ONE MONTH. ONE WEEK. ONE day. One hour. One minute until it would arrive. Andrea McKinnon could hardly feel her leg as it bounced up and down in childlike, bursting anticipation. She was so excited she couldn't remember to savour this moment of chatter and noise and people and families — a scene she had never quite seen before. Humans were so interesting to her, but she hadn't been around enough to know.

"One second," she whispered, and a second later the doors of the steam train popped open in delight.

Andrea grinned, wasting no time before hopping on with everybody else. She'd never been in such a crowded place before, and the feeling made her heart race in such a magical way. There were so many different sizes and shapes and colours and voices, and she just wanted to befriend everybody she saw. They were all either in small groups, chattering loudly, or anxiously walking by themselves, eyes going wide if they accidentally bumped into somebody. Drea found it all too amusing, and she pushed her own way through the crowds of bodies until her eyes settled on two boys, one brunette and one redhead.

"Nice hair!" she complimented, bursting into their compartment without any warning. Both boys looked up at her in shock and confusion, but she didn't notice and made the decision to throw herself onto the bench opposite them.

"Is it real?" she went on to question. "Mine's not real. It's bleached. I did myself." She smiled proudly.

"Um, yes," the ginger boy answered after a moment, waiting to see if she had anything else to say. He'd never heard someone speak so fast; she did it all nearly in a single breath. "My whole family has it."

"Cool." The girl nodded, then paused for a moment, looking between the boys. She shook her head, remembering what Hagrid had taught her last night. "Oh, right. I'm Drea."

"Ron," the readhead introduced.

"Harry," the other answered.

Ron smiled. "He's Harry Potter!" he exclaimed. "Can you believe it?"

Andrea furrowed her eyebrows. "Who?" she asked.

"See?" Harry said.

Ron shook his head. "Were you born yesterday?" he questioned Andrea loudly.

"Nope."

"He's famous!"

"Good for him."

Ron shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."

She sat up straighter in challenge. "Try me."

If it wasn't painfully obvious, Drea had never spoken to anybody her own age before, having been raised by a tall, old man and a million dangerous pets. Today was different, though, because today she was starting Hogwarts, a school she'd lived underneath her entire life. Where she'd make friends and learn magic and get detentions. It was where she'd finally become a normal kid. It was where she'd reach her mother's legacy.

Huffing and out of breath, she layed her back on the cushioned bench and turned back to the boys. "Do either of you have pets? I have, like, seventy."

"We have Charlie...I guess," Ron answered.

Harry shook his head. "I had a fish once when I was little, but my cousin's dog ate it," he answered.

Andrea's eyes went wide and she sat up again. "You have to kill him," she said seriously. "You have to. It's the only way."

Ron and Harry looked at each other, never having met such a strong character in their lives. She'd burst in one minute ago, and now she was ordering one of them to murder their cousin. Harry ended up smiling.

"I'd love to," he said.

Ron chuckled.

"Great!" Drea nodded. "Listen, I've got the perfect plan..."

ღ

IN THEIR SHORT ELEVEN YEARS on this planet, neither Harry Potter nor Ronald Weasley had ever met a character like Andrea McKinnon before. In only one hour of meeting them, she'd got past the first awkward greeting without a bother and was practically telling them her entire life story — which wasn't much, actually, considering she was trapped in a hut her entire world. She was so loud and bubbly, and both boys were beginning to wonder if she was even capable of shutting her mouth to even just breathe. They didn't mind it, though. She was actually rather amusing. Some would find her annoying, but they found her brilliant.

"Hagrid?" Harry said. "I know him."

"You do?" Drea questioned, grinning. "He's just the best, isn't he?"

The boy nodded, smiling.

"Well, I know him, too," added Ron sheepishly. He shook his head. "Actually, I know of him. My brother, Charlie, knew him when he was at school. Helped him out a lot with his magical creatures studies."

"Yes, Hagrid loves his animals," Drea said. "Just last week, he brought home a gryffin."

