On the Wrong Side

o n e

“Mara!” my mum yelled from the foot of the stairs. “C’mon! We’re gonna be late if we don’t leave soon.”

“I know, I know,” I shouted back, shoving another pair of socks into my trunk and slamming the lid shut. I dragged my trunk into the hall. “I’m coming!” 

I pulled my trunk down the stairs and lifted it into the car, clambering over my siblings as I went into the back row.

“Took you long enough,” Josh said, smirking at me. 

I grimaced. “Oh, shut up. We’re still gonna make it there in time.”

“Barely,” Caroline snapped. “The train leaves at 11, and it’s 10:30.”

“You do realize that it usually only takes 20 minutes to get to Kings Cross, right?” I leaned forward in between my two older siblings.

Caroline glared back at me. “I, unlike you, actually have a life so I need to get a good compartment with my friends.”

“And I, unlike both of you, have best friends,” I shot back at Caroline. 

“Hey!” Josh exclaimed. “That was uncalled for!”

“But still true,” I said and giggled as I leaned back in my seat before Caroline and Josh could reach me. “I have better friends than both of you combined.”

“I don’t think that’s how friendships work, sweetie,” Dad said, looking at our reflections in the rearview mirror.

“Whatever,” I muttered. “Wait. Where’s Zora?” I asked in reference to my owl. 

“In the back, Mara.” 

“Oh, thank Merlin.”

20 minutes later, we pulled up to Kings Cross station. I hopped out of the car and ran around to the back, pulling Zora’s cage and her trunk out and lifting them onto the trolley as Caroline applied another layer of lip gloss. 

“You already have, like, 70 billion layers of lip gloss on your lips,” Josh said incredulously, “why do you need another one?”

Caroline glared at him and he immediately raised his hands in a surrender position. “Jeez, it was just a question.”

“A very good question, at that,” I said, walking over to them.

“You’ll understand when you’re older,” Caroline explained huffily. 

“You mean when I want to impress guys.”

Caroline glared at me and started walking towards the platform. “C’mon. We’re gonna be late.” Josh pushed his cart and ran past her. 

“Race you!” He yelled over his shoulder. Caroline rolled her eyes and ran after me and Josh. 

“Mara! Josh! Slow down!” Mum yelled. 

“Sorry, mum, but I need to beat Mara!” Josh told her, but then stopped at the sight at her face. “Okay.”

Caroline and I came to a halt next to Josh and waited for our parents to catch up. “Okay, slowly this time,” she said and we all started walking to the barrier to Platform 9 and ¾. “Josh, you first with your father,” Mum instructed, “then Caroline, and Mara and I will follow through after.”

“Okay!” Josh said and, blending in with a crowd of Muggles, he and dad vanished through the barrier. 

“Caroline, you next,” Mrs. Curtis said, pushing her eldest child forward slightly. 

“Yes, yes, mum, I know,” Caroline said heavily and approached the barrier at a run, disappearing when she reached it. 

Mum looked down at me. “Okay, Mara. Basically, the barrier will let you through to the Platform. It’s best to approach it at a run if you are nervous, but I will go through with you.” 

Mara nodded and sucked in a breath. “Okay.”

“Let’s go.” My mum grabbed a hold of my upper arm and we ran through the barrier together, emerging onto Platform 9 and ¾. 

“Woah,” I breathed. On the Platform, there was a scarlet steam engine emitting loads of white smoke into the air. Witches and wizards were boarding the train as their parents waved and kissed them goodbye. 

“Okay, bye Mum. See you in December,” I said, kissing her on the cheek, and quickly ran over to my friends who were boarding the train, then ran back to Dad, hugging him quickly. “Bye!”

“Our last child,” Mum said sentimentally, watching me board the train. 

“Yep,” Dad said, and they watched the train move away from the platform and turn around the bend. 

“Mara! You made it!” Tess said. 

I smirked as I joined my friends in a compartment and lifted my trunk onto the racks above. “Oh, haha, Tess. Of course I made it.”

“You never know,” Grace said. “Remember my 5th birthday party?”

I laughed. “Well that’s not my fault! Josh broke his arm!”

“Didn’t you push him down the stairs though?” Tess asked.

“He fell.”

“If you say so.” 

“I do.”

“He’s in fourth year, right?” Grace asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. Caroline’s taking her O.W.L.s this year, too.”

“Ah,” Grace said, then turned to Tess. “Remember when you had a super big crush on Josh?”

Tess blushed and her cheeks turned super red. “I was only 8! And he was- well, still is super attractive!”

“The amount of times Tess swooned over his shirtless body is insane,” Grace said.

“Oh, stop!” I exclaimed, gagging. “That’s my brother you’re talking about!” Tess and Grace laughed. 

“What House do you think you’ll be sorted into?” Tess asked. 

“Gryffindor,” Grace and I both said immediately. 

“I mean, it’s pretty obvious for me,” I said. “All of the Curtis’s have been in Gryffindor. Like, generations. I don’t even remember the last non-Gryffindor. So I would be pretty shocked if I was sorted into any other House.”

“Same,” Grace said. “Ravenclaw wouldn’t be bad, though, honestly. Anything is better than Slytherin, though.”

Tess and I both simultaneously agreed. 

“I guess we’ll find out tonight,” I said solemnly. 

“Yep.”