"So where were you Saturday?" Robert Jacobs asked Aria when she joined up with him and their two other friends, Samuel Tweed and Tommy Robbins, at the town's playground. It was Monday, the morning was slowly becoming warm, the day would be a scorcher. Robert sat on the swing beside Aria while Samuel and Tommy laid out on the grass.
"London," Aria replied. The boy's perked up. "School shopping."
"Why'd you go to London?" Samuel asked. "What's St. Brigid's ask for that you can't buy it here?"
"I'm not going to St. Brigid's," Aria said. Samuel and Tommy sat up.
"What?" all three boys cried.
"My neighbor, Mr. Snape, scouted me for the school he teaches at. I got in."
"You got into the mystery school Mr. Snape teaches at?" Robert cried.
"Yes, and I can't tell you much about it except that it is in Scotland, you're only going to be able to write me to by giving your letters to my dad, and you probably won't see me except on summer holidays."
"I can't believe you're not going to St. Brigid's!" Tommy cried. "We were going to show you the ropes."
"Sorry to disappoint you," Aria drawled. She glanced at Robert who was frowning at his knees. "Robert? What's the matter?"
"You're going to some old posh school," Robert muttered. "You going to come back better than us?" Aria punched his shoulder, knocking him off the swing.
"Don't be daft," she snapped. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with trying to better yourself."
"Imagine it, Robert," Tommy said, "Christopher Hanes, Margo Beech, and Anthony Burkes who's going to Eton this year, have nothing on Aria and they know it!" Aria laughed, glad to see that at least one of her friends was happy for her.
"We must celebrate this!" Samuel cried, leaping to his feet.
Make that two friends.
"How?" Tommy asked.
"Ice cream obviously," Samuel replied, yanking Aria off the swing. The four made their way to the center of town to ice cream shop where Samuel paid for Aria to get two scoops of ice cream (strawberry and chocolate).
It was not long before Spinner's End knew that Aria had gotten into a "prestigious private school" up in Scotland. Kenneth got inquiries from his coworkers at the mill, especially those who lived on or around Spinner's End on their side of the river. A few of the shopkeepers who were old enough to remember the Snapes and Evans even commented that it was good that Snape was using his connections to help people in his neighborhood. Aria wasn't sure Professor Snape would like to be seen as a neighborhood hero, but that was the reputation he was suddenly getting.
"Don't forget where you come from," was the advice from several neighbors on August 30th as they came around to say good-bye to her. Many handed her tins of homemade snacks which she tucked into her school trunk or her backpack. It was a strange bit of advice, she thought, as if she could forget where she lived. Melissa Jacob's, Robert's older sister, came over with a new set of hair accessories and nail polishes for Aria which she gleefully packed away even as her dad rolled his eyes in good humor.
On August 31st she and her dad loaded her trunk into the boot of the ten-year-old car and headed down to London. Along the way Kenneth muttered several times about wishing that the Hogwarts Express made stops at other stations along the way.
"Like do the kids from Scotland still have to make it down to London?" he asked Aria. "I mean, sure, if you're a wizard you can just fly through the fireplace to London, but what if you live in Edinburgh or Glasgow? Who wants to travel all the way to London when you could just be picked up somewhere in Scotland?"
In London Aria was awed by how expertly her dad maneuvered around through the crowded streets without hitting anyone, even the tourists who weren't looking where they were going. He managed to find a parking spot near King's Cross and then snagged Aria a trolley so that she wasn't forced to lug her trunk and backpack through the crowds.
"What does your ticket say again?" Kenneth asked.
"Platform 9 and three quarters," she replied. They reached the entrance to the train station in time to hear the screeching of tires as an SUV pulled into the drop off area. A familiar boy with a black mop for hair climbed out of the backseat while a walrus of a man climbed out of the driver's seat and threw a school trunk and caged owl out of the car's book. He laughed, getting back into the vehicle, causing it to lower dangerously to the ground, before speeding off into London traffic, forcing several cars and taxis to honk at him.
