Expecto Patronum {Harry Potter FF}

2: The Sorting

Large families bustled onto platform 9 and three quarters with owls, cats, toads and trunks on trolleys, each child with an excited look on their face and every parent tearing up silently.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith were no exception and Violet watched as a tear rolled down Mrs. Smith's rosy cheek as Mr. Smith told her she was to write to them every other day.

Violet barely registered a word of what he was saying, though, as she looked at the Hogwarts Express in amazement. The Steele's were next to them, and she noticed that Isaac, too, wasn't paying much attention to his parents.

"Right then, I suppose you better get going, wouldn't want you to miss the train, now would we?" Mr. Smith joked as Mrs. Smith nodded, unable to say anything as there was now a flood of tears streaming down her face.

Isaac helped her to get her trunk on the train and Violet helped him get his trunk on, both of them carrying their owls themselves. Artemis, as Isaac had named his screech owl, had grown a lot plumper since Violet had last seen her and she wondered what sort of mice Isaac had been feeding her. Irwin, Violet's owl, was still very much the same size as he had been when she bought him. She was being very careful not too overfeed him, though, since her two pet goldfish had died from this cause when she was younger.

Isaac and Violet hugged their parents goodbye, promising to write to them when they arrived, and they both got on the Hogwarts Express, right before eleven, waving to their families' as the train gained speed.

"Well, I'm going to go see if Katie's somewhere near, I want to talk about the Quidditch team. Don't suppose you want to come?" Isaac asked, knowing his cousin's interest in the sport wasn't as strong as his. That, and, Violet had never met Katie Bell before, but she was older than them and Violet didn't fancy the idea of her first Hogwarts friends not even being in her year.

"You go on, I'll try and find an empty carriage somewhere, come along and join me when you're done?" Violet suggested, to which Isaac nodded and they both parted ways.

Violet had almost walked to the end of the train, when she finally found an empty carriage. She sat back in the seat and sighed happily as she watched the city fly past. Her moment of relaxation was short lived, though, as two identical girls appeared at the door of the carriage.

"Sorry, I hope you don't mind, but could we sit in here with you? Everywhere else is full and we don't really want to spend the entire time on the train helping that boy in the carriage next to you find his toad," one of the girls said shyly and Violet smiled.

"No, not at all, don't worry about it. Sit down," Violet told them and they did so, both looking rather pleased to not being looking for a toad. "What year are you both in?"

"We're just starting first year," the one who hadn't spoken before said. "I'm Padma, by the way. Padma Patil. In case you haven't noticed, this is my twin sister Parvati."

"Violet Smith, nice to meet you both. I'm going into first year too, do either of you know what house you'd like to be in?"

"I'm not too sure, I guess anything except Slytherin would be good. Slytherin doesn't seem awful, but they're all kind of scary looking and dad said they can be really mean if you're not a pureblood. Not all of them are bad of course, but Salazar Slytherin himself only liked purebloods, so most Slytherin's follow that belief," Parvati rambled, and Violet was pleased that a conversation had started.

"I think Ravenclaw would be my favourite, but I agree, the rest wouldn't be too bad," Padma said.

"Almost everyone in my family has been in Gryffindor, so I suppose it's most likely I'll end up in there," Violet informed them both with a shrug.