“Daddy wants to go looking for the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, but he’d been very busy trying to uncover a new ministry conspiracy.”
Taylor nodded, absorbed in the tidbits. Luna was awesome. It was like they were friends that saw each other everyday. She talked about her life, her home, the conspiracies. She had a different outlook on things, so unlike the stuffy view Taylor was starting to take for granted from the many books and magicals she met along the way.
A few moments before the train departed, a young redhead pushed the door open and stomped inside. Carelessly, she pushed the trunk in, stared at the sleeping owl for a few moments before she gave a curt nod toward Taylor, a stiff ‘hullo Luna’ to which Luna answered with ‘Hi Ginny’
Ginny then sat, just not for long. She looked like she didn’t fit in her skin and kept looking over the compartment door and windows, moving about with frantic energy.
Conversation about conspiracies and magical creatures continued, but Ginny didn't seem enthused by the topic, even though she wasn’t participating. Something that Luna also noticed.
“What’s wrong, Ginny?”
Ginny scowled, arms crossed. “Harry Potter didn’t board the train!”
It took Taylor just a few moments to place the name. It featured prominently in the modern magic history books: The hero magic-baby who defeated the Dark Lord.
Luna nodded. “Did he run away?”
“No!” Ginny shouted, then pouted. “He was just behind us on the platform, but he didn’t follow us through the wall and mom couldn’t go back to see what happened.”
“It’s alright,” Luna said in her dreamy voice. “He can always send an owl to the school.”
Ginny looked startled, like the option hadn’t even crossed her mind. She took a deep breath, then nodded, turned to Taylor and smiled. It looked just a tad forced.
“Hullo, I’m Ginny Weasley.”
Taylor smiled back and offered her hand. “I’m Taylor.”
Ginny took the offered hand, shook it, but she looked distracted.
“Right,” she said, getting up and power walking toward the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Luna smiled, and Taylor nodded again, numbly. Her eyes followed Ginny's path inside the crowded corridors with a small fly she’d smuggled on the faded sweater Ginny wore.
“You can see through walls.” Luna remarked, having followed Taylor’s eyes while Taylor followed Ginny.
Taylor’s head whipped around sharply, staring wide eyed at Luna.
Luna leaned forward, patting Taylor gently on the hand. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”
Unsure how to respond, Taylor said the first thing that came to mind. “Thank… you?”
“You’re welcome!”
The silence, uncomfortable on Taylor’s side, stretched for what felt like forever, but wasn’t more than a few moments. A part of her mind kept track of her quarry: Ginny pushed past older teenagers until she met with an older boy also sporting a mane full of red. Ginny gesticulated wildly, and the boy nodded dismissively. Scowling and muttering under her breath, Ginny ran back and toward another compartment. This one had several teens talking, but more importantly, twins sporting a familiar brand of red hair.
They seemed more interested in what Ginny had to say, but not enough to appease the hellion.
Meanwhile, Luna had picked up a magazine from somewhere. It was named ‘The Quibbler’. This wasn’t one Taylor had seen when going on her shopping spree, but she also hadn’t had time to scour the whole bookstore. At first she thought it was a gossip magazine or something, but a better look at the cover put that to rest.
Ministry of Magic: Are They Putting Wrackspurts In The Floo Network?
That headline was very sus in Taylor’s opinion, but she wasn’t going to dismiss anything just because it sounded silly. The world was magic, and things she didn’t know were one and many. But still, she ventured a question to her possible new friend and confidant.
“Floo network?”
That naive question led into more and more theories about the ministry, invisible creatures that crowded the brain and magic-fireplace-fueled travels. Taylor lapped it all up, avidly.
When Ginny returned — still looking anxious and frantic — Taylor had moved to sit beside Luna and both were reading from The Quibbler, with Luna pointing out the facts on the front page news.
“—and so, daddy could only conclude that the ministry is intentionally letting wrackspurts infest the network to keep wizardkind pliable to be taken advantage of by the brewing conspiracy.”
The rest of the train trip went on like that. Ginny would sometimes give out her opinion on things, mostly opposed Luna’s own brand of wisdom, but didn’t really join the conversation. She was too worried about this Harry Potter boy to pay attention to ‘loony theories’. Taylor would have felt offended with that if Luna hadn’t just smiled her dreamy smile and nodded along.
The discussion was interrupted at some point by a portly witch pushing a trolley cart about. With the remainder of her money (one galleon and a few sickles), Taylor bought everything she could. Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, Licorice Wands, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Peppermint Toads and more.
“Every flavour?” Taylor asked between fighting with the leaping chocolate frog and eyeing the bean in Luna’s hand.