"Harry!" Aria cried, rushing over to the boy who now crouched attempting to sooth his owl. Harry's face lit up seeing her.
"Is your owl okay?" Aria asked.
"Are you okay?" Kenneth questioned. He pulled the trunk on top of Aria's and took over steering. Harry set the cage on top of the trunks.
"She's fine," Harry answered. "Her name's Hedwig!"
"Hi, Hedwig," Aria greeted, reaching in and running her finger over the owl's chest feathers. Hedwig puffed with pride.
"Did Professor Snape tell you how to get onto the platform?" Harry asked as they walked into the station. "Hagrid left before he could tell me how."
"Yes," Aria said, "but it didn't make sense. He said to walk into the wall between platforms nine and ten; and that my dad wouldn't be able to follow me through."
"Walk into the wall?"
"Yes."
"That makes no sense."
They stopped on platform nine and peered towards the wall between platforms nine and ten. Kenneth glanced at his watch.
"Maybe it's like Diagon Alley," Harry said. "Hidden from Muggles."
At that moment a small red-haired girl bounded up to them, her eyes on Hedwig.
"That's a pretty owl!" she cried, making Hedwig look all the smugger. "My brother Percy got one this year too called Archimedes."
"Ginny!" A harried looking woman with frizzy red hair came up behind the child. She turned to Kenneth. "My apologies sir, Ginny knows better than to just run off like that."
"I was looking at the owl!" Ginny insisted. "And everyone else was taking too long."
Everyone else ended up being four red haired boys, two of them twins. Aria and Harry shared astonished looks at the amount of red hair they were now surrounded by.
"Off to Hogwarts?" the woman murmured to Kenneth. "You're looking a bit lost."
"We aren't quite sure how the entrance works," Kenneth said. "Aria was told to walk into the wall, but it looks solid."
"It's only solid to Muggles," the woman replied. "I'm Molly Weasley. Come, Percy and the twins will show you how it's done. Percy's made prefect this year." The tallest of the brothers straightened his shoulders with pride and, after glancing to see if any Muggles were around, pushed his trolley straight into the wall, disappearing into the brick! Aria and Harry gasped.
"He's on the platform now," Mrs. Weasley told them. "Nothing to worry about. Fred, why don't you go next?"
"I'm not Fred, he is," one of the twins cried.
"I'm sorry, George. You go."
The boy stepped forward, grinning at his mother.
"I'm just joking, I am Fred!" he raced of with a laugh even as Mrs. Weasley sighed dramatically. His twin, the real George, followed close behind him.
"All right," Mrs. Weasley turned to the last red-haired boy. "Ron, you go. He's going to be a first year with you two." The freckled hair boy, gangly for his age, pushed his trolley forward and soon after he disappeared Mrs. Weasley took Ginny's hand and went after him.
Aria turned to her dad, hugging him tightly.
"You be good," Kenneth whispered in her ear. "I don't want to hear 'bout you getting into any trouble okay? Make me proud."
"I will." Aria kissed his cheek and turned to Harry. Together they pushed the trolley forward towards the barrier. Aria tensed, preparing to run into a solid brick wall, but they kept going forward, briefly in a black space, before appearing on a train platform crowded with people in robes, shouting and running; steam billowed from the front of the gleaming black train and in golden letter THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS was painted on its side.
"Wow!" Harry breathed. They looked back towards the barrier, back to where they had come from. It was then that Aria realized the enormity about what was happening, and for a brief few seconds the gravity of knowing she had access to a world her dad didn't weighed on her.
Until Mrs. Weasley appeared again with the twins.
"There you two are!" she cried. "It's almost eleven. Fred and George'll help you get your things on the train." Fred and George grinned and helped Aria and Harry get their second-hand trunks up into a train car. A gust of wind came down the platform, rifling Harry's hair. Only for the second time did Aria take note of the peculiar lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Fred and George saw the scar too, both of them gasping and gaping as Aria and Harry lugged their trunks down the corridor and into an empty compartment. Aria opened the window, allowing the breeze to enter the stuffy compartment before she and Harry got their luggage stowed above them.
