Once we returned to our pocket home, the first thing we did was try to figure out what was actually going on. Opening up the history books along with a few newspapers, the only thing we could do was blink in surprise at some of the changes we found. The good news was that indeed the savior of the British wizarding world was Holly Potter, not Harry. That meant she was now on our list of possible recruitment targets. However, the bad news was that she was already 14 and was already enrolled at Hogwarts. That pretty much blew all the tentative plans of exposing and capturing Tom early while he was a teacher out of the water. So much for our tentative plans of changing things early. The silver lining was Holly would be 18 and hopefully much better prepared when she met Tom in the graveyard if we couldn’t do anything to stop it.
I rubbed a hand down my face and looked at my girls. “Well, just as we said last night. If we wanted to help then we were going to have to really study hard. Now that we are a year behind Holly and friends, we are going to have to study even harder.”
I rubbed the back of my neck then continued. “I guess this is a good rationale for why we should stick to cannon timelines in the future as much as possible even if something tells me we might not have that choice. Bad information or planning is sometimes worse than no information at all. Even if we just watched the movies as a refresher, we probably should verify every bit of information we think we might know.”
I sat back in the sofa where I had been reading before shaking my head again. “Still, in the end all we can do for now is just start studying. The question is if we should go to Hogwarts or try to go to Beauxbatons and transfer back or directly attend the tournament during her fourth year. I am still worried about messing up the timeline, but with Tom no longer able to potentially read our minds via his possession of Quirrell during our first year, the worse case scenario is gone.”
The girls all looked at each other for a moment before Dinah, Sabah, and Taylor all responded in sync, “Hogwarts!”
I shook my head. “Yeah I should have expected that.” Then I nodded my head “Plus, the chances of getting a transfer or attending the tournament with the older years is slim. As for Hogwarts. This book here” I tapped a book named Introduction to the magical world for Muggleborns laying on the table “confirms we just need to perform accidental magic and be detected by Hogwarts master book of admission before we turn 14. There isn’t even any tuition because the professors are paid by old trust money… although that in turn does explain why the training brooms for flying class are so bad.” I shook my head before continuing. “We can even write to Hogwarts to confirm our attendance. So I say we try to trigger accidental magic for each of us this week then ensure that we are all on the list of prospective students.” I smirked and then shrugged with a wink. “Now perhaps the most important decision of the trip so far. We need to determine what our surnames will be.”
Dinah raised her hand. “I would like to be an Alcott again.”
I looked at Amy, but she simply shook her head. “I don’t care about my old surname. I don’t hate the Dallons, but I want to be a part of this family now” She quieted down for a moment before whispering, “even if I still miss Vicky.”
I nodded my head. “So our half of the family will be Amy, myself, and Dinah Alcott, with our older sister Ahri Alcott. What about you, Taylor and Sabah?”
Sabah frowned and then shook her head. “I don’t care. I don’t have much attachment to my surname either.”
Taylor winced, but then sighed. “I had some issues with my Dad, but I do miss my Mom. Could we be the Heberts again?”
I smiled at her, trying to be as reassuring as I could, since this was obviously a sensitive subject. “Of course. We will just report our names to the ministry so they know who we are. My hope is that magically declaring our names with the ministry will make sure Hogwarts uses those names as well in their admission records.
So let's go with your father being a Mister Danny Hebert, who has a new wife with a daughter from a previous marriage which is where Sabah comes in. You both grew up near Salem, but recently, you have been staying with us since your father couldn’t take care of you while traveling for work. Basically, the closer we can keep it to the truth, the easier it will be to keep straight.”
There was a moment of quiet as Taylor thought about her father, but we all noticed it was shorter than before, and I was glad she was starting to move through everything, even if I wasn’t naive enough to believe it could just be ‘fixed’ like that.
With that, we all got to work on taking turns sitting in the park while we tried to trigger some accidental magic for each of us.
It turns out that accidental magic was actually kind of easy to trigger, with Ahri using her illusions to create either horror scenes or jump scares to trigger it. However, no one enjoyed the process.
The following months flew by. Ahri reported herself originally as an immigrant from New Zealand who moved to America with her family. A contact we found in Knockturn Alley even managed to set up a fake identity for Ahri in case anyone actually started looking into it. She was a witch from Ilvermorny, graduated middle of her class 2 years ago. The man even faked an apparition license, even if we hadn’t actually figured out how to do that yet.
