Like A Flower Blooming

Chapter 7

I tested out a few spells from the Charms spellbook when I got back in my room. When I finally managed to get a quill to levitate with the spell, Wingardium Leviosa, it was dinnertime and I felt completely drained.

Why hadn’t he told me? Hagrid should have known that if I didn’t know I was a witch then I wouldn’t have known about my parents’ murder. Car crash. I now realized that everything the Dursleys had told me was a lie. They’d been keeping secrets from me my whole life and I wasn’t a forgiving person.

Downstairs, I sat down, moody. 

“ Here you go, Ari. Eat up!” said Tom, enthusiastic. 

I nodded at him and started eating the sausages. 

“ Can I sit here?” asked a man. I nodded. 

“ I’m Kingsley. Kingsley Shacklebolt. I’m an Auror,” he said importantly.

“ Sorry, what’s an Auror?” I asked confused.

“ Muggle-born? A Auror is a very special job in the Ministry that captures Death Eaters that are not in prison,” he said. 

I nodded to show I understood. 

“ You work for the Ministry? That’s the government for witches and wizards?” I asked.

“ Yes. The Minister is the leader like America’s President. So what’s your name?” he asked.

“ Ari,” I said, quickly.

“ Last name?” 

“ I was abandoned. Don’t really have one,” I said. Half of that was true. I had been abandoned on a doorstep. 

I finished my dinner and said goodbye. I’d needed to pack for tomorrow since tomorrow I was leaving for Hogwarts. Everything fit into my trunk and I double-checked to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything. 

I’d traded a bit of wizard money for Muggle money so I could take the Underground to King’s Cross and to Platform 9 and 3/4. Tom handed me a ticket that Hagrid had told him to give me. 

I bought a ticket in the Underground and waited quietly keeping my trunk close by. Hedwig hooted loudly a few times and I got a few weird looks for her. In King’s Cross, I looked around until I found Platform 9 and Platform 10. Platform 9 and 3/4 hadn’t been built yet apparently since I couldn’t find it.

I was pacing around Platform 9 seriously freaking out until I heard a loud voice saying,” Packed as usual with Muggles. Come on, kids. Platform 9 and 3/4 is this way.” The speaker was a plump woman with flaming red hair followed by several boys and one girl each with bright red hair. 

I made my mind immediately. I walked over to her and said awkwardly,” Um... Excuse me. I don’t know how to get onto the... platform?” 

“ You’re a first-year? My son, Ron is also starting at Hogwarts,” she said, pointing at the youngest of all the boys. I smiled at him and his ears went red. 

“ I’m Ari,” I said, nervously.

“ Well, Ari, you walk straight towards that barrier and walk through it. Do it at a run if you’re nervous,” she said, kindly. Run into a wall. You have got to be kidding me! 

I took a huge breath and brought out at a run. The barrier was coming closer and closer. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. Nothing. I opened my eyes and found myself on another platform. The sign said Platform 9 and 3/4. Ron was behind me all of a sudden. 

“ I’m Mrs. Weasley. This is my son, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and my daughter Ginny,” she said, pointing at the girl. 

“ Thank you for showing me how to get on,” I said. 

“ Where are your parents?” said Mrs. Weasley, looking like she’d just realized something.

“ They’re dead,” I said quietly. 

“ Oh. I’m so sorry,” she said.

“ How’d it happen?” asked one of the boys. He was a twin, Fred or George?

“ George! “ said Mrs. Weasley, outraged, looking at him.

“ I should get onto the train. Thanks again. And bye,” I said. In a second, I was lost in the crowd of students. I pulled my trunk onto the train and pulled it with Hedwig’s cage into the first empty compartment that I could find. 

Ron Weasley found me pretty quickly. 

“ Sorry. Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full,” he said, miserably.

“ Sure,” I said. 

“ I’m sorry. About your parents and about my brothers. They’re idiots,” he said.

“ Who? My parents? Or your brothers?” I said with a big smile to show him I was joking. 

“ My brothers,” he said.

“ It’s not your fault. They died when I was really little,” I said. It’s Voldemort’s fault, I thought to myself.

“ So... how do you...?” asked Ron. I didn’t know what he was going to say because he was loudly interrupted by a “ There you are, Ron!” Fred and George had found us. 

I groaned inwardly and put a very fake smile on my face. 

“ Oh... look, Fred. Ari’s here too. You never told us how your parents died,” he said.

“ They were murdered,” I said, rummaging through my backpack for my sketchbook. I flipped it open and started sketching the compartment and a red-haired boy with a lopsided smile. 

When I looked up, Fred and George were gone and a tiny woman was in the corner with a cart that was piled high with sweets. I bought some of everything and found out what my favorites were. 

Ron cheered up when the sweets showed up and I shared with him. Soon, it started getting dark and the sweets were long gone. No one had come in until a chubby, depressed boy came in, yelling about a toad.

“ Sorry. I haven’t seen a toad,” I said, smiling at him to cheer him up. 

Ron simply shrugged and, when he left, started to talk to me again. 

“ So, do you know what House you’ll be in?” he asked.

“ Houses?” I asked.

“ You know at Hogwarts. There are four: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. My whole family has been in Gryffindor. I’m going to have a lot of exceptions,” he said, dully. 

“ I don’t know. My aunt and uncle never talk about my parents. They’re Muggles,” I explained. 

Ron nodded.

“ Have you seen a toad? Neville’s lost one,” said a bossy voice. I turned my head to see a girl with bushy brown hair and blue eyes come in, dragging in the boy who’d been looking for his toad earlier.

“ No. We’ve already told him,” Ron said. 

“ Oh. I’m Hermione Granger. Who are you?” she asked.

“ Ron Weasley,” Ron said.

“ Ari,” I said quietly.

“ Is there a last name to that?” she asked.

“ I don’t like my last name that much. People tend to get a different perspective of who I am than what I want,” I said, mixing truth and lie into one.

Hermione shrugged and left.

“ Oh. You’d better change. We’ll be arriving soon,” said Hermione.