The Ryan O'Shiel Chronicles: The Return of the Hallows

Chapter One: All Aboard the Hogwarts Express

Ryan waved goodbye to his family, continuing to wave until they became small figures on the large platform that the train was stationed moments prior. A wave of excitement washed over him. He couldn't believe it; he was finally going to Hogwarts! Ryan began to walk down the train corridor, squeezing in-between the older students whom were greeting their friends and the bustle of first years attempting to find an empty compartment.

He looked into a compartment after what seemed like fifteen minutes of searching for an empty compartment, when he saw a small boy with turquoise hair. Judging from his size, the clothes he was wearing, and the lack of an owl; Ryan guessed that he was a first year just like he was.

"Can I sit in here?" Ryan asked as he slid the door open "So far, everywhere else is full".

"Yeah, sure, I'm Theodore Lupin, but everyone just calls me Ted or Teddy" the boy replied extending his hand.

Ryan took his hand "I'm Ryan; Ryan O'Shiel."

He took a seat opposite of Teddy, and quietly pulled out a copy of Hogwarts a History. Teddy began to snigger at the sight of the books emergence. "Not another over excited first year, are you? I passed a whole compartment of kids' reading that book."

Ryan laughed, putting the book beside him. "I was trying to find out how the sorting was done. I'm an only child see, nobody in my family has been to Hogwarts in over fifteen years."

"Well, you won't find anything about the Hogwarts sorting in that book. It's sort of an unspoken tradition for new students to not hear anything about the sorting until they get into the Great Hall. I bugged my grandmother, and my godfather all summer holidays about it, they just kept telling me to wait until September. My godfather told me that he would be happy to tell me, if I was okay with a trip to the Oblivator Headquarters straight afterwards." Teddy exclaimed.

"So I guess, we are out of the loop then?" Ryan asked.

"Unless you can convince one of the older students to tell us, I guarantee that we will be out of the loop until right before the sorting begins" he sighed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before the compartment door slid open. A short and rather chubby boy with brown curly hair walked in. "You don't mind if I join you, right? Some Slytherin bloke kicked me out of my compartment."

Teddy and Ryan both shook their heads, waving to the empty space in the compartment. The boy sat down anxiously next to Teddy and hunched over, before straightening up and positioning himself so that he was talking to both boys. "I'm Andrew Laft. I'm the fifth child in my family to go to Hogwarts, four of my siblings are currently at school; my little brother starts next year. My entire family has been in Hufflepuff." Andrew said. Teddy sniggered earning him a rough glare from Andrew. "And you are?" He asked curiously, still armed with a death glare.

"Ted Lupin, my family have been in a mixture of houses, my dad was in Gryffindor and me mum was in Hufflepuff. Personally, I hope I'm in Gryffindor." he replied. Andrew turned his gaze to Ryan and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm Ryan O'Shiel, my entire family has been in Gryffindor. I don't care where I end up, as long as I make some friends. Although, I think it would be a real stink if I ended up in Slytherin; I'd never hear the end of it from my cousins" Ryan answered, hoping that his answer had satisfied Andrew's curiosity.

The three boys sat in silence for a few minutes before Ryan finally decided to say something. "Have any of you guys started to read any of the books they assigned us for classes?"

"Mate, I haven't even seen our book list, I got my Hogwarts letter and my grandmother essentially snatched the booklist out of my hand, flooed to Diagon Alley and returned three hours later. She doesn't like taking me there too often. Says my Uncle George is a bit of a bad influence" Teddy replied, a large grin smacked on his face.