Sunrise at Midnight

I was awoken by a sudden whizzing sound and a small explosion. I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my wand from my night table. When my vision became clearer, I glared at the two figures standing on the other side of the room, letting out a laugh.

“Fireworks? Really,” I asked, sounding unimpressed.

“Well it woke you up, Rose,” George said.

“Now get up and change,” Fred continued.

“We have to eat breakfast.”

“And be at the station!”

And with that they sped out the room.

“Gingers,” I mumbled under my breath, rolling my eyes and giggling. Sunlight crept into our room from the window next to me, filling the room with a sudden brightness. Ginny was still sound asleep despite the noise her twin brothers had just made. It was surprising.

I got the energy to climb out of bed and walk to the closet. I grabbed a towel, my clothes, my wand, and my favorite bow to put on my hair. I walked out of the bedroom and into the bathroom next door, locking the door behind me.

Walking towards the tub, I turned on the water, setting it on hot. As I watched the tub slowly filled up, I began to undress. Once I was completely naked, I stepped into the tub, jumping a bit at the contact of hot water on my skin. After a few seconds of getting used to, I lowered myself completely, allowing myself to relax. I grabbed the soap and began washing my body. The hot water relaxed my muscles which were tense and stiff from sleeping in a bad position.

Five minutes passed and I finished up. I closed the water and jumped out, full of energy to conquer the day. I dried myself with the towel and began to brush my teeth. After rinsing the toothpaste away, I threw on my clothes in a hurry. I had a massive bedhead – like always. I grabbed the brush and began untangling my hair. The frizz died down and my hair went back to being straight. Then it began to curl a bit at the ends. I smiled and clipped my bow on the back. I put on lipstick and grinned. I looked damn sexy for going to a train station, and even better, I looked more 14 than 13.

It was a bit girly for my edginess, but I was still satisfied with the final look.

I threw the dirty pajamas into the enchanted hamper, which closed after the clothes were in. Gripping my wand in hand, I ran to the room. I grabbed my trunk and put Addie’s cage on top of the trunk. She began hooting excitedly.

“Are you excited Addie,” I asked, squealing. “We’re finally leaving to Hogwarts!”

She hooted happily. With the trunk and cage in my hand, I began to run down the stairs.

“I’m ready,” I said in a rather melodious voice. As I ran in, I noticed Molly was already at the door with Fred and George who were grinning rather excitedly. Percy was standing there with his trunks in hand, looking rather anxious, while Ron looked nervous.

Mrs. Weasley smiled. “Good! So I guess we’re ready to go then! We’re apparating there this time. Come on, we cannot be late,” she rushed.

I grabbed onto her like everyone else, closing my eyes and waiting for the uncomfortable feeling of apparating. It felt like you were being squeezed through a tight tube.

The feeling came but left a lot quicker than I expected. I let go and opened my eyes, letting the image appear. I smiled and let out a large sigh, grabbing my trunks and Addie and putting them into a cart along with everyone else. I opened the trunk on the top and pulled out my ticket for the Hogwarts Express.

We continued down onto the platforms and inbetween Platforms nine and ten.

“Molly, can I go first,” I asked. I was anxious to get on the train and leave the Muggle world. I wanted to leave for Hogwarts more than anything right now.

“Oh of course, dear! Go on!”

I smiled at her and gave her a goodbye hug. “I’ll see you soon, alright?”

She smiled up at me. I looked around, making sure no one was watching me. When the coast was clear, I grabbed the cart and began running towards the wall. Before I knew it, I was in Platform nine and three quarters, surrounded by hundreds of kids and teenagers scurrying around, trying to board the Express. I sighed and put on a huge smile. I was finally heading home.

I began pushing my cart towards the train station. I grabbed my trunks and owl cage, making my way into the train. My first instinct was to find an empty compartment so I wouldn’t have to deal with a whole crowd of people or being sat with someone I didn’t want to. I was unsuccessful in finding an empty one, but immediately I noticed one compartment. It had two first years inside. The girl had kind eyes and bushy brown hair. She was reading a book excitedly while talking to the other first year with her who was holding a toad in his hands.. This boy was rather chubby and had buck teeth sticking out. His expression showed he was nervous.

It’s better than nowhere.

I slid open the door. “Hey, erm, do you mind if I sit here? I won’t be a bother.”

The girl looked up and smiled. “No, we don’t mind. Go ahead and sit.”

I smiled back and put my trunks and Addie’s cage down, taking a seat. “So, what’s your names? I’m Rosalie.”

“Rosalie? Like Rosalie Potter,” the girl pointed out, smiling.

I laughed. “Actually, I am Rosalie Potter. How ironic right?”

The boy looked up and gasped. “Wow, are you really? I mean, I’ve only seen pictures of the Potter family, but you look so much like your father! Except without the glasses.”

“I’m lucky I don’t have bad vision. Must be all the carrot cake I eat,” I joked.

They laughed. “I’m Hermione Granger,” the young girl introduced herself.

“Nice to meet you Hermione,” I said smiling. I turned to the boy. “What about you?”

“N-Neville Longbottom,” he stuttered a bit.

“Nice to meet you Neville. May I ask why you’re so nervous?”

