Amazing cover by Julia Kim, also known as @soulofstaars!
Ananya Adur is the daughter of a set of very prestigious muggle politicians who are not pleased to find out that she is different from what they expect of her: she is a witch.
In fact, they ar...
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"Ananya, we're at Hogwarts." Hermione's voice cut in between two paragraphs of the final page of Hogwarts: A History. Ananya's eyes were straining and kind of blurry, so she put her bookmark in the book, set it down, then stood and started the process of getting her trunk down. After three grueling minutes for her poor back, she followed the other three out of the compartment and down the aisle toward one of the exits. The carpet was very plush out here, with burgundy dye penetrating every strand of the fabric. She lugged her things down the steps and onto another station, where the sun faded quickly into dusky moonlight. Ananya grasped the bottom of her barely-too-long robes and held them up, so they wouldn't drag in the dirt.
"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here! Alright there, Harry?" A looming man came into view, holding a lamp that seemed almost minuscule in his giant hands. Ananya glanced over at Harry, who seemed as overwhelmed as she, then back to the man, who had begun to lead the group of eleven-year-olds down a rocky and admittedly creepy path. It only took a short but harrowing journey before they'd made it to the bottom of the path, and were looking out over a lake that extended as far as eye could see. The giant man, whom Harry called Hagrid, began to usher the new students into tiny...boats? What kind of school was this?
Ananya shook her head, then stepped daintily into a boat with Hermione and a quivering girl who stuttered out her name as Penny-Anne Porter. She hadn't said much else, but then again, neither did Ananya or Hermione. Out of the blue, the boat began to steadily move forward, throwing the girls forward into each other, and causing a giggle to erupt from Penny-Anne. The girl wasn't very brave, from Ananya had seen, but she seemed nice, and could probably make a great friend. She thrust a hand forward, and Penny shook it. "I'm Ananya Adur. Nice to meet you...what can I call you besides Penny-Anne Porter? Don't get me wrong, it's lovely, but it's a bit long."
Penny-Anne snorted this time, which was much more befitting to her personality (when she wasn't nervous over falling into a giant lake). "You can call me Penny. What's your name?" she asked, looking toward Hermione.
"Hermione Granger. Nice to meet you too, Penny. Do you know anything about Hogwarts?" Hermione did get to the point, Ananya could give her that.
Penny nodded, excitement beginning to shine through. "Oh, yes. My parents told me all about it as soon as I got my letter, and they bought me loads of books about it too. I'm hoping to be in Hufflepuff, because the traits seem like a good fit for me. I wouldn't be opposed to Ravenclaw, though. The other two are a definite no. Not my style at all." It seemed that Hermione had unlocked the gate that had held back Penny's mouth, because she seemed like she was quite gregarious. Ananya wasn't trying to be rude, no, she was simply stating a fact.
As the two girls listened along to Penny's rant, the boats sailed ever closer to the shining beacon of Hogwarts, and they all looked in awe, even while talking. Suddenly, Hermione gasped. "Look! We're going into that cove!" She pointed at an unlit, shallow indent in the 'beach', if it could be called so, surrounding the castle and the lake. Penny and Ananya both leaned forward, intrigued, and the boat tilted.
"Holy cow!" Ananya pulled Penny's collar back hard and the boat righted again. "That was...pretty terrifying." The other girls nodded and the trio slumped down into their seats for the rest of the trip, or at least, until the boats came to rest on the shore as if by magic. Hagrid gestured for the group to get out of the boats, then held up his lantern and yelled for the first-years to follow him, again. Ananya tripped over at least three roots, and Penny tripped over Hermione, but they finally made it to the front door of Hogwarts Castle.
Hermione bounced excitedly, and Penny seemed like she'd be next to start when Hagrid knocked three times and the front doors crashed open. A stern Professor McGonagall strode forward.
"The firs' years, Professor." Hagrid stepped to the side and left the group to be examined by the Deputy Headmistress.
"Thank you Hagrid," she said, "I will take them from here." The first-years looked around nervously as they were led in and whispered amongst themselves. Ananya could see Harry and Ron towards the front, and dragged Hermione and Penny with her to catch up with them.
"Hi," she said breathlessly, looking in awe at a painting to the right.
"Hello," Harry whispered, nudging her side. She looked forward to the Professor and paid attention. The group stepped into a small antechamber beside a room with hundreds of murmuring voices heard within.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall with a curt nod and tiny hand flourish. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room."
She looked around, then continued. "The four houses are named Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. Each house has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your achievements will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup. This is a great honour to the house chosen. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She glanced at the boy who had lost his toad on the train, Neville, then down at her watch, before striding away. Ananya saw Harry muss up his hair, and turning to him.
"Here, Harry, let me." She combed her fingers through the front and smoothed down the back. Harry's cheeks were quite red. Hopefully he didn't have a fever.
Harry smiled. "Thanks, Ananya," he said before turning to Ron and asking him about the Sorting. Ananya reached for Penny's hand, since she looked nervous, and gave it a soft squeeze.
"You alright?"
Penny took in a deep breath before replying. "Yeah. Thanks for that, it really helped."
Hermione stepped forward to say something, but was interrupted when a slick-haired boy with a sharp face and ugly smirk pushed her to the side in order to speak to Harry. "Hey!" Her protest went unheard as Harry looked between Ron and the boy, then said something that made Blondie's nose turn.
"Fine, Potter. Have fun conversing with the wrong side." The boy sauntered off, and the girls rejoined the boys to talk nervously about the Sorting Ceremony and what was going to happen to them.
