0: Welcome to Hogwarts (Prologue)

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• YEAR ONE •

My Father firmly places both his hands on my shoulders, giving them a reassuring squeeze as we wait to start boarding the train. While my older brother Lincoln converses with my mother, his eyes occasionally drift to meet mine.

He raises his eyebrows in a questioning manner, unaware that I've spiraled down into my thoughts. The smoke from the train dissipates into the air, and it's mesmerizing to watch. The chatter surrounding me becomes mere background noise as I drown it out.

Now the only thing I can focus on is the butterflies in my stomach, the excitement, the nerves. I'm about to begin my first year at Hogwarts, and I know Ronald Weasley is here somewhere.

Next I know, we're saying our goodbyes. My mum pulls me away from my fathers grasp and into hers. She presses a kiss to my temple, squeezing my body against hers for one last time before the Summer.

Link takes my hand leading me throughout the crowd of other families, some students proudly displaying their houses through their clothing. The four houses blend together to make a sea of wondrous colours. I find myself admiring the Gryffindor jumpers and scarves more than the others. 

And that's when I see him, his bright hair making him easy to spot within a crowd. The two of us grew up together, our parents were good friends and with that, so were we. My brother and I practically lived at The Burrow while my parents were off visiting clients, which was often.

"R-Ron?!" I splutter unable to contain myself as I approach the family of freckle faced redheads.

"Cassie!" He wraps one arm around me and pulls me into a tight hug. He seems just as in awe as I am.

Fred and George take notice of me, each planting a hand firmly on one of my shoulders as they lean down to match my height. "Are you ready to join us for some pranks Cassidy?" They taunt. "We could use the help, seeing Percy is now a Prefect-" I look at Percy with a raised eyebrow, he looks off in the distance with a stern unmoving expression.

"Hey! She's my friend." Ron exclaims, cutting the twins off. Which was probably for the best as their offer was tempting.

"Ron Weasley take your bloody rat!" Molly shrieks from behind him. Ron's eyes widened slightly, his expression filling with instant regret. I stand on the tips of my toes to see Molly Weasley pushing through her family with Scabbers held firmly in her hands.

"He's still alive?!" I gasp, looking at Scabbers in awe.

"Yeah, the nasty bugger is ten years old." Link shakes his head, a scowl appearing as he overlooks the pudgy rat. "Almost as old as you." He continues, turning his attention elsewhere.

Scabbers showed his age as he slept through the whole train ride. While the grey rat laid lazily curled up in a pile of candy wrappers, Ron explains the houses at Hogwarts to Harry.

"So- your whole family is in Gryffindor?" Harry gapes, his eyes glistening as he watches Ron nod proudly.

"The both of our families are." I confirm, equally as proud. My smile falters as I catch sight of the opened chocolate frog boxes. Harry's growing stack of Collectors Cards is laid out beside him.

"I've always quite liked Hufflepuffs, however a lot of people say they're useless. I don't understand how you could find kindness useless." Ron rambles, he shrugs as he picks up a Liquorice Wand from the pile.

"Ravenclaws are smart, there's not much more to it." I add on, fiddling with the Collectors Card I got, in which I told Ron had Merlin on in.

"I bet they're keen partners to have in class. But Slytherins, they're nasty." He grumbles, more focused on opening the wrapper than what he was saying. "They're all blood prejudice bullies, bloody awful I tell you." He mutters with a scowl, finally unraveling the wrapper.

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