#jasper earl

[loulouflowerpower]

Wands and Stone, Chapter 2 (The First Train Ride)

Based on the Harry Potter books. Slow, slow burn OC/Harry James Potter.

King’s Cross Station was packed, just as Theodora had imagined it would be, making it a little difficult for them to push their loaded luggage trolleys along towards the barrier between platform nine and ten, which lead onto platform nine and ten-quarters. It had been a bit of a mad rush that morning to make sure that they had everything, for starters, Jasper very nearly forgot to grab his broomstick and only just remembered it as they were preparing to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron, and then Theodora spent ten minutes desperately trying to coax her cat, Cotton, out from beneath her bed after Jasper, the idiot, had carelessly dropped his trunk halfway down the stairs, terrifying the poor kitten into hiding under her bed. Once they had tripled checked that they had everything under Estelle’s watchful (And slightly frazzled) eyes, they departed for the Leaky Cauldron and, gathering their luggage, stepped out into the Muggle world to find a cab to drive them to the station.

Theodora spent most of the trip eagerly watching as the Muggle streets went by outside the window, finding it fascinating how Muggle’s managed without magic. She doubted if her mother would be able to cope if she suddenly lost her wand, she remembered one time when Jasper and the twins, playing a prank, had stolen her wand for a whole afternoon and her mother hadn’t been able to do anything without it, she wasn’t even able to try cooking. It had been amusing to watch.

After they had arrived at the station, they quickly made their way through the barrier and onto the platform, the sound of owls hooting and people talking sounding through the air as the Hogwarts Express, the massive, beautiful, bright red steam engine, was before them, looming out through the steam that had engulfed the platform. The platform was bursting, so Theodora made sure to keep close to Estelle as she tried pushing her trolley without accidently running into anyone’s shins, while Jasper was busy trying to crane his head over all the bustling parents and fellow students, no doubt trying to find one of his friends.

“Be careful, Jasper!” Estelle said sharply, grabbing his trolley and giving it a sharp tug, just before he ran into the back of a dark-haired boy with messy hair that seemed to stick up slightly. Jasper’s owl, Bertie, named after the sweets, gave a loud screech of annoyance as his cage was jostled from the gesture. The boy gave a startled jump and whirled around, looking about the same age as Theodora and with a pair of round-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, “Sorry, dear,” Estelle said kindly, if a little distractedly, to the boy, before throwing Jasper a stern look, “For Merlin’s sake, Jasper, be more considerate”.

“Sorry,” Jasper said sheepishly to the boy, looking a little embarrassed, his ears growing quite red.

“Mum, Mum!” Theodora called eagerly, almost jumping on her tiptoes to try and see over the crowds, “I can see Aunt Molly!”

They left the boy, who was looking a little overwhelmed by everything, and continued, Jasper being more careful now as they wound their way through all the people and over to where a group of red heads were all gathered, Percy and the twins absent.

“Ah, there you are,” Molly said as she turned to see the three of them approaching, breaking into a small smile, “I was worried we might have missed you”.

“No chance of that,” Estelle shook her head, sighing slightly as she cast her eyes quickly around the platform, “Always the same, packed”.

Theodora looked to Ron, blinking slightly, “What’s that black mark on your nose?” she asked, eyeing the mark that looked almost like soot.

“What mark?” Molly was on him instantly, grabbing Ron’s chin, but he pulled a face and jerked his head away, throwing Theodora a glare, which she returned with an apologetic look. Molly, however, wasn’t to be deterred, frowning still, her hand moving for her coat pocket, “Oh, let me clean it up. And we have the twins gone now?” she muttered, shaking her head as she looked around for any sign of the twins, but even with their visible red hair, it was almost impossible to locate them with the crowd so thick, “Fred? George? Are you there?” she called over the noise.

“Coming, Mum,” a distant voice called from somewhere, when George and Fred appeared on the train, hopping down onto the platform and making their way across to them.

Molly tried grabbing for Ron again, “Ron, you’ve got something on your nose…” she sighed, still trying to reach for him, but Ron simply pulled away again with a scowl, but she was faster  (And far more practiced), and she managed to clamp a firm hand on his shoulder, keeping him still as she raised the handkerchief that she had retrieved from her pocket up to start scrubbing at the mark.

“I’m going to look for Cedric,” Jasper told Estelle, looking amused by the scene unfolding before him.

“Alright,” Estelle gave him a gentle smile and pulled him into a tight hug, not seeming to notice Jasper’s discomfort, “Be good and look out for your sister”.

“I will,” he nodded, quickly extracting himself from her and giving her a quick smile, “See you at Christmas,” he glanced at Molly, who was still struggling with Ron, and shook his head and began heading off towards the train with his trolley.

“Mum…geroff!” Ron grumbled, finally managing to break free from his mother’s fierce grip, his nose looking very pink and his ears glowing red now. Theodora struggled to contain a giggle.

“Aaah!” Fred smirked, putting on a song-song voice and pulling a baby face at Ron, “Has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?”

Ron glared at him, his blush only growing worse now, “Shut up”.

Molly ignored their antics, trying to peer through the crowd, “Where’s Percy?” she asked, turning back to the twins.

“He’s coming now,” George replied, making a face that only Fred, Ginny, and Theodora could see.

Again, Theodora managed to stifle her giggles, though she was careful not to glance at Ginny. They’d totally lose the battle on that score if she did.

They all turned to see Percy walking towards them through the bustling crowds, which was starting to thin now. Theodore rolled her eyes as she noticed that Percy was already dressed in his uniform with his Prefect badge proudly on display, his chest pushed out to make him look like a duck, the silver badge with a P on it looking as if it had been polished to within an inch of its life. Ron had mentioned that Percy had been insufferable ever since he got his badge, always going on about it. Theodora was very pleased that he had spent most of his time locked up in his bedroom while they had been visiting; he was by far the cousin that she liked the least.

“Can’t stay long, Mother,” Percy said as he reached them, his voice rather haughty, “I’m up front, the Prefects have got two compartments to themselves…”

“Oh, are you a Prefect, Percy?” Fred cut across him, putting on an air of surprise, “You should have said something, we had no idea”.

“Hang on,” George spoke up, acting vague, “I think I remember something about it. Once…”

“…or twice…”

“…a minute…”

“…all summer…”

“Oh, shut up,” Percy snapped, looking annoyed now.

“Well done, Percy,” Estelle gave him a small smile, shooting Theodora a quick look as she noticed her holding back her giggles with Ginny. She focused back onto him, “We’re all very proud”.

Percy puffed out his chest again and seemed to stand a bit taller, “Thank you, Aunt Estelle”.

“How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?” George questioned Molly, gesturing to the black, perfectly fitted robes that Percy was wearing.

In comparison, from what Theodora had noticed from having witnessed the annual uniform try-on session at the Weasley’s, Fred and George’s robes were more of a dulled, deep charcoal and their trousers sat a little short on their legs, showing a touch more of their mismatched socks then they were supposed to, though Ron’s were way worse. His was even more washed out and frayed, while Theodora was positive there wasn’t a single white shirt that wasn’t a touch yellowed or stained at the edges with something that even Molly hadn’t been able to fully remove. It made her feel a tad awkward with her own brand-new robes folded neatly in her trunk currently, being the eldest girl meant that she had no one to give old robes to from her cousins, and so her mother had bought her a whole new lot. Next year, Ginny would likely get her uniform, like much of Theodora’s old clothing that she’d outgrown.