Obviously all of us were too excited to wait so we all tried to use Ahri’s wand. Surprisingly it did work moderately well for all of us. Or at least we didn’t feel any massive resistance when we tried the light spell Lumos, the levitation spell Wingardium Leviosa, and the fire starting spell Incendio. However, it was Amy that reminded us that Tom had been able to do simple Magic even before Hogwarts. So we all decided it was worth the effort to try wandless casting before school as well.
The setup had been fairly simple. We all took turns trying to summon a ball laying on the floor in front of us for weeks. It didn’t work. Well, Sabah obviously got the ball to move instantly, but she couldn’t tell how to divorce her shard derived telekinesis from her new magic. Her attempts to create a wandless Lumos spell were just as fruitless as the rest of our efforts with the ball.
Surprisingly or not, it was when Ahri continued to scare us that Taylor and then Sabah managed to get the ball to wiggle and eventually start to move. Then the percentage of times they needed to be startled slowly decreased. Alternatively, Dinah and I found more success by focusing on what we wanted and really concentrating. Finally Ahri and Sabah didn’t find anything that helped, but still managed to make slow but constant progress. Maybe it had something to do with their more mature minds, but I couldn’t be sure.
It took hundreds of attempts but in the end everyone was able to wandlessly summon a ball when it was placed on the floor in front of them. It wasn’t fast, more like a slow roll towards whoever was practicing, but it was progress.
As I sat back after the last attempt, I had to admit that I wasn’t sure if this was because of the months of effort, because we were in a fan universe where wandless casting was easier, or because all of us had the mental maturity to push for what we wanted already. Regardless of the reason, it was a welcome start since no one wanted to be dependent on a wand, unable to come back and replace it. Especially if it broke in a future death world.
Really if I was to describe the process of learning to cast wandlessly a spell we learned from the textbooks normally first with a wand, it was like trying to feel how your heart pumped and your legs moved in a dance with a partner, then suddenly removing the partner and needing to perform exactly the same thing. This time without someone to lead you or take your weight during turns. It was hard, frustrating, and slow, but another week later we could all cast a small Lumos while Sabah seemed to finally move a steel ball bearing too heavy for her normal telekinesis.
In the meantime, once the weather warmed up, Taylor finally used a swarm of flies to find a few drug dens. Drug dens that which we promptly robbed blind. However, the number present in this 1990s London was much smaller than I had expected.
Our next money making idea however also proved useful, even if it took two months of practice for Ahri to get the magic required. The process involved Ahri using her illusions to hide what she was doing while walking along the beach, rivers, and theme parks and casting the summoning charm on any lost jewelry or artifacts.
I had been a little nervous about the Aurors, the magical police, to track us down for breaking some law out there somewhere. However, no one came to check.
After some theory crafting with the girls I supposed that proved Ahri’s wand didn’t have the underage trace as even when we practiced with her wand no warning letters came. Was it because they assumed magic coming out of her wand was from Ahri? How did they know Ahri was an adult in the first place? Was there a charm that could test a person’s age from a distance? Then again, it might have been as simple as Olivander reporting that it was an adult that purchased the wand so they ignored magic cast around our home and didn’t have anything set up for the beaches in the first place. However, in the books Hermione said she had tried out a few spells before school, and she hadn’t been giving a citation either. Man, this was confusing.
Regardless, it was soon July when a flurry of owls approached our small cottage. We had rented it from the landlady a few doors down in order to ensure we had a physical address that any postal owls could find us at. She had looked at Ahri in reproach when she had showed up to request the small cottage. I guess I should have expected that. The 1990s were not nice to single mothers. Then again, when she explained she was just the older sister while the parents were working, the landlady seemed to relent a little. She even praised Ahri for working so hard. However, she also warned Ahri from bringing any men over. I blinked at that.
Really? She was trying to enforce who could visit on an adult renter? What business was it of hers as long as the rent was paid, and the house kept clean. Sighing, I shook my head. I guess I could just give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she wanted to make sure us “kids” weren’t exposed to any potential shady characters.
It was old-fashioned and a little patronizing, but then again, a vague memory of 2010s America reminded me that teen pregnancy and single motherhood could be problems too. All the respect in the world, of which I had a lot, didn’t make caring for children easy, and a lot of people ended up poor and struggling because of it. Vulnerable girls then led to even more instances of single parenthood and even exploitation. Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts away. Focus on Hogwarts now, wondering if the old landlady was a nosey prude or an annoyingly insightful grandma later.