Before he could answer, we felt the train begin to move. Hermione and I immediately beamed while Neville looked like he was going to be sick.

“I’m nervous about Hogwarts. What if I get teased? I’ll probably get into a bad house. What if I’m not skilled enough like everyone else,” Neville rambled.

“Don’t worry. I expect you to enter in Hufflepuff maybe. They’re a good house. There’s a lot of great wizards there – and don’t worry about teasing. Everyone is nice there, except the Slytherins. Just try to ignore them. It’d be best. Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of Slytherin teasing. Also, you don’t need to worry about not knowing much. Do you realize how many first years probably don’t know a single spell?”

Hermione interjected. “Well, I know several. I’ve been studying ever since I found out I’m a witch. I didn’t even know these things existed!”

“I’m guessing you’re a Muggleborn?”

She nodded.

“Don’t worry. My closest friend is a Muggleborn too,” I assured her, giving her a smile of friendship.
All of a sudden, Neville’s toad jumped out of his hands and out of the compartment.

“Oh, bollocks,” Neville exclaimed, running out the compartment and after the toad.

“I think I should go help him,” Hermione said, putting her books down and running out, sliding the compartment door shut, leaving me alone.

I grabbed Addie’s cage and sat her on top of the seat. All I could think about at the moment was the name. Potter.

For some reason, today more than ever, this name struck me. Because today, Harry would be starting his first year at Hogwarts. I could have been sitting in a compartment with him right now, talking about how exciting this was going to be, and telling him Hogwarts stories from my previous two years. But sadly, it wasn’t that way.

I looked towards Addie who seemed to stare up at me with sad eyes. “It sucks, losing someone that means a lot to you,” I said to her, letting out a sigh. I turned out to the window and noticed Hogwarts was coming into view. We finally had arrived and I couldn’t wait to get into the Great Hall. I had skipped out on breakfast this morning and due to the train ride, missed lunch. I had probably forgotten to pick up the sandwich Mrs. Weasley made me before leaving.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the train made an abrupt stop. I jumped up and hurriedly grabbed Addie’s cage and my trunks, running out of the compartment. When I made it out, I saw Hagrid doing his usual job of leading students towards Hogwarts and escorting students out of the train.

“Hi, Hagrid,” I greeted.

“Oi! ‘Ello, Rosalie! Good to see ye ‘ere,” Hagrid greeted back, smiling.

I smiled at him. All the students were to set their trunks down and they were going to transfer them up to the dorm rooms later. I put Addie and my trunk down. Addie seemed sad, but I nodded assuringly at her and continued down towards the carriages. I hopped onto an empty one and dazed off, looking at Hogwarts happily.

“Well someone’s in a happy mood,” I heard an all-too-familiar voice say.

I turned my head to see who had just joined me. Long, blonde hair, and beautiful blue eyes. Pale skin and a slightly taller height than mine.

“Rayne,” I exclaimed happily, pulling her into a hug. Rayne giggled and hugged me back. We pulled away and she took a seat.

“Agh, Rosalie, it feels so good to see you again! This summer has been rather boring. The Muggle World isn’t as exciting,” she said, chuckling.

“This summer was uneventful as well! The Weasleys are fun but we never do anything. I think the most eventful thing that happened was me going to Diagon Alley alone,” I stated.

She laughed. The rest of the carriage ride we talked about our summer and how excited we were to be back. Somehow I felt like there was something she wasn’t telling me, but I decided to shrug it off. I was probably just overthinking things and she was a bit nervous.

The carriage stopped and I jumped out, allowing Rayne to follow me. We entered the Courtyard and followed the bustling students into the Great Hall. I smiled at the comforting sight of it. The floating candles, the enchanted roof that was made to look the sky outside. It looked rather perfect.

I took my seat in the Gryffindor table in between Fred and George.

“Boys, where were you,” I spat playfully. “You left me all alone! I had to sit with first years!”

“Well we’re sorry, miss,” Fred joked. “But mum met up with a boy outside the platform who needed help so we got a bit held back.”

George nodded.

“Ha ha, well thank god for you guys the first years were nice and fun to talk to! Or else I would have hexed you by now.”

Rayne took a seat next to me and howled. “Oh! Fiesty, I see. You sure changed over break,” she said, laughing.

We joined her and then were interrupted by McGonagall beginning to call out the names. I didn’t even realize the first years had entered. They were all now in a crowd.

Names were being called. The Sorting Hat began to yell out house names.

“Hufflepuff!”

“Gryffindor!”

“Slytherin!”

“Ravenclaw!”

People in tables would cheer when they realized their house had a new member.

“Granger, Hermione!”

Hermione walked up a bit nervously but excited. She found me and I gave her a thumbs up. The hat was placed on her head. A few seconds later, it yelled, “Gryffindor!”

I began clapping and cheering as she happily walked over to the table, taking a seat.

Names continued being called. Longbottom was put into Gryffindor which shocked me. Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin, no surprise there.

The ceremony seemed to drag on and I was getting sleepier and sleepier as more and more names were called.

All of a sudden, a name echoed through McGonagall’s voice. My body seemed to freeze in shock, and I could feel the whole Hall suddenly tense up as the name slipped her lips.

“Harry Potter.”