Arabella Wolf and the Founder's Room (Harry Potter fanfic)

The Hogwarts Express

Arabella was stood in the classic English setting of a rainy, grey day outside the train station. She had just drawn up in a taxi along with her mum, who had been embarrassed slightly by the old-fashioned trunk and cat-basket was now paying as Arabella struggled to heave the trunk onto a trolley. She had only ever been to King's Cross station as a little girl; her family had lived in London before the untimely death of her brother Noah. He had only been three weeks old, but even seven years later her mother still bore the signs of grief. Arabella barely remembered her brother- she had been five, so it was hard to be as sad as her parents and older sister had been. 

As they entered the station, Arabella looked once more at her ticket. Hogwarts had offered to send and escort to get onto the platform, but she had merely requested instructions. Unfortunately, she was doubtful of the reality of a 'Platform Nine and Three Quarters'. Nevertheless she followed the advice they had given and her mum, looking worried as usual, leant against the barrier between platforms nine and ten and vanished. Arabella grinned and with renewed confidence did the same. 

On the other side, she looked around in awe. A scarlet steam train was on the tracks, and the platform was packed with all manner of kids and parents accompanied by a variety of weird and wonderful animals. She was stood there for a little too long maybe and she realised she hadn't gotten out of the way as a burly looking boy hurtled through the barrier at top speed and she only just managed to jump out of the way. Arabellas mum gave a little yelp, "Be careful! look... Come over here... Out of the way..." Her mum shepherded her into an unoccupied space looking uneasy. 

Her mum was talking to her but she wasn't listening. Along the platform something curious was happening. A family of five were walking together, and as the made progress, several people stopped and some even pointed. Curious, Arabella squinted. There was a woman with coppery ginger hair and a man with rather outdated glasses and unkempt black hair. Arabella recognised him- he was in one of her new books for History of Magic. Harry Potter and his children. 

"Bella are you listening?" Arabella's mum said slightly impatiently. Feeling guilty she turned back to face her, but before she could open her mouth a whistle sounded and across the platform there was a surge of activity. "Listen, mum, I'd better get on now." Her mum hugged her desperately,

"Write every day won't you? And don't forget you can come home if you want... I hope you haven't fogotten anything... And be good." Arabella had had do a lot of talking to persuade her mum to even consider letting her go to boarding school, she was so protective and worried so much. She gave her one last hug and assured her she would write as much as she could and reminded her it was only until Christmas. Weaving in and out of the parents left on the platform, she boarded the train feeling exhilarated, if a little guilty for leaving her mum. But her mum still had Georgia, Arabella's slightly older sister.

On the train was a mass of people scrabbling for carriages with their friends. Looking inside she could only see one that wasn't full. Opening it she asked, "Would you mind if I joined you?" A pale girl with freckles and lilac hair looked up and nodded, whilst a good-looking boy smiled. He was reading a thick, old looking book. Arabella sat down, relieved by their acceptance and asked, 

"So, are you first years too?" 

"Yup, but I wasn't surprised to be coming here, I'm a half-blood. My name's Violet Moore by the way." Said the girl.

"I'm Beetle, Beetle Reynolds. I'm a half-blood too, not that it matters." The boy said and nodded at his book, "I'm researching the houses. Apparently they don't matter so much anymore, we're all meant to integrate and share tables and everything."

They continued the conversation for a while, it seemed the three of them were at ease with each other  and before long they were laughing as if they had known each other forever. Arabella felt a huge weight lifted from her shoulders; she had been worried about making friends. Suddenly, the door to the compartment flew open and in the doorway stood a boy and a girl, obviously twins with shiny black hair. The boy had his hair in a side fringe and the girl had two long plaits. She flung herself down on one of the seats, but the boy remained standing. 

"Can we sit here?" He asked, " Some seventh years kicked us out of our compartment." He rolled his eyes when he said the last part. Arabella gestured for him to sit down and he did, looking pleased.

"Hey everyone." Said the girl, "My name is Eliza, this is my brother Logan. What are your names?"

They all introduced themselves and afterwards they engaged in small-talk, of which Eliza did most of the talking, whilst Logan looked amused and apologetic. Arabella got the distinct impression that Logan was very different to his sister, but Eliza seemed to think they were very similar. 

Arabella gazed out of the window for, looking at the countryside outside whizzing by. It had been a shock to say the least when she had gotten her letter. She had, until then, seemed like a very normal daughter to a teacher and a doctor. There hadn't really been that many signs of magic. Sure, at her brother's funeral the vases around the church had smashed unexplainably when she started crying, but no-one had ever connected her to the event, it was ignored completely in light of the event. And now she thought about it, there had been the time at her school when a girl was laughing at her and something strange happened. The girl was holding her lunch tray when seemingly involuntarily her wrist jerked and it flew all over her. She stopped laughing at Arabella pretty quickly. 

"We'll be in Slytherin, I'm sure of it." Eliza said after a while. 

"Eliza, we can't possibly know that yet, I told you." Logan said, "And anyways, I don't fancy it myself, if anything, Gryffindor or Hufflepuff seems about right for me."

"We'll see," She said, "But I'm still hoping for Slytherin."

As the train ride continued and Arabella became accustomed and learnt more about the new world she had discovered, the conversations became much easier. By the time the trolley came around packed with sweets Arabella had never seen nor heard of, she was feeling much more comfortable. In fact, she had almost completely forgotten about feeling guilty for leaving her mum behind. So, she settled in and prepared herself for the rest of the journey, contemplating what surprises would come next.