Turning towards my letter, I smiled as I watched my girls all excitingly opening their letters. All five said the same thing, Dumbledore’s excessive title and all.
‘Dear Mr Max Alcott,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed list of all necessary Books and Equipment.
Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.’
I hummed to myself while glancing at the calendar and seeing it was July 2nd before speaking. “Well, I am glad we got our letters more than 4 or 5 days before the deadline. Leaving Harry’s letter at the last second seemed extremely strange in the books.”
Sending our replies with the school owls that had delivered the letters got our acceptance taken care of. We just needed to take another trip to Diagon Alley to purchase our supplies. At least we were able to legally buy wands now that we had our official Hogwarts letters.
The gold we collected and the cash we stole from gangs totaled up to be another four thousand British Pounds which the goblins gave us 75 Galleons plus some change. It appeared that the exact exchange rate was a little over 52 pounds to the Galleon, at least at the moment.
Still, that would give us the 35 Galleons needed for our five wands to start with.
When we returned down the street we discovered that despite the increased customers in the alley, Olivander was just as creepy as he was the first time. As we walked in, we waited for nearly 10 seconds before he appeared behind a stack of boxes that shouldn’t have been wide enough to hide him. At least this time, we managed not to jump.
“Good afternoon. How are you all doing? Mrs Alcott? Is your new wand still performing satisfactorily for you?”
I could tell that all of us were a little surprised he knew her last name since we hadn’t given it the first time we were here. Heck, we hadn’t even picked it yet. Ahri, in particular, swallowed before nodded curtly and replying. “Yes, it is. We are here to get wands for the rest of my charges.” Really, despite being a soul eating fox, I didn’t blame her for being a little intimidated.
Olivander chuckled and beckoned me forward. “Well, we might as well start with… the man of the family, shan't we?”
Everyone twitched at that, but soon enough after trying a dozen or so wands I found a wand that gave me a rush and tingle down my arm when I picked it up. One by one the girls performed the same tests in what still looked like trial and error to me before finding their matches as well.
It was while we were testing wands that I found my eyes widening slowly as each person picked out their wand. Every single one of us had a dragon heartstring core. I looked at Olivander who simply tilted his vacant eyes to look back at me. “Interesting, most interesting. I have never seen a group of children this connected before. It is almost like your very souls have a connection.”
All of us froze at that and the room was deathly silent for a moment before he chuckled. “But that would be ridiculous, how incredibly silly of me wouldn’t you say, Mister Alcott.”
I simply nodded, not taking my eyes off the old man. As we paid, I looked at the wands we had all selected. Sabah had gotten Ash wood like Ahri. Dinah had gotten Holly wood. Amy had gotten Willow. Taylor had gotten Ivy wood. I was surprised when my wand was made out of Elderwood. Finally deciding I needed to know, I spoke up to ask. “I thought Elderwood wands were rare.”
Olivander looked at me for a moment before chuckling. “I think you have been listening to the stories of the Elder Wand too much. Elder is just another type of wood, in fact they are not normally stronger or weaker than other wand woods. The problem is that they are often considered unlucky even if I have never seen proof. However, wielders are often perceptive and sensitive to magic.” Eyeing me for a moment longer, he nodded.
Turing to Sabah and Ahri he continued. “Ash wood is for those who are kind and romantic with an inner strength.” Turning to Dinah he smiled. “Holly wood is often for those who will grow to be wise, but energetic.” Eyeing Amy, he nodded. “Willow wood is for those with healing abilities or with those who will work the hardest” Finally, eyeing Taylor, he smirked. “Ivy wood is for those who are patient and goal-oriented above all else.”
I looked across at my girls and they smiled a little back. “I guess they are.”
Heading out of the store we crossed the street to collect our books. Only then did we realize that this year we would have Lockheart. The same Lockheart that wanted us to buy all 8 of his books, which despite being much smaller than the other text books, each one cost nearly a Galleon. We were down to 40 Galleons for school supplies, and Lockheart was requesting we spend about 32 Galleons on his books alone.
Turning to my girls I scowled. “Wow, suddenly I have a lot more sympathy for the Weasley’s efforts to support their family.”
Taylor and Sabah who both knew how difficult things were when money nodded. Amy hummed while looking over the books. “Why don’t we purchase two of each book and we can just share. I suspect we will be doing our homework together regardless. I doubt there is anything useful in Lockhart’s books, so a single copy is probably more than sufficient for all of us.”