“Because he’s a Prefect,” Molly said fondly, looking affectionately at Percy, who looked even smugger, if that was possible. Theodora exchanged a look with Ron and Ginny, Ron rolling his eyes, “All right, dear,” she moved closer to Percy, not seeming to notice a thing, “Well, have a good term, send me an owl when you get there,” she kissed his cheek, having to crane her neck slightly to do so, before stepping back to let Percy leave for the train once more. She watched him for a moment before turning on the twins, her expression growing sterner, “Now, you two, this year, you behave yourselves,” she looked back and forth between Fred and George, eyes narrowed slightly, “If I get one more owl telling me you’ve…you’ve blown up a toilet or…”

“Blown up a toilet?” George repeated, his eyes widening in mock shock, ”We’ve never blown up a toilet”.

“Great idea though, thanks, Mum,” Fred added, grinning.

“It’s not funny,” she frowned deeply at them, “And look after Ron and Theo”.

Fred turned to Ron, nudging his side playfully, “Don’t worry, ickle Ronniekins and Theokins is safe with us,” he said in a sing-song voice again as George ruffled Theo’s hair.

“George!” Theodora complained loudly, whacking his hand away with an annoyed huff as she tried fixing her hair. She had worked hard on trying to make it neat, brushing it until it was smooth and pulling it back with a plastic headband she’d gotten as part of a birthday present from her Muggle grandparents.

“Shut up,” Ron edged away from Fred, looking annoyed again.

Estelle smiled and shook her head fondly, rather fond of the twin’s antics as she moved to try and help smooth her daughter’s long red hair down, “Don’t worry, dear, you look beautiful,” she assured her, tucking a strand behind Theodora’s ear, “And just ignore them, Ron,” she glanced over to Ron.

George brightened suddenly, “Hey, Mum, guess what?” he looked at her eagerly, “Guess who we just met on the train?”

Theodora looked at him curiously, wondering why he and Fred suddenly looked so excited, “Who?”

“There was this black-haired kid who didn’t know how to get onto the platform,” Fred explained to her, talking rather fast in his eagerness, looking back to his mother, “Know who he is?”

Molly shook her head, “Who?”

“Harry Potter!”

Theodora’s mouth fell open in shock, and she quickly looked back across towards the train, as if hoping to catch a glimpse of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, one of the most famous Wizards in their world. She hadn’t even realised that they would be going to school together, she wondered if she might even have the same classes with him or even be in the same House? She couldn’t believe it, and Jasper…he didn’t even know! Ginny gasped and grabbed Molly’s hand, tugging on it excitedly as Molly and Estelle blinked slowly, looking quite surprised themselves.

“Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him!” she practically squealed, “Mum, please…”

Molly shook herself and frowned at her, “You’ve already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn’t something you goggle at in a zoo,” she said sternly, before softening slightly as she glanced at Fred, “Is he really, Fred? How do you know?”

“Asked him. Saw his scar. It’s really there, like lightening”.

“Poor dear,” she said sympathetically, exchanging a look with Estelle, “No wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform”.

“Never mind that,” Fred said dismissively, throwing the train a quick, curious look, “Do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?”

Molly and Estelle’s expressions instantly grew sharper, Molly fixing Fred and George with a stern look, while Estelle took on a curious pink colouring, high in her cheeks. It was rare that Estelle Earl ever lost her temper, she was slightly more mellow than her sister, but when she did, her cheeks always took on a pink colouring, which would normally spread deeper down her neck the angrier she got. It was usually a clear warning sign to the Earl kids to take cover.

“I forbid you to ask him, Fred,” Molly ordered him, pointing a finger at him as the twin’s smiles dimmed slightly, “No, don’t you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school”.

“All right, keep your hair on,” Fred grumbled, exchanging a look with his twin, both looking a bit disgruntled.

A whistle sounded suddenly.

Estelle’s eyes widened and she quickly grabbed Theodora’s arm, half-dragging her over towards the train, “Quickly, now,” she said hurriedly as Molly began ushering the twins and Ron over to the train, too, “Now, you behave yourself, Theo…”

“Yes, Mum,” Theodora nodded hurriedly as Fred and George helped pull her trunk and cat carrier with Cotton inside it up into the train’s hallway. She quickly hugged her mother, before climbing onto the train herself to join her cousins, closing the door behind her as the four of them moved to try and all lean out of the window at once for Molly and Estelle to kiss their cheeks good-bye, while Ginny began crying, still clinging to Molly’s hand.

“Don’t, Ginny,” Fred told her, seeing her tears, “We’ll send you loads of owls”.

“We’ll send you a Hogwarts’ toilet seat,” George added with a cheeky grin.

“George!”

“Only joking, Mum”.

“Bye, Ginny!” Theodora called through the window, waving to her as the train began moving.

Ginny laughed at George’s remark, though she was still crying as she broke away from Molly and Estelle. They waved at her while she ran alongside the train, trying to keep up with them as it moved out of the station, but within moments, the train had already gained too much speed and she fell behind, waving them off before they disappeared around a corner.

Theodora couldn’t help feeling a small sense of loss already, knowing that she was going to miss being able to see her mother every day, to be able to sleep in her own bedroom with her own bed, but she was also terribly excited and nervous about what was to come. She had been waiting to go to Hogwarts for so long now, it felt a little surreal to actually be on the train, mere hours away from seeing what Hogwarts truly was like for herself. Still, she was grateful that she had a few family members coming along with her for the journey, that made her feel a little better about the whole thing. She didn’t know what she would have done had she not had the Weasley’s and Jasper with her, even if Jasper was off with his own friends right now.

She sighed slightly and, the wind tugging at her hair and musing what had been left of her semi neat locks, closed the window back down. Fred and George wasted no time in disappearing, not even saying a word, leaving Ron and Theodora to their own devices. She supposed that she shouldn’t be surprised, the twins likely wouldn’t even think twice about how daunting the first train ride might be for them.

“Come on,” Ron muttered to her, lightly nudging her arm as he turned and began to stride off down the hallway, trying hard to ignore the jostling movements of the train, swaying with the motion.

Theodora grabbed her trunk and cat carrier, throwing Ron’s back a glare as she began dragging her heavy luggage behind her. Ron was always so helpful. But they didn’t move very far down the train before Ron paused outside one of the compartments and slid the glass door open, poking his head inside. Theodora couldn’t help noticing that the back of his neck looked a little pink.

“Anyone else sitting there?” he asked who ever was inside, blocking Theodora’s view, “Everywhere else is full”.

