Chapter Text
Sunday, 27th of June, 1989.
It’s Josephine's 11th birthday today. Her dad had gotten her a big chocolate cake. Josephine is a normal kid, a short and skinny build, pale skin and long black straight hair, and has thin-framed glasses. She lives with her dad, Victor Arvinwill. It has been years since her mum had left her and her dad. Josephine doesn't feel much about it to be honest, since she doesn't exactly remember much about her mum in the first place, other than some blurry memories. Yet she can't help but be curious, she’s never exactly told what happened to her mum.. Whenever she tries to ask her father about it. He always falls silent and tries to change the subject immediately.
Nonetheless, the day goes as usual, when the time comes to open presents and letters from her friends, one letter seems different from the others. It looks a tad more elegant, and she doesn't recognize the mail sender. She looks at the strange letter with curiosity, but before she could open it, the letter was snatched away by her dad, “Why don't we open the presents first? Look how many there are!” Josephine felt slightly confused and disappointed, “Why?” “Well..” her dad hesitates, the envelope gripped tightly in his hands, “Your.. friend must've put in a lot of effort making gifts for you, right? We can focus on the ones they made instead!” Josephine looks at him suspiciously, “So that letter.. isn’t from any of my friends?”
Oh no.
“Why can't I open that one??” Josephine presses. “Because.. It's not for you Sweetheart" he tries reasoning, but Josephine wasn't having it. They kept going back and forth until her dad finally sighs and confesses, “I know this letter, this little fancy thing? Is an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. I prayed that you wouldn't get your mothers genes but… you did. You're a wizard, Josephine.”
“What.”
“Your mother was a witch, she married me and promised to leave her old life behind and live here in London. But one day when visiting her family, they were attacked by some strong wizard and she died trying to protect them.” He explains, slowly showing Josephine her letter, “I don't want you to die like her..”
Josephine's heart shrank, she felt betrayed, confused, lied to, everything, even a bit curious. “What? You told me mum died because of a car crash!”
“Well it’s something similar; she fell off her broom because of an attack.. I think?” Her father shrugs off her concern. "Fell off her broom.." Josephine echoed. How does she manage to fall from a broom? Did it fly or something? She thought.
“Point is: you’re not going to this ‘Hogwarts’ school, you will not be doing this.. magical stuff, you will stay here with me and live a normal life, I will burn this letter so you won't overthink it,” he smiled, walking towards a drawer and pulling out a small match.
“That's not fair, I wanna go!”
“No.”
“Yes!”
“No.”
"Yes!”
“No!”
“What could go wrong?”
“A lot. Look at what happened to your mother. For all I know you could be sacrificed for a freaky cult!” Her dad grimly stated. “Now, about your remaining gifts?” He offers as an attempt to distract her in the meantime.
Josephine sighs, nothing will beat the present of going to a magic school far far away from math. Or at least she’d hope so—Wizards don't need math right? Wouldn’t there be spells for that?—But she gave in to the thought of other presents, she hoped one of them was the new figures she wanted.
The birthday ecstasy died down by tomorrow. She woke up and got dressed for school. Her uniform was so stupid and ugly. She wonders what a magic school uniform would look like. Would it be fireproof or acidproof? That’d be cool, she thought. Things were.. quite normal for a few weeks. By the first week after her birthday, another letter arrived for Josephine, but her dad quickly burned it again before she could open it. It kept happening for a week straight, letters appearing from bizarre places like chimneys, drawers, and inside of the eggs he was about to cook. That's right, every egg he tries to crack reveals the letter instead of a normal egg yolk and whites. It took quite a long time before her dad finally got frustrated, and wary of the other house ‘furniture’ that may sprout a letter by any time. You never know, maybe it can even turn into a letter.. Victor probably thought. Magic can be both fascinating and a disaster, that's why you don't play with magic, kids! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Back to the story, it has been only a few weeks ever since Josephine’s birthday and all these letters are starting to get frustrating.
Josephine looked at all the scattered letters around the house and picked one up to read it. It was a Hogwarts acceptance letter, she smiled at it and asked her dad, “Can I go now?”
Victor Arvinwill, father of Josephine, after days of being in denial that his daughter is enrolled in a magical boarding school, finally kneels in front of her, and looks her in the eye. “Yes, you can go. But promise me that you will be safe there, be wise of the friends you choose, and… try not to do foolish things, okay?” Josephine finally nods happily.
A day after that stressful event, her dad was helping Josephine pack some clothes for her new school. From outside, heavy footsteps could be heard approaching the house. The door was then smashed open by a large, intimidating man. Dust flew in the air, the door snapped clean in two, wood splinters scattered on the floor. Josephine and her dad looked up to examine the culprit. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting under all the hair.