"He bought me Hedwig," Harry stated, nodding. "My owl."

The girl was grinning with delight as they dwelled on the subject of her guardian. "Oh, he's just amazing, he is! The greatest man to ever live!"

Harry, Ron and Andrea spent hours on the train, talking a load of rubbish, usually started by the small blonde girl. Whilst Ron had his many siblings to spend his time with, not a single one of them — himself, Drea or Harry — had ever made a friend, and something about that felt good to them all. The fact they were all starting this journey together was simply magnificent. By the time they halfway through their travel, they'd each decided in their heads that they were going to stick together. It just made sense.

At some point, a woman came around with a cart of snacks. Hagrid had left Drea a couple of sickles to get herself a few sweets. She'd never bought anything herself before, and she was beyond excited to hand the money over and award herself with some acid pops, which were sent from Honeydukes — the best sweet shop in all of the wizarding world, according to Hagrid. She bought three: one for herself, one for Harry and one for Ron, who didn't have any money and only a pre-made sandwich.

Their eyes both lit up at the sweets, then Harry stood up and emptied his pockets full of gold. Ron and Drea couldn't believe their eyes at the sight of all those pennies, nor could they believe it when Harry bought the entire sweet cart.

"Oh, my goodness!" Drea gasped. "Bet everyone else is fuming!" She chuckled, taking a bite out of her lolly, which made Ron cringe at her.

"Oh." Harry's face dropped a little. "I didn't think of anyone else." Then, as he scanned his eyes over all his snacks, he shrugged. "Oh well."

Andrea and Ron were staring at him like he was God himself.

It didn't take long until the three — and Ron's pet rat, Scabbers, who took a particular disliking to Andrea, which was shown when he'd continously bite her when all she wanted was a cuddle off the fluffy thing — had scoffed down have the trolley.

"Bertie Bott's every flavour beans?" Harry read out the box of sweets he chose next, furrowing his eyebrows in disbelief.

Drea hissed when she was bitten by Scabbers again, this time for simply having the audacity to breathe, then gave up on trying to befriend the animal. She leaned over Harry's shoulder, cringing at the memory of her first and last time ever trying those cursed jelly beans.

"They mean every flavour," Ron remarked, mouth full of gummy worms. "There's chocolate and peppermint, and there's also spinach, liver and tripe. George swears he got a bogie-flavoured one once."

"I got a vomit one," Drea said, shaking her head in disgust at the memory. Hagrid had to hold her hair back as she puked into their kitchen sink for about an hour.

Harry was quick to take the sweet out of his mouth and set the box aside.

Andrea nodded. "Smart decision."

Next, Harry picked up a chocolate frog, which made him wonder. He looked up at his new friends, who'd both been raised in the wizarding scene, and asked wearily, "These aren't real frogs, are they?"

"It's just a spell," Ron assured him. "Besides, it's the cards you want."

The blonde girl shook her head. "I hate them. They creep me out. Make me feel watched." She nearly shivered at the mere thought. Then, she quickly shrugged it off. "The chocolate is nice, though. Wriggles in your mouth a little, but it truly is one of a kind."

When their Muggle-raised friend looked beyond confused, the ginger shook his head. "Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard," he explained. "I've got about five hundred meself."

Cautiously, keeping their words in mind, Harry opened the packet. Right away, a chocolate frog leaped out and stuck itself onto the window.

Drea's eyes went wide. "Catch it! Quick!"

"Watch it!" Ron called, agreeing.

But Harry wasn't fast enough, and the frog had since jumped out of the window and rescued itself.

Andrea's eyes dropped.

Ron shook his head. "Oh, that's rotten luck," he commented with disappointment. "They've only got one good jump in them to begin with."

Although, the brunette didn't seem to mind. His eyes were fixated on the card in front of him, which he turned to different angles to watch the wizard inside move. "I've got Dumbledore!" he exclaimed.

"I got about six of him," said Ron.

Andrea shook her head. "I can't believe you keep those things," she said, cringing.