She frowned slightly, narrowing her eyes at his back. Well, that was certainly a lie, or at least something neither of them knew with any certainty if it was true or not. There could be plenty more compartments with room, what was so important about this one? There was a brief pause before Ron stepped into the compartment and Theodora moved into the doorway, her eyes widening slightly as she caught sight of the same black-haired, glasses wearing boy that Jasper had almost run into out on the platform. No…surely this couldn’t be Harry Potter? She glanced quickly at Ron, only to find that he had already taken a seat across from the boy and was doing a very bad job of pretending to be looking out the window, his eyes flickering back across to the boy every now and then. She swallowed, trying hard to act normal as she gave the boy an awkward smile and pulled her luggage further into the compartment, but just as she moved to sit beside Ron, Fred and George appeared in the doorway.

“Hey, Ron, Theo,” Fred said, drawing their attention to them, his own eyes flickering over to the dark-haired boy, “Listen, we’re going down the middle of the train, Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there”.

“Right,” Ron mumbled, his face paling very slightly at the information. He hated spiders ever since they were kids.

“Harry,” George looked across to the boy, and Theodora tried very hard not to react at the news that it actually was Harry Potter who was sitting before her, “Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley,” he gave him a friendly smile as he gestured to himself and his twin, “And this is Ron, our brother, and Theo Earl, our cousin,” he pointed to Ron and Theodora as he introduced them, “Here, Theo...”

He and Fred stepped forward, reaching to take her trunk from her. Theodora gratefully let them, having been secretly a little worried about just how she was supposed to lift the damn three-ton thing up without any help, and Ron would have whined and moaned about it. The twins managed to lift it with ease, and then wordlessly also lifted Ron’s up, shockingly without making any smart comments either.

“Thanks,” she said gratefully, giving them a smile as they finished and moved back to the door.

“Anything for our favourite cousin,” George stuck out his togue at her.

“I’m telling Jasper you said that”.

“He shouldn’t have been made a Hufflepuff, then,” Fred shot back instantly, and Theodora struggled not to jerk slightly at that, focusing on the light, easy tease in his tone. It wasn’t mean as an insult, just teasing, she told herself quickly, nothing bad, “See you later, then,” he continued brightly, oblivious, thankfully.

He and George turned to leave, shooting Harry another quick, slightly lingering glance. It didn’t go unnoticed by Theodora, surely even Potter had to have noticed it, too?

“Bye,” Harry, Ron, and Theodora said as they disappeared out into the hallway, closing the door behind them, and heading off up the train.

There was a slightly awkward pause as silence filled the compartment. Theodora desperately tried not to stare at Harry, though she wondered if she was really doing much of a better job at being sly about it then Ron was being. She couldn’t help thinking back to what Aunt Molly had said, about how the last thing Harry Potter probably wanted was to be gawked at or reminded about his awful past on his first day. She could relate, in a much more minor way, her father being both a delightful source of much comfort to her today and also a source of sadness, knowing that he should have been here to see her off on the train with her mother. She couldn’t imagine how Harry Potter must be feeling without his mother or father here to see him off, because even though she imagined his guardians were likely very nice and loving, she knew from her own experience that no one replaced your real mum and dad. No matter what.

Ron, ever sensitive and tactful, however, didn’t seem to have gotten the message quite so clearly.

 “Are you really Harry Potter?” he blurted out suddenly, finally giving up all pretence and just gawking at Harry, eyes wide and slightly hopeful.

“Ron!” Theodora hissed, and nudging his side, feeling her cheeks warming slightly. But Harry didn’t seem to mind, he simply nodded slowly, brilliant green eyes flickering uncertainly between them.

“Oh…” Ron blinked, and Theodora accidently did find herself also staring a little, despite her best efforts not to, “Well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George’s jokes,” he admitted, his face growing eager now that it had actually been confirmed, “And have you really got, you know…” he looked slightly awkward and pointed up to Harry’s forehead, which was covered by a messy fringe of black hair.

Harry reached up to pull his fringe back, revealing a thin, lightening shaped scar on his forehead, which was slightly askew from the centre. Ron stared and even Theodora couldn’t stop herself from gazing at the mark, stunned. She had always kind of thought that him having a scar was just a story to try and sound more dramatic, but…here was the proof.

“Is that really where You-Know-Who…?” Theodora trailed off, swallowing hard.

“Yes,” Harry nodded, dropping his hand back into his lap, “But I can’t remember it”.

“Nothing?” Ron asked eagerly, almost leaning out of his seat.

“Well, I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else”.

“Wow,” Ron and Theodora breathed, staring at him in amazement.

Theodora remembered, again, what Molly had said to the twins out on the platform, and awkwardly coughed, dropping her gaze to her lap. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Ron was still staring, so she gave his side another sharp nudge and he jumped slightly, quickly turning his attention back onto the window, his ears reddening slightly. Harry looked at them curiously for a moment and Theodora’s noticed that his eyes truly were the most brilliant shade of emerald she’d ever seen on a human being before. His glasses obscured their colour only a little, but even from a few feet away she could still plainly see it. She hastily glanced away again, not wishing to get caught looking admiring at a boy, let alone Harry Potter himself, awkwardly and embarrassedly tugging at the edge of her cardigan.

“You’re cousins, then?” he asked, taking them in, his eyes lingering on their red hair and freckled faces, or so Theodora thought.

“Yeah, through our Mum’s,” Theodora said quickly, glad to have something else to be able to talk about to cut through some of the awkwardness. She was talking to Harry Potter, she still couldn’t quite believe that, but he actually seemed pretty normal, just like her or Ron.

“Are all of your family wizards?”

“Er…yes, I think so,” Ron replied, looking thoughtful for a moment, scrunching his face up, “I think Mum’s got a second cousin who’s an accountant, but we never talk about him”.

“I have Muggle grandparents on my dad’s side,” Theodora remarked, before she shrugged, “But we don’t see them very much”.

Harry looked between them both, “So you must know loads of magic already,” he said a little quietly.

Theodora shook her head, wondering why he seemed to be a little down about that, “Not really, I mean, I’ve read a few of my schoolbooks, but that’s it”.

“I heard you went to live with Muggles,” Ron said suddenly, looking at him curiously, “What are they like?”

“Horrible…” Theodora blinked, taken aback, and he hurried on, “Well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I had three wizard brothers and magical cousins”.

“Five brothers,” Ron corrected, looking rather gloomy as Theodora sighed, turning her attention to Cotton, who was glaring back at her angrily through the wicker front of the basket. Apparently, she hadn’t forgiven her yet about the Floo trip, “I’m the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts,” he continued warily, “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. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks, and everyone thinks they’re really funny,” he shrugged slightly, trying and falling to look casual about it, “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,” he reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a plump, grey rat, which was fast asleep, “His name’s Scabbers and he’s useless, he hardly ever wakes up,” he frowned, “Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn’t aff…I mean, I got Scabbers instead”.

