star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER ONE

Arabella and her brothers had to walk fast to keep up with their mother, who was holding the hand of their little sister, Ginny. Each of them were pushing trolleys piled with trunks, trying to avoid hitting any Muggles with them as they made their way through King's Cross station.

"All right, Percy, you first," said Molly, ushering the eldest son forward as they finally stood before the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Percy aligned his trolley with the wall and pushed forward. Just as it looked like he would crash into it, he disappeared through the wall.

Molly turned to her eldest twins. "Fred, you next."

"He's not Fred, I am!" said one of them. Arabella, having grown up with them, knew the difference between the two and also knew that the one claiming to be Fred was actually George.

"Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother," said the real Fred.

"Oh, I'm sorry, George," Molly apologized.

Fred approached the wall, said, "I'm only joking. I am Fred," and disappeared through the wall, George following close behind.

Before Molly could turn to her youngest twins, a voice called out to them. "Excuse me!" They looked around to see a black-haired boy with glasses who looked to be around Ron and Arabella's age approaching them. "C-Could you tell me how to...?"

Assuming the boy's lack of knowledge was due to him being Muggle-born, the remaining Weasley's shrugged it off.

"How to get onto the platform?" Molly asked. The boy nodded. "Not to worry, dear. It's Ron and Bella's first time to Hogwarts as well." She motioned towards the two, and they gave him kind smiles when he looked their way. "All you do is walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

"Good luck," Ginny said.

The boy did exactly as he was told, and the Weasley's watched as he disappeared into the wall. When he had gone, Molly and Ginny turned to the nervous first years.

"All right, Ron, you go," said Molly. He nodded, looked to his twin sister for reassurance, and repeated the actions of the previous boys.

Next, Arabella knew, was her turn. She took a deep breath, aligned her trolley with the wall, and took off at a run, closing her eyes as she went. When she opened them, she looked up to see the Platform 9 3/4 sign. She looked to her right and smiled when she saw the Hogwarts Express. She moved out of the way of the barrier so as to not be in the way of her mother and sister and joined Ron in lifting their trunks onto the train.

Once they had finished, the five Hogwarts-aged Weasley children made their way back to Molly and Ginny to say goodbye. Molly was sure to kiss them all, much to their displeasure, and asked them multiple times if they had everything they needed. Each time, they said yes, and finally, when the whistle on the train blew, she let them go. Ginny began to cry at the sight of her older siblings leaving her behind, and they shouted goodbye to her as the train pulled away from the platform.

When the station was out of sight, Percy, Fred, and George, already knowing where they belonged, left to find their friends, leaving Ron and Arabella to find somewhere to sit on their own. Finally, they found a compartment that only had one person sitting in it, and it happened to be the boy from earlier.