Chapter Text
The Train Ride Over (Third Person)
The train was bustling with activity as the children flooded in. Kids from all years took their seats, the older years staying in their houses. Then he walked in: Harry Potter. His hair was scruffy, but his untidiness didn't show on his clothes. Next to him, his best friends—Ron Weasley and Hermione—stood, his ginger hair and freckles recognisable enough to pick out in a crowd of people, and her bushy, brown hair flowed past her shoulders. The trio walked up to a group of Gryffindors and made conversation about the Quidditch World Cup—something that had happened recently.
On a different carriage entirely, Vienna dragged her suitcase around, looking for somewhere secluded to sit where there wouldn’t be too large a crowd. Her owl—Pip—flew close behind her. She opened an interior compartment door to see someone sitting by themself.
“Hey,” she stopped to recall the name of the familiar face in front of her, “Billy, is anyone else sitting here? Cuz all the other cabins are taken and I am not walking around to find another one,”
She dragged her suitcase inside, waited for Pip to fly in, and closed the door behind.
Billy was slumped in her seat, her arms crossed. Her right eye was covered by an eyepatch. She wore a black, sleeveless hoodie with light yellow accents and had bandages covering her arms, with only a few spots peaking through. She wore low-waisted, black flared leggings and black trainers to complement her hoodie.
She barely looked up before she spoke, voice low, “No one was sitting there, but you could've asked.”
The two looked at each other, staring in silence. As if she had noticed the tension, Pip perched on Vianna’s shoulders as she sat—adding fuel to the fire—before a loud creak echoed through the room and the head entered comically slowly.
A head of black hair tied into two space buns with teal and pink streaks, wearing hairclips to match, poked in.
“Heeyyy, quick question, is this cabin full or can I fit in?” Silly asked, her head moving around expressively.
Before Vienna could get a word in, Billy cut her off, “Sure, I don't care.”
The girl stepped in, revealing her scene outfit. She wore a white shirt with teal and pink stars—the same shade as her highlights—and had arm warmers that matched her hair: one pink and black, the other teal and black. She wore blue shorts with fishnets underneath and wore black and white trainers. To complete the look, she had an eyebrow piercing and a plaster on her nose.
She had a duffle bag slung over her shoulder and Nova—a fluffy, black cat—was being cradled in her arms.
She sat down next to Vianna, and the room returned to its original state: tense. Then, at the worst time possible, Silly felt the urge to cough. Not a small cough, it felt different, like a cough for a whole minute.
Then it happened. She started coughing up a storm. Billy sat upright. Vienna’s head snapped to her, and she immediately grabbed a spare bottle of water and passed it to Silly.
“Are you okay?” Billy asked, her eye shining with emotion.
“It’s,” Silly coughed a little and took a sip of water, “I’m fine, it’s just a little cough!”
Billy paused before she spoke again, “I’m Billy. What’s your name?”
“I’m Silly!” she said, smiling.
“I’m Vienna,” she said, one of her ears twitching, “What are your houses?”
“I’m Ravenclaw!” Silly said.
Billy stayed silent.
“Are you gonna answer or what?” Vienna asked.
“Why does it matter?” Billy snapped, slouching back into her seat, pulling her hood over her head and digging her hands into her pockets.
Meanwhile, in a different cabin, Julia, Cedric, Orpheus and Karl sat.
“Be honest! Am I covered in cat fur?” Julia asked, turning around so they could see her back.
“Yes, you’re singlehandedly keeping the lint roller business alive,” Orpheus replied, pulling a lint roller out of their bag. “Honestly, how do you manage to get this much fur on you?”
“The cats shed a lot!” Julia reasoned, stroking the cat on her lap.
“Your cats Nimbus, Nebula, Orion, Aurora and Helios?” Cedric asked.
“Yeah, you have to meet them one day! I know you’ve met Nimbus,” she stops petting and gestures to the cat on her, “Aurora has so much fur, but Nebula is just a little kitten and is really clingy!”
“If I have time during the Winter break, I could come over,” Cedric suggested.
