The first of September had come, Medea was shaken by excitement and acted as if she had drunk too much coffee. This wasn't her first day at a new school, as she was a transfer from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, where she spent two years each, due to her complicated family situation, but that didn't ease her agitation. When the orphanage's staff called her downstairs, she grabbed her trunk and heaved it all the way down.

They apparated into an alleyway next to King's Cross and left for Platform 9¾. The square was crowded and the train station gigantic, Medea could barely take in the new information and the great places.

People bumped into her, men shouted and it smelled of cigarettes and alcohol, even though both were forbidden. She didn't let these things impact her travel to Hogwarts but kept smiling, trying to see everything.

They stopped in front of platforms nine and ten and Medea was about to ask what was going on when Rory, a seventh-year, started talking.

"Ok guys, all you need to do is run through that wall to get to Platform 9¾. It is important that the Muggles don't see us, which is why you're just gonna run to my command, understood?" he asked in a severe tone, turning and watching out for muggles.

Medea was doubting this method, weighing the possibility of the older ones playing a prank on them, but she still hadn't decided what to believe, when an older girl ran at the barrier and disappeared.

"Hey, you worried?" a girl turned up next to Medea, "don't be, it's super easy! You have to run at the barrier, that's it," she smiled and Medea already thought she was a nice person, "When I was a first-year, I nearly didn't run out of fear," she chuckled over herself, "I'm Caecilia, by the way."

This made Medea relax a bit and she took a deep breath. The older seventh-year counted again, it was their turn to go. She would have actually liked a few seconds more, but now that everybody stared at her, she just ran.

Soon her feet moved without her controlling it anymore and the barrier came closer and closer. During the last meters before the crash, her brain came up with thousands of ideas what to do now, one being more impossible than the other.

When she opened her eyes again, which she had closed out of fear of the crash, she found herself on a great platform with a scarlet steam engine on which it said Hogwarts Express. She released the breath she hadn't known she had been holding and mustered the sing saying Platform 9¾.

The unpleasant smell of cigarettes had been replaced by the smoke of the train. The platform was crowded and Medea was afraid she'd miss something if she blinked, when she noticed, her trolley was still way too fast. 

She tried to stop the trolley but didn't manage in time. Instead, she bumped into someone.

Well, it was unclear if she ran into him or he ran into her, but in the end, it didn't matter, because they were both lying on the floor, the trolley fell over next to them and the trunk slid a few meters away.

"Ouch!- I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop the trolley anymore, are you hurt? I really didn't want this, I'm so so sorry!" Medea apologized several times. She got up, her hip hurt and she was sure she fell right onto it.

The boy she ran into had already gotten up, but he didn't seem angry. His brown eyes were sparkling with amusement under his red hair. His face was full of freckles and when he smirked at her, he seemed to be in his element.

"Well, you're a passionate one! But no worries, it just so happens that I am single," he smiled and then turned to arrange the trolley and put the trunk onto it.

"Oh no, um...I didn't-," she started, but the boy interrupted her.

"No problem, I know!" he said and smirked once more. Just then, an identical copy of him turned up right beside the boy.

"Oh god. That crash must have been harder than I thought," Medea worried and rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

"I'm George, by the way. And this is my twin brother Fred," he introduced himself, his copy nodded politely, he had to be the twin then. After the short moment of confusion, she happily introduced herself and went to the train with the twins.

"So, which year are you in? It can't be the first, but I've never seen you around before. These green strands in your hair look great by the way."

"Yeah, I've been to Durmstrang for two years and before that, I was two years at Beauxbatons. I'm transferring just this year. Going to be a fifth-year," she explained.

"You know all that dark magic stuff then?" Fred asked and opened the door of an empty compartment for her. She was thankful they had sat down the way they had walked with her, it was much easier this way, to make out who was who, "Have you ever been to Knockturn Alley?"

"Knockturn Alley? No, never even heard of it," she answered, slightly offended that he reckoned right away she knew all the "dark magic stuff".

Soon, a black boy joined them, he had dreadlocks and started joking with the twins right away.

"Guys, have you figured out yet how to sell hrm hrm," he fake-coughed and sent her a look, "without your mom noticing?"

Fred and George replied immediately and nodded in excitement, though they still sent looks to Medea and spoke too quiet for her to understand.

"What are you up to?" she asked, leaning forward, the boys bandied looks.