In lieu of answering, Luna popped the bean into her mouth, chewed, and nodded. “Ear wax. Not my favorite.”
Nap decided, with the peppermint toads, it was time to wake up and eat. She made a mess of the treat (“Nap! No! Get back here!”), then promptly went straight back to sleep, this time on Luna’s head.
Taylor, after much deliberation, decided to risk one of the beans. She picked a nice reddish coloured one. That should be safe, right? A moment later, she popped the bean. It tasted like beef. Very rare.
There was a moment of silence with both Ginny and Luna waiting and watching.
Taylor bolted toward the bathroom. Very rare beef didn’t agree with chocolate frogs leftovers.
Luna watched her go with serene curiosity while Ginny looked equal parts sympathetic and vindicated about not eating any beans herself.
The rest of the eight hour train journey passed with just a few more disruptions. The Weasley twins came to check on their baby sister, much to Ginny’s displeasure. There were a few other children popping about from time to time and asking questions, but it was just the excitement of magic school clouding children's behaviour.
Distracted by her new friend, Taylor barely kept an eye on the others inside the train.
Outside the window, darkness had fallen. The landscape had grown wilder and less familiar, and Taylor's bugs were picking up creatures she'd never encountered before as they moved north. Conversation died down naturally, until an older student popped by the compartment (“Yes, I’m Percy. I’m a Prefect, didn’t you see my badge? You should listen to me. Don’t roll your eyes at me, Ginny.”), to inform them about the arrival, to put pets in the cages and get dressed into the school robes. There was no need to take the luggage or pets when leaving the train. Someone else will take care of it.
Nap went into her cage, while Ginny and Luna donned the school robes.
“Which house do you reckon you're going to? I’m a Gryffindor. My whole family was.”
Luna nodded.
“I’d be a great snake. Or maybe a majestic lion.”
Ginny stopped and stared. “You? In Slytherin?”
Taylor held back on commenting. She knew the basics of the house system as explained in the book: Hogwarts: A History. In the book, it was described as a way to foster relationships between students and promote certain character traits.
Luna nodded again, smiling. “I’d be an amazing snake.”
Ginny’s question, as well as many other instances of house rivalry in the train that Taylor had kept a low-key awareness of said differently. The redhead didn’t seem satisfied with Luna’s answers. She turned to Taylor next.
“And you?”
Taylor shrugged. She knew she was special in some ways, even more than her magic, but she wasn’t particularly brave, or cunning. Taylor liked books, but she wasn’t driven by learning things, even if the past month may have said otherwise. She knew what she wanted: to make friends and have fun. That was Hufflepuff, right? “No idea. Any house should be fine.”
“As long as it isn’t Slytherin.” Ginny said, nodding. “They are the house of evil wizards. Even Hufflepuff is better.”
The train stopped and people crowded the station. It was a sight seeing all students dressed in matching robes with different colors. It became clear that each house had a different uniform. It also made it easier to spot the first years. They weren’t just the smallest around. They were all dressed in black.
“Firs’-years! Firs’-years over here!” A giant of a man, and his big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads, waving toward the students. He carried a lit lamp in one hand. “C’mon, follow me – any more firs’-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs’-years follow me!”
Stumbling and holding for dear life on Luna’s shoulder, Taylor followed the giant down a steep, narrow path. It was so dark that if it wasn’t for her bugs, she wouldn’t have even known there were towering trees around the path.
Nobody spoke much, following the giant in anticipation.
“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec,” The giant called over his shoulder, “jus’ round this bend here.”
There was a chorus of “Awwws” and “Ooohs”.
The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
“No more’n four to a boat!” Their guide called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Taylor got in, followed by Luna and Ginny.
“Everyone in?” Their guide had commandeered a boat for himself, “Right then – FORWARD!”
The fleet of boats glided across the dark lake waters. Everyone was silent, most still stunned from the sights of the castle. Taylor was picking many new interesting critters in her range. She wasn’t aware her power could also work on sea life. There were a few types of crabs and other sea creatures her power was happily taking over. She froze for a moment, then, decidedly, made sure none of her new critters bothered the big scary tentacled giant squid lazily watching the boats go by.
“Mind yer heads!” yelled the giant when the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. The dark tunnel took them right underneath the castle, until they reached some kind of underground harbour, where students disembarked out onto rocks and pebbles. From there, they moved up a passageway in the rock, following the giant and his lamp to arrive onto smooth grass just beside the castle. Their guide moved toward a flight of stone steps, and had all the students crowd around a huge oak door.
With one last look around the many tiny kids, he nodded, then knocked three times on the castle doors.