Theodora glanced back to Ron to see his ears growing quite pink, before he quickly turned to look back out the window. She bit her lip and glanced over to Harry, knowing how touchy Ron was about his family being poor. To be fair, her own side of the family wasn’t that well-off, either, they were just a little better because their mother only had two kids to provide for. Still, they lived on a budget and their mother tended to be very mindful about gifts, typically giving them small, more meaningful and sentimental presents, leaving the more expensive stuff to their Muggle grandparents. Perhaps it was because their mother was concerned about causing tension between the cousins, regardless, Theodora, even though she still got new books and clothing, had always been raised very mindful and aware of the importance of giving and sharing, and quite frankly rather enjoyed getting to share her things with her cousins. It was always fun to go through her wardrobe with Ginny and Estelle and pick out the stuff that didn’t fit her anymore to give to Gin, while this past summer she’d even given away most of her old books that she felt she was ‘To grown-up for’ now that she was going to Hogwarts. She didn’t see it as being something to be embarrassed about, like Ron seemed to, but she tried to be careful not to push that to much. Ron was way too sensitive for that.

Harry seemed to realise this, however, even without Theodora having to say anything, and actually began to tell them about his life with his aunt and uncle, how he was always forced to wear his cousin’s old clothing, even though he was three times Harry’s size, he even told them about how he had never even had a real birthday or Christmas present before. Theodora couldn’t help staring back at him, stunned, while Ron perked up slightly, seeming to feel a bit more comforted by the information that the famous Harry Potter hadn’t grown up with money, either. It was almost surreal, however, to try and imagine it. And totally unexpected to think that perhaps Harry hadn’t grown up with doting, loving guardians, like Theodora had always just sort of figured. In fact, the more he talked about them, the more shocked and disgusted she became, though Ron seemed not to pick-up on it.

“…and until Hagrid told me, I didn’t know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort…” he told them, when Ron suddenly gasped and Theodora flinched so badly that she almost smacked the back of her head against the wall, both staring back at him in shock and amazement. Harry blinked at them, confused, “What?”

“You just…” Theodora began, her voice barely above a whisper, her eyes wide. Her heart was pounding in her chest, while her hands felt slightly clammy, gripping tightly the edge of her seat, “You said You-Know-Who’s name!”

“I’d have thought you, of all people…” Ron started to say, sounding very impressed and surprised, though he looked a little pale.

“I’m not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name,” Harry cut in, still seeming a little confused, “I just never knew you shouldn’t. See what I mean?” he sighed, sitting back in his seat, “I’ve got loads to learn…I bet…” he hesitated, looking down at the floor, “I bet I’m the worst in the class”.

“Don’t worry about it,” Theodora advised him, giving him a comforting smile as he looked up, “My dad came from a Muggle family and my mum’s always said that he was the best wizard she ever knew…” of course, that might have just been one of those ‘Mum’ things that was said to kids, but Theodora had always taken comfort from it, “You’ll be fine; my brother told me that it’s usually the kids who come from Muggle families who are the best because they’re so eager to learn about everything”.

Harry seemed to brighten a little bit at that, and Theodora couldn’t help feeling very pleased with herself, when there was a clattering noise from outside and they looked up, just as the glass sliding door of their compartment was opened by a friendly faced woman with dimples in her cheeks and greying hair that was held back in a tight bun, a white apron covering her dress.

“Anything off the cart, dears?” she asked them.

Harry eagerly jumped out of his seat, while Ron’s ears grew red again as he mumbled that he had sandwiches, reaching into his pocket of his jacket to withdraw a lumpy package. Theodora stood a little guiltily and moved to follow after Harry as he headed for the trolley, feeling a little bad for Ron. She had a bit of pocket money that she had been saving up all year for Hogwarts, so she made up her mind to make sure to get enough sweets for Ron to be able to share with her. But as she waited for Harry to pick out his sweets, he did something very unexpected: he bought pretty much three, even four, of everything from off the trolley and handed over a handful of silver Sickles and a few bronze Knuts.

Theodora’s eyes went wide, staring at him as he struggled to try and hold everything, stunned. Completely forgetting about getting anything for herself and Ron in her shock, she automatically moved to try and help Harry carry half the sweets, earning a grateful look from him in return as they stepped back into the compartment. Ron’s mouth fell open, staring at Harry with a similar expression on his face to Theodora’s as he watched the two of them dropping the sweets onto the empty seat.

“Hungry, are you?” Ron commented a little weakly, never having seen someone buy so many sweets in one sitting before.

“Starving,” Harry said as he plopped back into his seat and reached for a pumpkin pasty, unwrapping it and taking a huge bite out of it.

Theodora smiled faintly, sitting down in her seat, “Looks like it”.

Ron dragged his eyes off the pile of sweets and started unwrapping his sandwiches, pulling a face as he grabbed one of the four sandwiches inside and pulled it apart, peering at the pinkish meat inside, “She always forgets I don’t like corned beef,” he sighed glumly.

Harry swallowed his mouthful of pasty and grabbed a second unwrapped one from the seat beside him, “Swap you for one of these,” he offered him, holding the pasty out to Ron, “Go on…”

“You don’t want this, it’s all dry,” he shook his head, though he did look a little tempted, “She hasn’t got much time,” he glanced back up to Harry, adding hastily, “You know, with five of us”.

“Go on, have a pasty,” he urged him, looking quite cheerful, “You too, Theo,” he grabbed another pasty and tried giving it to her.

Theodora eyed the pasty for a moment, she was starting to feel very hungry now and Jasper always complained about how starving he always was by the time he got to Hogwarts, “Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly.

“Just take it, would you? I’ve never had anything or anyone to share with”.

That was all the encouragement she and Ron needed, both eagerly accepting the offered pasties and digging in. Before long, the three of them were steadily eating their way through the large pile of sweets and cakes, enjoying themselves as Theodora was more than happy to explain what certain sweets were, since Harry apparently had never heard of any of them before and was quite curious about them all. While they ate, Ron’s sandwiches sat on the seat beside him, forgotten.

“What are these?” Harry questioned as he picked up a packet of Chocolate Frogs, holding it up for them to see. He looked a little wary as he glanced at the picture of a large, Chocolate Frog that was on the wrapper’s dark blue cover, “They’re not really frogs, are they?”

Theodora struggled to hold back a laugh, shaking her head, “No, just chocolate made into the shape of a frog”.

“See what the card is,” Ron told him, looking interested, “I’m missing Agrippa”.

“What?”

 “Oh, of course, you wouldn’t know,” he said, realisation dawning on his face, “Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect famous witches and wizards,” he explained, shrugging, “I’ve got about five hundred myself, but I haven’t got Agrippa or Ptolemy”.

“My brother used to collect the cards, too,” Theodora remarked to Harry, “But I never really got into it myself”.

Harry unwrapped the Chocolate Frog and picked up the card, eyeing it curiously, before his eyes lit up in recognition, “So this is Dumbledore!” he exclaimed, turning the card around to show them a small picture of a old man with silver hair and a long beard, a crooked nose that looked as if it might have been broken once or twice before, with a pair of half-moon glasses perched on the curved bridge.

Ron’s eyes widened, staring at him, “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Dumbledore!” he said, startled as Theodora blinked at Harry. Ron shook his head, some of the surprise fading, “Can I have a frog?” he pointed over to the pile of sweets, “I might get Agrippa…”

“Help yourselves,” Harry shrugged, looking at the back of the card at the small writing that explained the famous witch or wizards better known accomplishments and history, reading it.