"Mum! Mum!" they heard the twins outside the train. "Mum, you won't believe it! That boy was Harry Potter! We saw the scar."
"Can I go say hello to him?" Ginny asked.
"Absolutely not," Mrs. Weasley stated. "Poor boy's probably got enough of people gawking at him. You treat him like a normal boy, understand?"
Aria turned to Harry.
"So . . . uh . . . what's special about your scar?" she asked. Harry shrugged.
"I got it the night my parents were murdered," he replied. Aria's eyes widened. "I guess there was . . . a war of sorts in the wizarding world years back and my parents were part of a resistance against this Dark Wizard called Voldemort – though I guess everyone was so scared of him they just call him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who – anyway, he killed my parents and tried to kill me but something happened that night that no one can explain. He died and I lived. This scar is proof. Hagrid said that people see me as some sort of hero for getting rid of the guy. I've heard a few people in Diagon Alley call me the Boy-Who-Lived."
"That's . . . interesting." Aria wasn't sure she was meant to say much more. Harry shrugged.
"I'd rather have my parents," he said. "It's weird, being seen as a freak at my relatives because of my magic, and then to suddenly be a celebrity. I'm not sure I really like either." The train gave a loud whistle and began to move forward. Aria settled on the bench across from Harry, peering out the open window as the train pulled out of the station and followed what seemed like an invisible track through London.
The compartment's door opened and the youngest red haired boy stuck his head in.
"Can I sit with you?" he asked. "Everywhere else is full."
"Sure," Harry said. Aria nodded.
"I'm Ron Weasley," the boy said, getting his trunk up beside Harry's. "I would've sat with the twins, but their friend Lee brought his tarantula and I hate spiders." He sat beside Harry, looking him up and down before turning his attention to Aria.
"I'm Aria Bourne," she said. "That's Harry."
"Good to meet you," Ron said. He pulled a rat out of his coat pocket, making Aria squeak in alarm. "This is Scabbers. He was Percy's but he gave him to me 'cause he got Archimedes for making Prefect."
"Scabbers is not food," Harry told Hedwig. The owl hooted from her cage. Ron grinned.
"Most familiars like yours are trained not to eat other people's pets," Ron said. Scabbers yawned and closed his eyes, beginning to snooze on Ron's lap.
"What an invigorating animal," Aria teased, pulling her Charms book out of her backpack. Ron ran a finger over the animal's head.
"Yeah," he agreed, "he's a bit useless. But he's all mine and I don't have to share him with anyone."
The scenery had changed from London to the country. Aria watched villages and towns pass by, amazed at how no one saw the massive steam engine train roll by. Magic was truly amazing!
"So, what house do you guys think you'll get into?" Ron asked.
"House?" Aria asked.
"Yeah, the Hogwarts Houses."
"Hagrid mentioned something about Voldemort," at the name Ron's face paled, his freckles becoming stark against his face, "being a Slytherin," Harry said, "but he didn't really explain what that meant."
"There are four Hogwarts Houses," Ron explained, still shaking a little, "named after the Four Founders of Hogwarts: Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, and Salazar Slytherin. Every student gets sorted into a house."
Oh, it sounded like a dormitory system then. Interesting.
"How do we get sorted?" Aria asked. Ron shrugged.
"Dunno. It's not mentioned in Hogwarts, A History, and no one would tell me. I think it's a bit of a tradition to not tell anyone how you get sorted. Fred and George said we had to battle a troll but knowing the twins and how much they love their pranks I'm not sure that's true."
That would be truly awful, Aria decided, seeing as she knew next to nothing about magic!