“I’d love that! I have a feeling you’d love Helios.”
Orpheus and Karl shared a look that said, ‘They’re in love, right?’
Suddenly, coughing came from the cabin next to them, and everyone stopped.
“Are they okay?” Cedric asked, turning around.
Julia stood up, holding Nimbus in her arms now.
“I’m gonna go check on them, we need to go around and remind them to change into their robes anyway,” she opened the door and walked to the cabin.
She slid the door open with one hand to see Billy, Silly and Vienna sitting inside.
“So what’s your favourite colour?” Vienna asked.
“My favourite colour?Ummmmm…” Silly paused to think, “#B4CDE9.”
“B4tree, what now? That’s not a colour.”
Silly was about to speak when she heard a knock at the door and noticed Julia standing there.
“Hey guys, just came to remind you to change into your robes since the train is coming to a stop soon. Also, are you guys okay? We heard coughing next door, and I came to check it out,” Julia explained.
“Hi Juju.”
“Hey, Silly.”
“We’re fine, I just kinda started coughing out of the blue, but Vienna gave me water so I’m fine now,” Silly reassured.
“Okay…See you later?” Julia said, starting to leave.
“Wait! Juju, can I hold Nimbus? I’ll probably be seeing you in the Ravenclaw common room, and Nova loves to play with him,” Silly begged.
Julia thought for a second before placing him in her lap. As she left, she heard the girls talking.
“You know her?” Vienna blurted, her jaw dropping.
“Yeah? Am I not supposed to?” Silly asked.
Vienna violently shook her head.
“No, that’s not what I meant!” she said, as she held her hands up, making Pip squawk, “Whoop,s sorry Pip!”
She put Pip in her cage and continued her sentence, “It’s just…that’s Julia. As in Julia Charlotte Travers! The Pureblood!”
“Oh. I guess I just never thought of that…” Silly tilted her head.
Vienna smiled and hooked her arm with Silly’s, “Oh, we are gonna be great friends.”
Julia continued to walk down the hall when she spotted someone. Daim. They made eye contact at the same time.
“Hey Juju!” Daim said, approaching her.
Julia stopped and raised her eyebrows, “I…”
“What? Cat got your tongue?” Daim asked.
“Nothing. What are you doing?” she responded with a question of her own.
“Looking for Orpheus.”
“Orpheus should be just down the hall.”
“Thanks, Juju!” Daim started to run off.
“You're…welcome?”
On the other side of the train, Karl opened the door to a cabin and was immediately hit with the chaos.
Jay sat upside down on the seat, book open and reading.
“And that's the history of Hogwarts!” she said.
“I'm really not excited to get back to Potion. I'm definitely not excited to see Snape again,” Piper ranted, head resting on her hand.
Next to the cabin door, Claudia sketched something in her notebook.
“Hey, guys! Just came to remind you to change into your robes! We'll be at Hogwarts soon!” Karl said.
Claudia looked up from her drawing.
“Hi Karl,” she said dryly.
“Hey Clau! See you when we get to Hogwarts.”
Karl walked away, closing the door behind her.
-At Hogwarts-
Everyone entered the dinner hall and sat in their collective houses, waiting for the Sorting Hat to call out the houses of the youngest year.
Billy found herself sitting next to her best friend Daz—or Parasite as she called him—and to a random Hufflepuff she had no intent of interacting with. While this happened, Clem and Piper sat and discussed what they were planning to do to deal with Snape.
On the Ravenclaw table, Juju, Silly, Anni, Claudia and J sat near each other. Not all talking, but just enjoying each other's company
At Slytherin's, Jay teased Draco, creeping him out every opportunity she got. In the background, Vienna egged her on. Orpheus, Esme and Daim sat next to each other.
Lastly, the Gryffindor table was full of energy, the ‘Golden Trio’ as the school had taken to calling them, leading the chaos.
Out of the blue, the lights went off. Dumbledore was on stage. That was when they announced it. The Triwizard Tournament was going to be held at Hogwarts, but the other schools weren't coming for a month.