1st person POV:
Now with my father gone, I had to figure things out on my own. I walked on over to the train station with a huge load of school supplies I could barely pull around on my cart. As I entered the train station I saw almost a million people scrambling to get to their destination. I looked down at my ticket to see I had to be at platform "9 3/4". Huh. Didn't know platforms could have fractions...I looked around to see if anyone else was just as confused as I was and as I scanned the station I spotted an entire family of 6. A mother and her 5 kids who were all ginger. But trailing behind them was a small boy about my age. Instead, he has dark hair and circular glasses. Must be a friend of one of the ginger kids. He seemed to be a first year who was also confused on where to go, so I ran up behind the line of gingers and a singular brunette to see what they were doing. Suddenly, two of the eldest kids started going full speed into a brick wall! I closed my eyes but didn't hear a crash or anything. Why..they went right through it! One after another, all of the gingers disappeared into the wall. Next came the brunette. He looked scared, but made it through. As I got ready to enter whatever kind of dimension the others went into, I pulled my hair back behind my ears, and started to run. I ran as fast as I could and prepared for damage, but as I looked up from my cart of supplies, I had realized I was in a totally different station. A station full of wizards. As soon as I saw the big steam engine I got on and picked a seat. As I was looking through the different rooms on the train, I spotted the small brunette boy with circular glasses from before. I peered into his room, which he seemed to be sitting alone. "Hello . . . is it alright if I sit with you?" I asked quietly. When expecting "no" as an answer, the boy replied, "Of course!" and gestured for me to sit in the seat across from him. We sat in silence for a bit. Not an awkward kind of quiet, but also not particularly a comfortable one. About a minute of no eye contact and wall admiring went by until one of the younger red headed boys came by our room. "Excuse me. Do you mind? Everywhere else is full." I smiled while the brunette boy replied, "Not at all."
"I'm Ron by the way. Ron Weasley."
"I'm Maeve. Maeve Albatross."
"And I'm Harry. Harry Potter." The brunette replied.
Ron gasped. I can't believe I didn't see it before. The one and only Harry Potter was sitting in a train cart with me. Although, he wasn't at all what I thought he would look like. For someone so famous, I wouldn't expect him to be wearing clothes as torn as his. Clothes like mine.
"So . . . is it true? I mean . . . do you really have the . . . the . . ." Ron said pointing to his head expecting me and Harry to have any idea what he was talking about.
"The what?" Harry asked.
"The scar."
"Oh." Harry smiled and scoffed as he lifted his hair off of his forehead to reveal the lightning shaped scar that was just like everyone had described it to look like.
"Wicked!" Ron replied amazed.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" An old woman asked with a cart full of treats.
"No thanks . . . I'm all set." Ron said
"Maybe a water? Unless it costs anything." I asked
Harry looked at the of us, then spontaneously said "We'll take the lot." And pulled out a handful of gold coins. Nothing like I'd ever seen before.
One after another, the old woman delivered all different sorts of treats to the three of us. Fizzing Whizbees, Exploding Bonbons, Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans, and even Chocolate Frogs.
Ron and I chatted for a bit about the cards we'd collected from Chocolate Frogs. Of course Ron had twice as many as I did but it didn't bother me.
"So Maeve, you been thinking about trying out for the quidditch team?" Ron asked.
"Possibly. Why?" I replied.
"Well because of your mum."
I sighed. "What about her?"
"Don't you know? She's a quidditch champion!" Ron exclaimed.
"My mother? No. She's way too proper for that kind of stuff."
"I'm telling you. She's one of Beauxbatons best players of the century."
"What position would I play for anyways?" I asked.
"Well it mostly depends on what house you're in, but I know Fred and George said that Gryffindor is looking for a seeker, both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are low on beaters, and Slytherin is looking for a good chaser."
"Hm. I'll keep that in mind. What about you, Harry?"
Harry had been looking out the window. He seemed to have been in deep thought. If I hadn't said his name, he probably would have kept looking out at the world for a good 2 hours.
"Quidditch? Oh. I don't know much about it really."
"That's alright. I can teach you." Ron tried to explain the rules of quidditch to Harry, but Harry had seemed very lost and confused as to what the hell Ron was saying. Every now and then, Harry would be shocked to hear something about flying brooms, aggressive quaffles, and injuries that could lead to underage student's death.
A few hours had gone by and the three of us had gone through a tremendous amount of candy. Although Ron's fat rat, Scabbers was eating a good fourth of the sweets.
"Fred gave me a spell that's supposed to turn him yellow. Want to see?" Ron said.
"Yeah!" Me and Harry exclaimed.
Ron cleared his throat and right as he was about to show us his new spell, a brown eyed girl passed by our room. She seemed confident. Very prim and proper, yet had the bushiest hair I had ever seen. Most likely not into appearances.
"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." She said sounding annoyed.
Me, Harry and Ron shrugged.
