AN: Another Chapter, another AN, and this one is rubbish!
DavidoDaVinci
Chapter 4: Between Platform 9 and 10
"Hello?" Ivy asked, puzzled.
The woman appeared to be lost for words, but after a moment, she said, slowly. "My name's Lily."
"My name's Ivy." she replied. In an instant, the woman had run over, and given her the tightest hug that she had experienced for a long time.
"So it is you, then!" she shouted, tears streaming down her face. Ivy glanced up at the man and girl, who were looking at her with an expression that she couldn't quite place. The girl looked just like her.
After a few awkward seconds, Lily let go, and introduced herself. "I'm Lily, your mother, and this is James, your father, and Rose, your twin sister."
Ivy glanced at Rose, and waved shyly. Her mum had now turned to Hagrid, and was thanking him. He was looking a little bit awkward, but he could tell just as well as the rest of them that Lily was in the best mood she had been in for years, and it would have been a little rude to ruin that for her. Eventually, Hagrid waved them goodbye, and headed down the road back in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron.
After Hagrid had turned the corner, Lily turned to her, and asked if there was anything that she needed that she hadn't got yet. When she shook her head, she smiled, and stated that it was time to go home.
"So… hi…" Rose muttered, quietly.
"Hello," Ivy replied, cheerily.
…
The next morning, Ivy woke up to Lily running about the house, shouting and trying to get everyone up. She glanced around at the bedroom she had been shown the previous night, and noticed that Rose was already up, and pulling on some jeans and a sweatshirt: "Morning, Ivy. Better hurry, Mum's going ballistic". From the sounds coming from the parents' bedroom, James was not up yet. It took a moment for her to process that she was going to Hogwarts today. She pulled herself out of bed, and started to get dressed.
…
She walked downstairs thirty minutes later, dressed in a pink hoodie and navy blue trousers, and was hauling a suitcase filled with everything she would need in the coming year. Wand, all her spellbooks, her cauldron, and so on. It hadn't taken much work to pack up, given that she had only had the previous night to unpack. Lily beamed at her as she entered.
"Hair done? Teeth? Good, breakfast is in the kitchen."
When she walked into the kitchen, breakfast was indeed there. Two pieces of toast and a fried egg were waiting, almost expectantly, on the table. She had barely tucked in when Rose walked in, apparently having finally finished packing. They exchanged greetings, and started talking about Hogwarts.
"What House do you reckon you'll be in?" Ivy asked after a mouthful of egg white.
Rose thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Anywhere but Slytherin, I suppose."
Ivy frowned. "I want to be in Slytherin."
"Well," Rose replied, doing a 180. "Slytherin's pretty good, I guess. Just has a bad rep."
Ivy hummed in agreement and took another bite. 'I suppose.'
…
Ivy was minorly surprised when the taxi stopped outside King's Cross, a muggle train station, though, she supposed, they would have had to make a new disguise for the journey to Hogwarts than that rubbish old shack they had used for such a long time before in this age. Perhaps they would have a completely different journey to Hogwarts, come to think of it.
These thoughts were running their course through the inside of her head when she bumped into her father, who had stopped, and was looking up at a large clock situated between the platforms 9 and 10.
"Ten minutes," he muttered. Lily looked halfway between torn apart at seeing Ivy leave so soon, and joyous that her daughters would finally be going to Hogwarts. The result was a strange bobbing motion of the head, and a half smile. They stood in an awkward silence.
"So… how exactly do we get… to Hogwarts?" Ivy asked, remembering her supposed previous unawareness of the Wizarding World, and hastily looking confused.
Her mother seemed to jump. "Oh! Yes, right. You just run at the wall between those two platforms there," she said, gesturing at the wall beneath the clock.
Lily nodded, attempting to figure out what charm had been placed upon the wall, and barely noticing James and Rose running through. Lily grasped her arm, and pulled her along, running as fast as they could at the wall, which is quite a difficult task when carrying several large bags, filled with books, cauldrons and the like, and dealing with a black cat curled up on one's shoulder. Right as they were about to make contact with the wall, they passed through the wall, as though it was made of water, and emerged on a train station positioned quite impossibly between the others beside it, with the golden writing on the train reading 'Hogwarts Express', and a sign overhead, which displayed the time when it would leave, ticking down slowly. The first thing that jumped out to Ivy was the amount of noise issuing from the platform. Everywhere she looked, there were crowds of students attempting to escape their parents, or just boarding the train.