"Everyone in my family's been in Gryffindor for generations," Ron continued, "though a few people from Mum's family have Sorted into Ravenclaw. Percy said that each house has things . . . I think he used the word attributes . . . that each house prefers in their students. Like Gryffindor is sometimes known as the House of the Brave because Gryffindor liked those who were brave and chivalrous. Ravenclaw's a bit of a bookworm house 'cause they value intelligence. We're all actually really surprised Percy didn't get Sorted in Ravenclaw. Anyway . . . Hufflepuff prefers loyalty and hard work and Slytherin likes those who are cunning and ambitious. Though lots of Dark Wizards have come out of Slytherin recently, so says my Dad, so I'm not sure that's where I want to go. You-Who-Must-Be-Named was a Slytherin."
"Hagrid told me," Harry said. "He also said that my parents were Gryffindor. Will people think I'm a Dark Wizard if I'm sorted into Slytherin?"
"I think the Potters were sorted into Gryffindor for as long as us Weasleys," Ron answered, "so you being sorted into a different house would be a surprise. I . . . I think some people might think that, but I mean . . . Percy says that judging people by their House is stupid, though I know he doesn't get along with several Slytherins because he writes about it in his letters home." He shrugged, unsure how else to answer.
The compartment door slid open and a smiling older woman poked her head in.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked. Aria eyed the wonderous looking assortment of candies and treats even as she shook her head.
"Mum packed me a lunch," Ron said.
"Dad packed me one too," Aria added. Harry reached into one of the pockets of his oversized pants, pulling out a handful of Galleons.
"What do you want?" he asked. Ron and Aria stared at him. "What? I've got more than enough for us to share. Go on, Ron, tell us what to try." Ron took another few seconds to stare at Harry before grinning and turning to the cart. Within a few minutes Aria had a nice stash of food including: Chocolate Frogs, Liquorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, and two boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean.
"Watch me," Ron said as he tore into a Chocolate Frog. Aria yelped as the frog jumped but Ron caught it, biting its head off. She laughed, opening her own frog and barely catching it before it jumped out the window.
"The cards in the Chocolate Frogs are collectible," Ron told them, holding up his own card. "I've got a collection that I brought, and I'll show you at Hogwarts. This one's Dumbledore. He's pretty common. One of you can have him if you want." Harry plucked the card from Ron's hand. He and Aria watched as a long-bearded wizard winked at them before walking off the page.
"He's gone!" Aria cried. "Your pictures move!"
"Well he can't stay around all day," Ron replied. "Who did you guys get?"
"I got . . . Alberta Toothill," Harry replied. "Famous duelist apparently?"
"I've got a few of her," Ron said, "that's a good one though. Not too common but not rare either. What about you, Aria?"
"Artemisia Lufkin, First Witch Minister of Magic." Aria grinned, tucking that card away into her backpack. She picked up the Every Flavor Beans, peering at the jelly bean looking candies, though some of them were strange colors or had polka dots.
"What do they mean by every flavor?" she asked. Ron spoke around a Liquorice Wand saying,
"It means every flavor. George swears he got a booger tasting one once."
Aria decided to share that candy for whoever became her dorm mates. She unwrapped a Cauldron Cake and bit into it, savoring the moistness of the muffin-like cake as it filled her mouth with the taste of spices.
The compartment door slid open and a girl with the bushiest hair Aria had ever seen appeared. She held her head high in a way that reminded Aria of a few girls from primary.
"Has anyone seen a toad?" the girl demanded, exposing two overly large front teeth. "A boy named Neville lost his."
"Neville would lose his head if it weren't attached to him," Ron said. "No toads here. His stuff always turns up eventually. I wouldn't worry 'bout it."
The girl sighed and almost turned to go before she noticed Aria's charm textbook that was being used as a little table for her Cauldron Cakes.
"You're reading ahead?" the girls cried. "I'm glad I'm not the only one! I didn't know I was a witch until Professor McGonagall came to our house and I feel so very behind even though Professor McGonagall said that I will be starting near the same level as all other first years."
"Probably true," Ron said, "Mum and Dad wouldn't teach us any spells, but you can bet that some families have probably already started teaching their kids once they got their wand."
The girl plopped down on the other end of Aria's bench. Aria offered her a Cauldron Cake.
