"It's not fair! I want to go as well!"
"Honey," the mother said. "You know you're two young, we've talked about this. You'll be able to join your brother in two years when you turn 11,"
The little girl was about to retort, but the look she received made her think otherwise.
"Oh, I'm going to miss you so much Theo," the mother said, looking at the boy standing with his trolley, next to his father.
"You're going to have so much fun at Hogwarts," the father started. "Remember when it was us beginning our first school year Theresa?"
"Like it was yesterday!" his wife answered.
The family was standing by the entrance to the station, saying goodbye to Theodore.
"I just don't understand why you don't want us to go in with you," Theresa said.
"Like I told you; it's something I want to do alone," her son replied. "Like a right of passage, just this first time,"
"Okay honey, I understand. Well it's almost 11. We don't want you to be late do we?"
"I'll write to all of you tonight," Theodore said.
"And you'll come home for the winter holidays; we'll see each other then," the father said.
"I'll miss you," Theodore's sister said.
"I'll miss you too Amelia,"
Embraces were exchanged, and Theodore headed inside the front entrance, towards platform 9¾. The station was crowded with families and trolleys, but Theodore's path was clear. Once he arrived before the wall, between the two platforms, he held his breath –that seemed like the natural thing to do– and he ran into the wall.
For a quick moment it all went silent, but almost immediately, noises flushed back in as Theodore reached the other side of the barrier. Students were gathered on the platform and the bright red Hogwarts Express was peacefully blowing smoke out of its locomotive, awaiting the departure.
It took Theodore a couple of minutes to find his friend in the accumulation of students everywhere, but once he did he headed straight to her.
"You have your own owl?" Theodore asked, upon approaching Penny.
"I got it a long time ago. It used to be my sister's but she got tired of him always wanting to leave his cage, so I inherited it,"
"What's his name?"
"Ælfswip," she answered. "My sister originally called him Beast, but I hated it,"
The owl in Penny's cage was quite majestic. It was an ash gray coloured eagle owl, with vibrant amber eyes. It almost looked intimidating.
"Well, look at what my parents got me yesterday," Theodore started.
He grabbed a cage in his cart and brought it to Penny.
"His name is Zero!"
In the cage was this small sleeping kitten, white as snow. It had a tiny green bell on its collar.
"It's so adorable!"
"Thank you," Theodore replied. "I just hope my roommates aren't allergic,"
They both laughed and headed towards the door to the train.
"Do you mind if I sit here?"
Theodore and Penny stopped their conversation. The door to their compartment had opened. A boy their age was standing there, his luggage beside him. His hair was light brown, and short, and his eyes were bright amber.
"Not at all," Theodore said.
The boy entered the compartment and closed the door behind him. After setting his luggage on the seat in front of him, he sat down at the other end of the compartment, besides Theodore.
"What's your name?" Theodore asked.
The boy's face flushed red, and he timidly looked at the ground. His mouth moved but only a faint whisper could be heard.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Edward," he said faintly.
"It's nice to meet you Edward!" Theodore replied.
A faint smile appeared on Edward's face. He was nervously playing with his coat, and kept looking at the ground. It was clear he wasn't comfortable around strangers.
"Are you a first year as well?" Theodore asked Edward.
"Yes,"
"Which house do you think you'll end up in?"
"Ravenclaw," Edward replied under his breath.
"Interesting," Theodore said.
The boy was shaking slightly, and constantly looked at the ground, still playing with a corner of his coat.
"Are you alr-?" Theodore asked, but didn't finish his sentence.
The boy had gotten up, and grabbed his luggage.
"I'm going to go find an empty compartment," he said quickly, closing the door behind him.
"Great job Theodore," Penny started. "You scared him away!"
"How was it my fault?"
"You bombarded him with questions. It was obvious he wasn't comfortable with answering them,"
"I just hope I didn't hurt his feelings," Theodore said with a morose look on his face.
The locomotive's steam whistle was heard, and the train started moving along the tracks.
"Looks like we're finally leaving the station," Penny said. "I cannot wait to arrive there; it's going to be so much fun!"
"Hogwarts, here, we, come!"