Without You

Following the instructions given to her by Hagrid and on the letter McGonagall had given her, Adrianna showed up at King’s Cross Train Station at 10:45, fifteen minutes before the train was to leave. She walked around; looking for the platform the train should have been at. She noticed a family standing at a pillar between nine and ten and decided to watch them for a moment. Suddenly, the man and his son took the trolley in front of them and ran at the wall. Adrianna covered her mouth, certain they would crash. However, just as they grew level with the wall, they went straight through it.

The woman and the little girl followed straight after, and it amazed Adrianna that nobody seemed to notice. Realizing she was just standing there and needed to do something, Adrianna quickly walked up to the wall herself. She looked it up and down before pushing her cart and full out running. She braced herself for impact, however, just like the family before her, she went straight through, and found herself on a completely different platform altogether.

“Whoa,” she whispered, staring at the train with wide eyes.

“Hello,” a voice behind her said. She turned to see a pretty girl with flaming red hair standing behind her.

“H-Hi,” she replied.

“First year?” When Adrianna nodded, the older girl smiled.

“Welcome then. My name is Victoire by the way, Victoire Weasley. This is my third year coming to Hogwarts.”

“Nice to meet you,” Adrianna replied. “I’m Adrianna Prince, but people call me Adri.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Victoire looked around, a slight frown on her face. “If you don’t mind my asking, where are your parents?”

“Oh, uhm,” before Adrianna could finish, a man with red hair walked up to them.

“Hey Vic, better get on the train,” he said.

“Okay Dad,” Victoire said. “This is my father, Bill,” she said. “Dad this is Adrianna, this is her first year.”

“Is that so?” Bill asked. “Do you need help getting your trunk on the train?”

“I would really appreciate it,” Adrianna replied.

“Put it in my compartment Dad, she can sit with me and James.”

“Sure thing kiddo,” Bill smiled. Another redheaded man walked up to them, and Bill indicated to the trunk. “Give me a hand Ron?”

“I don’t know Bill, it looks pretty heavy,” Ron said, trying and failing to hide his smile. Together the two of them got the trunk onto the train. Victoire climbed aboard and indicated to Adrianna she should follow her.

“Have a safe term sweetheart,” Bill said as Victoire leaned out of the window. The whistle blew on the train and without warning, started to move forward. Adrianna just sat and watched as Victoire and another boy who looked to be around Adri’s age waved from the window. Adrianna realized it was the same boy from the family she watched before.

“You two ready?” Victoire asked as she sat down opposite of Adrianna. “Oh, before I forget, Adrianna, this is my cousin, James Potter. James this is Adrianna, she’s a first year just like you are.”

“At least I’ll know someone in my class then,” Adrianna said before she could stop herself.

“I’m nervous as well,” James stated.

“You both will do excellent,” Victoire assured them. “By the way Adri, where were your parents?”

“Uhm, my mum died when I was little, around five maybe.” Adrianna answered after a moment. “I never knew my father. I don’t think Mum ever told him she had me.”

“I’m sorry,” Vic said.

“I live in an orphanage, but it’s okay, they treat me very well there.”

“How did you know about everything then?” James asked. “Like, how to find the train.”

“I, uh, I seen you and your family go through the wall, so I kind of followed you,” Adrianna admitted. “As for everything else, a woman, the headmistress I think she called herself, told me I was a witch. Someone else, this really big guy, came to take me to get my school supplies. I think he said his name was Harrid…” Adri’s voice fell as she realized she couldn’t remember the guy’s name.

“Hagrid?” Vic asked suddenly.

“Yes, Hagrid,” Adri nodded. “You know him?”

“He’s good friends with our family,” James spoke up. “My dad met him when he was our age.” The three of them fell into silence, and soon Adrianna started to feel slightly anxious.

“It’s not bad, Hogwarts,” Victoire spoke up after a while. “You just have to get used to the castle, and the teachers.”

“We know Professor Longbottom outside of school, he’s a nice guy,” James added. “He teaches Herbology with Professor Sprout, magical plants and stuff.”

“Then there’s Professor McGonagall, you said you met her. She’s Headmistress when the Headmaster is away, but normally she teaches Transfiguration.”

“Dad said Professor Flitwick is okay,” James replied. “Just keep a look out for him in the hallways and listen carefully in class.”

“What does he teach?”

“Charms,” Vic answered. “Professor Lupin is awesome. He’s one of the best teachers at the school. He teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. The teacher to really look out for though is Professor Snape. He teaches Potions and he is strict.”

“Dad said he hated him for a long time, though he never said why.” James mumbled, looking out the window.

“Snape was jealous of your Dad’s fame,” Vic replied, rolling her eyes.

“Your Dad’s famous?” Adrianna asked, looking at James.

“Our whole family is really, but yeah.”

“You don’t know the story do you?” Vic asked suddenly. “You really did live deep with the Muggles didn’t you?”

“Muggles?”

“A person with no magic,” Vic answered, quickly brushing it off. “Anyway, back to the past. Over 30 years ago, there was this wizard named Tom Riddle, except he changed his name to Lord Voldemort. He was evil, real evil. He went around killing everyone he could. James’ dad was a baby, and Voldemort went after him and his family. He killed his parents, but Voldemort couldn’t kill Uncle Harry. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t do it. Well, seventeen years ago, there was this big war at the school. A lot of people died and even more was close to it.”

“And Voldemort was defeated?”

“Yep, by Uncle Harry himself.” Vic said, the pride evident in her voice. “A true Gryffindor warrior.”

“Gryffindor?”

“Oh, yeah, students can get sorted into four houses, or classes,” Vic replied. “There’s Gryffindor who values bravery, Hufflepuff who values kindness. Then you have Ravenclaw who prefers intelligence and finally Slytherin, which values cunning and ambition.”

“What out for Slytherin though. Everyone goes bad when they go into that house.” Vic smacked the back of James’ head.

“Don’t listen to him, it’s not true. Sure there were a lot of witches and wizards whom were evil from Slytherin, but there were just as many hard working people who came from that house as well.”
Something stopped outside their door.

“The lunch trolley,” Vic exclaimed, standing up at once. She looked over the food on the cart, suddenly stopped as she looked over her shoulder. She could tell Adrianna was avoiding looking at the food. She smiled and got enough for the both of them while James got his own.

“Here,” Victoire said, setting cakes and candies on the seat beside Adri.

“Oh, you didn’t have too….” Adrianna started.

“It’s still another five or six hours until we get to the school. Believe me, you’ll be eating before we get there.”

“Thank you,” Adrianna said, grabbing a cake and taking the plastic off of it. She watched as the sky became steadily darker.

“We should change into our school uniforms,” Victoire suggested suddenly. “I think we’re about there.” Nerves and excitement filled Adrianna’s stomach again as she changed into her robes. Just as she secured the strap on her shoe she felt the train stop.

“What about…” Adri started to ask.

“Someone will get our stuff for us. You guys better hurry before Hagrid leaves you.”

“Let’s go,” James said, leading the way off the train. Over the thunderous noise of the students voices they could hear a deep voice calling for first years.