"No thank you," the girl said. "My parents would kill me if I had something with that much sugar."
"Health nuts?" Aria asked.
"Dentists."
"Rotten luck." The girl grinned, holding out her hand.
"I'm Hermione Granger."
"Aria Bourne. I'm Muggleborn, just like you. This is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."
"Good to meet you," Ron said around another Chocolate Frog. Hermione's mouth twitched, not looking impressed as his manners. She turned her attention to Harry. "Your name's in A Modern History," she said. "Did you know that?"
"Somehow it's not surprising," Harry replied with a sigh. "Though I grew up with my Muggle relatives and they didn't tell me about being a wizard until Hagrid showed up."
"Are there a lot of us?" Hermione asked. "I mean . . . a lot of us with Muggles for parents?" They all turned to Ron.
"I have no idea how many of you there are," he said. "But you're not . . . uncommon. Dad works at the Ministry and he has several Muggleborn coworkers. They've been over for dinner. Most people . . . most people are probably halfblood if I had to guess. Percy would know. That's my brother."
"What are you?" Aria asked. "Or is that not polite to ask?"
"I wouldn't ask it as an icebreaker," Ron replied. "I'm pureblood. That means that there aren't any Muggles or Muggleborns in my family."
"Is this important?" Hermione asked.
"Some people think so. There are plenty of people who think that Purebloods are better in everything and that Muggleborns don't belong here." Aria and Hermione's eyes widened.
"But not my family!" Ron insisted, realizing he had scared the girls. "Dad's the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. The Weasley family's considered Blood Traitors by many purebloods because of how pro-Muggle we are."
The compartment door slid open again and the white-blonde haired boy that had been with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy appered, followed by two large, dark haired boys.
"Word on the train is that Harry Potter's in this compartment," the boy declared, his voice dripping with a smug confidence. He and his friends were already in their uniforms.
"Who wants to know?" Harry asked.
"I'm Malfoy," the boy said. "Draco Malfoy. This is Crabbe and Goyle." Draco peered around the carried, eyes briefly stopping on Aria and she saw him recognize her before his gaze slid to Hermione, then the Ron.
"Let me guess," Draco said, eyeing Ron up and down. "Red hair and hand-me-down clothes? You must be a Weasley?" Ron's face turned as red as his hair, much like Aria's face when she was embarrassed, though the way Ron's mouth turned down there was a hint of anger in him too. Even Harry's face tinged pink and Aria was aware of how his clothes were probably hand-me-down too.
"What's wrong with hand-me-downs?" Aria demanded. Draco's attention shifted to her.
"And you are?" he demanded.
"Aria Bourne. I met your mother at Madam Malkin's. Professor Snape was taking me shopping."
"Right. Muggleborn." The little boy sneered the word like it was a disease or curse. He was certainly nothing like his mother, that as clear.
"Do you have a problem with that?" Aria questioned. "Like you do with hand-me-down clothes? Bit pathetic really."
"Are you calling me pathetic?"
"You said it, not me."
Draco scowled at her, before focusing on Harry.
"Yes," Harry said, "I am Harry Potter."
"You'll find, Potter, that some wizarding families are better than others," Draco said. "I can help you navigate the wizarding world unlike these people." He held out a hand. Aria and Hermione exchanged a glance, a form of comradery coming between them as they both indicated with slight tilts of their heads how much they did not like Draco Malfoy.
Harry ignored Draco's hand.
"I think I can figure out who comes from better wizarding families on my own," he said. "Clearly your parents never taught you manners."
Surprise flickered across Crabbe and Goyle's faces. Shock filled Draco's. A smirked played at Ron's mouth while Aria and Hermione tried not to giggle. Draco struggled to answer, his mouth opening and closing several times before he spun on his heel, pushing past Crabbe and Goyle, stomping down the corridor. The two oversized goons almost got themselves stuck in the doorway as they turned to follow their friend. Aria and Hermione did burst out laughing at that.