Luminescence

Chapter One

Sighing, she turned around to hear what her mother had to say. Looking up to meet with those same Hazel-Green eyes she shared, she heard these words spoken from her mother, "Now Melanie you need to hurry up. The train is to leave at exactly 11." She figured as much. Her mother would leave her to get everything sorted by herself once she made her way through the bricked wall that stood behind her. Nodding to Edith, Melanie let out a quick, "Yes Mother. See you soon." Before turning on her heel.

No response was heard back from the woman. The young girl only assumed her mother had already started making her way out of the station. Looking ahead she locked eyes with the clock. Only 5 more minutes before the train was to leave. Letting out a huge breath of air she started to run towards the brick wall, her long brown locks bouncing with each step she took.

If only Melanie knew that this would be the start of something quite fascinating.

Althea's POV

Althea tried her best not to run into any other students as she made her way through the train. She had yet to find a train carriage that was empty, all of them were full and comprised of kids who looked a little too intimidating for her liking. Finally after what felt like ages of looking, she found one which housed just a singular girl, who looked to be around her age. She figured she wasn't going to find anything better than this, so she slid inside the carriage, making a soft noise to alert the other girl of her presence. The girl, who had been staring out the window, snapped her head around to face the other girl. "Um, hi. Most of the other carriages are taken, I was just wondering-" Althea barely managed to finish before the other girl cut her off. "You want to share? I don't mind at all. Go ahead and have a seat." She said, as if she had known exactly what Althea was going to say. "Okay." Althea spoke quietly before taking a seat across from the girl. "So? What's your name?" The girl started, brows raised slightly as she took in the sight of Althea. "Oh, it's Althea." The girl in question responded, voice barely above a whisper. The other girl's brows furrowed at this. "Come again?"

Althea let out a sigh and clenched her hands in her lap. "It's Althea." She spoke, just loud enough so that the other girl could hear her. "Oh! Althea! That's a pretty name. Mine's Melanie, by the way. You can call me Mel if you want though." Althea gave Melanie a delicate smile. "Thank you." She responded, before averting her eyes entirely. She decided to stare out the window instead, as glancing into the other girl's eyes was beginning to overwhelm her.

Things were quiet for a while save for the lady who came by with a trolley full of sweets, and Althea could begin to feel herself drift off, when suddenly Melanie spoke up again. She had been chewing on a pumpkin pasty before she spoke, and she quickly swallowed the sweet as she prepared to say what she'd been intending to say. "So, you're a first year too, aren't you? You look just about my age." Melanie had asked, looking over at Althea expectedly. Althea only nodded at this. Melanie smiled widely. "Hopefully we'll end up in the same house. That would be nice." Althea couldn't help but smile as well. "Yeah, it would be."

She was starting to feel less awkward around Melanie, and was slowly beginning to grow more comfortable in her presence. There was something about the girl that made her feel at ease, and Althea was grateful she had found such a girl on her first day.

After what felt like hours of sitting inside the train, they had finally made it to their destination. Althea felt herself become fearful again, and Melanie clearly noticed her change in demeanor. "Hey, I'm not sure what's wrong, but everything's going to be alright. I swear on it." The other girl spoke reassuringly. Althea gave her a short nod. "Thank you." She said simply.

Before she knew it, the train had arrived at it's destination and the first year students were currently being corralled by a large bearded man. "This way, first years!! This way!" He called to the lot of them as they all climbed off the train. They were then led to a lake, were the lot of them were then instructed to each climb into a boat. Althea, of course, stuck with Melanie. They had hardly known each other for very long, and yet it already seemed that the two of them were inseparable.

The boat ride across the lake and to the school took a matter of minutes, and before long Althea and her newfound friend were standing at the top of a set of stairs inside the school. Before them stood an elder witch, who had previously introduced herself as Professor Mcgonagall. She was currently explaining the matter of Houses to the first years, informing them that as soon as they set foot into the Great Hall they would be sorted into their houses. She also went on to explain that their Houses would be a sort of family to them, and told them of how they could earn points for whichever house they were sorted into.

After the students had been briefed, they were promptly led into the hall by their Professor. Once they had all been gathered at the end of the hall, the sorting ceremony quickly began, and it wasn't long before Althea's newfound friend was being called up by Professor Mcgonagall. Melanie turned and gave Althea a thumbs up as she was called. Althea stood anxiously as the sorting hat was placed upon her newfound friend's head by their Professor, the hat mumbling all sorts of things that Althea tuned out in her nervousness. After what felt like an eternity of waiting, but was really only a matter of seconds, the hat suddenly called out: "Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor table erupted in cheers, and Melanie looked elated at this, standing with a wide smile etched onto her face. "Good luck." She whispered to Althea as she walked by to make her way towards the Gryffindor table.

Students upon students were called up, and before Althea knew it she was being called up as well. She took a shaky step towards where she was to be seated in order to be sorted. Once she had sat down, and the hat was finally placed upon her head, she let out a shaky breath. "Please not Slytherin." She whispered a little too loudly, which was a little out of character for her. She could have cared less though. She wasn't going to be sorted into that wretched house and that was final. "Eh? Not Slytherin, you say?" The hat continued on a ramble for what was at least five minutes, and Althea sat there awkwardly as she endured it. Why was it taking so long to sort her? "You might be good in Hufflepuff, you do possess some of the traits, but..." the hat stalled for a moment, before continuing on. "Hm, I see....how about...Gryffindor!" Althea let out a huge breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding in. Not only was she not sorted into Slytherin, but she had also been sorted into the same house as her newfound friend. If she couldn't call that luck, then she didn't know what luck was.

A delicate smile graced her features as she came to sit besides Melanie. As she did so, the school headmaster, who Althea soon came to know as Professor Dumbledore, made a sort of speech in which he addressed all the students. He warned the first years that the Forbidden Forest, as the name implied, was forbidden. It was not to be entered under any circumstance, and Althea made a quick mental note of that.

Once the speech had ended, Dumbledore announced the start of the feast, and before Althea had a chance to blink dish upon dish were now scattered across the Gryffindor table, as well as all the other house tables. "Blimey!! There's so much food I might end up comatose!" Melanie cried out, before turning to Althea. "We actually ended up in the same house! That's bloody brilliant!" The other girl spoke excitedly. It was then that two unfamiliar voices spoke up, and Althea almost jumped at the suddenness of them. "What's so brilliant?" The first voice said, a hint of humor underlying it. "Oh, I'm not sure, Fred. What is so brilliant?" The voices sounded almost exactly identical, and the faces they belonged to were just as identical. Althea took in the sight of the boys before her, both brown eyed and ginger and youthful in their own right. "Um.." Althea started, unsure of what to say. Which was fine, because it seemed Melanie knew almost exactly what to say. "Hello boys. I'm Melanie Aubert, and this is Althea Whitlock. She's a wee bit shy." Althea ducked her head awkwardly, only confirming what Melanie had just said. "Oh, c'mon!! There's no reason to be so shy." One of the twins said. "Yeah, no reason at all!" Said the other. "I'm Fred Weasley, by the way. And he's George." The first one said, pointing a thumb towards his brother. "It's nice to meet you, Althea. And Melanie." George said, giving the two of them a brilliant smile. Althea smiled back, albeit nervously. "It's nice to meet you too." She said softly, Melanie only nodding along exuberantly in response. Althea could practically hear the alarm bells go off in her head at George's smile. The boys would only be trouble, she was sure of it.

This, Althea thought to herself, was going to be a long year.