“I’ll be back in a while.”
Amaryllis glanced at her brother who nodded, and turned back to Ron who was deep into talking about his brother Percy and how much of a prude he had been about becoming Prefect. Something she and Harry knew nothing about, but Harry was more than happy to hear everything Ron said.
On the other hand, Amaryllis couldn’t sit in that compartment any longer. She had become restless and needed to move, so she did just that.
Wandering the halls of the train helped ease her muscles that had begun to tense up. Another oddity that she hated. Harry was able to sit for longer periods of times than her, where she couldn’t last more than half an hour before she either began to drift off into her mind, or found something interesting within the room she sat. It quelled the need to move, but the compartment did not allow of that to happen as it was plain, except for the trunks overhead.
As she neared a compartment after her second lap, she heard a familiar voice, “All you have to do is throw this is the compartment twenty-seven and run before anyone sees you. No one will suspect you.”
Amaryllis threw open the compartment, narrowing her eyes at the twins. “Hello, Fred, George.”
“If it isn’t Mellie. Our new sister,” Fred, or George said.
“I’m not your sister.”
Fred, or who she thought was Fred, said, “Ah, mother won’t know the difference. You’ll make a perfect brother.”
“I think one brother is enough, thank you.”
“Is he as cool as us, though?” George questioned, raising a brow at her.
Amaryllis ignored George as she turned to a boy who seemed to be just as new as her. “Are they bothering you?”
A chorus of yes’s and a never from the twins echoed in the compartment.
Turning to the two other people she saw in the compartment, a boy with darker skin and black hair deadpanned at the twins while the girl had a slight tan with straight brown hair and shook her head.
“We just wanted him to give our brother Percy a welcoming back gift. That’s all,” Fred said as he held up a small ball in the palm of his hand. It looked normal. Yet the twinkle in Fred and George’s eyes told her otherwise.
“You can leave.” Amaryllis stared at the slightly cautious boy that glanced between her and the twins. “They won’t do anything, now will you?”
The twins pouted, shoulders slumped, but nodded, gesturing for him to leave. Amaryllis took the seat the boy occupied next to the girl.
“Put it in his bed.”
Fred and George stared at her shocked. The boy next to them mirrored their expression, though a small smile appeared on the twins face after a second.
“Did you do that to your brother?”
Amaryllis shook her head. “No. Our cousin. Got into a lot of trouble for that one too.”
“Where is your brother?”
“Talking with your brother.”
“Sneaky little thing he is.”
The girl next to her piped up, intervening the conversation the twins kept up. “Obviously these two won’t introduce us, but I’m Angelina. It’s nice to meet someone who keeps those two on their toes.”
The boy across from her held his hand out for her. “Lee Jordan.”
“Amaryllis,” she replied, shaking Lee’s hand.
Angelina leaned back against the wall. “How old is your brother?”
“Oh, we’re twins, fraternal though.”
Lee chuckled. “I hope you and your brother are nothing like these two.”
Fred and George held a hand over their heart, looking at Lee with an offended gaze. “We are the ideal figures to look up to.”
Amaryllis rolled her eyes. “You wish, but no. We’ve had our fair share of pranks, but it isn’t exactly our forte.”
“What do you guys like to do?”
That was a question Amaryllis hadn’t expected to hear. How was she supposed to answer that? She liked the water and everything in it, but Harry hadn’t picked up any hobbies. He had gone from one thing to another since they were little. Nothing had stuck, no matter how much she encouraged him. Living with their Aunt and Uncle had left no room to pick anything up when they weren’t allowed to do much more than breath.
Shrugging, Amaryllis looked away from them all as she answered, “I like the water and learning about everything that lives in it. Harry, he hasn’t really found something he likes.”
“Well, you’re in luck. There’s a giant squid in the lake at school that’s always friendly.”
Amaryllis’s eye lit up at Angelina began to tell her stories of their encounters and rumors they heard from their years at school.
Fred and George even engaged into the conversation, throwing in pranks they had pulled on kids, telling them how the giant squid would throw them across the lake if they disturbed the waters in any way. The head of their house, Professor McGonagall, had to squash the rumors once they spread from it, reducing their points. That was something she had to ask them about. Hagrid never said anything about a house cup, or the points that added up to the end of the year— at least she didn’t remember him saying anything about it.
The sky dimmed the longer they talked, and Amaryllis bought a few things off the lady that came by with the trolley. She enjoyed the conversation between the four older students that she barely saw the sun hide behind the rolling hills out the window.
She had known Fred and George loved to prank, but didn’t know their love for it had gone as far as to make, test and sell then all while they were at school. They were also part of the Quidditch team, along with Lee, and Angelina. They gave her more defined rules than Hagrid had given Harry, and quickly declined their invitation for next year to join. The Gringotts cart became a story to why she would not like Quidditch but it gave the twins something to laugh at while Angelina joined in her misery.