I raised my eyebrows as I expected everyone would want their own, but everyone nodded, so I just shrugged. “Not a bad plan. That would only set us back another 15 Galleons which leaves us 25 for more supplies.” I hummed, “we should probably focus on the trunks and clothes next.”
It was Sabah that spoke up. “Should we maybe get Muggle luggage instead? When we walked past the shop I noticed it was all pretty expensive.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
That brought me up short. “I don’t know. What does everyone else think?”
It was Amy who spoke up after a little time considering. “We don’t want to stand out, why don’t we get the basic trunks without any extras except the featherlight enchantment like we got for Ahri. That was pretty simple and only cost about a Galleon each.”
Nodding we headed in and purchased a trunk for everyone except for myself and Ahri since I was going to use hers for school and it only set us back 6 Galleons.
Two sets of school robes for everyone took another 4 in total even if we just got the basic sets along with 3 more Galleons for the basic potion equipment.
Finally, we glanced through the pet store and flying broomstick shop, but with only 12 Galleons left we decided we would have to wait on those despite how interesting some of those animals and brooms were. Some of the gold-plated ones were over a thousand Galleons each or over 50 thousand British Pounds. That was more expensive than most Muggle cars.
As we returned home having spent the most on our books we decided to throw ourselves back into our studies, even if the jokes about how we were all mini-hermiones and going to end up in Ravenclaw were getting more common.
Still, We were all excited, including Ahri, that we would be at Hogwarts soon.
In fact we lost track of time as it was Sabah who came running into the living room where we had gotten used to studying in and reminded us of Lockhart’s book signing event.
Cursing, I threw myself off the edge of the sofa and sat up. “Crap, how could I have forgotten? This might be the best chance for us to completely stop this year’s dangers.”
Taylor spoke up in question. “Wait, but if the Basilisk isn’t killed, then how will Holly and her friends destroy the other Horcruxes. In the story, the stupid soul jars are supposed to be nearly impervious to just about every source of damage.”
That gave me pause, but I shook my head. “We can always find another way to kill it if we really need to. Better not to have a snake with an instantly lethal gaze moving around the school filled with children. It really was a miracle that no one dies this year, and if we can stop it, we should.”
Everyone nodded and I portaled us outside the Leaky Cauldron before we all hurried inside.
The problem was that it only took mere seconds for us to regret the decision to come to Lockhart’s book signing. The Harry Potter books did not exaggerate on how annoyingly self-important and congratulatory the man was. The first words we heard from the man as we walked into the bookstore were. “Welcome, welcome! You are all fortunate to be able to meet ME! The Famous, Powerful, Beautiful Gilderoy Lockhart.” It was only then he noticed we were 14-year-olds and he only toned it down slightly as he continued. “What beautiful girls you all are, I am so pleased to have such cute fans.”
I could almost feel Sabah, Amy, and Taylor in particular forcing themselves not to shiver in revulsion, right then and there.
Twenty minutes later we unanimously decided we couldn’t stand him anymore and we quickly agreed on a rotating 30 minute schedule where two of us would stay and watch out for Malfoy around the bookstore while the others either went back to our pocket home or stopped at the ice cream shop three shops down the row.
The problem was, despite hanging out in and around the bookstore all day, neither the Weasleys nor Malfoys showed up, let alone started a fight in the store.
As we returned home exhausted after being surrounded by middle aged house wives enamored with a pretty face for an entire day, I slumped into a sofa to decompress, followed quickly by everyone else. Dinah straight up threw herself into a bean bag chair she had pestered us all into buying for her.
Turning to Dinah, I asked the question we were all wondering about. “What happened to the Diary, is it still going to show up this year?”
Dinah lifted her face up from the bean bag and looked into the distance for a moment before she sighed. “It is still definitely happening, but I can’t get much more information than that.”
Sighing, we all looked at each other concerned before we shrugged, slightly frustrated, and got up to eat dinner.
The morning of September 1st saw us all at platform 9 and three quarters. It was an incredible sight, even if none of the people we were carefully watching out for were here yet.
Looking around in wonder, I once again was in awe of how magical everything was… even if the entire idea of a slow 7-8 hour train ride was kinda stupid for a people who could teleport.
Turning around, I caught sight of Ahri. She was smiling, but looking closer, I winced when I realized how disappointed she was. Inwardly, trying to figure how we could make this work, I hugged her. “I will see you soon, love. I am sure we can sneak you into the castle as soon as we arrive.”
