Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. It really is an odd school, isn't it? The boarding directions were written at the bottom of the long packing-list sent out to all students. Scarlette had re-checked her list twice to be sure she had everything. When she first saw it, she was confused as to why she needed to bring a pet with her, but luckily the more... difficult things on the list were sent right to her doorstep.
     On the Friday that the packing list had arrived, she also received a brown Owl in a cage, a stick, well, wand that felt somehow oddly perfect, a broomstick (also strange, but okay), and a mysteriously light cauldron. From who, she wasn't sure. Her parents weren't home yet, so thank God for that, or else she may have needed to explain such odd things.
     Scarlette assumed they were sent by the school, because they were such weird things to need. The owl was mainly just annoying. She didn't know why she needed it or why it looked so creepy to her. Then again, owls had always freaked her out a bit.
     Her mother had simply called an uber for her. Scarlette's parents were both still working as she piled her stuff into the car, who's driver decided wisely not to questions any of the strange things with her, and she was glad for that.
     Scarlette saw a girl who looked a bit older than her with a regal snowy owl sitting in a cage atop her heaps of luggage. Not wanting to ask any adult a ridiculous question such as "where is platform Nine and Three-Quarters?", she decided to trust her for and follow her.
     Well, until she ran straight into a wall. Scarlette audibly gasped. Right in between Nine and Ten. It made sense, but it also didn't. Maybe it was a dream and she'd wake up any moment. That was the thought that kept her going as she ran right through the wall.
     A crowded platform with an old, yet beautifully polished, train lie in front of her. Dozens of parents and children shuffling through the crowd were all passing by. She took a deep breath and squeezed by a couple families saying frantic goodbyes as she boarded the train.
     There were no seating arrangements, so she guessed it was about time she became a "social butterfly".
     Approaching Cabin C, she saw a girl about her age setting down her luggage and taking a seat. It appeared that no other person was with her, so she gathered the courage to slide open the cabin door.
     "Sorry, but is anyone sitting here?" Scarlette asked, pointing to the seat across from the girl.
     "Depends. Who are you?" The girl asked.
     "Scarlette Rosier."
     "Rosier? Never heard of your family before. You're a muggle-born, aren't you?" She questioned.
     "Excuse me?" Scarlette responded. She had zero idea what that meant, but it didn't sound kind. "You haven't even introduced yourself yet and you're throwing around accusations?"
     The girl smiled. "Annabel Khan." She gestured to the seat across from her, noticing Scarlette's awkwardness as she stood out in the hall. "You've got some nerve. I like that, Scarlette."
     Scarlette sat down, placing her caged, and unsettling still, owl beside her. After getting situated, she noticed Annabel staring.
     "What? Is it the owl? Weird, I know. Did the school send you one, too?" Scarlette said after some awkward silence.
     "No, its not that. It's just-" She stopped suddenly, "Wait... did you say the school sent you an owl?"
     "Yes..? My broom and wand too."
     "Okay, that's not normal. So..." Annabel was abruptly cut off as the sliding door to the cabin opened.
     A young boy, likely a first year such as herself, welcomed himself into their cabin and sat down next to Annabel. He stretched out his pale legs and nudged over Scarlette's owl, nearly knocking over the cage.
     "Well, excuse you." Scarlette said, catching the cage just before it fell. The sickening creature began to shriek in terror and flap its wings.
     After placing the owl in between her legs in front of her, she decided to take a good look at this intruder. He was actually kind of good-looking. He had blonde hair that, really, was leaning towards the white side of the scale. The boy clearly took care of his hair, as it was shiny and healthy. He had dark green eyes that were likely just hazel and a button nose that any girl would have wanted. He also had a permanent smirk glued to his face, apparently.
     "Nice reflexes. I'm Malfoy. Cassius Malfoy. Pleased to meet you, m'lady." Cassius reached out his hand and Scarlette shook it hesitantly. "You can call me Cass. But if you're a mud blood, just call me your enemy." He winked, as if that were supposed to be charming.
     Annabel gave Scarlette a look and stage-whispered to her, "Nobody calls him that." Which made Scarlette smile a bit.
     "Scarlette Rosier." Scarlette replied to Cassius, sitting back in her seat with a sudden urge to fix her posture.
     "Cassius, Scarlette has just said the most peculiar thing. She says that the school sent her an owl, broom, and, get this, a wand." Annabel said, turning to Cassius.
     He burst into laughter. "That isn't even possible. The wand chooses the wizard, after all. How could the school know which wand to send?"
     "No, really. I'm not lying. Well, who bought yours, if not the school?" Scarlette inquired, turning her head.
     "Uh my parents, of course. Annabel's as well. Along with everyone on this train." Cassius said matter-of-factly, making Scarlette feel stupid for even asking.
     "Right..."
     "Did the school really send yours? Did a letter say so? Was there a receipt? Any note? Are you a mudblood?" He turned to Annabel, almost seeming hurt, "Did you welcome a muggle-born into our cabin?"
     "This one's different. She doesn't seem like a muggle-born. I feel like it's a safer bet to keep her around." Annabel replied, as though Scarlette weren't even in there with them.
     "No note, no receipt, nothing. And will someone please tell me what a muggle is?" Scarlette asked, near desperate to be heard, thought for no true reason.
     "A muggle is what we call the non-magic folk. Just ordinary people incapable of witchcraft or wizardry." Annabel said, like Scarlette should know this because they've been over it a thousand times.
     The train jolted forward, starting up. Scarlette nearly flew into Annabel in front of her. But was lucky enough to hold onto her seat. As the train began to depart, the door opened yet again. This time, another young boy stumbled into the cabin.
