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SEPTEMBER FIRST ARRIVED FAR QUICKER THAN ANYONE ANTICIPATED. King's Cross Station had been crowded to say the least, but platform nine and three-quarters was worse. Wizards and witches alike bustled along the strip as parents and children departed from one another. There were several first years in tears, experiencing separation anxiety for the first time, while the seventh years couldn't wait to be on their way—practically groaning as their parents beckoned them back for a proper goodbye.

Narcissa was doting on Draco, much to Lucius's chagrin. The patriarchy figure of the Malfoy house insisted they were meant to set an example of what perfect pure-blood families looked like when sending away their children for the path of greatness; however, Eloise could detect a hint of inflection that implied her uncle would miss them both while never actually admitting that fact aloud.

When the children were finally granted permission to make their place in the wizarding world, they didn't hesitate to board the train—albeit only after throwing a last glance back over their shoulder with one final goodbye.

"I say we split up," Draco suggested, eyeing the train cabins with a look of greed. "Find the best of the best pure-blood families before sharing our finds and making the final decision of who we'll be associating ourselves with."

"Then what's the point of splitting up?" Eloise asked, crossing her arms as she rolled her eyes.

"To divide and conquer, obviously," Draco retorted. "The train ride is only so long and our time is limited."

"Alright, fine," Eloise begrudgingly agreed. "Which way are you going?"

"This way," Draco replied, pointing to his right. Eloise could have sword she'd seen Crabbe and Goyle head that way earlier.

She frowned. "You're just ditching me for your friends."

"It's not my fault you never made any of your own," Draco scoffed.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, because the likes of Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode would make excellent friends. Come on, Draco. You only hang around with those two buffoons because they do everything you say."

"Father says that in the wizarding world there are leaders and there are minions," Draco countered. "So it's about time that you decide which you'll be, cousin."

"Then go to your minions," Eloise insisted, waving him on. "I don't need you anyway."

Draco rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath something about a tantrum before walking down the corridor and stepping inside a cabin three doors down from their conversation.

Eloise crossed her arms, stamping her foot down in frustration before storming down the corridor and striding into the first empty cabin. She slumped down onto the seat, staring out the window as the whistle blew and the train began to leave the station.

She wasn't exactly an antisocial child, but Eloise had a preference for limiting how many fake individuals she surrounded herself by at one time. Her family out in public was more than enough at times. She'd heard the phrase "my father will hear about this" one too many times, and not just from her cousin. It was a pure-blood child's favorite sentence. Pansy and Millicent weren't necessarily bad girls, they were just extremely unlikeable in Eloise's eyes. And so, she'd rather be alone than stuck in the presence of wizarding folk who annoyed her.

The cabin door slid open. Eloise looked over, surprisingly shocked—as if she had assumed that no one else would join her in the empty cabin aboard the packed train. Yet there he was, the thin boy she and Draco had interacted with at Madam Malkin's robe shop.

"Hello, again," Eloise greeted him.

"Hi." The boy sheepishly looked around. "Is it alright if I sit in here?"

Eloise nodded her head. "No one else has."

"Oh?" The boy looked surprised. "What about your friend..."

"My cousin?" Eloise politely corrected. "He's sitting with his own friends. They're the kind that I can't stand."

"And what kind is that?" The boy timidly asked.

"Why they lack a mind of their own of course," she replied as if it should have been obvious. The boy chuckled, smiling as he took a seat across from her.

"I'm Eloise," she introduced herself, extending her hand.

"I'm Harry," she finally received a name to match the face of the small green-eyed boy.

The compartment door slowly slid open once more, only this time it was the freckled face of a ginger boy that appeared. He almost looked relieved as he saw Harry inside. "Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full."

Harry shook his head. "No, not at all."

"We have plenty of open seats," Eloise agreed, scooting closer to the window so the boy had room to join them. He took a seat beside Eloise, brushing the hair from his eyes while smudging the dirt on his nose.

"I'm Ron, by the way," he introduced himself. "Ron Weasley."

"Eloise Malfoy," she replied with a polite nod.

"I'm Harry," the conversation repeated itself. "Harry Potter."

Ron's jaw dropped while Eloise's expression slacked with shock. She blinked and then narrowed her eyes as if she didn't believe him. "The Harry Potter."

"So—so it's true?!" Ron stuttered. "I mean, do you really have the... the..."

"The what?" Harry asked, oblivious to the implication.

"The scar," Eloise answered, crossing her arms as if skeptical. "Harry Potter is said to have a legendary scar."

"Oh, yeah." Harry lifted his bangs to reveal the lightning shaped-scar over his brow.

"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed breathily then proceeded to stare.

"So that's where You-Know-Who—"

Harry nodded his head, interrupting Eloise's question. "Yes, but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.