She perked up slightly at my term of endearment and again at the promise, but she still seemed disappointed and I frowned into her shoulder.
Amy was the one who spoke up next. “I know we need an adult to be the one who takes care of us, but what if we made you a cat? No one is going to find it strange that you are never seen with our cat like it would be if you were both a student and our guardian. Nor would it be strange if our cat disappeared if we need you to do something for us outside of school.”
I winced at the thought of forcing her to be in a cat body, but Ahri just looked confused. “Wouldn’t that be detected in Hogwarts?”
Amy shook her head. “If they can’t detect Animagus on the school grounds, they wouldn’t have the slightest chance at detecting you inside a real cat.”
I thought for a moment before I sighed. “Yeah, that probably would work. It is only if you want to, though. You will need to be seen in our cottage occasionally unless we move somewhere else, but I can portal you back and forth for that. Otherwise, you can just ride around on my shoulders all day if you want. That way, you could attend all my lectures with me and not really miss out on anything.”
Ahri bit her lip for a bit, but after a moment she nodded, and I smiled before patting her arm. It was still kind of weird being this small again. Ahri wasn’t particularly tall, but I didn’t even come up to her collar bones anymore. “Ok, why don’t you go home, then I will let you into our pocket home. Then we can transfer you over once Amy has made the body.”
Ahri waved goodbye before she turned around and headed back out to the street to catch the night bus. Inwardly I sighed, we also really needed to get her apparition training soon. The night bus was a convenient way to travel around, especially if you didn’t know where exactly you were going beyond an address, but I didn’t want us to rely on it. While exceptionally fast, it was still the slowest method of travel besides brooms and the aforementioned train, and I didn’t exactly want people to be able to track or ambush us.
As Ahri left through the pillar, I saw the first red head enter from the other side. I paled then winced before I turned to Amy. “With all our preparations, I forgot about Dobby. He is going to stop Holly from getting to school.”
Amy bit her lip. “They still get to school though, don’t they?”
I frowned, but then nodded. “Yeah, in the story they ride that flying car to school… probably causing a lot of work to cover it all up. We could just let this play out, but this is as good a time to introduce ourselves as any. Maybe start to become friends, since even if we don’t recruit them to the family, it would be helpful to be on good terms. What do you think?”
Amy bit her lip before nodding slowly. Turning to Taylor, Dinah, and Sabah who were standing behind us looking at the train. I spoke up. “Why don’t you three go grab us a cabin before they all fill up? We don’t want to overwhelm them, and we will meet them soon enough anyway.”
The three looked a little uncertain for a moment before Taylor took charge and picked up the featherlight trunks and headed onboard the Hogwarts Express.
When we finally turned around, Percy Weasley had just entered the magical portal to the platform. Which, if I remember correctly, mean the twins would be next to enter the portal, followed quickly by Holly and Ron. Quickly walking back out the back side of the pillar to avoid running directly into the twins we looked around and spotted Ahri slowly walking away.
Running over, I caught her hand and whispered softly. “Ahri, we forgot Dobby trying to stop Holly from getting on the platform. Amy and I are going to be trying to make a good first impression to start up a friendship. If you try to open the portal back up with your wand I should be able to just portal us all through. I might be able to make it transparent, but best to use your illusions to hide it regardless.”
Ahri bit her lip for a moment before she smiled and nodded.
Walking back, I watched and then winced as Holly and Ron ran right into the pillar and bounced off. Watching Hedwig rolling across the ground, I felt bad that I hadn't spoked up sooner, despite how doing so would have ruined our cover.
Nodding to Ahri who stepped up to the security staff to take attention away from the two on the floor, I reached forward and offered my hand to help them stand up before bending down to pick up their stuff.
However, as I did, I noticed something strange, it wasn’t actually Ron that was next to her. At least not unless Ron was also a girl in this universe. I blinked then shook my head. Speaking up I asked. “Sorry that happened to you both, I guess something might have happened to the portal. We just came out to say goodbye to our older sister, and it was working before.”
The two girls looked at me before looking at each other. “Americans?” but before we could answer, they turned to us to ask tentatively. “You two are headed to Hogwarts then?”
I smiled and stuck my hand out for a handshake. “Yep and Yep. Our whole extended family are as well. You two look older, are you second years?”
Holly smiled. “Yeah, My name’s Holly and this is my friend Ginny, she is a second year too.”
I paused before nodding in confirmation. Well, that answered a few questions but raised a few more. Where is Ron, and who has the diary now?