“Mind if ya’ brew me sum’ tea? Went through hell going ‘ere pickin’ up lil’ Jos'vin,” The giant laughs and tries to squeeze into the small house, “I'm Rubeus Hagrid,” the giant introduces himself. Josephine saw that her dad looks as if he could faint. It was obvious that he was terrified of this Hagrid person. “Where are..you taking her?” He asks Hagrid, in which Hagrid just smiled, “Well, to go shopping of course! Lil’ Jos'vin will be needing a new set of clothes and school supplies,” he turns towards Josephine and offers his hand for her to grab.
“Are we going to the mall for shopping, Mr. Hagrid?” Josephine questioned excitedly. Though, Hagrid seems confused more than anything, “What’s a mall? We’re goin’ t’ old fashioned London.” Hagrid says, shoving a list of items she needs for Hogwarts towards her. The paper hit her square on the face. She pulls it off her face and reads. Her face lit up when she read that she is required to get a pet. If she needs it for school then surely her father couldn’t protest! It’s for her education and her father always said that education was important!
Josephine looks up and felt quite confused on where they’re heading; a pub called ‘The Leaky Cauldron’. Hagrid led her inside and out again through the back door into a dead end. Hagrid taps on the wall in a specific pattern and the wall shifts to reveal an alley packed with people and a variety of stores. Josephine’s eyes sparkled with awe. Would this be where she goes shopping?
“Now this ‘ere‘s Diagon Alley. We’re gonna be shoppin’ for yer stuff ‘ere.” Hagrid quickly drags Josephine to one of the shops, Madam Malkins, she reads, “Malkins' where ya’ can get yer robes for school. Go in now, go, I’ll wait right ‘ere.” Hagrid pushes Josephine to the store’s front door.
“Umm, okay…” She mumbles, pushing open the door. Inside there were a few children who looks to be her age. The workers there were preoccupied with them so she stood awkwardly to the side like an odd gargoyle or a house ornament.
“Hogwarts, dear? Got a bunch of ‘em here today.” An elderly worker who had just got done with a boy with styled dark brown hair calls her over. Josephine hums absentmindedly, stepping on the stool provided by the worker. The worker chatters absentmindedly while taking her measurements. They measure her height, arms, hips, and legs. “From the muggle world, aye sweetie? Don’t think I’ve seen you around.” Josephine just shook her head. It wasn’t long before she was done and got a bunch of uniforms.
Next they went to a book store that she was really interested in. The inside of the bookstore smelled like old ancient books in a pleasant way. The store has quite a nice layout with a large assortment of books. Josephine looks down at the list of items she needs, which is a lot. It took quite a bit to find all the books in her list. Mostly because she got distracted by books that were definitely meant for children, which she added to her stack—She’s sure her father didn’t mind losing a few more galleons than needed. She walked out the door with a tall stack of books, at least compared to her.
The next few stops were uneventful, mostly just other school supplies. They were really unusual compared to her normal school supplies, which makes sense since she was going to a magic school now. “Our next stop is the most important item that ev’ry witch ‘n wizard needs: A wand! Can’t get through magic school w’out bein’ able t’ do magic now can ya’?” Hagrid leads her to another stop with the sign ‘Ollivanders’. This time Hagrid went in with her.
The worker there looks up. “Rubeus, how’ve you been?” he greets with a polite smile. “Ollivander. Been doin’ pr’tty well.” Hagrid returns the greeting with a nod and a polite, yet awkward, smile of his own. “Tryin’ t’ find a wand for lil’ Jos’vin ‘ere” He shifts the wandmaker’s attention to the short girl next to him. “How curious, I’ve seen those same eyes in this shop here a few long years ago…” Ollivander pulls out a measuring tape. “Are you right-handed or left-handed?” He questions. “Right.” Ollivander hums thoughtfully. “Stay here. I shall fetch a couple of wands for you” Ollivander disappears to, presumably, fetch wands for her.
While waiting she views the different wand boxes stacked on top of each other. Josephine wonders what kind of wand she would get. She hopes it’s powerful. What can wands do? Create bombs? Pull a rabbit from a top hat? Do her chores for her? That’d be awesome. Lost in thought she didn’t notice when Ollivander returned. Her body stiffened when he dropped boxes on the counter.
“Alrighty, let's try this one first.” Josephine’s hand briefly touched the wand when it suddenly let out a loud bang, flinging the entire box to a wall. She stared, wide-eyed, at it. “It’s not supposed to do that, is it??” she asks the wandmaker worriedly. “No, no, definitely not. It’s alright though. Not many witches and wizards get their wand on the first try. After all, the wand chooses the wizard.” Ollivander comforts her, bringing another box for her to try.