“Thanks,” he said happily, instantly moving to grab a Chocolate Frog and unwrapping it as Theodora moved to take another pasty.

Harry turned the card back around, “He’s gone!” he gasped suddenly, his head snapping up to them.

Theodora laughed, unable to help herself, knowing how very odd it must be for him after coming from a Muggle family. She still found it very odd that Muggle pictures never moved or spoke back, like the painters could, and she had visited her Muggle grandparents several times. Ron, on the other hand, had never even stepped inside a Muggle house before and just shrugged carelessly.

“Well, you can’t expect him to hang around all day,” he said to Harry, who was still looking quite amazed, “He’ll be back,” he finished pulling the wrapping off his own Chocolate Frog and grabbed the card, sighing, “No, I’ve got Morgana again and I’ve got about six of her…do you want it?” he held it out to Harry, who took it, looking down at the card, “You can start collecting,” his eyes moved back across to rest on the rest of the unopened Chocolate Frogs.

Harry noticed his gaze and smiled slightly, “Help yourselves,” he said again, gesturing over to the pile, which Ron was more than happy to jump straight into and started unwrapping. Theodora shook her head in amusement and continued eating the last of her pasty, while Harry looked back to the card of Dumbledore, who had yet to return, “But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos”.

“Do they?” he blinked, looking completely amazed by the idea, “What, they don’t move at all? Weird!”

“Muggles really are quite incredible, aren’t they?” Theodora commented, shaking her head at Ron, who was already making his way through the pile of Chocolate Frogs in record time, forming a small pile of the one’s he already had, “We very rarely get to see our Muggle grandparents,” she explained to Harry, “But whenever we go, we always learn something new about them. Last time we went to see them, they even showed us how to work one of those…um…” she paused, trying to recall the name, “I think it’s called a television?” she looked back to Harry, hoping she was right.

He smiled a little bemusedly at her, almost seeming as amused by her lack of Muggle knowledge as she had been about his lack of understanding concerning the Chocolate Frogs.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he nodded, and she instantly brightened, throwing Ron a slightly pointed look…Ron simply rolled his eyes at her, always having shown rather an apathetic interest in Muggle stuff. Theodora and Uncle Arthur used to spend hours chatting about it all, much to the rest of the family’s great boredom. A curious look crossed Harry’s features, regarding her with interest, “So, witches and wizards don’t have televisions, then?”

“Well, I think that some families with Muggle backgrounds might, but most don’t, like my family. Besides, magic and Muggle technology doesn’t always get along, from what my mum’s told me. Too much magic in the air can affect how Muggle technology works, apparently”.

Harry nodded slowly, seeming to be quite fascinated about everything that Theodora and Ron had always taken for granted. After a moment, he looked back to his card of Dumbledore, looking at it for a while before he moved on to the small pile of cards that Ron passed across to him. He was very interested in all the cards and kept asking questions that Theodora mainly tried to answer, since Ron was more interested in stuffing his mouth full of chocolate, she and Harry spending several minutes discussing a card of Merlin and what parts of his story was similar to that of the Muggle version, which was actually very close to the real version of events, Theodora was a little surprised to find out after Harry told her. Theodora was just happy that she actually knew the answers to some of Harry’s questions about Merlin, mainly because her mum used to like to tell her the story when she was little, along with Beedle the Bard’s stories, of course.

“You want to be careful with those,” Ron said warningly, catching sight of Harry opening a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Harry blinked and looked confused, glancing down at the seemingly harmless box of sweets in his hands, “When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour,” Theodora nodded quickly, eyeing the box a little warily, though she did quite enjoy the game of trying to guess what flavour the bean might be, she was still a little wary of them, “You know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you get spinach and liver and tripe,” he continued, pulling a face, “George reckons he had a bogey flavoured one once,” he reached forward and plucked a small green coloured bean from the box, eyeing it carefully, before he bit the very corner of it. He grimaced at the taste, “Bleaaargh, see? Sprouts”.

After that, the three of them began to have fun trying to guess the beans, each one of them suggesting a flavour that they thought the different coloured beans would be before the person who had picked it would try tasting it. Theodora managed to get honey, chicken, apple, and soap, which she quickly spat out and tried to wash the horrid taste away with a piece of a Chocolate Frog as Ron sniggered and Harry looked as if he was trying very hard not to laugh. After that, she left it up to the boys to keep the game going, not wanting to risk it again, the game ending with Harry braving the last bean, which was a funny grey colour that Ron completely refused to touch. As it turned out, the bean was pepper.

Theodora turned her attention to the window, watching as the train speed on, the countryside and fields now gone as everything seemed to be taking on a slightly greyer colour, with lots of large mountains and thick woods outside now. They were getting nearer to the school, she thought, feeling a small spark of nerves shooting through her at the thought. Jasper never did explain to her how the Sorting took place; apparently it was supposed to be traditional that it was kept secret, but she wished she had thought now to try to see if any of her schoolbooks mentioned it. She didn’t want to make a fool out of herself on her very first night at Hogwarts.

A small knock sounded on the compartment door, and they all turned in their seats as the door slid open by a boy that appeared to be about the same age as them with a rounded face, his blonde hair neatly combed, and he had a slightly chubby build. He looked rather tearful, his blue eyes watery.

“Sorry,” he said, shuffling a little bit nervously on the spot, “But have you seen a toad at all?” Harry, Ron, and Theodora glanced at each and back to him, shaking their heads, “I’ve lost him!” he suddenly cried, looking even more upset than before, “He keeps getting away from me!”

“He’ll turn up,” Harry tried to comfort him, though he looked a little awkward.

“Yes,” the boy nodded, looking miserable. Theodora felt sorry for him, she didn’t know what she would do if Cotton ran off on her, “Well, if you see him…”

“We’ll come find you,” Theodora assured him.

The boy gave them another nod and closed the door behind him, heading off to continue his search.

“Don’t know why he’s so bothered,” Ron remarked, “If I’d brought a toad I’d lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can’t talk,” he looked down to the rat sleeping peacefully in his lap, “He might have died and you wouldn’t know the difference,” he looked at the rat in disgust, shaking his head, “I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn’t work. I’ll show you, look…” he moved Scabbers aside and stood to unlock his trunk in the luggage rack above his head, rummaging around inside it for a moment before he returned to his seat with a very old, chipped wand that had a glittering white Unicorn hair poking out of the end. Theodora winced slightly at the sight, thinking about her own brand new, very handsome wand safely tucked away in her trunk, “Unicorn hair’s nearly poking out,” he muttered, ears flushing lightly, “Anyway…”

Ron had just lifted his wand up and pointed it at Scabbers, when the compartment door was opened again and they looked up in surprise to find the same blonde-haired boy from before standing in the doorway, only this time he had someone else with him. It was a girl with very bushy, frizzy brown hair that was quite long and dark brown eyes. Theodora thought that she looked quite pretty, though it was a bit of a shame that she had such large front teeth. The girl was already dressed in her new Hogwarts robes, her tie black with the Hogwarts school crest on it until they were officially sorted into their Houses.