Smiling, I walked up to Ahri who had dismissed the security guards after they gave the five of us warnings to keep our carts under control. Getting Ahri’s attention, I gave our cover story. “Can you open up the portal again, Sis?”
She smirked at me and I rolled my eyes making sure Ginny and Holly didn’t see. Turning to the portal she said “Sure thing, just a sec.” Pulling out her wand, she tapped a few times discretely and I opened up a portal into the platform directly. Just like I had suggested to Ahri, I had tried to exclude light from going through making it transparent, but I could tell it was still far from perfect so it was a good thing Ahri covered for me with her illusions regardless.
As the four of us entered, I waved goodbye to Ahri one more time before we got back on the train. Ginny and Holly left saying they needed to find their friend first and we nodded before we looked for Sabah and Dinah.
They had already picked a cabin, and the five of us rested for a bit while we waited. Finally the train began to move toward Scotland and Hogwarts. Turning towards Amy I opened a small portal into our home in front of her and Amy got to work on a new cat body for Ahri. By the time we were finished, Ahri was back in our rented cottage and I opened up a portal back into our pocket home before she got a quick switch. A few minutes later our new cat was stretching in our arms. The cat Amy had created was black with a little white front left paw and was absolutely adorable.
Plus, I had to admit that once I had Ahri across my shoulders in her new body, I felt better. I wanted my girls, my family, to always be with me. Being separated made something absolutely sickening rise up in my gut.
Turning to my girls, I decided to ask. “The question is, what should we name you, Ahri?”
Ahri turned to look at me before rolling her cat eyes. “Just call me Shadow and be done with it.”
I frowned. “I am not sure why I am surprised you can talk.” Seeing Amy smirk, obviously proud of her self, I rolled my eyes back. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Amy would show off her bio-tinkering like that.” Still, I leaned over and gave Amy a small kiss on her cheek, which made her blush in her younger body. It was still weird how reverting had changed some things like reactions while not completely changing our thought processes.
As we sat and watched the countryside pass by, we relaxed for a time. However, it wasn’t too long before Dinah and Taylor decided to explore the train. As they were getting up to leave. Amy, Sabah, and I pulled out our books to read. We spent the next hour or two enjoying the quiet while Ahri napped.
It was finally Ahri’s question that pulled us back to the present. “What houses do you think you will all be in?”
Looking back out the window I sighed and tapped my fingers across my knee. At that moment Taylor and Dinah returned from their exploration of the train. “We think we found Draco. He is still just as stuck up as we thought he would be from the books. We also found Ron, he was in a separate cabin with what turned out to be Colin Creeve and a younger Dean Thomas.”
I frowned. “Ok, so he has very little connection to Holly in this universe. I wonder if he is going to take Ginny’s place and be obsessed with Holly.” Everyone winced at that. We obviously couldn’t know what his personality would be like, but if he was both jealous and obsessed with Holly that could turn out to be incredibly annoying.
It was Amy who followed the thought up and said. “We are probably going to have to set him up with someone else and make sure he has friends. We don’t want a stalker around us while we are offering to recruit her. If she declines, they can get together I guess, but until then he needs his own life.”
A set of firm nods let me know everyone agreed on that so I nodded. “The only thing left is to do is discuss our houses, like Ahri said. Unfortunately, I think we need to make sure we aren’t in Slytherin. I admit that several of us might be good fits for the house, myself included, but I don’t think it is a good idea if we are trying to make connections with the golden trio this year. Especially once Draco starts yelling about heir of Slytherin and calling everyone Mudbloods. If we end up there anyway, it won’t be the end of the world, but it could make things harder.”
There were a few firm nods, but no one had anything else to say so we finally ended up going back to our reading while Dinah convinced Taylor to try some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. The dares to try some of the stranger colors eventually spread to the rest of us as we enjoyed the relaxing rest of the train ride.
It was a random Hufflepuff Prefect that stopped by to tell us to put on our robes before we exited the train and spotted a Hagrid waiving everyone towards him with a loud “Firs’ Years, Firs’ Years wi’ me.”
Our peaceful walk down the stairs towards the boats was broken by a strange platinum blond girl with some red colored earrings I couldn’t quite see in the dark and strange glasses. “The Humdingers say that you will be able to stop the Nargle’s influence, both here and with the stupid dark one.”
