Lily Potter And The Secret Bewitchment

Chapter Five - Hogwarts Castle

Lily turned towards the entrance and there stood a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes. He was small, only taller than Lily by a little bit, he also seemed physically unable to pull his trunk along. He seemed to be trying to open the compartment door, but he was trapped behind the trunk. Lily walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hi, I'm Lily, were you trying to get the door?"
"Yes." The boy panted, wiping sweat off his forehead. "I'm a first year. Can I sit with you?"
"Sure, we're first years too? Do you want me to take your trunk?" Lily enquired.
"You probably won't be able to lift it, but you can have a go." The boy shrugged and walked into the compartment. Summoning up all her strength, just to prove the boy wrong, Lily lifted the trunk off the floor, placed it on her shoulders and up to Hugo, who had jumped to her aid and put it in the luggage rack opposite the others.
"Wow. You're tiny, how can you do that? Sorry," He added quickly when Lily gave him a look that could kill "but how do you?"
"I'm a beater." She said shortly. "And the former Junior English captain. Who are you?"
"I'm George." The boy said. "George McDonald."
"Nice to meet you George." Hugo said, "I'm Hugo Weasley."
"Hang on. Does that mean-?" Knowing what he was about to say, Lily cut George off with,

"I'm Lily, as I said, George, and this is Jayla Berryfield."
"Hello Jayla."George looked over to her, "Nice to meet you." She simply nodded back and stared out the window. "So are you Potter and Weasley as in the golden trio?" George sounded avidly interested as Jayla continued to stare out of the window.
"Yes." Hugo answered, managing to disguise the weariness in his voice. "We're cousins. Our dads are aurors and my mum's the Minister." Hugo did his best to sound casual, but George's eyes popped with amazement. Just as Lily was about to ask him to stop staring, another boy knocked on the door, catching everyone's attention. As the door was opened Lily got a glimpse of the boy. He was fairly skinny, wearing muggle jeans and clutching a cat in one hand and the handle of his trunk in another.
"Hi guys. Are you all first years?" His voice was nervous and his hands trembled. Hugo nodded.

"We are."

"Oh, good, I'm Oli, can I sit here please?"

"Yes of course," Lily replied graciously. "I'm Lily Potter."

Due to his complete lack of reaction to her last name, Lily guessed that Oli was muggle born. The other four young witches and wizards said hello to him, introducing themselves and he sat down next to Hugo, his tiny white kitten on the seat next to Lily and Harmony, who hooted nervously.

"Who's this?" Lily asked, stroking the white cat as she pushed her head against Lily's knee.

"That's Snowy." Oli said, "I got her in Diagon Alley in the summer, so she's still quite young. I'm muggle born, and getting an owl would have been a bit much for my parents to hide!" Lily giggled.

"This is Harmony," Lily indicated the bird cage, "She's a tawny owl."

"Muggle born wizards do know an owl when they see one, Lils!" Hugo chimed in, and Lily laughed again, as did everyone else. "My owl's called Scrabble," Hugo added, "He won't ever shut up, it gets very annoying."

"What's your cat's name, Jayla?" Lily asked.

"Maisie," Jayla opened the wicker basket she was holding, and out of it came a small tabby cat, which purred and settled onto Jayla's lap.

"How many of you know people who are at Hogwarts already?" George asked, to break the silence.

"I've got a few distant cousins who are definitely there," Jayla said, "But I'm an only child so no siblings."

"Me and Hugo are cousins," Lily said for Oli's benefit, and the latter nodded. "My two brothers and Hugo's sister are at Hogwarts, and we have about seven other cousins and countless family friends there too."