly as carriage after carriage began up the path to Hogwarts. Siobhan and Cedric nodded, thankfully letting the Oliver conversation go for now as the three friends searched for an empty carriage.
"Over here, you three!" someone called from a few carriages down. Sitting inside it was the fourth member of their friend group, Robert Hilliard, who was a Hufflepuff just like Cedric.
"I thought I'd lost you in the crowd, Robbie," Cedric said, climbing into the carriage and sitting down next to his best friend. Nora and Siobhan went in next, and the group slowly began to move as the two Gryffindors sat across from their Hufflepuff companions.
Nora smiled at Robbie before realizing with a gasp that his normally blonde hair was dyed a deep navy blue. Siobhan gasped, too, having noticed the drastic change at exactly the same moment.
"Robbie, what's happened to your hair?" Nora asked, trying to sound casual so as not to hurt her friend's feelings, though she couldn't understand why he would do something like this on purpose.
Robbie grimaced and ran a hand through his blue curls. "My sister is going to beauty school now," he explained. "She begged to practice hair dying on me and, well, this happened."
Nora giggled. "It's like in Grease."
Cedric and Siobhan – who had both grown up in magical households – looked confused by the reference but Robbie – who was Muggleborn just like Nora – laughed.
"That's what we kept saying!"
"What's Grease?" Cedric asked.
"It's an American musical about a group of high school students in the 50s," Nora explained. "One of the main characters drops out to go to beauty school but ends up dying her hair pink."
"Musical? That's with the singing and the dancing, right?" Siobhan asked, trying to recall some things about the Muggle world that Nora had explained to her over the years.
"Yep," Robbie confirmed, and Siobhan smiled, pleased that she had remembered correctly.
"Anyway," Robbie continued, "my sister had no clue how to get the blue out and I obviously couldn't use any magic on it, so I'm going to ask Professor Sprout to help me tonight."
"That seems wise," Cedric said, barely stifling a laugh as he held a blue curl in front of his eyes, closely examining it. Robbie huffed and squatted Cedric's hand away.
"Stop it! I'm going to be the laughing stock of the feast!"
"I don't think much attention will be on you tonight, Robbie," Nora said, shaking her head. "Harry Potter's here."
Her friends looked at her with wide eyes, frozen in silent shock at the bombshell she had just dropped, before all three of them erupted at once.
"What?!"
"Harry Potter, here at Hogwarts!"
"How do you know?!"
Nora raised a hand, attempting to silence them, but her friends kept on talking over one another, ignoring her completely.
"Hey! HEY!" Nora shouted. Her friends quieted at once, looking at her to continue.
"My sister Emilia sat with him and the youngest Weasley boy on the train," she told them.
"There's another Weasley boy?" Robbie asked, groaning.
"Are you sure Emilia wasn't playing some joke?" Cedric questioned.
"No, no. I went to get her so she could put her robes on and… there he was."
Robbie let out a low whistle. "Did you see his scar?"
"No, but Emilia said she did. She also said he was raised by Muggles, and didn't seem to have any sort of clue just how famous he is."
"I thought him going off to live with Muggles was just a rumor!" Siobhan said. "Poor kid."
"Muggles aren't bad, Shiv," Robert chastised.
"I'm not saying they are," Siobhan told him. "It's just that he's Harry Potter, how could he not be raised as a wizard when he's one of the greatest wizards of all?"
Cedric snorted. "He's an 11-year-old boy," he said, "I'm not sure I'd call him great just yet."
"He saved the wizarding world!" Siobhan cried defensively. A significant part of Siobhan's family had lost their lives in the fight against Voldemort's regime, and so the witch took the legend of Harry Potter a lot more seriously than some others.
Nora could see an argument brewing, as it often did with her two best friends, and decided to cut in before Cedric could respond.
"There's no doubt he's incredibly famous. But Emilia said he seems like any other kid."
"I hope he's in Hufflepuff," Robert said. "It'd give our house a little bit of reputation boost, don't you think?"
"I think that'd be quite the scandal," Cedric said, chuckling. "I reckon he'll want to be in Gryffindor now, if he's been hanging out with a Weasley and a McGowan."
Guiltily, Nora realized that with all the talk about Harry Potter, her thoughts about Emilia had almost completely vanished. She wondered how her younger sister was managing on her own journey to the castle, and if she was still feeling nervous about her sorting. Nora could feel renewed worry bubble up inside of her. She knew everything would be fine if Emilia wasn't in Gryffindor, but her near-maternal instincts told her that things would probably be much simpler if she was placed in the same house as her and Phoebe.
"You've got that big sister look on your face, Nor," Siobhan pointed out. "What's wrong?"