All of us blinked, unable to believe what had just happened. I was actually the first to reboot and I actually facepalmed at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. This Luna seemed to be somewhat of a seer as well. I hadn’t even really considered her for the harem and family, but she was obviously going to be involved, one way or another.
As I considered that, I turned and looked at Dinah before raising my eyebrow. Looking back at me, she looked confused before slowly widening her eyes and wincing. “Sorry, I didn’t know what it was like to be on the other end of my predictions until just now.”
Luna looked at Dinah before smirking in an almost predatory way. “Ah, you are like me, then?” I was a little surprised that Luna would be this clear and upfront about possibly being a seer. Maybe her craziness was all an act. Then I watched as she handed Dinah a radish earring, and I doubted it was all an act, even if she did have some logic down there somewhere.
Dinah in particular looked uncomfortable at the attention, and I simply waved all of us towards the boats so we weren’t left behind. After a moment of indecision, Dinah finally sighed. “Yeah, I knew I was in danger so I found him on the street and basically demanded he help me.”
Luna simply nodded so I decided to ask in a low enough voice no one would hear us. “So why are you asking us to stop the Nargles?” At this point Sabah, Amy, and Taylor entered one boat while Luna, Dinah, and I entered another. Ahri had decided to stay on my shoulders instead of going with the other familiars and luggage.
Luna seemed to think about for a bit as we rounded the corner and finally saw Hogwarts. It was incredible. The lights flickering across the lake really did make the entire thing seem incredibly magical and special. I didn’t know if the other magical schools were like this, but I had to admit this made be glad I had agreed with the choice to come here.
Finally, as the shock and wonder of seeing the castle for the first time wore off, Luna finally turned to us to continue the conversation. Luna seemed to eye us each deeply for a moment before she hummed and looked back at the castle before answering. “I think you are good people, and the Humdingers seem to be suggesting that I might even find new creatures if I follow you. I suspect that Crumple-Horned Snorkack will be the least of the animals I might meet on our journey.”
I sighed and then looked back at my girls before I nodded. “Well, we wouldn’t mind another friend.” At her suddenly radiant smile, I smiled back a little tiredly. She was going to be a handful, but with how cheerful she was, I suspected I would have a hard time telling her no if she did eventually join us. As we got out of the boat and waited for our sorting, she nodded at us before skipping away to talk to a few other girls around us, even if most of those girls looked confused at what she was saying.
It was a few minutes later, after an apparently obligatory jump scare by the ghosts who seemed to avoid me and my girls, that Professor McGonagall returned to start the sorting. As we were led into the great hall, we were once again overwhelmed with the beauty and magic of the famous hall. Words or movies really didn’t do it justice. I would have felt embarrassed, but apparently it was expected, as no one broke the first year’s awe for nearly a minute. It was only then that Professor McGonagall started explaining how we would be sorted by pointing out the hat.
While she was talking, I noticed Holly and Ginny sitting at the Gryffindor table next to a bushy haired girl I assumed was Hermione. Surprisingly or not, she wasn’t nearly as pretty as I had imagined, but then again the books had described her as rather plain at first, unlike Emma Watson. It was why Harry and Ron hadn’t really noticed her until she dressed herself up for the Yule Ball.
Since Amy, Dinah and I were Alcotts, we were sorted first.
Amy ended up in Gryffindor and I nodded. Ever since she had made the decision to join us, she had preferred action. Maybe it was something about not being left behind or being stuck in a rut anymore.
Dinah ended up in Ravenclaw, and I nodded to myself again. That also made sense, even if I was a little surprised she wasn’t in Gryffindor with how impulsive she was sometimes at home. Then again, she didn’t usually act on anything important without a lot of planning using her power, and she enjoyed reading about the world around her and watching documentary movies way too much for anything else. It was unfortunate we wouldn’t all be in the same house, but we could always meet together whenever we wanted if we missed each other.
As I walked up I heard some whispers about our origins. That wasn’t all that surprising, though, since three children from the same family in the same year was pretty crazy in this world where one or two kids total per household was normal. However, before I could worry about it, Ahri simply rubbed her cheek against mine to distract me.
Sitting down, I watched as the hat was placed on my head and I waited for a moment, wondering if it would actually talk to me. So when I heard the voice in my head I didn’t jump, but it was still surprising. ‘Well, now I get to meet the mastermind behind bringing all these girls here. And what’s this? Your little fox girl as well?’
I didn’t say anything, but I was sure the hat felt my nervousness, especially since I didn’t think the hat would be able to just read Ahri’s mind as well. True, she was on my shoulders, but I didn’t think just being under the hat’s brim would be enough.