     "Who's this rando?" The stranger asked, eyeing Scarlette.
     The boy sat down next to her, though Cassius' outstretched legs were in between them. She noticed his scruffy black hair, not quite as well managed as Cassius', but still incredibly healthy. He had dark blue eyes and medium-tan skin. He clearly came from money, too.
     "Scarlette Rose-whatever, a new acquaintance of Annabel's, as of about five minutes ago." Cassius said to him, glancing from Scarlette to Annabel.
     "It's Rosier." Annabel said, rolling her eyes, "Scarlette, meet Jalius Pucey. Otherwise known as Jay." She gestured from Scarlette to Jay.
     Jay gave Scarlette an awkward smile and a little wave, "I've never heard of the name Rosier before— Annabel, are you sure about her?"
     "Well, 90% sure, but who are you to question me? Scarlette seems to have quite an interesting..." Annabel's voice slowly disappeared as Scarlette tuned out the group.
     As they left London, the train passed miles and miles of beautiful rolling hills and pastures. The others kept talking, which gave Scarlette a bit of time to assess them. Cassius did most of the talking, mainly snarky or sarcastic comments here and there. He and Jay kept bickering over where Cassius' feet were placed and Annabel, who seemed to take on the role of leader, would have to bring them back into the conversation.
     From what she could tell, they were all quite wealthy. Annabel had beautiful silky dark auburn hair. Not exactly a typical ginger with how dark her hair was. Her eyes were a striking emerald green and she had evenly-placed freckles around her face. She wore what Scarlette would imagine to be an old-money styled look. She had a float white shirt, a dark green and black jacket, black trousers, a green emerald and pearl necklace, likely with real emeralds and pearls, pearl earrings, and an emerald bracelet.
     The boys, too, wore expensive clothing and Cassis wore many gold rings on his fingers, which she assumed was real gold. Scarlett's even took note of the small streak of black towards the back of Cassius' hair...
     "Right, Scarlette?" Annabel said, looking at Scarlette expectantly. All eyes were on her, as though she was supposed to have been paying attention the whole time.
     Scarlette ran a nervous hand through her long brown hair.
     "I'm not sure where she is, but she sure isn't on this train. Annabel, are you sure this is the one?" Cassius said sarcastically.
     "I must have zoned out, I'm sorry, what are we talking about?" Scarlette asked, finally.
     "I said, you think you'll be a Slytherin, right?" Annabel said, her emerald eyes locking onto hers.
     "I... uh... what's a Slytherin?"
     "Bloody hell." Cassius cursed, smiling.
     "As in the Hogwarts House." Annabel replied, ignoring Cassius' comment.
     After hearing that Scarlette didn't know a bit of that that meant, they all went into a spiral, all talking at once, even Jay, who had been quiet most of the time.
     Eventually, Annabel took charge and began to explain the houses, what being in each one meant, and then told her basically everything she needed to know about Hogwarts, including its bloody history.
     After a few moments of awkward silence as Annabel awaited a reply, Scarlette finally said, "...Are we sure this school is safe?"
     "Oh, not in the slightest, love." Cassius said, flashing Scarlette a playful smile.
     "Now that you know what blood status is, can you tell us your own parentage?" Annabel asked Scarlette.
     "Oh, well, my parents don't know a thing about the Wizarding World— sorry to disappoint." She replied.
     "I have a feeling that your parents aren't who you think they are." Said Jay, finally speaking up.
     Annabel began to explain that about twelve years ago, a child born with unnatural power was kidnapped by a group of people who called themselves 'The Cloud'. They call themselves such an odd name because they seek to restore order to the Wizarding World in a way that the Ministry couldn't. They see themselves as neither good nor evil. Members of this group believe they live in a bit of a grey area, metaphorically between the sky and the earth, where the clouds are. In order to get all bloodlines, races, wealth status, and other differences out of they way, they assumed that the best way to go about it was to find somebody with enough power to, essentially, rule over all magic-folk to ensure peace and equality.
     Scarlette still had no idea what this had to do with her at all.
     "Well," Annabel began, looking around first as though she needed to protect the confidentiality of their conversation, "The Cloud kidnapped this baby because since birth she had radiated an odd sort of energy that told the members that it had great potential. Its parents had their memories altered— they no longer practiced magic or knew that they had a child."
     As Annabel took a short pause, Cassius jumped in, "Blah blah blah, the kid was in captivity for two months, some mystery group of heroes saved said kid, and then she was somehow temporarily stripped of her extreme power so that only an average amount remained and after losing her powerful energy and being placed with an unsuspecting family, The Cloud could no longer find her. The end. Nice bed time story."
     Well, clearly Cassius didn't take this seriously.
     "There was a reason your wand was sent to you. For a muggle-born, it's not too odd to be sent a basic broom and familiar, but a wand? That just doesn't make sense. Unless you were that child. It is rumored that the person who saved the child was a woman who, as well, was quite a powerful witch, just not nearly as powerful. Like Olivander, the famed wand-maker, she would have likely been able to tell which wand matches what wizard of wizard." Annabel paused, giving Scarlette time to take it in.
     "But obviously that's not-" Cassius began
     "No no, it does check out." Jay said, looking at Scarlette a bit quizzically.
     Once more, all eyes were on her. "I... I think you are all mistaken."
     "I know it's a lot, so I'll let you have time to yourself to digest it." Annabel said, almost sympathetically, but not quite. There was almost an anxious tone to her words.
     The rest of the train ride, she gazed out the window and watched as a rainstorm drew closer and closer, until the window was being pelted with clear drops of rain.