Chapter Text
September 1, 1971
“Okay honey,” a kind looking blonde woman smiled at a blonde little girl, “that old man said we have to run through that wall,” the woman pointed at the wall between the platforms nine and ten. Her expression was one of love and pride, but her body language said otherwise.
“That’s odd, isn’t it?” the girl raised an eyebrow at her mother, “What if it doesn’t work?” the little girl seemed excited, but also as if she was afraid of that feeling. Nothing good happened to her, why would she believe this?
“That old man said to,” the woman pushed the girl into the wall. The girl was surprised when her face didn’t smack into some bricks, and her mother followed behind her.
“Mom, how did you?” the girl shook her head.
“There was only one way to find out,” the lady shrugged.
“So, I think I need to get my stuff loaded right about here,” the girl nodded in the direction of a staunch man loading various trunks into the train, “excuse me, hi, is this where I leave my things?” the girl put on a kind smile that she was not wearing while talking to her mother.
“Yes, ma’am it is,” the man had a different accent than the girl did. She wasn’t from England. She was from a whole different country. Across an ocean.
“Thank you so much,” she set down her case and walked away.
“Okay honey, I’m going to miss you so so so much,” the woman embraced the child in a tight hug.
“I’ll miss you too,” the girl begrudgingly hugged her mother back. Maybe it was the nerves, but the girl had an upset look written on her face.
“Okay, make some friends honey, send me one of those owls! I’ll figure out how to send one back to you,” the woman spoke while she let go of her mother.
“I will mama, bye, tell J that I love him and miss him!” the girl was rushed. She could hear the train warning bell. It would be leaving soon, “have a safe flight back,” the girl said with a half-hearted smile.
“I will, I love you,” the woman walked away, and back through the wall splitting this platform from the rest of the world. The girl walked away too, and she entered the first door she saw to the train.
She wasn’t completely that what she was seeing was real. Magic? No way. She was going to get to this weird boarding school and find out that it was all a waste of her precious time and money. There was no way that this was really her life. She didn’t even think that she had a weird number of peculiar situations. She thought that everybody experienced moments like that.
She walked down the halls of the scarlet-colored train. She was looking for kids around her age. Maybe they could tell her some more about magic. Maybe they could help her wake up from this dream. After passing a few cars she saw an excited boy in a car. He was rather skinny with pitch black long hair.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” she asked the boy.
“Not at all,” he smiled at her, “My name’s Sirius Black, it’s nice to meet you,”
“Hi Sirius, my name is Lizzie Davies,” the girl smiled at him.
“Woah, you sound funny, where are you from?” he looked at her with awe.
“Oh, uh, I’m from America,” the girl nodded at him. She figured she might experience this for a while. She had only ever heard British people on TV at her friends’ houses.
“They let you go to Hogwarts? That’s crazy!” the boy had become very interested in her story when three boys came up to their car.
“Hey mate, can we sit here?” a boy with dark messy hair and round glasses asked. Behind him were two other boys, they were rather meek and one looked like he might have just thrown up. He must have wrangled them up to try to find a seat for all of them.
“Yeah, of course, you can,” Sirius nodded at the boy.
“I’m Sirius Black,” Sirius introduced himself for the second time that day. He figured that he would have to introduce himself a lot to make friends. It’s just, that he knew they would all get split up into houses and didn’t want to make super close friends outside of his house. He hoped he didn’t get Slytherin like the rest of his family.
“Oh, so you’re Sirius Black,” the boy nodded, “I’m James Potter.”
“You two know each other?” one of the other two boys asked him.
“Well, no, but we know each other’s names, kind of like I recognized Pettigrew, even though the name isn’t sacred 28,” this comment seemed to get on the Pettigrew boy’s nerves, but he wasn’t going to say it. Lizzie continued to try her hardest to pay attention to the conversation. She was new to this magic thing. This was her first time seeing the magical world.
“Well, who are you then?” James looked to Lizzie.