“Has anyone seen a toad?” the brunet girl asked in a rather bossy voice, something about her reminding Theodora a little bit of Percy, which really didn’t bode well, “Neville’s lost one”.

“No, sorry,” Theodora shook her head, giving the boy, Neville, an apologetic look.

“We’ve already told him we haven’t seen it,” Ron added with a nod to Neville.

The girl didn’t seem to be listening as her eyes landed on Ron’s wand, “Oh, are you doing magic?” she asked curiously, “Let’s see it, then,” she moved to sit down beside Theodora, looking passed her to Ron.

Ron blinked slightly, taken aback as he glanced at Theodora, who just shrugged, “Eh…all right,” he cleared his throat and looked back to the Scabbers, his wand still trained on the rat, “Sunshine, daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow,” he waved his wand a little overly enthusiastically, but still nothing happened, Scabbers still just as grey and fast asleep as before.

“Are you sure that’s a real spell?” the girl questioned, raising her eyebrows at Ron, who looked slightly pink, “Well, it’s not very good, is it? I’ve tried a few simple spells just for practise and it’s all worked for me. Nobody in my family’s magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it’s the very best school of witchcraft there is, I’ve heard…I’ve learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will do, I’m Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?”

Theodora blinked several times, staring at the girl beside her, who didn’t even seem to be the slightest bit out of breath, even though she had just said all of that very fast. The girl looked at them expectantly, while Theodora glanced at Ron to see him looking quite stunned and then across to Harry, who was looking just as bewildered as she felt. She had tried a few spells herself, but she hadn’t been overly successful, and she had read a couple of her books, Potions and Charms seemed to be very interesting and her wand was supposed to be quite well suited to ‘Natural’ magic, which she interpreted to mean being suited for Herbology, but to actually memorise everything like this Hermione had apparently done was startling.  Theodora couldn’t help feeling a little uncertain of herself now, should she have spent more time studying her books then she had? Jasper barely even cracked his books open when he started, she was really starting to regret not taking more of an active interest now.

“I’m Ron Weasley,” Ron mumbled, still giving Hermione a funny look.

“Theodora Earl,” Theodora introduced herself, giving the girl a slightly awkward smile, “But everyone calls me Theo”.

“Harry Potter,” Harry said, and Neville let out a loud gasp from the doorway, while Hermione’s eyes lit up.

“Are you really?” the girl turned to face Harry properly, “I know all about you, of course, I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you’re in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century”.

Harry looked quite dazed, staring back at the girl, “Am I?”

“Goodness, didn’t you know, I’d have found out everything I could if it was me. Do the three of you know what house you’ll be in? I’ve been asking around, and I hope I’m in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn’t be too bad…Anyway, we’d better go and look for Neville’s toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we’ll be there soon”.

And with that, Hermione rose from her seat and headed for the door, both she and Neville disappearing off down the train. Theodora stared after them, not entirely sure of what to make of Hermione Granger.

Ron scowled and stood, moving back to his trunk, “Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it,” he grumbled, throwing his wand into his messy trunk before moving back to his seat, “Stupid spell, George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud”.

“Why would you listen to a word that the twins say?” Theodora shook her head at him, looking amused, “You get what you deserve believing them”.

“Shut up, Theo,” he huffed, shooting her a glare, which she returned with an eye roll.

“What house are your brothers in?” Harry asked, looking between them.

“My brother’s a Hufflepuff,” Theodora replied, “Just like my dad was, but my mum was in Gryffindor, so I could easily go either way,” she finished with a shrug, not minding so much if she ended up in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, just as long as she wasn’t in Slytherin, she would be happy.

“Gryffindor,” Ron said gloomily, his scowl still firmly in place, “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”.

“You could always end up in Hufflepuff,” Theodora pointed at with a small frown, knowing perfectly well that Ron didn’t think much of the black and yellow house, which she couldn’t help finding just a little annoying. Hufflepuff was a wonderful house, they just never got the same attention and respect as the other houses did, that’s all.

“Yeah…” he muttered, shooting her a quick look.

“Slytherin,” Harry said thoughtfully, shifting slightly in his seat, “That’s the house Vol…I mean, You-Know-Who was in?”

“Yeah”.

Harry eyed Ron for a moment as Ron flopped back in his seat, looking even gloomier than before, and glanced across to Theodora as she shook her head at Ron. Honestly, he really was making a fuss about nothing, so what if he ended up in Gryffindor like the rest of his family? If he didn’t end up in Gryffindor, he would only end up getting upset about not being in it. There was no pleasing him.

“You know,” Harry began, looking back to Ron, “I think the ends of Scabbers’ whiskers are a bit lighter,” he told him, clearly trying to cheer him up. Ron didn’t say anything and after a moment of silence, Harry seemed to decide that it would be best to change the subject, “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 Gringotts,” Ron informed him, before something seemed to occur to him and he sat forward in his seat, “Did you hear about Gringotts?” Theodora nodded quickly, knowing exactly what he was referring to. Her mother had looked quite concerned while reading about it, “It’s been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don’t suppose you get that with the Muggles…someone tried to rob a high security vault”.

“Really? What happened?”

“Well, that’s the thing, nothing,” Theodora told him, nodding again, “They managed to get away with it; no one has the slightest clue who’s behind it”.

“My dad says it must’ve been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts,” Ron continued as Harry listened intently, “But they don’t think they took anything, that’s what’s odd. ‘Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who’s behind it”.

Harry looked away from them, his expression growing quite distant, seeming to be wrapped up in his own thoughts. Ron didn’t seem to notice anything, but Theodora watched him closely, wondering what he was thinking, but before she got the chance to ask him if he was okay, Ron spoke again.

“What’s your Quidditch team?”

Harry blinked, looking back to them, “Eh…I don’t know any,” he admitted, looking a little awkward.

“What?” Ron exclaimed, looking shocked by the mere thought.

Theodora cheered up slightly, “Well, we can fix that,” she said happily, “My favourite team is the Holyhead Harpies, their an all-female team and one of the oldest teams in history”.

Ron eagerly lurched himself into trying to explain how Quidditch is played, with Theodora adding bits and pieces here and there, while Harry listened closely, seeming to be very interested in learning all about the game. Together, the cousins had just began to try and explain to him some of the finer points of how the game was played when the compartment door was opened again, interrupting their discussion as the three of them all looked up, expecting Hermione Granger or Neville to have returned, but it wasn’t them.

Theodora eyed the three boys’ curiously, not recognising any of them as they stepped further into the compartment. She immediately felt wary of the sight of the middle boy, a pale, pointed faced boy with sleeked back white-blonde hair standing in the middle, his grey eyes fixed on Harry. His two friends were massive, at least twice, if not three times the size of her, and both with very little neck and rather aggressive expressions on their faces. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not at all liking the fact that the three of them were easily blocking the only escape route.

“Is it true?” the pale boy asked, eyeing Harry, “They’re saying down the train that Harry Potter’s in this compartment. So, it’s you, is it?”

“Yes,” Harry confirmed, his eyes lingering on the two very mean looking boys on either side of the slighter one. Theodora didn’t blame him; she couldn’t help looking at them warily, either.

“Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” the boy carelessly introduced the other two boys beside him, noticing Harry’s gaze, “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy”.

Theodora blinked, recognising the name. The Malfoy’s were an unpleasant family, to say the least; she had heard Uncle Arthur talk about them and her mother had mentioned them once or twice. They were rumoured to be into all sorts of Dark stuff; she had even heard that they had been supporters of You-Know-Who. This was certainly not the type of person that she wished to have anything to do with, not at all. Beside her, Ron gave a funny little cough, failing to hold back a snigger.

Malfoy’s sharp eyes fixed on him and Theodora, “Think my name’s funny, do you?” he narrowed his eyes on them, looking them both over with a sneer, “No need to ask who you two are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford”.

Theodora sat up straighter; glaring at him as Ron’s ears grew red, not bothering to correct him for mistaking her for a Weasley.

The boy turned back to Harry, his sneer fading, his expression growing prouder, “You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter,” he told him arrogantly, “You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there,” he held out his hand for Harry to shake.

Harry glanced at the hand and back up to Malfoy’s pointed face, “I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks,” he replied coldly, making no move to take the offered hand.

Malfoy’s cheeks grew faintly pink, his eyes fixed steadily on Harry’s, “I’d be careful if I were you, Potter,” he said warningly, speaking slowly with a slight edge to his tone, “Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same way as you parents…” Theodora’s mouth fell open, horrified that he had actually said something like that and straight to Harry’s face, “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”.

Instantly, Theodora jumped onto her feet, clenching her fists together in anger, while Ron and Harry also leaped onto their feet.

“How dare you,” she said shakily, using all of her willpower not to throw herself at Malfoy and punch his arrogant face. She had never hit any one before, in fact, she had never felt the urge to, but something about this boy truly disgusted and incensed her. How could anyone say something so horrible about someone else’s parents like that? And that wasn’t even talking about the insult against the Weasleys and whoever this Hagrid person was supposed to be.

“Say that again,” Ron spat at Malfoy, his face burning bright red with fury, almost shaking with it.

Malfoy simply looked at them calmly, sneering, “Oh, you’re going to fight us, are you?”

“Unless you get out now,” Harry said bravely, staring him down.

“But we don’t feel like leaving, do we, boys?” he smirked slowly, glancing back to the boys standing on either side of him, looking even more menacing, “We’ve eaten all our food, and you still seem to have some”.

One of the boys, Theodora thought his name was Goyle, took a step forward and reached out with a thick arm towards one of the Chocolate Frogs that still remained, Ron leaping forward to try and stop him, but he didn’t even get a chance to push his arm away before Goyle gave a sudden howl of pain, making Theodora jump, startled. Everyone looked at him, their eyes widening at the sight of Scabbers dangling from Goyle’s thick index finger, the rat’s sharp teeth digging into the flesh of his knuckle.

Malfoy and the second boy, Crabbe, began to back away as Goyle tried to swing his arm widely, desperately trying to shake Scabbers off his finger, yelling in pain all the while. Theodora ducked and fell backwards onto the seat behind her, managing to avoid getting smacked in the face, just as Goyle finally managed to shake off the rat and Scabbers was sent flying through the air, hitting the window with a dull thud. Theodora winced at the sound, hoping that Scabbers was okay, but Malfoy and his little gang didn’t wait around, instead they took off out of the compartment as fast as they could, Goyle clutching his hand to his chest as they disappeared.

A moment later and footsteps sounded outside before Hermione Granger appeared in the doorway, frowning deeply, “What has been going on?” she asked, looking around at all the sweets scattered across the floor.

Theodora looked across to the window as Ron moved to pick Scabbers up from the floor by his tail, “Ron, is he okay?” she questioned worriedly.

Ron held the rat up towards his face, “I think he’s been knocked out,” he said, before leaning closer to his pet, studying him more closely, “No…” he shook his head, faint disbelief crossing his face, “I don’t believe it, he’s gone back to sleep”.

Theodora laughed, feeling relieved by the news, “Being heroic must be very tiring,” she remarked, almost fondly. She glanced across to Harry, her expression growing curious, “How do you know that Malfoy boy? He was talking like you had met before”.

Harry sighed slightly, sitting back down in his seat, “I meet him in Diagon Alley when I was getting fitted for my school robes,” he explained, shrugging, “He never told me his name, just went on about a bunch of stuff that I didn’t understand at the time, like Quidditch and that he was sure he was going to get into Slytherin. He reminded me a bit of my cousin, Dudley”.

“I’ve heard of his family,” Ron said darkly, and Theodora nodded in agreement, grimacing slightly, “They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they’d been bewitched…”

“Completely absurd, if you ask me,” Theodora cut in, shaking her head as she crossed her arms across her chest, thinking about what little she had overheard about the family from Uncle Arthur and her mother, “Families like the Malfoy’s are some of the very worst kinds of wizards and witches, full of prejudice and dark magic”.

Ron nodded in agreement, looking grim, “Yeah, my dad doesn’t believe it,” he said to Harry, who seemed to be listening very closely to every word that they were saying, Hermione appearing to be just as interested, too, “He says Malfoy’s father didn’t need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side,” he looked up and caught Hermione still standing in the doorway, and frowned at her, “Can we help you with anything?” he asked with a sarcastic hint in his voice.

Hermione looked slightly affronted by his tone and seemed to drawer herself up a bit taller, “You’d better hurry up and put your robes on,” she told them, still sounding very bossy, “I’ve just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we’re nearly there. You haven’t been fighting, have you?” she fixed the three of them with a disapproving look, “You’ll be in trouble before we even get there!”

“Scabbers has been fighting, not us. Would you mind leaving while we change?”

“All right,” she said, still looking very disapproving as she shook her head, “I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors,” she went to leave the compartment, when she paused and looked back to Ron, “And you’ve got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?”

Theodora glanced at Ron, who was glaring after the girl as she left the compartment, “Well, she’s not wrong about your nose,” she said lightly, only earning another glare from him.

She shrugged, not the slightest bit bothered, and moved to collect her brand-new school uniform and robes from her trunk, hesitating slightly before also grabbing her wand. She didn’t have a clue how they were supposed to be sorted, what if they had to prove their magical ability or something? Though, what a group of first years were supposed to be able to do right off the bat, she didn’t know.

The train was starting to slow down and outside the window was growing darker as Theodora left the compartment to go and change in one of the bathrooms, leaving the boys to change. She pulled off her dress and cardigan, and swapped it over for her new grey skirt, grey knee-high socks with black buckle shoes, her white button up shirt with a grey jumper, plain black tie with the Hogwarts crest on it, and her black hooded robe. She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror and nervously tried to smooth her hair down, wishing she could do something to hide her freckles. She slipped her wand inside her pocket and her hat, which she wasn’t entirely sure if she was supposed to be wearing, before going back to join Harry and Ron.

“We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time,” a male voice came other the loudspeaker, just as Theodora slipped back inside the compartment, the boy’s dressed in their own robes, though Ron’s were slightly washed-out looking and a little short, “Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately”.