"I'm just thinking about Emilia," Nora said with a sigh. "She was a little nervous about the sorting this morning, and I'm just afraid of her being unhappy."
"What, she doesn't think she'll be in Gryffindor?" Siobhan asked. At that moment, the carriage came to a sudden halt, signaling their arrival at the front gates of Hogwarts.
"I don't think she really knows what she wants," Nora shared, after the four of them had climbed out of their carriage. They joined the pack of students walking up the grounds to the front door.
"She's afraid of being alone if she's not in Gryffindor," she continued, "and afraid of being in me and Phoebe's shadow if she is."
"I can understand that," Robbie chimed in. He was the youngest child in a family of five, with three older brothers and an older sister. "I felt inferior to my brothers all the time before I came here."
Despite having so many siblings, Robbie was the only one among them who was magical. Nora still remembered how quiet and shy he had been in the beginning of first year before growing close with Cedric and, in turn, herself and Siobhan. Now, he was much more confident and secure in himself.
"Well, I certainly hope Phoebe and I have never made her feel inferior," Nora said worriedly.
"No, I know," Robbie assured. "I'm just saying – it's kind of always that younger sibling mentality, no matter what your siblings are like. My brothers just happen to be the biggest bloody bastards on the planet."
The four friends chuckled at this assessment of Robbie's brothers and, at last, reached the front doors of Hogwarts. Nora smiled softly as she gazed up at the large, glistening castle before her. Even three years later, it still had the power to take her breath away.
The quartet made their way through the large oak doors and filed into the Great Hall. Promising to meet early for breakfast the next day, Nora and Siobhan said their goodbyes to Cedric and Robbie as the two Hufflepuffs made their way to their table, where chatter had already started about Robbie's shocking blue hair.
"Is that Professor Quirrell up there, at the high table?" Siobhan wondered, pointing at a pale man wearing a purple turban. The girls took their familiar seats at the Gryffindor table and Nora craned her neck over a sea of students to look at where her friend was pointing. The man indeed seemed to be Professor Quirrell, the old Muggle Studies professor. He was paler than Nora had ever seen him, and his hands held a noticeable tremble even from across the Hall.
"Looks like it," Nora said. "I thought he was on sabbatical?"
"That was just for last year," Siobhan said. "I wonder what's up with the turban."
Nora shrugged, then groaned as she caught sight of who was sitting next to Quirrell.
"Ugh, and there's Snape. I'd been hoping he had fallen into a cauldron over the summer."
"No such luck, Nor," a familiar voice said, sitting down across from Nora and next to Siobhan. It was Phoebe, who looked rather disgruntled.
"What's the matter, Pheebs?" Nora asked, concerned.
"Bloody Slytherins," the younger witch mumbled, turning her entire body to glare across the hall, wand gripped tightly in her hand. "One of these days I'm going to hex Cassius Warrington so bad…"
Nora reached across the table and placed a hand on Phoebe's arm. She knew her sister had a temper, and she grew especially agitated when it came to certain members of Slytherin house.
"Hey," she said softly, "cool it before you accidentally fire at Bat-Bogey Hex at someone."
Phoebe didn't respond, instead gripping her wand tighter. Nora rubbed her arm.
"Pheebs, I'm serious. Don't stoop to his level."
Somewhat reluctantly, Phoebe turned back around in her seat, placing her wand back in her robes. "They just make me so bloody angry!" she cried, rubbing at her temple.
"What did he do?" Siobhan asked.
"Oh, just spouting the usual pureblood bullocks," Phoebe said, laughing bitterly. "I should have Fred & George put dungbombs in his bag."
"Speaking of, where are they?" Nora asked, hoping to distract Phoebe from thoughts of pranks and revenge.
"I stormed ahead after the whole thing with Warrington," Phoebe admitted, looking a little guilty. "They'll probably be along soon."
"If they haven't already been marched off to detention," Siobhan joked, rolling her eyes playfully. Phoebe snorted, and Nora gave her friend a grateful smile.
"Rumor has it that Quirrell is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Phoebe said after a moment, gesturing over to the teacher's table.
This time, it was Siobhan's turn to snort. "Quirrell? Really?" she asked, disbelievingly. "The man seemed scared of his own shadow on a good day. What's Dumbledore thinking?"
"Probably ran out of options after Hillgrave was sacked," Phoebe guessed. "Everyone's got to realize the position's cursed by now, so nobody wants it."
Nora rolled her eyes. "The position is not cursed."
"I have to agree with Phoebe on this one," Siobhan said. "I mean, no one's been able to keep it for longer than a year at a time."