“I’m Lizzie,” she looked at him. He had so much confidence. She liked to think that she was confident, and she was. Just not in this kind of situation. She was at a disadvantage; she didn’t know anything about what was around her. She thought that everybody would be just as confused as she was. She didn’t get very much information from that old man. He seemed to want to leave it up to her to learn.
Lizzie didn’t know how she was in this situation. It all happened rather quickly.
“Hello Mrs. Davies,” a man with twinkling eyes smiled as the blonde woman opened the door.
“It’s Ms. Smith now, what do you want?” she was sweating and looked tired or sick.
“I’m here about an opportunity for Elizabeth.”
“Which one? We’re both Elizabeth,” the blonde woman raised an eyebrow, unamused.
“Er, your daughter,” the man still hadn’t come inside, but he pointed at the wall Lizzie was peaking around. She came out from behind the corner with a confident smile. She was doing well in school. Math and English were her best subjects. Social studies and science weren’t far behind. The last time someone came and knocked on their door was when they were asking if Lizzie wanted to take some classes over the summer to skip sixth grade.
“Hello Elizabeth,” the man walked through the door as Ms. Smith opened it. He then leaned over, with his hands on his knees so he would be closer to the child’s height.
“It’s Lizzie,” she informed him.
“Hello Lizzie,” the man corrected himself, “I am Professor Dumbledore,” his British action had just struck Lizzie. She hadn’t ever heard one in real life.
“Hello.”
“I’m here about school.”
“Really?” she raised an eyebrow. The two sat on the couch in the living room while Ms. Smith walked about the house.
“Yes! You’re very gifted and I have a school to tell you about.”
“A new one?”
“Yes, of course,” the man nodded, “I expect I don’t look like anyone from your school now, do I?”
“Er, no,” Lizzie shook her head.
“This is going to sound a bit odd,” the man said with a positive smirk, he knew he was about to change this little girl’s life, “You are a witch.”
“Hey, that’s not very nice,” Lizzie huffed and crossed her arms.
“No, no, not as an insult, as in, you are magic.”
“Why would I believe that? You’re just one of those headcases that comes around here.”
“Can I show you?” the man was unphased by Lizzie’s response.
“Whatever,” she shrugged. The man pulled out a long wooden stick. A magic wand, Lizzie had seen magicians on TV use those. He pointed it at a vase that had been empty for as long as Lizzie could remember, and a vivid bouquet appeared.
“How?”
“Magic,” the man’s eye twinkled as if he was controlling it. Lizzie still wasn’t sure about him. He didn’t look like those other lunatics that hung around the area. He was more eccentric. He was wearing a dress and had the longest beard Lizzie had ever seen.
“Okay?”
“I am the headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and we would be delighted to have you attend.”
“I’ve never heard of that,” Lizzie was trying not to seem amused about the magic with the flowers. She had to discern how truthful he was on her own. Her mother had gone off to who knows where, she probably went off on her own business.
“Of course not, it’s in Scotland, do you know where that is?”
“I’m not stupid,” Lizzie said back.
“Right, of course you aren’t,” the man had the type of demenor Lizzie couldn’t help but see fondly, “the school is in Scotland, and we train young witches and wizards there.”
Lizzie was snapped back to what still felt too good to be reality. She heard the rat-faced boy introducing himself. Peter Pettigrew.
“And I’m Remus Lupin,” the last boy seemed lost, but also in bliss. His expression much resembled Lizzie’s.
“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Sirius nodded at the lot.
“Yeah, nice to meet you,” James responded, “are you two together?” he raised an eyebrow. They were only 11, so a bit young to be ‘together’. The boy was right to have the reaction he did.
“Oh no, I met her like 5 seconds before you got here, she’s from America,”
“I noticed yeah, I’ve never met someone from there before, I don’t know how you got in,”
“What d’you mean?” the girl asked him.
“Well, Americans don’t really get in. Both of my parents went, and they’ve never heard of Americans going to Hogwarts,” James challenged.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “an old man invited me on an adventure, I thought everyone would be clueless like me.”