"Well—" Harry corrected himself. "I remember a green light, but nothing else."

"Wow," Ron said, staring at Harry in silence for a few moments before realizing what he'd been doing. He quickly turned his head to look out the window.

"Are all your family wizards?" Harry asked, not quite minding the staring that he'd received as he found the boy and girl across from him just as interesting as they found him.

"Er—yes, I think so," Ron nodded. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already," Harry sounded concerned, as if he were going to start the school year off behind everyone else.

Now that Eloise thought about it, the Weasleys were an old pureblood family. The rest of the pureblood houses only wrinkled their noses since the unmistakable family of redheads didn't have nearly as much money as the rest of them did... evidently by the smudge still present on the ginger boy's nose.

"I'm sure Eloise knows more than I do," Ron shrugged. "I've heard the Malfoy's are one of the richest pureblood families... even hired tutors for their children to get a head start."

"I'm their niece, not their daughter," Eloise was quick to correct him with a hint of hostility in her tone. "And that's a rumor, not a fact. I know just as much magic as any other first year aboard this train. Besides, my uncle thought hiring a tutor would be a waste of resources as he believed neither my cousin nor I would need one once we attended Hogwarts."

Ron shrugged, equally annoyed by she as she were him. It was clear they were going to butt heads quite frequently over the difference of ideology and household from which they were raised. Eloise did her best to sit a bit straighter in her seat as if competing with the boy beside her for the chosen one's attention.

"So then who are your parents?" It was an innocent question asked by Harry, but then Ron jumped in nodding his head with snide agreement.

"Yeah, who are your parents?"

"What's it matter?" Eloise asked, crossing her arms as her eyes narrowed. However, for a brief second her eyes had watered as her fingers had reached for the locket clasped around her neck. "They're dead now, and they've been that way my whole life. I've got my uncle, my aunt, and my cousin... What more do I need?"

"Oh..." Harry paused and a look of empathy filled his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Ron had paled considerably, clearing his throat to change the topic. "So you lived with Muggles, Harry? What are they like?"

"Horrible—" Harry began, but quickly corrected himself. "Well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."

"Five," Ron corrected. He looked quite gloomy though as he explained, "I'm the seventh in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left—Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Eurydice's only a third year, but she's earned one of the best spots in the Frog Choir. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.

The hairs on the back of Eloise's neck bristled and her jaw tensed. Chills shot down her spine but she shook the feeling away once the boy tucked the rat back inside his jacket.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made prefect, but they couldn't aff—I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears turned a light shade of pink, as if believed he'd said too much. The boy turned back to stare out the window. Eloise almost pitied him after all she'd learned. She understood that not all wizards could be so privileged as to live in a mansion, but she'd also assumed that any witch or wizard would easily procure the list of school supplies for the term.

"I thought we could only have a cat, a toad, or an owl?" Harry asked, his brow furrowing with confusion while his broken glasses slid down the brim of his nose.

"Normally," Eloise nodded to agree, "but you can have other pets approved. I've brought Bai, she's my albino ball python."

"You've brought a snake to Hogwarts?" Ron sounded incredulous, snapping free of his own embarrassment.

"Yes, but she's extremely well behaved," Eloise replied defensively. "She wouldn't hurt a fly."

While they spoke, the train had taken them away from London. Fields full of cows and sheep flew by at great speed. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering in the corridor before a smiling, dimpled woman slid back the door to their compartment.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked.

Ron sheepishly shook his head, holding up a bag of mushed sandwiches. "No thanks, I'm all set."

Harry rustled around in his pockets before pulling out several large coins that were immediately set down on the trolley. "We'll take the lot!"

"Whoa!" Ron's eyes nearly popped out of his head with how wide they grew.

Even Eloise looked impressed. Although Lucius and Narcissa had provided both her and Draco with some spending galleons, it was nothing compared to what Harry had just spent.

The boy was quite generous as well, offering to share his sweets with the other children sitting in the compartment. Although Ron had been hesitant at first, he now quietly sat munching on a pasty while his bag of sandwiches were long forgotten. Scabbers sat perched on Ron's knee with a box over his head. Eloise still couldn't shake the phantom feeling that something was severely off about the creature anytime he moved near.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans?" Harry questioned, reading the colorful label of the box in his hands.

"They mean every flavour!" Ron eagerly nodded. "There's chocolate and peppermint, and there's also spinach, liver and tripe. George sweared he got a bogey-flavoured one once!"

"Gross!" Eloise wrinkled her nose, but laughed at the thought.

Harry quickly took the bean he was chewing out of his mouth, hiding it away with the rest of the packaging before picking up a blue and gold package. The look of concern plastered to his face had yet to relax. "These aren't real chocolate frogs, are they?"

