September 1st came surprisingly fast. Romina was both ecstatic to finally see Hogwarts and scared out of her mind. She knew that today was the day she put forth her name into the wizarding community after 11 years. Harry would inevitably find out about her after he learned of his own identity. It drove Romina nuts.

She combed her wavy hair over and over while the same thoughts ran in her mind. It wasn't until her aunt had to physically come into her room to take her out that Romina finally forced the thoughts away.

King's Cross station was bumbling with muggles going back and forth to their needed platform. Many of them - if not most of them - were throwing both Romina and Harry odd looks for their unusual things stocked over their trollies. People were especially interested in Harry's snowy-white owl, Hedwig.

"I don't understand, there's no 9 and 3 quarters anywhere," Romina had a big frown plastered across her face as her eyes flickered from the number 9 platform to the number 10.

"What'd you expect, dearie?" Sage came up beside her. "Muggles aren't supposed to see anything."

"So then how do we get in?"

"Well-" but Sage was interrupted by a rather loud family passing by them towards the platform. They all donned the same wild, ginger hair.

"Sage, are those…?" Lyonel raised an eyebrow at the ginger family.

"With that hair, they have to be," Sage mumbled.

Romina and Harry were fascinated after they witnessed one of the ginger kids running head straight into the barrier, brick wall dividing the platforms 9 and 10 and disappearing.

"Did he just…?" went Harry, mouth hanging ajar.

"Oh yeah," Romina gave one nod of her head.

"Fred, you're next," the mother of the family pushed forward one of her identical twins.

The twin in question, or perhaps not, huffed. "I'm not Fred. I'm George. Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

The mother flushed and apologized. "Sorry, George, dear."

However, the twin grinned mischievously. "Only joking, I am Fred."

Harry and Romina exchanged comical glances. The two twins had done the same as their brother and ran into the barrier, disappearing right after.

"Knowing my luck, I'll crash," Romina glumly said.

"Oh, no you won't," Sage laughed. "You just have to run towards it. Nothing to it."

"You can go first," Romina then told Harry.

"Ladies first," he countered.

Romina's tongue swiveled to the side, not at all pleased. "Oh, now you're all gentlemanly."

"C'mon, we'll do it together," Sage grabbed onto Romina's trolley, and the two prepared to go towards the barrier.

Then, they ran.

Romina shut her eyes long before they reached the barrier (just in case they ended up crashing). Eventually when she heard the distinctable engines of a train, Romina realized they hadn't crashed and decided to reopen her eyes.

"Woah…" was all that came out of her mouth when she spotted a crimson red train waiting to take off.

Seconds later, Harry and Lyonel emerged from the barrier. Harry entered the same fascinated state as Romina after catching sight of the train.

The station was already full of wizards and witches, but these people were wearing odd fashion as noted by the two kids. Robes of all colors attacked their eyes. There were sounds of animals filling the area with mixtures of meows and hoots. Some of the carriages of the train were already packed with students anxiously waiting to take off.

"Alright you two, we just have to get all this inside…" Lyonel motioned to the trollies, "...before you can go in."

With the adults' help, they were able to put everything away swiftly and easily. Now it was just a matter of saying goodbye and finding an empty compartment.

While Harry was more than eager to get on, Romina was beginning to doubt that it was the right thing to do. Her hair flipped with her as she turned to her aunt and uncle.

"Maybe I should just go to regular school…" she began to say, and both Sage and Lyonel smiled knowing these were just the nervousness kicking in. "B-because if they know my name...they won't like me…"

"Once they know you, they'll see that you're nothing like the rest of our family," Lyonel promised and kissed the top of Romina's head.

"C'mon, Rom!" Harry called from his spot. He was just waiting for her to go into the train together.

"And Harry…" Romina whispered. "He's going to be so mad…"

"I'm afraid that we can't tell how he'll react," Lyonel sighed. "But you keep your head held up high, Romina. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You aren't responsible for anything your parents did."

"We'll send you many owls," Sage assured for Romina's doubts. "Now go on before you miss the train."

Romina nodded nervously. She hugged her aunt and uncle one last time then forced herself to head after Harry.

"You okay?" Harry asked after noticing Romina's exceptionally pale face.

"Never better," she lied smoothly and walked ahead.

They found an empty compartment after a couple of minutes and took seats inside. Harry looked out the window just as the last of the houses disappeared from their view. After only one minute, the compartment door was slid open to reveal one of the redheaded boys they saw earlier.