Theodora swallowed thickly, feeling the nerves swopping over her, her stomach churning sickeningly. She wished she hadn’t touched that third pumpkin pasty now. She glanced at the boys to see them both looking equally as nervous as her, both very pale as they began stuffing their pockets with what was rest of the sweets, Harry trying to offer a handful to Theodora, but she simply shook her head, not able to think about food right now.

The train finally slowed right down, coming to a complete stop as everyone seemed to gather out in the hallway, people rushing for the doorways, pushing and shoving other students out of the way to spill out onto the small, dark platform. Theodora stepped out, followed closely by Harry and Ron, and quickly wrapped her robes tighter around herself as the cold night air hit her, all the older students swarming out around them. She had never really realised how much taller they all were compared to her; it was a little intermediating.

“Firs’ years!” a loud, deep voice called out from somewhere nearby, and Theodora tried to follow the sound, turning to see massive man looming out of the darkness with a lamp held in his hands, gesturing one huge hand over the top of the student’s heads. He truly was the biggest man Theodora had ever seen, easily over eleven feet tall and very, very broad with dark shaggy hair and a beard that obscured half of his face from view, “Firs’ years over here!” Harry broke into a wide smile and instantly started moving through the bustling students towards the giant of a man, leaving Ron and Theodora to hurry after him, “All right there, Harry?” he said with a large smile, looking down to Harry as they approached him.

Theodora glanced at Harry curiously, but he simply smiled happily up at the man. She thought that she might remember Jasper mentioning something about a giant man who was supposed to be the groundskeeper or something at Hogwarts, but she hadn’t thought that he was being so literal about it, though the man clearly wasn’t an actual giant.

“C’mon, follow me,” the man urged the first years as several other very young faced and slightly nervous looking kids began to form a group before the man, “Any more firs’ years?” he looked around at them all, his eyes very dark but friendly, “Mind yer step, now! Firs’ years follow me!”

The man turned and set off leading them all across the platform, and over to where a rather narrow path led off from the station, seeming to be surrounded by thick trees and sloping downwards, the only light coming from the huge lamp in the man’s hands. Theodora struggled slightly as they carefully progressed onwards, her shoes slipping and sliding slightly on the dirt path, most of her fellow first years completely silent. She wished that she had been able to see Jasper before they had left the station, even just a glimpse would have been nice, but there had been so many people, and everyone seemed to be twice her size.

“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec,” the man told them after a few minutes of walking downwards, “Jus’ round this bend here…”

Suddenly, the path opened before them, right on the edge of a very large lake, the water pitch black and rippling gently against the pebbled shoreline that they had just stepped out onto. But it wasn’t the lake that had caused many people, including Theodora, to gasp aloud in awe; it was the castle that was perched on top of a mountain on the other side of the lake, its many windows shining brightly out through the darkened night. Even from here, Theodora could easily make out the numerous towers and turrets surrounding the ancient structure. She had seen pictures of the school before, but never like this, it had to be quite possibly the most magnificent building she had ever seen.

“Wow…” Theodora breathed, unable to look away from the castle. If this was what it looked like from afar, then what must it be like inside?

“No more’n four to a boat!” the man said loudly, making her jump slightly and drag her eyes off the castle to see him pointing over to where several wooden boats were sitting in the shallow water of the shore, gently bobbing up and down. Ron gave her a little nudge in the back and she quickly moved towards one of the boats, holding her robes up out of the water as she climbed inside  it, Ron, Harry, and much to Ron’s annoyance, Hermione following behind her, “Everyone in?” he asked after a moment, looking around to make sure that everyone was in a boat, sitting in one of the boats himself. Once he was satisfied, he turned back to face the front of his boat, “Right then…FORWARDS!”

All of the boats moved off from the shore in unison, gliding smoothly across the black water towards the castle. No one said a word, the gentle sound of the water lapping against the sides of the boats the only sound, everyone to transfixed by the castle looming above them to be interested in anything else. Before Theodora even knew it, the boats had reached a large cliff face beneath the castle, where a huge curtain of ivy was growing across the grey stone.

“Heads down!” the man ordered them, and everyone quickly ducked their heads as their boats sailed through the ivy curtain and into a large, dark tunnel that Theodora suspected must have been built beneath the castle itself, the tunnel opening into an unground harbour, all of the boats coming to a gentle stop. Everyone climbed out of the boats, their feet hitting the rocky ground, looking around curiously as the man quickly began to check each boat, “Oi, you there!” he suddenly called as he checked one of the boats, reaching down to grab something out of it, “Is this your toad?”

“Trevor!” Neville cried joyfully, having just clumsily climbed out of the boat. He quickly held out his hands and took the large, fat looking toad from the man, tucking the toad away in his robes pocket.

The man turned and lead them up the rocky shore, taking them up through a narrow tunnel that seemed to be slopping slightly upwards, the walls very rocky on either side of the tunnel, when, after only less than a minute of walking, the tunnel started to grow smoother and opened up into what Theodora thought must be the main grounds surrounding the castle, the rocky ground beneath them disappearing and turning into damp grass. She blinked slightly and looked up, and up again, suddenly finding herself standing right in the very shadow of the castle itself, the building so much larger now that she was so close. They made their way up a set of stone steps before the man brought them to a stop, right outside a set of massive oak front doors.

“Everyone here?” he looked back around to them all as they gathered, casting a quick glance over to Neville, his mouth twitching very faintly in the lamplight, “You there, still got yer toad?”

Neville nodded, looking a little embarrassed, and the man turned to face the doors and raised his fist, knocking three times on the doors. Theodora felt her chest tighten, knowing that this was it, she was truly at Hogwarts.

Please keep in mind that Theodora will have her own plot and greater influence in later books, this one is definitely more of an establishing book, but, of course, I’ve tried to make it a little more original and it will be told from Theo’s eyes, not Harry’s, so it will be a little different at times. I just feel like right now it’s reading very close to the books, and I know how that can turn a lot of people off. I get it, I do. It will change, it’ll still follow the books, of course, but as Theo grows, she will have her own story told, too. Hope you guys liked it, which House do you reckon Theo’s going to end up in? Tell me what you thought, please review :)

[loulouflowerpower]

Snakes and Cauldrons

"Second year has arrived, and Theodora Earl finds herself feeling curiously anxious following the events at the end of the previous year. However, she’s not alone. The bonds of friendship and family are proven and tested, but Theo seriously could have done without Jasper’s nosiness, thanks, though, to be fair, when there was a bunch of kids being attacked around the school and rumours that an ancient, evil monster was lurking about the place behind it all, Theo supposed she couldn’t really blame her big bro for fussing...and maybe he did have good reason to worry, because when you go after one of Theo’s friends or family, all bets are off.

Eventually, Harry/OC. Still, not quite yet, though…"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/82248946/chapters/216465741

[loulouflowerpower]

“If people didn’t fight, You-Know-Who would have taken over a long time ago, people like dad, Jasper, who were willing to die to make sure we could live safely. I’m just helping to keep that legacy going, just like he would have”.

Theodora Earl to Jasper Earl, Book One, Chapter 14.