"It's only a spell," Ron explained. "Besides, it's the cards you want. Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard. I got about five hundred meself."

"Five hundred?" Eloise questioned. "Don't you think that's perhaps four hundred and ninety-nine too many?"

The chocolate frog from Harry's box croaked before Ron could defend his hobby. The small magical creature jumped from the blue and gold box up onto the window pane before leaping out the window toward freedom.

"Oh, that's rotten luck." Ron shook his head with a tsk of his tongue. "They've only got one good jump in them to begin with."

"Hey, I got Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, turning the card around to show the others. The man on the card wore half-moon glasses, had a long crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache.

Ron nodded, picking up a chocolate frog box to open himself. "I got about six of him."

Harry's eyes widened as he looked back to see his card was now blank. "Hey, he's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you?"Ron asked as if it should have been an obvious thought.

"He'll be back," Eloise attempted to console the boy. She herself was intrigued. She'd never really gotten into the whole card collecting thing, she'd been taught it was beneath her really to hoard pieces of paper trash.

"No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her..." Ron muttered under his breath, then noticed how entranced Harry was by his absent Dumbledore card. He extended the card to the chosen one. "Do you want it? You can start collecting."

"I've got Agrippa," Eloise announced, holding up the card she'd collected from the blue and gold box. She noticed the look of envy in Ron's eyes then offered the card out to the boy. "I'm not much of a collector."

"Are you sure?" Ron asked, but hardly waited for her to nod before eagerly accepting the card. "Now all I'm missing is Ptolemy."

Scabbers squeaked and Eloise wrinkled her nose. "He really is quite pitiful, isn't he?"

Ron nodded begrudgingly before his eyes lit up. "Fred gave me a spell as to turn him yellow. Want to see?"

Harry nodded with a smile. "Yeah!"

Ron cleared his throat. "Ahem. Sun—"

The door to their compartment slid open and there stood a pair of children—a boy and a girl—with bushy brown hair sticking out in every direction. Definitely siblings, but more likely twins with how close they looked in appearance.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" the girl asked matter-of-factly. "A boy named Neville's lost one."

Ron shook his head, his brow furrowed in both confusion and annoyance. "No."

"Oh, are you doing magic?" the boy asked, his eyes lighting up with delight.

The girl beside him looked less impressed. "Let's see then."

"Aghhhemm." Ron cleared his throat again before waving his wand at Scabbers. "Sunshine, daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

Nothing happened and Ron simply shrugged, but the girl wasn't going to let it go that easily. "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? Of course I've only tried a few simple spells myself, and they've all worked for me. For example..."

Without waiting for an invitation, the girl entered the compartment and took a seat right beside Harry. She pulled her wand from her sleek black robes and pointed the tip toward the taped bridge of Harry's glasses.

"Oculus Reparo," she declared. The glasses repaired themselves. Harry removed them, amazed by the feat while the girl allowed a smug smile to fall on her face. "That's better, isn't it? Holy Cricket, you're Harry Potter. I'm Hermione Granger...and you are...?"

Ron had managed to stuff another pasty in his mouth seconds before introducing himself. "I'm...Ron Weasley."

Hermione's nose wrinkled. "Pleasure... this is my brother Nicodemus."

"We're twins," he said as if that wasn't obvious enough. "She's the smart one and I'm the better one."

"You wish that were true," Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous I didn't leave any brain power for you."

"Then I suppose it's a good thing you left all of the good personality traits behind," Nicodemus joked.

"Eloise Malfoy," she finally introduced herself, butting back into the conversation after seeing that no one else was going to ask.

"Right, well you three better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." Hermione stood, preparing to leave but turned back toward Ron, pointing her finger. "You've got dirt, on your nose, by the way, did you know? Just there."

Ron quickly scratched his nose, embarrassed as he'd been singled out. Eloise frowned. If anyone was going to give the redhead a hard time, it would be her. They'd already established a foundation of banter, this snooty girl had not. It was likely she was simply overcompensating as Eloise could see plain as day that she and her twin brother were muggleborn. They lacked the decorum of those raised in the wizarding world that even the poorer families still upheld. The Weasleys might not have much but at least they had blood status. This girl had no right to enter their compartment as if she owned it.

"Whatever House I'm in, I hope she's not in it," Ron said. He frowned as he threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell—bet Fred knew it was a dud when he gave it to me."

"What House are your brothers in?" Harry asked with an innocent look of curiosity.

"Gryffindor," Ron replied. A look of gloom settled on his features again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the House Voldemort was in?" Harry asked.

Ron and Eloise gasped, staring at Harry in shock.

He frowned while his features twisted with confusion. "What did I say?"