"No?" Ron said with his wand still in his hand. (his first mistake)
"Oh . . . are you doing magic? Let's see then!" The girl said, lifting her chin up proudly.
Ron again cleared his throat to perform his long awaited spell.
"Sunshine, daisies, bottom mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" The boy said as he lazily whipped his wand around the poor rat.
The four of us waited for any sign of color changing in the rodent. But alas, Scabbers did nothing but snack on more Bertie Bots Every Flavored beans.
"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well it's not very good is it? Of course, I've only tried a few simple ones myself. But they've all worked for me." The girl said with a sense of pride in her words.
Harry, Ron, and I looked at each other in utter confusion and annoyance.
"For example, 'Oculus Repairo'." The girl flicked her wand as I covered my eyes. When I opened them, Harry's glasses which were once broken and held together by tape, were now good as new.
"That's better isn't it? . . . Holy cricket . . . you're Harry Potter!" The girl shouted. "I'm Hermione Granger . . . and you two are?"
"Uh. Ron Weasley."
"Maeve Albatross?"
"Pleasure." The girl said in a disgusted tone.
Me and Ron looked at each other. This girl is mad.
"You three better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." She ordered us.
Harry, Ron, and I looked at each other to get a better understanding of what the hell had just happened. I then told the boys I would go to the train bathroom to change while they stayed and changed in the train cart.
On my way to the bathroom, a boy with a mischievous grin on his face stepped in my way. He had bleach blonde hair and was surrounded by two other boys that looked as though they had 2 braincells left each.
"Hello. Maeve Albatross?"
I nodded.
"I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." The boy said proudly. "I hear you're a pureblood. Crabb, Goyle and I think you would make a great fit into Slytherin house. You don't want to start off on the wrong foot, now would you?"
". . . I'll think about it . . ." I replied as I slightly pushed the boy out of my way. Weird guy.
I came back to the train cart all dressed in my robes as we were about two minutes away from the train station over by Hogwarts.
When we arrived, each student had to row their way on boats towards the castle that seated 2 people. Harry and Ron sat together, while I was stuck with Hermione. The girl rambled on the entire boat ride about how bad she wanted to make it into Gryffindor house and how excited she was for the O.W.L exams at the end of the year which seemed pretty nauseating to me.
After what seemed like the longest and most boring conversation of my life, we had finally reached the castle and got a lecture from Professor McGonagall. I stole a glance at Harry who seemed to be having the same conversation with Draco that I did. I saw Draco put his hand out to shake Harry's, but Harry refused. Looks like those two had just made enemies of each other.
By the time it was time for the house ceremony, all the first year students huddled up and I snuck over to reconnect with Harry and Ron. Harry gave me a grin. He seemed happy to see me. I got butterflies.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-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 honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
McGonagall began calling up the names of the first years to be sorted.
"Ronald Weasley?"
Ron walked up the steps and into the sorting chair with a half smile on his face. He seemed to be dreading this.
"Hmm . . . another Weasley . . . I know where to put you . . . Gryffindor!"
"Hermione Granger?"
Hermione walked up the steps and seemed to be talking to herself?
"Okay . . . relax. Relax."
"Hmm . . . okay . . . alright . . . Gryffindor!"
Hermione walked away looking pleasant, but not surprised.
"Draco Malfoy?"
As soon as Draco sat in the chair he was sorted into Slytherin.
"Harry Potter?"
Everyone in the room went silent. This was a big moment. Harry begged and begged to not be put into Slytherin. The sorting hat finally agreed to put him in Gryffindor just like his parents.
"Maeve Albatross?"
Oh lord. Here we go.
All I want is to be put with Harry and Ron.
Harry begged to not be put into Slytherin so maybe if I just beg on my knees for Gryffindor I will be put there?
I walked up the steps and felt everyone's eyes on me. I sat down in the chair and hoped for the best.
"Hmm . . . great mind . . . hard worker . . . headstrong . . . competitive . . . ambitious . . . oh very ambitious . . . I think I know right where to put you . . ."
"Slytherin!"
My face went sour. I don't get it. How come I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor? I practically prayed for it! I looked over at Harry and Ron. They looked disappointed, but also clearly had already made some new friends. This sucks.
I sat down at the Slytherin table. Everyone smells here.
"Didn't get the house you wanted huh?" A random Slytherin boy said to me.
"How did you know?"
"I could tell by the sour expression on your face. Same thing happened to me. I begged for Ravenclaw when being sorted and yet, I still got Slytherin."
"But I thought the sorting hat takes what house you want into account?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee your chances of getting into what you want. Your other traits can overshadow what you want and drag you down into the house you least wanted."
This. Sucks.
2194 words.
A/N: Well thats where I'm leaving this chapter off. Next chapter will start in second year. I'm trying to get the early years of Hogwarts to move quickly because A lot of the action will start in year four and five.