“Nope, there is a whole world of magic folk,” Sirius nodded with pride that he was able to help someone that didn’t grow up like he did.
“How much did he tell you anyway?” the boy named Remus piped up.
“Uh, not much, I’ve learned a lot more in this compartment, but I’m still so confused,” Lizzie admitted.
“I guess that just means you’ve got a lot to learn,” James nodded at her.
They spent the train ride talking with Lizzie and filling in some of the major gaps in her knowledge.
“So, you mean to tell me that most of the people coming here know what’s going on?” Lizzie still hadn’t seemed to clear that up in her mind.
“All, I wasn’t raised around magic, and I still definitely know more than you,” Remus nodded towards her.
“That old man tricked me,” she was scared of the prospect of going to this school. Everyone knew what was going on except for her.
“Well, you must be extra special if that guy tricked you into coming. And you’re American,” James Potter said.
“I’m not that special, I mean I do well in school, but not that much. I don’t know how I got in.”
“Wow,” Sirius Black just shook his head.
The five of them talked excitedly the whole train ride. When it got dark out, they went to change into their robes. Lizzie was pleased to find that Dumbledore had left some out for her. She was already dressed much differently than everyone else, she would hate to be dressed as she was while everyone else was in robes.
“Best of luck, hope you all get sorted into Gryffindor like I will,” James stood up when the train stopped, and a large man was calling for first-years to follow him.
“Wait what?” Lizzie felt like all the knowledge she gained on the train ride over fell out of her ears.
“What d’you mean what?” James rolled his eyes, “a lot of schools have houses,” he showed some of his limited knowledge of the muggle world.
“Not in America,” Lizzie shook her head.
“Well, good luck, hope ya don’t get Slytherin,” James walked away.
“I’m probably getting Slytherin, so you’ll get to be with me if you are,” Sirius grumbled. Lizzie took a mental note that nobody liked Slytherin, whatever that was.
They all followed the large man to the edge of a lake with a ton of rickety-looking boats. Lizzie wanted to turn around and get back on the train. She was terrified of open water; nobody had ever taught her how to swim. But she followed the lead of the very confident boy in front of her. The boats didn’t even feel unsteady as they crossed, and once they were on the other side Lizzie felt silly over her fear.
“Oh, hello first years, if you’ll come with me,” a tall slender woman with a thick accent Lizzie couldn’t quite place called to the group.
They all followed into a large castle. Lizzie rubbed her eyes and checked again, yup, still a castle. She had never seen a real castle before, and she wasn’t sure they were real. Seemed like the stuff of fairytales.
“I am Professor McGonagall, I am the Head of Gryffindor house, in a couple of minutes you will go into the Great Hall and get sorted,” the woman hurried away and left the group to wonder for a moment.
It felt like it had been hours by the time someone got them. Lizzie was getting so nervous that she had sweat through her shirt under her robes. When she did finally walk into the Great Hall, she didn’t get the sigh of release she thought she would have. There was a hat on a stool. She knew this must not be real. This was all a dream and she would wake up in her small pullout bed in the living room back at home.
She listened to the stern woman talk about the process, but it sounded like a blur. Suddenly, she recognized a name.
“Black, Sirius,” the woman called. Lizzie watched as the boy she saw on the train walked up to the stool, taking a seat before the woman put the hat on his head.
“Gryffindor!” called the hat. The boy looked both excited and upset. He said something about not wanting to be in Slytherin, Lizzie got curious. She also started to find herself hoping she would get into Gryffindor.
“Davies, Elizabeth,” the woman called. Lizzie didn’t realize she had started moving until she was already in front of the school with a hat on her head.
“Hmm,” the hat said to Lizzie. It seemed to be talking to her in her head. It took everything in her not to jump when she heard it. She did flinch though, hard enough that she felt a sharp pain in her side.
“You have a lot of talent, here and in the muggle world,” the hat drew out every word. Lizzie couldn’t tell how long she had been under it, but it had surely been longer than any of the other people that went before her.