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron almost sounded impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people—"

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," Harry interjected. "I just never knew I shouldn't."

"Well you shouldn't," Eloise confirmed with a curt nod of her head.

"Eloise would know," Ron agreed. "Her family were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says her uncle didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."

Eloise frowned. "That's not true."

"And how would you know?" Ron asked. "Maybe it's the reason your Mum disappeared too."

"My uncle would never do anything of the sort!" Eloise declared, standing up as if threatening to leave after his insult.

"I didn't really mean it like that," Ron apologized, a look of regret crossing his face. "It's just that my Mum and Dad talk about the disappearance of Cordelia Malfoy occasionally. It was big news once. I didn't realize that she'd been announced dead before you said anything. There were rumors of course, but never anything solid—"

"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are lighter," Harry interjected, desperately trying to change the topic of conversation, "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left anyway?"

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringott's," Ron replied. A sheepish, albeit still apologetic look crossed the boy's face as he glanced over at Eloise. "I suppose we should get our robes."

She nodded her head, an icy look still present in her eyes. "Probably a good idea."

The sun had set by the time they had donned their robes, but they'd hardly noticed as the train whistled and pulled into an outdoor station. Hagrid—as Eloise recognized him as the man that had stood outside of Madam Malkin's shop when she and her cousin had first met Harry—walked along the side aisle with a lantern in hand as the students poured out of the train.

"Right, then! First years! This way, please!" Hagrid called for the youngest of the witches and wizards to follow after him. "Come on, now, don't be shy! Come on now, hurry up!"

Harry led Ron and Eloise up to Hagrid with a bright smile on his face. The gigantic man beamed to see them.

"Hello, Harry."

"Hey, Hagrid," Harry greeted the man.

Ron's eyes widened. "Whoa!"

"Right then." Hagrid nodded. "This way to the boats! Come on, now, follow me."

Although Ron and Harry invited Eloise to join them in their boat with Hagrid, she politely declined and elected to sit with her cousin and his minions.

"And what have you been up to?" Draco asked—although it was just a courtesy and not because he was actually interested.

Eloise rolled her eyes and yawned as if her train ride had been nothing special. "Oh not much, just meeting Harry Potter is all."

Draco choked on the air around him, sitting up a bit straighter. A smug smirk tugged at Eloise's lips as she turned to face the trio of shocked looks that greeted her.

"Harry Potter?" Draco asked as if he didn't believe her.

She nodded. "He's a first year like us."

Yet their longboat reached the castle docks before most of Draco's following questions could be answered. From a higher level, one of the Professor's greeted them—rapping her fingers on the stone railing before stepping to the top of the stairs.

"The first years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid informed the professor before taking his leave.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she greeted them. "Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup—"

"Trevor!" a stout boy exclaimed, sprinting up the steps to collect the toad croaking at the professor's feet. She looked down with disapproval and a frightened look crossed the boy's face as he apologized. "Sorry."

"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily," the professor finished her introductory speech before leaving.

Draco didn't hesitate to take command of the silence. "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts."

A loud whisper echoed through the crowd of students as the name was more than just a legend in the wizarding world.

"This is Crabbe, and Goyle. You've apparently met my cousin Eloise and I'm Malfoy...Draco Malfoy." Ron snickered as Draco introduced himself. The pale blond immediately snapped at the ginger. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand me down robe? You must be a Weasley. Well soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Dont want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Draco extended his hand out to Harry, but the boy with glasses slowly shook his head. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."

Draco frowned with a glare. A pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. "I'd be careful if I were you Potter. Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron bristled.

"Say that again," Ron said between gritted teeth, his face as red as his hair.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Draco sneered.

"Maybe if you were worth the time of day, Malfoy," a voice called out from the back. Nicodemus made his way up beside Harry as he crossed his arms. "This is Harry bloody Potter. Even the Muggles know his name. You're insignificant in comparison. A leech with no host to cling to."

Draco glowered. "How dare you! My father will hear about this!"

However, before anymore threats could be thrown about, the professor returned. She looked over the children with a stern eye before deciding they were well enough behaved to continue.

"We're ready for you now," she announced. The corners of her lips twitched into a smile as she watched the looks of awe plastered to the faces of each first year as they walked through the two large doors into the Great Hall.

Eloise gasped. The sight that awaited her was unlike anything she'd anticipated and so much better than anything she could have imagined.

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 | And I've finally updated this book with another chapter! I'm very excited for everything that's to come and we finally get to meet the rest of our cast in the next chapter so be prepared! Although this chapter won't exactly align with either the book or movie precisely, I tried to incorporate elements from both while making it my own.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about what you think. As always, don't be shy to leave a comment and don't forget to vote!