Have I Told You Lately? (l.s)

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01.06.18

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Platform 9 3/4 was bustling with children and parents, siblings waving goodbye to each other and old friends greeting one another after the weeks off they'd spent apart. For the past two years Harry had stood by his mothers side as the two of them waved his sister off, but now as she entered her third year at Hogwarts, he was to enter his first.

Gemma, who had been sorted into Ravenclaw almost instantly, had reassured Harry that the sorting process was nowhere near as terrifying as he thought it would be. That was of course after Anne had scolded her for telling her younger brother that the first years were set a task to perform in the dungeons to decide what house they'd be in.

The week before, Harry had headed into Diagon Alley, where he'd picked up a Sooty Owl that he'd quickly named Rocket, for how fast the animal flew around the room once it was let out of it's cage. He'd also got his first wand, a 12 and 3/4 inch made of willow, with a core of Dragon Heartstring. Naturally, he'd boasted to his sister over the fact that her wand was only 10 inches, she'd tried to hex him before their mother intervened.

The large clock on the platform read 10:55, giving the siblings five minutes to say goodbye to their mum and get on the train before it set to pull out of the station.

"Gemma, look after your brother will you." Anne said, laughing a little.

Her daughter was looking around the platform distractedly, most likely trying to find one of her friends or someone to share a carriage with once she'd gotten her younger sibling onto the train.

"You know I will mum, I'm the only one allowed to hex him." The girl replied, nudging her brother in the ribs.

"You won't be hexing anyone miss, I don't want anymore owls from Madame Pomfrey please. That goes for you too Harry."

Harry's head snapped up, being quickly brought out of his day dream to look at his mother. He'd been previously occupied by all the other families and students on the platform, the noise of birds and chatter filling his ears and ringing all around him.

"The only hexes I know are the ones Gem taught me, so blame her." Harry whined, sticking his tongue out at his older sister.

"I will, don't worry about that." The woman laughed, winking at her son as the two of them laughed at Gemmas whining.

Anne pulled her two children into a hug and squeezed them both.

"You better be getting on the train now otherwise you'll miss it, I love you both very much. Look out for each other and don't forget to write!" She spoke trying not to let on how much she was going to miss them.

"Will do mum!" The siblings said in unison, both pressing kisses to either side of their mothers cheek.

With an almost urgent movement, Gemma grabbed her younger brothers hand and yanked him forwards, causing him to stumble and nearly drop the cage that held Rocket.

"Come on, I can see Crystal and Nick! I want to get a carriage with them!" She shouted over her shoulder to her brother who was following dumbly behind.

"Gem, what am I meant to do?"

They'd both climbed onto the train by now and Gemma was storming down the corridor, looking for the carriage her two friends had gone in to.

"I don't know, find someone to sit with. You've got to make friends somehow H." She finally stopped, turning around to put her hands on her brothers shoulders.

Her heart sunk a little at the pitiful look on the boys face, his birdcage clutched to his chest and his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

"You're not the only first year on this train, find a carriage to sit in and I'm sure you'll find yourself some friends in there too." Gemma encouraged, trying to make her brother feel better about the situation.