He was rather tall despite having a baby face. Said face of his was decked in freckles. With a sheepish voice, he spoke to the two. "Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full."

Romina nodded and motioned the ginger boy to take a seat. He took the one next to Harry.

"I'm Ron, by the way," he introduced himself. "Ron Weasley."

Romina closed her eyes as soon as Harry introduced himself as 'Harry Potter'. Ron's mouth fell open in shock.

"S-so it's true, then?" Ron managed to collect his words after a minute or so. "I mean, do you really have the...the…?" he made a motion to his forehead. "The scar," he whispered.

Harry didn't seem to mind and simply raised his hair from his forehead to reveal his lightning scar. "Yeah, see?"

"Wicked," Ron sprouted a large grin on his face. He then crossed gazes with a stricken Romina and sheepishly waved. "What was your name?"

There was an internal battle inside Romina and she doubted it would be the last time she had one. "R-Romina," she left it at that.

"Nice to meet you," Ron politely said.

"Hey, Ron!" a redheaded twin opened the compartment door. His brother was right beside him. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there!"

Romina's eyes widened. "Are you mad? What do you want that for?"

One of the twins smirked. "Why wouldn't you want one?"

"Nope, I don't want to know, that way I can't be involved," Romina leaned back on her chair.

"I like her," the other twin pointed, glancing over to Ron.

"We haven't introduced ourselves, George," the first twin whacked his brother on the arm.

"Well how rude of us," 'George' dramatically responded, making both Romina and Harry smile. He stepped forwards to shake hands with Romina first. "Fred Weasley, at your service for activities requiring explosions, puking, and the screaming."

Romina's eyebrows raised. "Interesting. I'm Romina."

As Fred went to shake hands with Harry next, George switched to Romina. "George Weasley."

"Blimey, you're Harry Potter!" Fred exclaimed. "George!"

"Yeah I know, I wanted to see your reaction," George turned on his feet with a smirk.

Harry sheepishly smiled at the twins. Luckily, neither could stay another minute since they had that exciting tarantula to get back to.

"They're loud ones, aren't they?" Romina observed afterwards. Ron gave a nod of his head and Romina assumed Ron was the quiet one.

Once more, the compartment door slid open but this time an elderly woman pushing a cart full of brightly colored snacks stood there. "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Ron coughed awkwardly and pulled out a plastic bag of smushed sandwiches. "No, thanks, I'm all set."

"No thank you," Romina politely said.

Harry, however, jumped from his chair at the chance of sweets. Romina knew he rarely got some with his aunt and uncle. She was also aware of the mega stock of galleons Harry's parents had left behind for him so he did have the money for it. He ended up getting almost everything off the trolley.

Of course Harry shared with Romina and Ron.

"You're going to pass out with all those sweets, Harry," Romina said just as she took a bite of a pumpkin pastry.

Ron looked between the two curiously. "Have you known each other for long?"

"Rom's the first friend I made at school," Harry said instantly. He was in the middle of opening up a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"At a muggle school?" Ron thought, and Romina nodded. She was predicting that the question of wizarding lineages was coming up rather soon.

"Yeah, where else?" Harry looked up just when he got the box open.

"Sorry—" a round-faced boy with dark hair opened the compartment, "—but have you seen a toad at all?" his face was tear-stained and a bit red.

"You brought a toad?" Romina was on the verge of laughing but seeing the boy's expression made her stop right on time.

"I've lost him!" the boy cried. "He keeps getting away from me!"

"Well, he's bound to show up," Harry offered some solace.

"Yes," the boy agreed somewhat. "Well, if you see him…"

"We'll definitely let you know," Romina promised and they watched the boy go off in search of his toad.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," Ron muttered. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quickly as I could. Mind you—" he seemed to regret his words, "—I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

"Dare I ask what's a 'scabbers'?" Romina raised an eyebrow. To answer her question, Ron pulled out a gray, patchy rat from his jacket's pocket. Romina grimaced but kept her manners nonetheless. "Lovely…"

"I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him a bit more interesting," Ron remarked and set Scabbers on his lap. "It didn't quite work but I can show you right now…"

Romina doubted the spell would work now if he hadn't had proper teaching yet.

Ron had taken his wand from his things and pointed it at the rat. "Sun—"

"Scuse me!" a girl had poked her head into the compartment.

Romina's eyes widened when she recognized the girl. How could she not? The girl had the same bushy hair as before. "Hermione?"

Hermione beamed upon seeing a familiar face. "Romina! I was wondering if I'd see you before the sorting."

