Rory Potter, the Girl Who Lived

Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The alarm charm Moony had cast last night blares in my ears. I groan and roll over, pushing off my blankets angrily. Half-asleep, I swing my legs out if bed and go into my bathroom to take a shower. Finally, half an hour later, I'm fully awake and clean. A sudden thought pushes its way into my brain. Hogwarts, it says, you go to Hogwarts today. It's September first.
I grin and quickly check my trunk to be sure I haven't forgotten anything important. Or unimportant, for that matter.​​​​​​ I pick out an outfit for today and put it on, inspecting my pendent. It has become a habit since it glowed in the wand shop.
Why? I wonder. Moony hinted at it being magical, but what can it do?
I push the thought out of my head and scoop up Ivy. I cradle her in my arms, stroking her soft brown fur. The thought shoves its way back to the front of my mind.
"What can the necklace do, Ivy?" I ask the kitten. "It's magical; I know that much, but what kind of magic?"
The necklace glows, and a young female voice speaks in my mind. Rory? Its me, Ivy, the voice says. I think I know what your necklace does. It allows you to talk to animals, that's why you can hear me in your mind, Rory. But that's not all. I can't tell exactly, but I feel strong magic within that pendent.
​​​​​​ "Ivy?" I ask, confused.
That's me!
"I can talk to you! The necklace - you said it could do more?" I ask the little cat.
Yes. I don't know what, though.
"Well, it's good to talk to you, so now you can tell me if you need anything, cutie," I say, kissing her head. The kitten mews and licks my cheek. I smile and set her in her basket, then carry it downstairs, dragging my trunk behind me as I go.
"Morning, Rory love," Moony says, looking up from today's copy of the Daily Prophet.
"Morning, Moony," I say, setting my things down and starting to make breakfast.
"I thought I heard voices. Were you talking to someone?"
"Just Ivy. Telling her about Hogwarts," I say.
"You know she can't understand you, right?" Moony asks.
"I know," I say, winking at Ivy, then I send her a thought with my mind. Its our little secret, cutie.
Of course, Rory.
"Rory, dear, you know its the Weasleys who are bringing you to the train, correct?" Moony says, not looking up from the newspaper this time.
"Oh, Moony, really? Why can't you do it? I want to have a chance to say goodbye," I say. He hadn't told me this before.
"Something's come up at work and we had to schedule a short-notice meeting. But don't worry, we can do goodbyes here," he says.
"Alright," I say.