A couple of explosions, dropped boxes, blinding lights, and a few wands making her hair stand up, before finding a wand that feels right to her. The wand sits nicely in her grip and a faint warmth travels up her fingers in a steady pace. “Ah… I see you’ve found a match. This wand here is Alder wood with a Unicorn core 10 ¼" and slightly springy flexibility. I’m sure this wand will help you cast some powerful spells and become a loyal companion. Take good care of it, would you?” Josephine nods quickly, eyes sparkling. Hagrid smiles happily to her side as he led her out of the wand shop. “A’rite one last stop. The pet–”
“The pet shop!!” Josephine excitedly whisper-shouts. She’s been waiting for this part of the list! She wants an owl or a cat!! She was sad she could only have one pet… Maybe she can beg her dad to buy another for the house.
Inside the shop were lots and lots of animals, but one caught her attention. It was a grey great-horned owl. It looked like a goat to her, though. “You’re so ugly. I want you.” and Josephine got an owl!! She’s definitely going to rant to her dad for hours about her day after this.
—
Hogwarts Express is a confusing ride for Josephine, she got lost and had to find a new train compartment to sit and read some children's books Hagrid had gotten her. The train ride itself wasn't much better than any other trains, Josephine would have been impressed if the train to her new school could just fly there. Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the door sliding open.
“Is this seat taken?” A voice called out, it came from the now opened door. It was a small girl no taller nor skinnier than her, she had fair skin, big round eyes and brown pupils, she had clear-framed glasses and short dark brown curly hair. The girl sat across from Josephine, and looked out the window. The silence turns into awkward tension quickly, neither one of them willing to start a conversation until the girl caught a glimpse of what Josephine was reading.
“Is that The Tales of Beedle The Bard?” She asks suddenly, pointing at Josephine's book. Josephine looks at the cover of her book and looks at the girl across from her, nodding quietly, “..you know it?” “Obviously! My mum used to read that to me every night! It's like.. a bedtime story for most wizards and witches yea?” The girl smiles, “My name's Raph, Raphael Damien Delacroix, who are you?” Josephine examines her from head to toe, this Raph person seems to know more than her, at least.
“I'm Josephine Aria Arvinwill” “Ah..” Raph whisper-awed, then pulled out a thick book, from what Josephine could make out, the title read ‘History of Hogwarts’. “Well, I hope we can be friends then, since you're the first person who has talked to me on this train. Did you know that? Wicked, isn't it?” Raph ranted on and on and made Josephine answer or share some opinions, but the conversation was mostly dominated by her excited rant about Hogwarts.
When they did get there, it felt like she was stepping into a fairytale. She half-expects it to look like a castle but she wasn't expecting the size and aura it brings. The inside somehow feels even bigger, if Hagrid didn't guide them, the students would definitely get lost, Josephine thought. Raph looks around excitedly, until they reach a massive door that led into a dining room filled with a lot of students sitting on either four tables. Josephine assumes the older people that sat at the very back of the room were the teachers. They are all led towards the end of the long room, at the center of the teachers area, there is a chair with a pointy hat on top of it. “I'm so nervous.. aren't you, Arvinwill?” Raph sighs, excitedly.
“Why nervous?” “Wha.. Don't tell me you aren't excited for the sorting ceremony?” Josephine looked around the room, all the older students weren't eating. They were curiously looking at them for something to happen, the sorting ceremony, she thought. She also assumed the hat had something to do with it. “No.. how does this work?” Josephine asks Raph, she took notice that each table had students wear robes with a different coloured accent. There are students with red, yellow, blue, and green accents on their robes, they all sat with their kind, no one sneaking onto the other tables. If this were my old school, every table would look like a rainbow, she thought.
“Well.. uh, it's to sort you to four houses y'know? Gryffindor's red for bravery, courage, and boldness, Hufflepuff's yellow for loyalty, equality, and.. others.." "others?" Josephine interrupted, "Yea- well.. I don't know much about them.. anyways, Ravenclaw's blue for curiosity, creative, and open-mindedness, and Slytherin's green for ambition, resourceful, and strategic..ness? Yea that.. sums it up, is there- or like.. are you.. did you catch all that?” Raph rambles on and on about this, she seemed to know a lot about Hogwarts. “It was in the book I read on the train. Anyway, my mum was a Ravenclaw and I think my dad was a Gryffindor, hopefully I can be either one of those houses..”
Josephine thought for a while, “Well.. I don't know what to choose.” An excited voice comes up from beside her, “Well actually, you can’t choose what house you get into. It's up to the sorting hat!” The girl comments on Josephine's quiet observation. She had a ponytail that reaches below her shoulders, olive skin, downturned eyes, and her uniform looks neat and clean. Raph looks at her and then at Josephine, "See? I told you, Seph!” “I didn't say anything??”