"You know her?" Harry asked Romina, a bit surprised since according to Romina she hadn't met any other wizards nor witches.

"At Diagon Alley," Romina explained.

"Neville lost his toad - have you seen it?"

"He just came in like ten minutes ago," Romina shrugged.

Hermione, however, had seemingly not heard Romina. Her dark eyes were set on Ron's wand. "Oh, were you doing magic?" Without a proper invitation, she took the seat next to Romina, opposite of Ron. "Let's see then."

Ron was certainly not expecting to be keenly watched by her. "U-um…" he cleared his throat and started the spell, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" The rat was not affected in the least.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a real spell?" Ron didn't appear to know what to say. "Well, it's not very good, is it?"

Romina blinked, a bit offended on behalf of Ron. Even Harry was a little surprised at the girl's bluntness.

"Of course, I've only tried a few simple spells myself, and they've all worked for me," Hermione went on without noticing the others' odd looks. "For example," her eyes darted to Harry and pulled out her wand from her school robes and aimed it at Harry's glasses, "Oculus Reparo." Ron and Romina watched, amazed, as Harry's glasses repaired its noseband. Harry pulled them off, quite surprised himself. Hermione smirked. "That's better, isn't it?"

Harry nodded but Hermione had then caught sight of his scar and gasped.

"Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter!" she blinked. "I'm Hermione Granger And you are?" she glanced at Ron.

"Ron Weasley."

"Pleasure," she smiled and glanced at Romina. "I should go help Neville. I hope we get sorted in the same house so we can continue talking more."

"Mhm," Romina wondered if it would be a good idea to be so close to Hermione who just seemed to love talking. Still, it could be fun.

"You better change into your robes," Hermione warned them just as she was leaving. "I expect we'll be arriving soon. Oh, and Ron, you've got dirt on your nose—" she tapped her own nose, "—by the way, did you know? Just there."

Ron, embarrassed, rubbed at his nose when Hermione left. "Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," he groaned.

~ 0 ~

Arriving at the station, they were met with a familiar (rather large) face of Hagrid. He was in charge of bringing the first years to Hogwarts by special means apparently.

"Don't trip," Romina smirked as Harry got into their boat last. She and Ron were already sitting together on either side.

The lake, Romina imagined, was probably quite a sight to see but unfortunately it was as dark as could be. Just as Harry clambered on and sat beside Ron, Hermione showed up again but with Neville. He was still sniffling here and there.

"No luck on the frog?" Romina asked, now feeling bad for the boy. Neville shook his head and took a seat beside her.

The boats descended from the lake ever so smoothly. No one dared to talk much as most of their attention was driven to the only source of light in their way: the big castle up ahead.

"Wicked," Ron did manage to say at one point.

It truly was quite a sight to see.

When it came time to disembark, Neville had the greatest fortune to have his toad, named Trevor, found by none other than Hagrid.

Now happily, the group of kids followed Hagrid all the way up to a large staircase leading up to an equally large door. He knocked three times and not a minute later did an older woman emerge. No one could tell if she was irritated or happy from her straight face.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she began to greet the group as Hagrid got going. "Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup."

"Trevor!" Neville's toad had slipped through his hands and hopped just in front of McGonagall's feet.

"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

As she turned to leave, Romina leaned forwards as quick as possible and picked Trevor up from the ground. She heard a couple of the girls around her squirm with a couple of 'ew's'.

"Weak," she spat and stroked the toad a bit as she stepped back into place beside Neville.

A young pale boy with exceptionally blonde, slicked-back hair moved in front of Harry. He seemed as fascinated as everyone else who'd approached Harry so far. "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." Harry barely had time to react when the boy introduced to larger boys behind him. "This is Crabbe, and Goyle, and I'm Malfoy...Draco Malfoy."

Ron set loose a snicker which of course attracted Draco's attention.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours," Draco had a condescending look in his face when he met Ron's eye. "Red hair and a hand me down robe? You must be a Weasley. You'll soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He stuck a hand to shake with Harry.

Harry frowned and kept his hands right where they were. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."

Draco formed a glare and huffed.

"Play nice boys," Romina drawled as she continued to stroke Trevor's back. The frog was actually really cute once it stopped bouncing everywhere.

"And you are?" Draco practically demanded from her.

"About to let this toad jump on you if you talk to me like that again," Romina finally looked up and had the courtesy to smile.

Draco wasn't the least bit amused with her response.

"Romina," she said her name a moment later, proud of the reaction she elicited from him.