A few hours later, Mrs Weasley knocks on the door. Moony let's all of them in.
"Do you have everything, dear?" she asks me.
"I hope so," I say with a laugh.
Mrs Weasley nods. "Fred!" she barks. "Why don't you help Rory get her things out to the car?"
"Yes, Mum," Fred says, grabbing my trunk. He goes to pick up Ivy too, but I bat his hand away.
"I've got her," I say. I'm fiercely protective of her, as she's my first and only pet.
"I didn't know you had a cat, Potter," Fred says.
"That's because I just got her. Her name is Ivy," I say. "Look, Ivy, this is my friend Fred."
My necklace glows a bit, and Ivy speaks in my mind.
I think he wants to be more that your friend . . .
I snort, but cover it with a cough.
Well, I just want to be his friend. He knows that. After years of flirting with me, it hasn't gotten him anywhere.
"So, Potter, care to sit with me on the train?" Fred asks, snapping me away from my conversation with Ivy. He wriggles his eyebrows.
"Sorry, Weasley, I told my brother I'd sit with him," I say, then turn around and march back inside, still holding Ivy.
"Playing hard to get, that girl is, isn't she," I hear Fred mumble to the car.
"Alright everyone, in the car!" Mrs Weasley says.
. The drive to King's Cross station is uneventful. Fred flirts with me the whole way. I don't know why he's got such a big crush on me, but I don't like him in that way. I mean, yeah, he's cute, and he's got a great personality, but I don't like him more than a friend.
Mrs Weasley sends the twins and Percy through the barrier first, then she sends me. I turn around to wait for Ron, but surprisingly its my brother that appears through the barrier.
"Harry!" I squeal, jumping at him. I throw my arms around his neck.
"Rory! Let's find a seat now, okay?" he says, hugging me back.
"Okay," I say. We sit in an empty compartment, soon joined by Ron. He and Harry become best friends almost immediately. And when the witch with the candy trolley comes by, Harry buys about ten of everything. He shares it with Ron and I. It's kind of funny when he discovers chocolate frogs. His first chocolate frog card is Dumbledore.
"This is Scabbers, by the way," Ron says, waving absently at his fat grey rat. "Pathetic, isn't he?"
"A bit," Harry says, and I nod in agreement.
"Look, I know a spell to turn him yellow, want to see?" Ron asks. Harry nods, so Ron pulls out his wand and clears his throat. He's interrupted by the door sliding open.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," the girl says. She's already wearing her Hogwarts robes, and she has bushy brown hair.
"No, I haven't seen anything," I say politely, but the girl has her eyes on Ron's wand.
"Are you doing magic?" she asks. "Let's see then."
She plops down in the seat next to me and fixes her gaze on Ron.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,
Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waves his wand, but nothing happens. Scabbers stays gray and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" says the girl. "Well, its not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells and they've all worked for me. And I'm a Muggleborn. My name is Hermione Granger, by the way. Who are you?"
She says this all very fast.
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron says with a mouthful of pumpkin pastie.
"Harry Potter," my brother says, at the same time I say, "Rory Potter."
"Are you really? Wow!" Hermione Granger says, lookung from me to Harry and back again. "Well, I'd expect we'll be arriving soon. You had better get your robes on."
Hermione stands up and turns to leave, but I stop her, saying, "Hermione, wait! Do you mind if I sit with you at dinner? Its not very fun sitting with these two boys all the time."
She grins at me. "Of course, I'd love if you did!"
I decide to go to the bathroom to change, so I don't have to deal with making Harry and Ron leave so I can have some privacy. When I come back, there's three other people in the compartment as well. They don't notice me, so I stand behind two of them. They're tall and a bit fat. Okay, a lot fat. I can't really see the boy in front of them, but from what I can see I recognise him as the boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. The one I thought was cute.
"Ahem," I clear my throat. They turn around, and the blonds boy makes a show of looking me up and down. I find myself blushing even though I know that he's a git.
"Ten points to whatever house you're in," he says finally. I nearly choke. Oh, Merlin, is he hitting on me!?
"Excuse me," Harry says coldly, "that's my sister you're talking about, Malfoy."
And now Harry's decided to pull the protective big brother act. Great.
"Hi, I'm Rory Potter," I say, ignoring the comment. "And you are - ?"
"Draco Malfoy. I believe I saw you in the robe shop?"

"Yes," I say. His icy blue eyes lock with mine. Pull yourself together, Rory! I scold myself as a feel a light pink blush creep it's way onto my cheeks. You can deal with Fred, no trouble, but this toe-rag is making you blush? What the hell?
Another part of my consciousness whines, But he's a cute toe-rag!
​​​​​​ "Well, I suppose I'll see you at the feast, Potter," he says to me with a sexy half-smirk. I nearly melt as he walks by, brushing his arm against mine accidentally.
"See you at the feast, Malfoy," I echo halfheartedly, staring after him.
"What the heck, Rory!? He was flirting with you, and you blushed! You freaking blushed! He's a git, I hope you know that," Harry says.
"I didn't blush because if him flirting! I blushed because he was obviously eyeing me. That's a bit awkward, correct?" I say. Harry rolls his eyes.
"Whatever, little sis'," he says.
"She has to be used to it by now, what with Fred and all . . ." Ron says. I mentally smack my forehead.

When we reach Hogwarts, I get off the train with Harry and Ron. Hermione joins us, saying a quick 'Hello' to the boys then starting a conversation with me. All the first years follow Hagrid to a great black lake. A small fleer of boats awaits us, and we load into them.
"Everyone in?" shouts Hagrid, who has an entire boat just for himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"
The boats move as one, gliding across the smooth surface of the lake. Everyone is silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towers over us as we sail nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stands.
"Heads down!" yells Hagrid as the first boats reach the cliff; we all bend our heads and the little boats carry us through a curtain of ivy that hides an opening in the cliff face. We're carried along a dark tunnel, which seems to be taking us right underneath the castle, until we reach a kind of underground harbor, where we clamber out onto rocks and pebbles. We scramble up a smooth stone passageway lit by Hagrid's lamp, climbing out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in front of the castle.
We walk up a flight of short stone steps and crowd around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone here?" Hagrid asks. Then he raises a gigantic fist and knocks three times on the castle door.