“You don’t want Slytherin?” it asked her, she didn’t know how it knew what she wanted, “Gryffindor? Is it to stay with those friends you met?”
“What?” Lizzie whispered to the hat.
“Gryffindor!” the hat called, and Lizzie felt herself smiling. She walked over to the table and sat down next to Sirius. She felt her cheeks glowing pink with embarrassment and her heart racing with excitement and nerves.
“Got wha’cha wanted yeah?” she asked him.
“Yeah, kind of, my family is going to be mad at me,” the boy was conflicted, it was written all over his face. He was sweating like crazy, and he sounded like he was about to cry.
“Who needs family?” Lizzie asked him. She kind of believed it. She loved her mom, but she really didn’t like her. She did not enjoy being around her mother, and she felt that her mother felt the same. That was probably the reason it was so easy for that man to convince the two of them. Lizzie mostly missed her brother. He was 7 years old and the light of her life. She always thought her life got better when he was born, and she loved him to pieces. Now, she had to separate from him. She could only hope that he could get where she was going eventually or that she would wake up from this dream.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he smiled faintly.
“Lupin, Remus,” as soon as the hat touched his head it shouted “Gryffindor!”
“Pettigrew, Peter.”
“Oh, it’s him, one of the other boys on the train,” Lizzie pointed out.
“Oh yeah, I bet he’ll get Hufflepuff,” Sirius predicted.
“Hmm, I don’t know what that is, but I think I agree,” Lizzie was trying to figure out what the houses meant based on their names. They had to have a meaning, how else would they be sorted.
“It’s taking him a while, isn’t it?” Lizzie asked Sirius.
“You took longer.”
“Really?” Lizzie felt like it had been twenty minutes when he was done. It was more like five, but it was still a very terse five minutes.
“Gryffindor!” Lizzie realized later that if she knew what the houses meant, she would have thought this squirrely boy did not belong there.
Lizzie tuned out the sorting unless it was someone she recognized from the compartment. She watched intently as James was sorted into Gryffindor. He then strutted over to the table where everyone he met on the train was sitting.
“Alright boys, looks like we’re supposed to be friends,” James smirked. Lizzie didn’t say anything. She didn’t know if James was saying she was just like the guys, or if he was leaving her out, “and girl,” he added, giving Lizzie clarity.
“Thanks,” she giggled.
“Can I call you Liz?” he asked her.
“I don’t know, I’d rather no- “
“Alright Liz, we are going to rule this school,” James had a crazy amount of confidence for an eleven-year-old in a school that had 18-year-olds in it. Lizzie was impressed with him though. She could only hope to hold that much confidence. She had sass, but that was much different.
Lizzie caught James’ eye and they shook hands with mischievous smiles.
“So, what will be our opening prank?” James asked.
“Woah, who said anything about a prank?” Sirius asked. He seemed very proper. Lizzie didn’t like to draw judgments from what people looked like, her mother always said that was rude. She did it anyway.
Sirius Black held himself high. He said something about the sacred 28, so Lizzie figured that he was kind of a big deal. He had hair that was longer than any boy Lizzie ever saw, but it wasn’t as long as hers. James Potter held himself high too, but less stiff. He was more laid back, and his hair was a big mess. He had round glasses with golden wireframes, Lizzie wondered if they were made of gold or if they just looked that way.
Remus Lupin seemed like he was just happy to be there. He had a tired face and tattered clothes. His sleeves were long even though it was September 1st. Lizzie realized that it was colder here than at home, but it was still hot. She thought about asking someone, but she wasn’t sure wizards used degrees, and she knew for a fact they didn’t use Fahrenheit like she was used to.
Peter Pettigrew looked more like a rat the more she looked at him. While Lupin could have been considered mousy, Pettigrew was rat-like. Lizzie found herself feeling bad for him, he had to look like that all the time. He was also jittery and seemed to be worried about everything. Lizzie scolded herself in her head for thinking such mean thoughts about someone and decided she would make sure he was just as much a part of the group as she was. If she was. It was only their first day. Maybe they would hate each other, and the group would dissolve.
