House Delphi | Fred Weasley x OC fanfic

1 - Arrival at Hogwarts

Cassius sat silently in the train car, watching the scenery pass her by. She missed the mountains and the snow of Russia. She petted her cat, Koschechka, who sat patiently on her lap. It was her third year, and instead of laughing with her friends and helping the first years who got seasick on the ship ride over to Durmstrang, she was here. She was on a train to a school she had barely heard of because of one line in her late mother's will.

"I want my daughter to study in the same place as her grandparents."

Well, on her father's side, her grandparents studied at Durmstrang. On her mother's side, they'd studied at Hogwarts. It was determined that since her mother was the one writing the will, it was supposedly clear that she meant her parents, not her in-laws. Her mother's parents died shortly after Cassius was born, so she never got to meet them. Cassius had tried to argue, but who would listen to the poor, distressed thirteen-year-old at the reading of her parents' will?

So here she was in the United Kingdom. She'd been escorted to the train by some unfortunate auror despite her insistence that she could make the journey on her own. It was a floo to the Russian ministry, then a floo to the UK ministry, and then a floo to the train station. It was not as hard as they had made it out to be.

She had already changed into her Hogwarts uniform, which was dull compared to the crimson red of the Durmstrang uniform. She always thought the uniform's red brought out the bright white of her hair and her dark, almost black eyes. In the Hogwarts uniform, she looked ghostly. The dark gray made her hair look dull and gave her eyes an unsightly dead fish look.

She'd gotten a letter that she'd join the first years at the sorting ceremony. As the train came to a stop, she placed Koschechka into her cat carrier and let it on the train. She'd been assured that luggage would be collected by the Hogwarts house elves and that she would leave all her things on the train for easy transportation.

For the first time on the entire trip, she opened the door to her train cart and let herself be pushed off the train by the rush of other students. She walked to greet the large man, Hagrid, who she'd believed he was called.

"Ah, Cassius Delphi, yes?" Hagrid said after noticing her approach. "You'll follow some of the first years. Three to a boat."

Cassius nodded before quietly walking to follow behind the first years. She looked desperately out of place. She was taller than all of the first years by a significant amount. She spotted an empty boat and quickly sat down on it. The subtle bobbing of the boat in the water reminded her of Durmstrang, and she managed to smile a bit as she looked across the inky black lake.

When the first years all settled down, Cassius was thankfully still alone in her boat. She sat patiently as the magic pushed the boat through the lake and under the castle.

The castle was much bigger than Durmstrang. It was tall and intimidating on the hill overlooking the lake. As the boats finally came to a stop and the first years eagerly hopped out of the boat, they were greeted by a stern-looking woman. Hagrid referred to her as Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take them from here."

Professor McGonagall motioned for them to follow behind her, and they scurried quickly to keep up.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-od-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.