Cello was dangerously close to falling to his death. Well, maybe not so dangerously, he decided. Only his nose was sticking far enough off the roof that he could feel the wind on it. Still, the ground seemed an awfully far way down and he had to admit, he had been more than a bit tempted to see if he could fly on a few occasions. The grass was always overgrown so it might be soft; his dad never wanted to give muggles money for cutting their grass and every saturday since he's been saying he'll cut it but it's been a year now and the first blades are nearly up to his second-story window. Cello's dad was funny like that.

"Do you even have your stuff packed yet?" a loud voice interrupted his thoughts. Cello turned around to see a near mirror image of himself but with longer hair and a curvier figure. "Or are you just going to stay home again?" His sister, Orion, shut the door from below him on the balcony again as Cello tucked himself lower onto the roof. She wasn't usually this mean. In fact, they were pretty close friends despite being a year apart. They used to say they were secretly twins because they both had grey-blonde hair and pale skin. The only real difference in them, besides gender, had to be their eyes. She had bright brown eyes whereas Cello's were an empty grey like someone came and sucked the life right out of him. "Come on, Cello, I'll help you pack."

Cello scooted his butt down the roof until he was level with the balcony. He swung his hips and landed feet-first onto the white pavement. "I won't chicken out this time, I promise," he told her, walking into her room.

On her thin bed lay her suitcase, small and compact (as most of her things were), and she was looking over the list of things they would need to bring to Hogwarts. She tried to hand it to Cello but he shook his head and put it on the ground. "I already know what I need to bring." he sat down on the floor and pulled over his own suitcase, light blue with pinstripes that matched that sweater he always wore.

"That suitcase looks tacky," Orion said as per usual. "I bet everyone will make fun of you." Cello could tell she was nervous about leaving home tomorrow; she wasn't usually so snarky to him.

Cello looked out of the corner of his eye at the list to double-check. He had already packed his uniforms and the books, none of which he hadn't already read last year and his other equipment. The only thing he hadn't packed was his wand. It was hidden around here somewhere. He searched in the smaller compartments for his wand until finally he unearthed it next to a small bottle of toothpaste and a dust bunny. He hadn't taken it out since last year, which should have been his first year of Hogwarts. Cello didn't think he was ready then, but maybe he would be now. He gave his wand a fond smile. He had been so disappointed with it back then. It was nine inches, reasonably pliant, oak, and unicorn hair. Just about as normal as you can get. Still, he found out oak was a rare wood and had been satisfied with it ever since.

Finally, everything of Cello's was packed and his back was up against the angry red walls of Orion's bedroom. She still scuttled around and didn't say much. "You know, Maje will be there already," he said, closing his eyes.

"Will he now?" She didn't look at me; seemingly too busy engrossed in her packing but he knew better. Orion was always interested in things that had to do with Maje.

"Yeah, he sent an owl telling me all about how he was put into Slytherin. Went on and on about how they were the brains at Hogwarts," Cello sighed. "But if he's in there, I wonder just how smart they really are, you know? Besides, I'd heard Ravenclaw was for the smart people."

Orion didn't answer and instead began to look around for her own owl, Carmine. She tutted when he didn't come to her calls and stood up. "I'm going to look for Carmine." She walked briskly from the room and his eyes opened to follow her out.

Cello too had an owl at one time. His name was Chambers and he lived up to his name. He never wanted to go anywhere else but his room and he acted as though he was Cello's prisoner. Cello wasn't too sad when he up and disappeared last year after he'd stayed home on September 1st.

One more day. Then he'd be forced to go. Cello had skipped one year already and he couldn't skip anymore. Otherwise his parents would start thinking he was a failure. Cello looked over to his stuffed luggage and felt a feeling of dread hit his gut.

It wasn't long before the next day had come and Cello grudgingly pulled himself awake. It was early, the sun had a lot of rising to still do, and Cello could tell everyone around him was too tired to really function. He put on his favorite sweater and his slacks and boots. He wasn't sure how cold it would be so he packed up my brown scarf into his luggage really quickly.

"Damn," He cursed, after he'd brushed his teeth. "Orion, where are my contacts?" His voice was loud even with all the commotion of breakfast making downstairs. He heard no reply and continued to search for them. Cello was certain he'd left them here somewhere. He usually only wore his glasses at home but when he was with people he wore his contacts. He thought he looked better without them.

"Cello! Bring your stuff downstairs! We're leaving now!" Cello's mother yelled up the stairs. He looked at the clock in the bathroom. They still had thirty minutes till they needed to go but he knew better than to argue about it. His mom never really understood the way "their time" worked and always insisted they get to places bright and early.

Eventually all four of them were in the car, their bags packed in the back, Carmine screeching and ruffling his brown feathers with every road bump, and Cello wearing his "stupid glasses". It wouldn't be long till they reached the train station.

Finally, they reached the train station. Getting inside was no issue at all as Cello's mom and dad had both attended Hogwarts and helped them get on the train. Just twenty minutes before the train was supposed to leave, Cello and Orion spotted a familiar face.

"Maje!" Cello said excitedly, running after his brown haired friend. "How have you been, you haven't been over to see me in forever!"

Maje looked thoroughly surprised, looking down at him with wide green eyes. 'Had he gotten taller?' Cello thought to himself.

"Uh, yeah," Maje said nervously, looking around as though waiting for someone to come out from nowhere. "Good to see you too. Look, I've got to run, okay?" He turned around on his heel and began walking towards the far end of the train.

Cello cocked his head, confused at his behavior. "Wait up!" he cried, trying to keep up with Maje. He had no idea where to go or where to sit on the train. He'd been relying on Maje helping to show him the ropes.

But soon enough, Maje was lost to the sea of witches and wizards and Cello stood alone, fighting back tears in his eyes. "I guess you really don't want to see me…" he murmured to himself and wiped his eyes.

"Cello, come on!" Orion called out to him, standing on the step of the train. She held both of their bags with her and looked to be struggling.

Cello ran back and fought back the tears that threatened to spill over as he helped Orion get on the train.

They put their bags up on a high shelf and began the hard task of finding an empty or mostly-empty carriage. Most of them were already packed and that had Cello worried. It would seem that Hogwarts was a bigger school than he had imagined. He should have guessed, however, as Hogwarts has years one through seven.

There were a lot of people also looking for rooms to sit in too, and it seemed by chance that someone bumped into Cello and he hit the side of a door that was half open, tumbling inside.

"Owww," he whimpered, rubbing the top of his head. His back had hit the front of one of the benches and he leaned to his side. His eyes shot open as he realized he was leaning on something solid.

He jumped up, quickly, and immediately had to sit back down in another position as it made him dizzy. "I-I'm so sorry!" he cried, apologizing to the boy he'd previously been sitting in between his legs. "I was pushed in here and I fell and…" He looked down at his lap, his cheeks burning.

The boy in question was pale and thin with dark black hair and golden streaks. There was no doubt in Cello's mind that he was attractive, which made the whole situation about ten times more embarrassing. There was another boy in the compartment as well with tan skin and dark blue hair but he only smirked at the scene.

Cello felt his heart beating erratically. He felt like Alice In Wonderland having fell down some strange rabbit hole and what made it worse is that he had no idea where Orion had gone to.

Tarfish: Chapter two is done! Cello is such a klutz it's so adorabuuu~ Please Review, everyone!

Death: I fear for the safety of hogwarts, anyway please review Tarfish worked hard on this chapter! again a place where you can easily reach us is

boredompersists . chatango . com