Ivy turned to her parents, and they all remained silent for a moment, before Lily said, "Well, I suppose you should get on, then.", and she and Rose boarded the train together. They looked around for a while, before finding a compartment rid of any laughing girls, or nervous friend groups, and sitting down. Rose sighed deeply as Ivy slid the door shut.
"So, um…" Ivy began.
"I guess this is it," Rose replied, nodding.
Ivy cast around for a topic of conversation. "Uh… what are you looking forward to the most- about Hogwarts, I mean?"
Rose frowned, and did not speak. After a couple minutes, she replied. "I suppose Quidditch. Or maybe Defense Against the Dark Arts, as long as we have a good teacher. I heard there hasn't been one for over a year for ages. Most of the other teachers have been here for ages."
"Do you know any of their names?" Ivy asked, interrupting.
She looked surprised. "Um… some… Professor Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout, and Trelawny. Oh- and Dumbledore, of course."
Ivy nodded, and turned to stare out the window. Hills turned to fields, fields turned to cottages, cottages back to hills, and before she knew it, she had wasted half an hour.
She was about to voice this realisation when the door swung open, and a tall boy walked in.
"Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is packed,"
When the two gave their consent, he stretched, and took the seat opposite Rose.
"I'm Ron. Ron Weasley." he said, as an introduction.
"I'm Ivy." she replied.
"And I'm Rose. Rose Potter," her twin said, casually. It took a moment for both of them to notice that Ron's mouth was hanging open.
"Can… I… help you?" Rose asked, nervously.
"Are you really?" he blurted out, a little rudely. "I mean- do you have the scar?" he asked, gesturing to her heart.
"Oh! Yeah…" Rose replied, tracing the shape of a V.
Ivy decided to leave them to it, and head to another compartment.
It turned out that she and Rose had been quite wrong in assuming that theirs was the only empty compartment, for, as she walked along the corridors, she found herself facing more and more. Eventually, when she had decided to go for the one on her left, the door ahead of her opened, and a girl with brown hair and large front teeth bumped into her.
"Sorry!" Ivy muttered, helping her up.
"It's fine," the girl replied, introducing herself as Hermione, "Oh! And, have you seen a toad anywhere, a boy named Neville's lost one."
She shook her head. Hermione sighed, and muttering a hasty 'goodbye', walked off. Ivy entered the compartment.
She had just decided to change into her Hogwarts robes when she was again interrupted, this time by a boy walking in, and mumbling something like an insult to whoever it was who had brought on this necessary move to a different place on the train.
"Hi," Ivy said.
The boy turned around, and she noticed his blond hair and blue eyes. "Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." he added, sitting down opposite her.
"Nice to meet you," she said, attempting to continue the conversation till it reached an interesting topic.
Malfoy stretched, and sat back against the chair, apparently looking for something to talk about that would interest them both. "Nice weather." he said, failing.
Ivy turned her head to look out the window. There were dark clouds outside, threatening rain, and seemingly edging closer to their final destination.
"I suppose so," she lied.
They sat in silence until the food trolley lady walked in. Ivy got herself some packs of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and a couple chocolate frogs. Malfoy got Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. When it came time to change, he left for obvious reasons, and they agreed to meet up when they got off the train. She was deep in thought about Hogwarts when the train came to a halt at Hogsmeade Station, where it had indeed begun raining.
It would have been difficult to hear the call of 'Firs' Years! Firs' Years O'er 'ear!" over the sound of everyone shouting and laughing, had it not been for the fact that these words were uttered by Hagrid, who was a few feet taller than most grown ups, and was having difficulty not hitting his head on the top of the station. When he was convinced that he had gotten all the first years over to him, he began.
"Right. The older years get to Hogwarts by carriage, but, since yer first years and all that, ye'll be going by boat," he gestured to the dozen or so boats struggling not to drown, positioned next to the station. Everyone got into them in fours, except for Hagrid, who needed one to himself. Ivy got into a particularly small one with Rose, Ron, and Hermione. She felt a slight pang as she thought of Draco, but ignored it, as they started the long journey to the castle.
…
"My name is Professor McGonagall. I will be your Transfiguration Teacher at Hogwarts. Now, you wait here, and the doors will open themselves when you can go in,"
McGonagall… that was one of the teachers that Rose had mentioned. She gave a sideways glance in her direction, and a smile. Once she had walked in, the first years began preparing to walk in. There was a general murmur as friend met friend. She walked over to Malfoy, who was shivering and looked worried.
"It'll be fine."
She was about to express that she felt the same way to him, and perhaps introduce him to Ron and Rose, when the doors to the Great Hall opened.