Chucking the hat broke the tension by swayed back and forth. ‘Oh, don’t worry boy, if building a harem while trying to save people was wrong then Merlin would be the Devil himself…’ then quieter I heard the hat mutter ‘plus you need like 100 more women to match that manwhore. Only being half Incubus, my nonexistent ass.’
After another moment, the hat chuckled again and I relaxed. ‘The hat hummed, So yes, I can see you don’t want Slytherin which is a shame, you really do fit in there fairly well, but that house has changed a lot since the founding. I suppose the next best choice would be’ “Gryffindor.” As the hat was taken from my head, Ahri and I heard one more comment. ‘Ahri, you would also do well in Ravenclaw, but you are also best suited to Gryffindor. I will make sure the castle permits your use as well. Good luck to you two. Your help will surely be needed if what I saw in your heads is true. However, be careful, this world isn’t exactly what you seem to imagine.’ With that foreboding warning, I tried to hide my nerves and stood up, smiling.
A bunch of cheering followed me and Ahri as we sat down at the house of red and gold. I didn’t sit too close to Holly and Ginny in case they thought Amy and I were stalking the girl-who-lived. However, they simply waved, perhaps in congratulations for joining the Lions and perhaps in thanks for our earlier help. Regardless, they soon turned away and left us alone.
Luna ended up in Ravenclaw along with Sabah, while Taylor ended up in Gryffindor with Amy and me. That meant that with Luna there would be an even split of us between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Still, as much as I wished we could be together in one house, I was glad that Dinah and Sabah would be there for Luna. She definitely didn’t deserve the bullying she got in the beginning of her schooling for being just a little bit odd.
The feast continued, and I had to admit that Holly or Harry had good taste because the apple tarts here were incredible, even if I didn’t really care for the pumpkin juice.
Still, soon enough the entrance ceremony ended with the school song. A song so bad that I had to cover Ahri’s ears and wished I had figured out the silencing spell already. I looked up at the old man, headmaster, who somehow was still smiling happily at all of us. “Ah, Music, a magic all its own. Now it is time for bed, off you trot…”
I glanced back at Amy and Taylor before eyeing him again. Maybe this old man was simply insane. We would have to keep an eye on him. Maybe we would need to ask Dinah and Luna a little more about him before we made any moves. Dinah had assured us that he wasn’t evil, but not evil left a lot of wiggle room for insanity.
Regardless of our thoughts, we were dismissed up to our dorm rooms for bed and I had to admit that my younger body really needed it, even if it wasn’t nearly as bad as if I had been 11 again like in cannon.
As I followed the Gryffindor Prefects with Taylor and Amy, I tried to take in as much as I could of the surrounding castle. Surrounding us, I marveled at the magic I could feel flowing through everything, including the stones. It was fascinating. I wasn’t sure if it was my soul sight or if it was literally visible at some points, but the entire thing was breathtaking.
Heck, with a campus and topics like this, I might even enjoy school this time. What wasn’t to like about magic.
Interlude Ahri:
Ahri sighed as she stretched out to sleep on Max’s chest. The young Weasley boy had been disgusted when Max had brought her into their dorm room, and she had to make it clear she wasn’t going to attack his rat.
In fact, they had all forgotten about Pettegrew, but after a quick conversation with Max they agreed to do nothing. It really wasn’t wise to jump the gun and expose him unless they had a real plan to get Sirius a trial. If Pettegrew just disappeared because she killed the little traitor, then Sirius might never be free.
In the end because of Ron’s incessant complaints, Max had to compromise. Scabbers the rat would have to be in his cage tonight but Ahri would sleep most nights with Max’s ‘cousin’, Amy. On the other hand Ron wouldn’t cause a fuss when Max walked around with ‘Shadow’ on his shoulder to classes and in the common room.
That allowed the boys to finally head to bed and prepare for tomorrow.
As she felt Max’s slowly falling asleep, she stared out into the dorm room. This form and situation really wasn’t ideal, but her foxy nature did enjoy pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes, and it wasn’t like her family, her pack, didn’t still care for her. Plus she could learn magic during the day, practice at night and be able to avoid all that stupid human ‘homework’ everyone else talked about.
Again overall, while this wasn’t ideal, it certainly could be worse. The family really did need someone who could do work outside Hogwarts and be seen as their guardian if anything happened.
Still, while petty, she mostly just missed her other tails.