When Harry glanced back at his card, his face fell into confusion. "Hey, he's gone."

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you?" Ron pointed out.

"Exactly." Drea nodded. "He might be a genius, but he doesn't have steel legs. He's an old man, for God's sake."

Harry just seemed even more confused.

Ron leaned back onto his seat, the pet rat scrambling into a box of sweets. "This is Scabbers, by the way," he introduced.

"Yes, we've met," the girl said bitterly, sucking on her bleeding thumb. "Animals usually love me, I don't see his problem. Don't think he's real."

Ron shrugged sadly. "Pathetic, isn't he?"

"Yep."

"Just a little bit," Harry answered.

"Fred gave me a spell that's to turn him yellow," Ron said, looking a little more lively. "Want to see?"

Harry and Drea both grinned. "Yeah."

Clearing his throat, the Weasley boy picked up his wand and pointed it at the pet in his lap. "Sun —" He was rather rudely interrupted by a girl standing at the side of their compartment.

"Has anyone seen a road? A boy names Neville's lost one," this girl questioned, peeking around their space. She had big, wild, crimped hair with a fringe, already dressed in her uniform, looking a thousand times more tidy than the three sitting down. When she spoke, her accent was exactly as you'd expect to to be: posh and clear.

"No."

The girl looked at the three friends, rather than the space around them, and smiled. "Oh, are you doing magic?" she asked. "Let's see, then."

Andrea grinned. "Yeah, sit down," she said with excitement, patting down the space beside her.

The girl nodded and took her seat, sitting straight with her hands on her lap. Drea was confused. She'd only ever heard of people behaving this way in books about old, rich people.

Slightly nervous with a larger audience, Ron cleared his throat again. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He pointed the wand at Scabbers, whose appearance didn't change in the slightest at the spell.

However, rather than being stuck by the magic not working, Drea gasped. "Did you just body shame him?" she asked in shock. "That is so, so damaging to his soul, Ron."

He blinked at her. "It's a rat."

"Yes, a rat, who has feelings." Her big, brown eyes melted, and she leaned forward to scoop the thing up into her arms...Only for it to bite her again. "Ah, you fucker!" she cursed rather loudly, then slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oops."

Ron and Harry chuckled, but the new girl at their side seemed rather disturbed by her bad language.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good is it?" she asked, changing the topic back. Ron, Harry and Drea all glanced at each other as she spoke, confused. "Of course, I've only tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the brunette boy in front of her. "For example. Oculus reparo." And just like that, Harry's glasses were fixed.

Drea nodded. "Oh, yeah. Hagrid taught me that one when I ran through the window that one time," she said, seeing the astonishment in Harry's eyes.

Beside her, the girl blinked. "You ran...through a window?" she asked, like she hadn't quite heard correctly.

The bleach blonde nodded. "Yep."

"Well..." She turned back to Harry, who was still shocked. "That's better, isn't it?" When he looked back at the redheaded boy, her eyes went wide at the sight of him. "Holy cricket. You're Harry Potter." She smiled. "I'm Hermione Granger." Then looked to her left. "And...you are?"

Andrea grinned. "Andrea McKinnon, nice to meet you," she greeted formally.

Hermione nodded, looking at the ground. "Is that...paint on your shoe?"

The other girl nodded proudly, kicking her white trainers, which were drenched in red and green paint. "I drew flowers," she said, but they looked nothing like plants.

Hermione nodded slowly, then turned to the final member of the group, who was still scoffing down brownies. "Ron Weasley," he said without needing to be asked.

"Pleasure." But her tone didn't sound right. "You three better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." Hermione got up to leave at last, then waited at the door to glance at Ron. "You've got dirt on your nose, by the way. Did you know? Just there."

Ron, whose mouth was full of gummy snakes, rubbed his nose.

Once the girl was gone completely, the trio all glanced at each other.

"I've met bloodhounds less scary than her," Drea eventually stated.

A/N: drea is so cute!! i love her, and i can't wait to write her through the years as she grows up!!

thank you for reading.

love, tay </3