"Are we talking –"
"– about the cursed DADA position?"
Fred and George plopped down on either side of Nora, heads turned inquisitively towards the three girls.
"It's not cursed!" Nora said.
"Even our mum and dad say it was cursed when they went here," George said. Fred nodded.
"And they're ancient," the twins finished together.
"Don't you think Dumbledore would have lifted something like that by now?"
"Maybe he placed it," Fred said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Nora scoffed, but didn't respond as more of their housemates began to make their way into the packed hall. She smiled warmly at Angelina Johnson and Lee Jordan as they sat down next to Phoebe, and the Gryffindors were soon swept up in conversation as they waited for the new first years.
"How do you think Emilia's doing?" Phoebe asked, her tone indicating she was a touch concerned. Nora smirked ever so slightly; Phoebe put on tough front, but Nora knew more than anyone just how big her heart was. Both of them felt a certain sense of responsibility when it came to their youngest sister.
"I think she's okay," Nora said, setting her own worries aside in order to assure her sister. "Harry and Ron seemed nice enough, so hopefully she met back up with them."
Phoebe nodded. "Hopefully she didn't meet any nasty future Slytherins along the way."
Nora hummed in agreement, looking nervously towards the doors.
"You think she'll be in Gryffindor?"
"I think our lives would be a lot easier if she was," Nora admitted. "But remember what we promised."
"Of course," Phoebe said, holding her head high. Nora smiled – there was that tough exterior.
Suddenly, a loud banging could be heard just outside the Great Hall, which could only be Hagrid knocking on the front door. A hush fell over them all as Professor McGonagall rose from her seat next to Professor Dumbledore and strode across the room in order to collect the new students. After a moment, Hagrid appeared, and the chatter started back up. Nora caught Oliver Wood's eye from down the table, and blushed when he waved.
A few seconds later and McGonagall was back, looking at Professor Dumbledore, who nodded ever so slightly. The Transfiguration professor disappeared once more, before the wooden doors opened by themselves and she led a small group of students single file to the front of the hall, where the Sorting Hat was placed on its usual stool.
"They're so tiny," Siobhan whispered. "Were we that tiny?"
Nora could see Emilia staring up with wonder at the enchanted ceiling before she looked around nervously at everyone gathered. When she caught Nora and Phoebe's eyes, however, she sagged in relief. Nora shot her an encouraging smile, while Phoebe gave her a thumbs up.
As soon as the first years had come to a stop, everyone waited in quiet anticipation until, at last, the hat began to twitch. Then, it opened its mouth and began to sing:
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty…"
Nora watched in amusement as some of the first years actually jumped back, startled by the hat's sudden song. She had done the same thing her first year, too, and had made sure to warn both Phoebe and Emilia about it before they were sorted.
"So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. Next to her, the Weasley twins let out two long whistles. The hat bowed to each of the four tables and then became still once again.
"Look at Ron," George said, pointing to his younger brother, who looked quite put out.
"I might've suggested that he'd need to fight a troll," Fred explained, shrugging.
The sorting began and two girls – "Abbot, Hannah" and "Bones, Susan" – were placed into Hufflepuff. Nora could see Cedric and Robbie going wild with applause as they welcomed the new members of their house.
The next two students called were sorted into Ravenclaw, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor. Nora burst into cheers along with the rest of the house, swatting at Fred and George when they began catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin, sneering as she made her way to her new house's table.
"Well, she certainly looks pleasant," Nora heard Angelina remark.
The next three Gryffindors were "Finnigan, Seamus," who sat on the stool for a full minute; "Granger, Hermione," who had shoved the hat onto her brown, bushy hair with much enthusiasm; and "Longbottom, Neville," a round-faced boy with a toad sticking out of his robe pocket.
"Malfoy, Draco," a smug looking boy with a pointed face and silvery blonde hair, was sorted into Slytherin and Nora held her breath.
"Any minute now," Phoebe whispered. Nora reached out and grabbed her younger sister's hand, more nervous than ever before.
"McGowan, Emilia!" Professor McGonagall called.
Nora watched as Emilia walked tentatively to the stool, sitting down carefully and gently placing the Sorting Hat atop her red curls.
"Moment of truth," Nora said with a gulp. It seemed to take hours, but the Sorting Hat finally opened its wide brim of a mouth and shouted…
Sorry for the cliffhanger, but you'll find out where Emilia is sorted in the next chapter! After that, the real action begins. Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peak into Nora's life. I know it looks like I'm setting her up early for tragedy what with her friendship with Cedric, but you never know what might happen! If you're enjoying this story/enjoyed this chapter, please let me know in a review!
-Mary