Lost and Found- Charlie Weasley's Twin

Chapter Three

The three students were well-acquainted by the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. Dressed in their new robes, the three stumbled off the train. Maya felt an elbow in her back, and she was falling towards the solid concrete platform. She felt a hand grab the back of her robes, and she was lifted out of the way. "Careful, everyone!" A rich voice declared. "Let the first-years through! No pushing!" Maya looked at the boy who had saved her face from hitting the concrete. He was tall, and based on the Head Boy badge on his robes, clearly a seventh year. His skin was a deep rich brown, and he had a rather impressive afro. He was a Ravenclaw, based on the blue lining of his robes. "You okay?" He asked her. She nodded, smoothing down the front of her robes.

"Yes, thank you for saving my face from tasting concrete." She joked. "Maya Cartwright." She held out her small hand to the boy who took it, his engulfing hers. "Kingsley Shacklebolt, Head Boy." He introduced. There was a voice that carried over the throng of students- "Firs' Years over ere!" Kingsley nodded in that direction.

"Head over there, Hagrid will sort you out. You can't miss him." His eyes twinkled. Maya fought against the crowd of students, finally reaching the huddle of first years. Dora turned to her, eyes wide. "We wondered where you had gone!" Maya was too busy staring in shock at Hagrid to reply. He was huge- she barely reached his waist, and he had a massive shaggy beard and long hair all the way down his back. "All here? Come on then." The group followed Hagrid down a pebbled path, to the edge of the Black Lake. Dozens of boats were bobbing in the water. "No more than four to a boat!"

"Ooh, I don't like water." Maya, Dora and Charlie were joined by a girl with waist-length blonde hair, that almost seemed to glow in the moonlight. She looked tense. "Here." Charlie helpfully offered her a hand, and she clutched it tight and she clambered into the boat. "I'm Charlie Weasley, this is Maya Cartwright and Dora Tonks." Maya gave the girl a comforting wave.

"Chloe Moon." She replied. "You guys got magic in the family? I don't, it was a total shock to all of them when my letter arrived. Thought my gran was gonna burn me at the stake or something." She said the last comment with humour, but Maya gave her an awkward smile.

"I'm lucky, my parents are both wizards, as are my grandparents." She said. "Grew up around magic. They definitely should do more for kids who don't." Chloe nodded, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I'm gonna join the Ministry after school and make some changes- muggleborn students and their families need contact sooner than the kids turning 11, maybe when the kid first starts showing signs of accidental magic." The other three blinked.

"Are you sure you're 11?" Charlie joked. "Reforming the ministry is a bit beyond our current skillset I'm afraid." He looked at Maya, sat at his right, and mouthed 'Ravenclaw'. She giggled.

"Just around this corner!" Hagrid called out, and the students all oohed and aahed as the castle came into view. Perched against a rocky backdrop, it looked above the water, an impressive structure of stone, covered in hundreds of little glowing lights. "Holy hell." Chloe breathed in amazement. "Agreed." Said Dora. The boats reached the shore, where they bobbed slightly. Charlie hopped out first, offering a hand to each of the girls in term to help them out. Chloe took it gratefully, her legs shaking as the boat swayed. They joined the queue that headed up the stairs, to the big front doors of the castle. A woman was stood there waiting.

She was tall, wearing robes of a deep emerald green, a witches hat perched jauntily onto of her head. She peered at them all over the top of her spectacles. "Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall, I am deputy Headmistress, transfiguration teacher and also head of Gryffindor House." She paused. "In a few moments, you will enter the Great hall, where you will line up, and I will call your name, one by one, where you will be then sorted into your houses. he four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin." Maya was bouncing on her heels again in excitement.

"I wonder if they sanitize the sorting hate each year." Chloe whispered. "Imagine the centuries of muck on it." Dora snorted loudly, and a boy nearby gave her a haughty glare, moving away from her. Maya and Charlie burst into giggles, holding each other up. "Mum wouldn't tell me how I got sorted, but dad told me all we do is try on a hat, and it reads our minds and decided what house we fit in."

"It will read yours and send you to St Mungos." Charlie teased Maya, giving her a nudge. She stuck her tongue out at him. Professor McGonagall came back and they all fell silent, forming a single file line as they followed her into the Great Hall. Maya swallowed down a lump in her throat. Four long house tables filled the room, and on a raised platform the teachers were sat. in front of the teachers table, was a small stool with a shabby hat on it. Maya could see Bill, Charlie's brother, at the Gryffindor table, and the impressive hair of Kingsley at the Ravenclaw table. Her head snapped back to the front as the sorting hat began to sing.

Oh you might question my methods, but don't look at my surface, for I am more than just a hat. 

I decide your future, the house where you belong, but fear not, dear children, the sorting hat is never wrong.

You may belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart,

Or Ravenclaw, where wisdom is the gift to be had,

Or perhaps in Hufflepuff, where those are brave and true,

Or if ambition and cunning are more your stead, perhaps Slytherin is it for you.

Maya's mind wandered as the hat sang, and her eyes travelled around the room. She didn't feel particularly brave, smart or ambitious, but she did like being kind. And although she had just met her friends, she would go to war for them, so Hufflepuff sounded like the perfect fit. She didn't realise the hat had finished it's song, to a smattering of applause. Professor McGonagall stepped forward, holding a scroll.

"When I call your name, you will come forward, I will place the hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." She started. "Baldwin, Mayor?" A timid looking boy approached, sitting down on the stool. She placed the hat on his head, where it slipped down over his eyes. "Slytherin!" The hat called, and the table at the far end of the hall burst into applause. The hat was removed, and the boy joined the Slytherin table, looking quite happy. "Butterworth, Lisa?"

Lisa Butterworth because a Ravenclaw, and then it was Maya's turn. Her mouth felt extremely dry, and the walk to the stool felt like it took a year. The hat slipped over her face, and she was lost in the darkness. A voice appeared in her ear. "Well, aren't you a curious one Maya Cartwright." The hat spoke. "Adopted from an orphanage after you were found to be displaying accidental magic, your birth family a mystery. I see great things coming your way, great, great things. Now where to put you? You desire to learn new things, so maybe Ravenclaw? Fiercely loyal to your friends, a little reckless maybe. Better be-"