"Well, um...," George started, then, arching his eyebrows, he suddenly said, "why's your wand laying under the bench, you don't want to break it, do you?"

"What? No, of course, I don't wanna break it," she replied, ducking down to get the wand, "I don't understand how it's got there, I thought I had it in my robe..."

She grabbed the wand and pulled it from beneath the bench when it turned into a tin parrot.

"What the...," she exclaimed and dropped the parrot, confusion written all over her face. The boys burst into laughter.

When they had calmed down, they explained to her they had been working on these trick wands for ages now and they also had a lot of other joke articles. They then spent a lot of time talking to each other about how to sell them and all but the boys were still keeping it a cheerful talk. They made jokes all the time and Medea soon figured they were really fun to be around.

"Why did Crabbe and Goyle cross the road?" Fred asked once. Even though it was one of the jokes Medea didn't understand, she still remembered it for quite some time, especially because George and Lee roared with laughter about it.

"Because they were following Draco!"

When the train arrived, the well-known anxiety took her over again. She was all jittery and couldn't wait to see Hogwarts finally. She left the train with the twins and Lee and found herself on a tiny, dark platform with all those sweet, vintage lanterns.

Students crowded the platform, chattering excitedly, hugging friends or laughing about something together. It was rather dark and the cold night air, as well as the excitement, made her shiver. They were all going into one direction, but Medea heard a female voice coming from the other side of the platform, calling for the first-years.

"First-years! First-years over here, please!" she yelled and Medea turned to the boys.

"You think I'm supposed to go with the first-years or with you?" she asked, whereupon the boys could just shrug.

"Just ask and find out I guess," one of the twins said and shoved her into the direction the voice came from. She soon couldn't see the boys anymore, all the students around her were narrowing her sight and movement abilities.

She finally reached a strict looking woman, who told her, on request, to wait with her until all the first-years would have arrived. When a large group of them had surrounded Medea and the Professor, they were led into the darkness.

They followed a steep and narrow path whose ground was rough and full of roots. She smelled wet fur and could hear animal's noises out of the darkness surrounding them. Medea tripped more than once and nearly fell right into the Professor, who had, by now, introduced herself as Professor Grubbly-Plank.

They soon turned around a corner and got to see their future school, Hogwarts. Even though it was dark and the outlines were barely visible, Medea was astonished, because Beauxbatons already claimed to have the most beautiful castle and was still outdone by Hogwarts' little turrets and the sweet little, lighted windows, as well as the moulding on the walls.

The Professor then instructed them to sit down in one of the boats that were floating in the water of a lake before them. When they were going over the water towards their future school, Medea was dumbfounded. The castle seemed so welcoming and Medea looked forward to her time there and the dark and cold air around them as well as the gloomy water beneath them gave it all an intimidating atmosphere.

Soon, they entered a tiny harbour that seemed to be under the school somehow. Professor Grubbly-Plank led them up a great staircase and Medea panted in exhaustion after going up all those stairs and all the icky first-years around her didn't look any better.

All of them were happy to see a great wooden door because it meant the staircase had ended. Professor Grubbly-Plank knocked it thrice and then stepped back for the door to be opened by a woman locking even more stern than Professor Grubbly-Plank did.

The new woman led them into the castle, it was lit by fire and coats of armour stood in the corridors. They were taken to a tiny chamber which had to be near the rest of the students because Medea could her a drone of hundreds of voices.

The woman introduced herself to be Professor McGonagall and explained to all of them that they were now being sorted. She quickly elucidated the house system at Hogwarts, she then pulled Medea to the site.

"Miss Lane, as you are not a first-year, you will be sorted first. I expect you to enter the hall behind me," she said and then turned to the first-years without waiting for a response.

She opened the door of the small chamber and they soon stood in front of a gigantic wooden door with carved ornaments showing wizarding duels or fantastic beasts. Medea's entrails felt as if turned into bumblebees and she couldn't keep her hands still.

McGonagall was about to open the door.

***

Um...hello!!

I just wanted to say, the girl, Caecilia, that talks to Medea at Platform 9¾ is dedicated to a close friend of mine, who is named the same. She just means a lot to me and I want to show that with a personal character for her.

Also, if you enjoyed this chapter, please consider giving it a vote or leaving a comment. Thanks! :) 

xoxo