Angelina looked outside, turning back to them. “We should almost be there.”
“Might want to go change, Mells.”
She assumed that was George, unless they began changing the nicknames they gave her, it seemed to be her only way to tell them apart.
“We’ll see you at the sorting,” Angelina called as they went separate ways.
With a wave over her shoulder, Amaryllis headed back to the compartment that her brother and Ron were at. A third person occupied the place when she opened the door. A girl with bushy brown hair sat across from them. They seemed to be mid-conversation as they stopped and stared at her.
“Sorry, I came to grab my robes and change into them. We’re almost there.”
The girl stared out the window, her eyes widening. “She’s right. I’m Hermione by the way.”
“Amaryllis.”
“Oh, Harry’s sister. He told me about you. Said you were wandering the train.”
“Yes, I was. Then I found Ron’s brothers, Fred and George, and sat with them and their friends until they said we were almost there.”
“Well, thank you. Because I can tell these two dimwits wouldn’t have noticed.”
“Oi,” Ron said with a mouthful of food.
Her and Hermione turned to stare at Ron. She didn’t know what was worse, shoving your face with food, or talking with so much in your mouth at one time.
“Thank you, Lissie.”
Amaryllis nodded, squeezing by Hermione who made room for her to come in and pull her robes from her trunk.
“Do you know where the changing rooms are?”
With a shake of her head, Hermione gestured her to follow, going on a speal of the book she had read before coming to Hogwarts: A Hogwarts History. It had been an interesting book to listen to when Harry read it to her, but she didn’t find it as interesting as Hermione spoke about it.
By the time they both had changed and made it back to the compartment, Harry and Ron had already made it back in their robes.
Amaryllis saw Hagrid before he spoke, waving his hand in the air. “First years, this way.”
“Enjoy the ride, Millie.”
Turning, she saw Fred, George, Angelina, and Lee wave at her with smiles. It hadn’t clicked at first as she saw them walk in the opposite direction of where Hagrid told them to gather, but it made sense why they told her that when Hagrid led them down a path that led to the lake where boats with a lantern on front awaited them.
“Alright, two to four to a boat, please. Don’t shove.”
Amaryllis climbed into the same boat with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Excitement grew through her veins as the boats began to move by themselves, crossing the lake. She had seen the castle; it was huge and beautiful, but she was intrigued by the water and what lay beneath it.
Reaching out, Amaryllis ran her hand along the surface of the water. The water glided past her fingers as she stared into the depth of darkness. It was hard to see further down the what was close to the surface, but she swore she saw something more than a leg of a squid. It had looked like a fin, but the upper part didn’t look like any creature she knew. If she didn’t know mermaids didn’t exist, she would have called it that. But they didn’t and she knew her mind had begun to see something that wasn’t there.
She leaned closer, feeling the boat tip and a sharp cry from Ron.
“Careful now,” Hagrid said from somewhere. “Wouldn’t want to fall in and be soppin’ wet in front of everyone.”
It had crossed her mind. She didn’t mind being wet.
“Don’t,” Harry said sternly.
She scowled back at him. “I wasn’t going to.”
Harry raised his eyebrows, not backing down as he continued to stare back at her.
“Alright, fine. I’ll stay put.”
It took much longer than Amaryllis would have liked to cross the lake when she had to sit still. Hermione kept the silence at bay as she talked about the design and architecture for Hogwarts that she read about, even as they made their way up the stairs to the Great Hall. It had been slightly interesting to listen to, but as she went on about classes, she tuned it out. The last thing she want to think about was that. Reading and writing were dreadful enough, but mix in a magic class that she’d be unable to read? Impossible. She’d see herself mixing something up and causing a catastrophe.
The group of first years stopped near the top of the stairs where an older woman in velvet dark emerald robes and a pointy hat waited for them. She held a wand in one hand, tapping it against her other.
“Welcome to Hogwarts. The first-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—”
The double wide doors that loomed behind Professor McGonagall felt like a barrier. Something that once she passed couldn’t be undone. It also symbolized the start to something new. A fresh, and hopefully, better life that held answers to questions she had. Maybe there was a spell to her reading. Something to make it eas—
Gasps echoed around her.
She turned to see what had happened, only to back away as transparent figures; ghosts, floated through a couple students, arguing about something as they continued on. She had bumped into something solid behind her.
“Sorr—” she stopped mid-apology as she noticed the familiar platinum blond hair glaring at her.
“Better be sorry, Potter.”
Amaryllis groaned, not caring how insufferable she sounded. The last person she cared to know that, knew it. And, probably with good reason, disliked her as much as she disliked him.
“Move along,” a stern voice said. “The ceremony will begin.” Professor McGonagall had returned through the large doors that were left cracked open.
When had she left?