McGonagall returned for the first years a short minute later. "We're ready for you now," she motioned the students to follow her. Rather nervously, they did but not without whispering about what was going to happen now.

Romina handed Neville his toad back and made him promise to hold onto it tighter.

The Great Hall certainly took all of the first years' attention with its large size and four tables set parallel to each other. Everyone was already there and of course staring at the newcomers. The first years were more preoccupied with the thousands of bewitched candles floating in midair and giving wondrous light below. The roof had the illusion of a dark, starry sky.

"It's not real, the ceiling," Hermione's voice somehow came from the group. "It's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

Romina managed to hold back her laugh. "Of course you did."

McGonagall had led them to the front of the room, a bit away from the presumed-to-be teachers' table. Most of them were already sitting there. McGonagall had placed a stool with a tattered old pointy hat in front of the students. For the first couple of seconds, none of the first years - including Hermione - knew what they had to do nor what was meant to happen. Suddenly, the hat began to SING sing, making a tear at the brim as it did.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find,
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head.
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffis are true and unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
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!"

Not a second later did everyone in the room, including the teachers, applaud the old hat. Romina was bemused by the spectacle, and by the looks of it so were the rest of the first years.

McGonagall was now holding a parchment scroll in her hands, ready to read off from it. "When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses. Abbott, Hannah!"

A blonde pig-tailed girl stepped forwards, clearly nervous to be the very first one. McGonagall lifted the Sorting Hat for Hannah to take a seat then placed the Hat over her head.

A couple seconds later, the Sorting Hat bellowed, "Hufflepuff!"

The table to their right cheered for their newcomer and Hannah happily sprinted towards them.

"Bones, Susan!" went McGonagall.

The student in question rushed to get herself sorted. Hufflepuff had then earned a second newcomer.

McGonagall continued going off in order. From Lavender Brown (who became a Gryffindor) to Justin Finch-Fletchley (another Hufflepuff) the list went, until a familiar face was finally called.

"Granger, Hermione!"

The girl nervously walked up to the stool and sat down. Not a moment later did she become a Gryffindor.

"King, Arden!"

A girl with choppy brown hair stepped forwards.

Romina gaped. "Harry, that's—"

Harry was in a similar state of surprise. "Yes! It is!"

They witnessed their neighbor (more specifically Romina's next door neighbor) take a seat on the stool to wear the Sorting Hat. Arden King became a Slytherin in the next minute and so she hopped off rather cheerily towards the designated table on their left.

A couple names later, Neville Longbottom was called. Romina offered to take his toad in the meantime, thinking he would probably lose it again. She gave herself a silent pat on the shoulder when Neville proved her right by falling on his way to the stool. Now the Sorting Hat took an exceptionally long time deciding what would be Neville's house, but in the end he became a Gryffindor. In his happiness, he had made way for the Gryffindor table with the Hat still on him.

"Oh, Neville," Romina laughed whole-heartedly with Harry and Ron. She handed Trevor back to him when he finally started back to the tables.

When Draco was called, everyone was a bit surprised to find the Sorting Hat barely grazed a blonde tip on his head before shouting, "Slytherin!" to the room. It didn't seem to bother Draco as he headed for the Slytherin table quite proud of himself.

"There isn't a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin," Ron muttered.

Romina threw him a sharp look. "It's not quite kind to throw all people in the same boat just because there were some bad apples."

Ron shrugged but said nothing more on the subject.

"Oswell, Romina!"

There were a couple of whispers amongst the room that Harry noticed and wondered what they were about. He then saw Romina's utterly pale shade of skin when not a minute ago had been just fine and normal.

Unusually slow, Romina walked up to the stool. You knew they would recognize you, she berated herself silently for being so naive. She knew it was bound to happen so why was she so affected. As she took a seat, she dared not look at anyone but the floating candles and ceiling.

It did not help that the Sorting Hat was taking its sweet time sorting her out.

"Gryffindor might be good…" it uttered but didn't declare it as a final decision. "Valiant and bold...but you've got undeniable ambitions for yourself..."

Romina could not be paler. Harry thought she was giving Draco a good run for his money in that department. Why was she so scared?

Could you please cut my torment short already? Romina thought and came to the surprise that the Sorting Hat could actually hear said thoughts.

'I wasn't trying to cause problems. I need to make a good decision here.'

Romina swallowed hard, biting her lip to the point where she started getting tastes of copper. Please just make a bloody decision! Give me Ravenclaw for all I care!

'I've got a better idea," the Sorting Hat paused for a moment before declaring: "Slytherin!"