“I'm Regina Gracielle Blackwood, nice to meet you!” The girl, Regina, smiles and reaches her hand out, waiting for a handshake. Raph took Regina's hand nervously and shook it. “I'm Raphael Damien Delacroix, just call me Raph, this is my friend Josephine, Josephine… Aria Arvinwill” “Can I be friends with you two?” Regina asks excitedly, “I mean.. I don't see why.. It's nice seeing familiar and unfamiliar people here, look! That’s my friend, Sabrina! I'm gonna go talk to her, see you guys” Raph awkwardly shrugs and walks away from the two.
Not long after, an old woman walks towards the chair and hat. She introduces herself as Professor Minerva McGonagall and begins explaining about Hogwarts and the sorting hat, along with Professor Dumbledore as Hogwarts' headmaster. One by one, the students get called upfront by Professor McGonagall and get sorted into one of the four houses. So that’s how you get sorted.. Hopefully I get sorted with my friends, Josephine thought. “That would be nice, all of us in the same house. It would be like a sleepover every night.“ Regina adds. “What?” “You were thinking out loud, Arvinwill”
“Fingers crossed we get into the same house guys.” Raph walks back to the two, smiling.
“Blackwood, Regina” “It’s nice to meet you two!” Regina cheers and runs up to the front and sat under the sorting hat, when it was lowered, the sorting hat thought for a while “ooooooh… I seeeee….. You are a very kind hearted soul and very loyal to those you cherish.. I know where to put you… HUFFLEPUFF!!!” The sorting hat screams out. The students on the Hufflepuff table cheered and congratulated Regina. More and more students were being called, until it reached a certain person, "Ashclaw, Reynard."
Apparently some students got bored and tired because when he was upfront, the sorting hat took 10 whole minutes to figure out where to put him. Eventually Ashclaw was sorted to Ravenclaw.
“Delacroix, Raphael”
Raph walks carefully towards the hat and sits there quietly while the hat hums, thinking where to put her. “Hmm.. you’re an introverted young woman, observant with an artist’s eye, with an intelligent nature, striving for perfection and celebration from your fellow peers.. Ravenclaw would accommodate you just fine, but Slytherin will be able to raise you to new heights.You belong in… SLYTHERIN!!!” Raph smiled before quietly moving to the Slytherins table.
When it was Josephine’s turn, Raph looked at her and smiled, she mouthed towards her, get into slytherin. The hat scoffed, “Ugh.. your kind.. creative.. curious, yet.. lazier than a troll.. RAVENCLAW!!!!!!” Josephine was offended. "Bloody hell of a hat," she mutters. She walked to the Ravenclaw table and sat there, lost in thought, some students there chuckled at her, or mostly at the hats' commentaries and tried reassuring her that the hat is just doing its job. Josephine looked at them and nodded, feeling embarrassed. The three students looked at each other from across tables, one from Slytherin, the other on Hufflepuff, and the last on Ravenclaw. All of us in the same house they said.
—
The sorting ceremony took longer than expected, I guess a lot of students just joined this year, Josephine assumes. Because they can't dig into their deliciously and strategically placed food in front of them unless every first year has gotten sorted. She hopes it would be quick though, there's only one student left!
“Weasley, George.” A ginger ran excitedly and crossed his fingers when the hat was put on his head. “Ah.. A Weasley! I know where you belong, GRYFFINDOR!!!!”
“Weasley, Fred” Professor McGonagall calls out, but no one answers or walks up front. “Weasley, Fred.” The professor repeats. But still no one answers. It was silent for a while. Suddenly, a loud crash rang out from the entrance of the room and a swarm of winged keys come flying in, everybody there started to panic. A boy with ginger hair and a face identical to the other ginger, George, appears at the doorway and runs inside, panting. George starts laughing at the boy quite hysterically. Professor Dumbledore, an old wrinkled man with a whimsical aura, who has white hair and a long beard runs to the center of the room and casts a spell to stop those magical keys from flying all over the place and hurting any of the students.
When the keys finally fall limp onto the ground, Professor McGonagall sternly calls out, “And you must be Mr. Weasley?” to the ginger that stood in front of the professor, he looked down and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, “Yes, ma’am.” Professor McGonagall sighs and led him to the sorting hat but before the hat is fully put on his head, it screams, “GRYFFINDOR!!!!!” Fred Weasley, Josephine assumes, then ran towards George and laughed together. She watched them mess with each other before properly eating their food in perfect sync. Honestly, how do you even manage to cause trouble on the first day of school?
“Staring at boys already, Seph? Ooo you're a bad girl.. but you have to admit, they gotta be trouble no?” A voice from behind her says with a hiss, Josephine turned around and saw Raph and Regina walking towards her. “It's a shame we aren’t in the same house, but we’re staying as friends, right?” Regina gave them both big pleading eyes, while Josephine looked at them and grins,
“Deal.”
Josephine stared at the keys now on the ground, then at the ceiling that wasn't actually a ceiling, finally at her friends and smiled.
This was not what I expected when I agreed to enter a magic school.