“I did,” James smiled, “Sirius if you’re going to be a rebel and switch houses from your family, you’re going to have to be an even bigger rebel.”
“Mum’s not going to be happy with me,” Sirius looked down at the table in front of him.
“Don’t’ even worry about that! You don’t have to see her until Christmas, and you’re a Black! She has to forgive you.”
“Thanks, Potter, but I have a little brother, they don’t have to do anything.”
“Hey, there is nothing you can do about it now, so why worry?” James was already making himself at home. He was sitting on the bench for the table, but incorrectly. All the other first years were sitting straight up with their feet on the floor. James had pulled his feet up onto the bench to sit in the way Lizzie could only describe as ‘criss-cross applesauce.’ He sat shamelessly in a way that Lizzie’s mother would have yelled at her for, “call me James.”
“Thanks, call me Sirius,”
“Attention everybody! All first-years have been sorted, and now Professor Dumbledore will make an announcement before the feast,” the stern woman announced to the hall.
“Good evening, everyone, I hope you all had a pleasant trip. First, I need to tell the first years that the forbidden forest is, forbidden. Now I need to remind the older students that the forbidden forest is, forbidden,” the old man seemed to look to some older students that were sitting at the Gryffindor table a little bit away from Lizzie.
“Now I will make this extra announcement, please be kind and respectful to our new first years! This year we have a student that is very far from home, and I expect you to treat this student with kindness,” the man sat down, and food appeared on the table. That was the most magical thing she had ever seen. She had seen a little magic, but she had yet to see anything like that.
“What’s that?” James asked Lizzie with a mouth full of food. It had shown up on his plate and he immediately started eating.
“Oh, it’s fettuccini alfredo,” she smiled, she had been craving it for quite some time, “it’s like noodles and then creamy cheese sauce, other stuff goes into the sauce, but I don’t know what.”
“That must be some muggle food.”
“Yeah, it probably is,” Lizzie shrugged, “I mean, I haven’t had it in a long time! Not since my dad last took me for a weekend.”
“Oh, you don’t live with your dad?” Sirius asked. He liked learning about people from a different perspective than him, and Lizzie grew up in a completely different world.
“No, they were never really together, he stopped coming around when he met his girlfriend.”
“He has a girlfriend?” none of the other boys seemed to know what Lizzie’s experience was like.
“Yeah, I think they’re married now, but she doesn’t like me all too much, it’s whatever,” she wasn’t lying, it really was whatever. She was just glad that she didn’t have to be in his life anymore, he was quite mean and selfish. He showed himself out, and that was fine, other than the missing child support checks her mother so desperately wanted.
“So, you get to live with just your mum?” Remus asked her.
“Uh yeah; me and my brother,” she shrugged. His face dropped just a little bit, and Lizzie wanted to say something, but she decided it wasn’t her place. She let her mother’s words float through her head, to stop being nosy.
“We can talk about someone else now,” she said before putting a fork of noodles in her mouth.
“Can I try that?” James asked her. That was very surprising to her, she would have never done that unless she wanted her mother to get upset with her.
“Yeah, sure,” Lizzie pushed the dish in front of James while he grabbed a fork full.
“You said you have a brother, what’s his name?” Lizzie asked Sirius.
“His name’s Regulus, he’ll be here next year,” Sirius was eating his own food, Lizzie thought it looked like a soup of some sort.
“What’s your brother’s name?” he returned the question.
“James, but we call him J,”
“He stole my name!” James joked. Lizzie became very self-conscious about the fact that two of the boys didn’t seem to be in the conversation as much as the three of them. She felt like she was taking up too much space. Her mother wouldn’t have appreciated that. She was probably on an airplane over the ocean, yet Lizzie was still thinking about potentially disappointing her.
They continued talking and getting acquainted while the group followed the same talking patterns they had. James, Sirius, and Lizzie led the conversation with a few interjections. She was trying to learn about the other boys’ home lives as well, but that was not as easy as learning about James’ who wanted to share everything.