I was standing on Platform 9 3/4. The past days had been amazing, we'd gone to Diagonal Ally and bought magic books, a black cat who I'd decided to call Mallory, and a WAND. My mum had told me a bit about all the different houses, she had been a Ravenclaw, she told me this with pride in her voice. She then told me that my dad had been a Gryffindor, but she frowned a bit when she said this and quickly changed the subject. She had made me promise to write to her twice a month, and that she expected me to write to her as soon as I was in my dormitory, telling me how the people were, what house is was sorted in, how the food was and all those things mothers like to know.
She'd helped me heave my trunk into a compartment on the train, and we were now bidding each other our last goodbyes before the platform became too crowded. I hugged her tightly and she kissed the top of my head. I would miss her so much, but I'd still be able to see her at Christmas time and in the summer. I went back into the train, and waved to her, and just as she left, when the clock on the wall showed that it was five minutes till the train left, a rush of people came through the barrier. It had been a good idea to show up a bit early, I thought. I sat down, and Mallory jumped onto my lap and started purring as I absent-mindedly stroked her.
My thoughts drifted to Remus. I'd told him that my mum was sending me to a bording school, in hope of getting me to behave better. He had laughed, saying that they'd need more than a bording school to sort me out, before telling me that he too would be leaving the local school. It would be hard, not being able to see him every day, but we promised each other that we'd spend the entire holiday together, and I felt a bit better. I'd miss hearing him say my name, though. It felt as though I could hear it now, over the chatter of people around me.
"Olimpia!" I looked at the compartment door, not expecting to see anyone, and almost felt my mouth drop when I saw Remus standing, looking as surprised as I felt.
"Remus! What are you doing here? Are you.. A wizard?"
"Yeah, my dad's a wizard, I should have known you were magical!! Is your dad a wizard, do you know?"
"Actually, both my parents are magic, they just decided not to tell me.."
"Oh.." He muttered, "Well I guess there was a reason behind it!" Her ended with a bright note, and I smiled. He was right. As usual.
"Who's this then?"
"He came over and scratched Mallory who sniffed him, hissed a bit, but then purred. Odd.
"This is Mallory, she was a leaving gift from mum."
"I can't believe we're going to spend the entire year together, I thought it would be ages till we could see each other again," He said, happiness and relief clear on his face.
Suddenly, the compartment door slid open again, and three boys stood there. One was short with a pudgy face and blonde hair, one was a bit taller with messy black hair and rectangular glasses, and the last one was tall with curly, black, shoulder length hair and had the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen.
"Sorry to interrupt, but can we sit here? We were kicked out of the last compartment we tried.." The boy with the messy hair said.
The boy with the blonde hair snickered and then the one with the eyes said, "Only because you creeped her out by staring at her for five minutes before asking her out."
At that point, I realised that I was staring, and looked away.
"Oh, sure. If that okay with you Ollie?"
Remus looked at me and I smiled and said, "Course! I'm Olimpia, or Ollie, and this is Remus."
The boy with the glasses looked at me and grinned, "I am the great and might James Potter, and this is Sirius," He indicated to the other boy with black hair, then as an afterthought added, "And Peter."
The boy with the blonde hair, Peter, eyed me in an uncomfortable sort of way, as if he were undressing me with his eyes. There was something in his face that reminded me of a rat.
Remus seemed to notice, as he squeezed my hand and sat down opposite me, Sirius seemed to notice too, as he smacked Peter over the head with the back of his hand, and sat down next to me.
James left to go and find the luggage they had dumped somewhere, and Sirius turned to me, "So, gorgeous, sorry about Peter here, he can be a bit unsettling. I hope you don't get a bad impression of us, we're really actually great people," He smirked and I saw Remus tense up.
"I'll be the judge of that," I replied, grinning cheekily before getting up and sitting next to Remus.
"You two know each other?" Sirius asked. I must have imagined it, but I thought I saw a flicker of jealousy. Must have been the light, judging by the boys looks, he could get about any girl he wanted.
"Yeah, we grew up next door to each other. Our parents are magic, but I didn't know hers were, neither did she actually, and she didn't know my parents were until today." Remus said, bringing his arm around me, "We're like siblings really,"
I smiled, before jumping up as I heard the trolley mum told me about which sold lots of magical sweets. I didn't realise the train had started moving Then I realised that I didn't have any money, mum had said I wouldn't need any this year.
I sighed and sat back down again.
"Crud. I don't have money..."
Remus groaned and said he forgot his too.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sirius getting up, whisper something to Peter, then telling us he'd be back in a minute.
As Sirius left, James walked in and sat opposite me, where Sirius had been sitting.
"So. You two, which houses do you think you'll be sorted into?"
I looked at Remus. I didn't really know the qualities of the houses, mum hadn't told me.
"I reckon I'll be a Ravenclaw, maybe a Hufflepuff" said Remus, and I looked questioningly at him.
James looked expectantly at me, then seemed to notice that I didn't really know what to say, so hem started explaining, "So. I think I'll be in Gryffindor, that's where people who are loyal and brave and stuff are," He smirked, "Ravenclaw is for brainiacs, Slytherin is for kinda scary people, who like the dark arts, thats what dad told me, and Hufflepuff.. Well they're just the people who aren't brave enough for Gryffindor, not smart enough for Ravenclaw and not scary enough for Slytherin.
"I don't really know, I'll probably be a Hufflepuff," I said uncertainly.
"Peter won't be alone then," Sirius had entered again, carrying what seemed like half a sweet shops in his arms.
I laughed, and so did James and Sirius, then Remus and Peter joined in. Peters laugh sounded more like a screams which made me snort, causing all of us to laugh harder.
Sirius sat down next to me and dumped an armful into my lap, "Share that with Remus and remember to bring money next time. I reckon I'll be in Gryffindor by the way. I guess we'll see tonight."
My stomach turned. Tonight. I was a bit worried about the entire sorting thing. Oh well. What was to come would come.
In the mean time I could eat sweet and laugh along with my new friends and old friend.
Sirius pet Mallory who purred and meowed contentedly, and I caught a whiff of something that smelt of cinnamon, cardamom and a couple of other spices, it was sweet, yet bitter. It made me feel safe. I looked at Sirius, who grinned toothily at me.
This was going to be a good year.