Romina released a breath and reveled as McGonagall lifted the hat off her head. With a smile at Harry and Ron, and a rather sad one for Hermione and Neville at the Gryffindor table, she treaded off towards the Slytherins. However, her attention was soon taken by the familiar brunette he and Harry had spotted earlier.

Arden King was positively beaming when Romina took a seat beside her at the table. "I can't believe you're here too! I mean, here I thought I would probably miss you forever but nope! My best friend's a witch like me! Both of my best friends!" She said whilst throwing another look in Harry's direction.

Romina nodded. Having Arden with her in the same House really would be a heavy relief. She had no idea what kind of story her aunt and uncle would've told Arden's family about why she would no longer go to school with Arden. Now she wouldn't have to lie to Arden.

"I'm really glad you're here," Romina said with a nervous laugh.

Adren's freckled-face contorted into an impossible wide smile. "Some luck, huh!? It's so weird that you, me and Harry are all here. Actually," she paused for a thoughtful moment, "It's like everyone knew who Harry was already. Do you know why?"

Romina nodded her head and promised to explain to Arden the reasons at a later time. For now, they waited for the rest of the students to be sorted. When Harry's turn came around, he had every single eye set on him. Now the whole of Hogwarts knew that Harry Potter was in town.

After a rather long decision, Harry was placed in Gryffindor, much to Romina's dismay.

Fred and George Weasley, however, were completely joy-struck. They clapped the loudest at the Gryffindor table, cheering "We got Potter!" over and over.

"Aw, Harry's not with us," Arden gave a small pout.

"No one is," Romina said rather disappointedly but decided that she would not let it divide her from her newly-made friends.

Soon afterwards, Ron was handed to the Gryffindor table. Then came two more students before they could finally call the sorting a finished deal.

Before their dinner could get really started, the headmaster, Dumbledore, rose from his seat (which was set at the center of the table). "I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce." Everyone in the room automatically diverted their attention to the moon-spectacled man. "The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch—" he pointed to a raggedy older man holding a cat with beedy red eyes, "—has asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you."

"Kinda makes me curious enough to go investigate," Romina jokingly said. Arden snickered beside her.

But, thankfully, after Dumbledore had given his bit, dinner could finally be started on.

While Romina often glanced back at Harry, she found that her own table wasn't half bad either. She'd made small talk with some of the first years already. Plus, she had one of her best friends with her. Now knowing that Romina had more knowledge of the wizarding community, Arden didn't fail to make questions to satisfy her muggleborn curiosity. It kept dinner lively.

"Hey!" A high-pitched voice belonging to a dark hair girl interrupted Romina's explanation of her living situation, "The Sorting Hat said you were an Oswell. That wouldn't happen to be…?"

Romina sighed and stuck a fork in her dessert. "Yes, it would be…" she made a gesture she wanted to say the girl's name but lack of introductions prevented her.

"Pansy Parkinson," the girl introduced herself. "And if you're an Oswell, why would you be living amongst Muggles?"

"What's her name got to do with it?" Arden raised an eyebrow. "I'm a Muggleborn."

"Yeah, but you were born a muggle so that was obvious," Pansy rolled her eyes. "But the Oswells are purebloods—" she set a smirk on Romina, "—amongst other things."

"Shush it, Parkinson," went Romina, pulling her fork from her plate to threaten Pansy with it.

"You shouldn't be ashamed of your family, Oswell," Draco Malfoy piped up from his own spot. It appeared he was much more interested in his own plate but felt the need to chime in anyways.

"Bit hard to do that when everyone's looking at you like you're about to curse them," Romina retorted rather resentfully.

"Then do it," Pansy said simply. "Show 'em what you're capable of. That would scare them right off."

The blonde girl beside Pansy immediately elbowed her on the side. "That's great advice," she said sarcastically then met Romina's and Arden's gazes, "I'm Daphne Greengrass. Pansy's got a bit of an open mind, see."

"Yeah, beginning to get that," Romina muttered, "I would rather not show them what I'm capable of..." Not that I'm actually capable of anything, she sighed.

"Then quit complaining," Draco promptly said.

Romina didn't know who was worse with the advice: him or Pansy. "Well, you guys are a lovely bunch." She dreaded to know what the rest of her new house members would be like.

Romina sighed and went back to her dessert. Arden placed a hand of comfort over Romina's free hand, indicating she would be there no matter what. Romina felt that Arden King was about to become the only person who would understand her once the Oswell stories started surfacing because once Harry got wind of the truth, he would hate her.

A/N:

P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"