The Marauders, Chocolate, and Coco

Chapter One: Welcome to Hogwarts

     A young girl, aged eleven years, took a tentative step from the platform onto the train that was stopped at Platform 9 3/4, on the hidden side of King's Cross Station.  Her trunk had been dealt with, and her parents had said goodbye before reaching the platform, as they could not pass the magical barrier preventing muggles from accidentally falling through.  A girl with wild red hair, who was a few years older than herself, had kindly shown her the way to get on to the platform.  By now, the girl was alone and wandering down the aisle of the train, trying to find an empty compartment.  

     When she finally found one, she sighed in relief and took a book from the folds of her robes, Hogwarts: A History.  She found it in a bookstore when she was searching for her new schoolbooks.  It was fascinating to learn all about the magical new school she would be attending shortly, and how it came to be.  Before she could get farther than the prologue, a thin, lanky boy slid open the door of her compartment, looking every bit of nervous as she felt inside.

     "Hi, I'm Remus," the boy said, introducing himself while fidgeting with his hands.  "All of the other compartments were full, so I was wondering... could I sit with you?  I won't be a bother, I promise."

     The girl looked at him; his brown hair was a little mussed up, but not on purpose, his face looked like he had picked a fight with a rose bush and lost, and he was clutching a book in his right hand.  She decided that she should be social and make new friends, so she replied, "Sure!  And don't worry about it, I wasn't doing much before you got here.  What is the book you are reading?" This was more than a little outgoing for her, but her mom had told her that sometimes you have to go out of your way to make new friendships.

     "Oh, it's called A History of Magic, and it seems to be rather dull so far."  Remus smiled shyly, taking a seat on the opposite side of the small room as the girl.  "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name."

     The young girl blushed profusely, embarrassed to have forgotten to introduce herself.  "Oops, my bad.  I'm  Coco.  Coco Taylor."

     "Nice to meet you, Coco.  What house do you want to be in?" Remus asked.

     "House?"  Coco looked perplexed.  What was he talking about?

     "Hogwarts is split into four houses, each of them named after a founder: Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor."

      "I want to be in Gryffindor, like my dad!" A boy rushed in through the doorway of the compartment, interrupting their conversation and holding his arm up as if he were fencing.  He looked proud, with unruly brown hair, and round glasses perched on his nose.  "Hello, I'm Potter, James Potter."

     A boy with long, dark, sort of curly hair followed him into the compartment, smirking and sitting down right next to Coco.  "Ignore that fool.  He's high on excitement.  Now, I'm Sirius."

     "About what?" Coco spoke up, confused by all of the boys busting into her compartment.  

      "No, that's the bloke's name!  Ha!  Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask, could we sit here?"  James laughed, as he had had similar thoughts when he met the boy a few minutes ago.

     At that moment, a final boy nearly knocked down the door, huffing and gasping for breath.  He plopped down on the bench that Remus was sitting on, accidentally hitting James with his flailing arm, forcing the boy back onto the bench.  The newcomer looked as if he had been running for the train, which indeed he had been.  He was a little round, on the shorter side, with a face that seemed like it didn't quite fit.

     They all lurched towards the back of the train, and that's when they realized that the train had started moving and they were on their way to Hogwarts.

     The five of them talked throughout the train ride, becoming friends.  They were all going into their first year, of which they were both excited and nervous about.  James had said that he wanted to be in Gryffindor, Remus had said that he would be fine in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, Sirius wanted to spite his family and be in Gryffindor, the latecomer, whose name was Peter Pettigrew, said that he wanted to be with the rest of them in Gryffindor but would probably end up in Hufflepuff, and Coco decided that she could be in any house, but from her new friends' descriptions, she might be in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

     Once, a fire-haired girl entered the compartment, dragging along a pale boy with her.  But she quickly left, as there wasn't really room for them to sit anywhere.

     Coco peeked out the window of the scarlet train, and let out a small gasp.  A breathtaking castle lay up ahead, filled with magic, secrets, knowledge, and fun, and she was going to be going to school there for the next seven years.  Illuminated in the fading light of dusk, Hogwarts could be seen in all of its glory.  Coco stared at it in wonder, letting some of her nervousness dissipate.