The sun was only just beginning to set outside, painting a beautiful rainbow on the sky, starting with a golden orange tone perfectly turning into a sweet pink and then forming a dreamy lilac tone. The colors contrasted with the deep greens of the forests and fields which the train was quickly passing, creating a picturesque view.
It was definitely quite a sight, however Emilia seemed unphased by the beauty outside the train cart’s window. Her mind was focused on something else.
She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down again, after countless unsuccessful tries that day. Her fingers were playing with the sleeve of her shirt nervously, as she began counting from one to hundred in her head while trying to breathe slowly and regularly.
It still felt so surreal that her mind was playing tricks on her, trying to convince her that it was all, perhaps, just a dream. Even though it has been a year since she found out she was a witch and was moved to England to learn magic, she still would wake up most nights believing she was back in her home country, with her brothers sleeping next to her in the cellar which her family lived in.
She missed them all dearly. And there hasn’t been a day, where she wouldn’t worry, hoping that they were safe and neither of them would get hurt until the end of that dreadful war. It had been going on for 5 years, and resulted in millions of deaths, and would probably in even more, if it wasn’t for her.
The curious thing about Emilia, was her ability to heal any injury, great or small, with just the touch of her hand. She wielded a power much stronger than she realized, and it helped her save and heal countless helpless souls ever since the war’s outbreak. Her family owed her their lives, even though they most likely hadn’t even realized it. She was forced to use her magical abilities to protect their home and heal any injuries or illnesses almost every day. Unaware of the meaning of her abilities and what they truly were, she managed to keep herself and her loved ones alive throughout the first four years of the war.
Until one day, when she stumbled upon an English Ministry of Magic’s official, who had been sent to her homeland to contact her country’s Magic Ministry in order to speak about the Muggle War, which had been tormenting every person living there, muggles and wizards, even leading to the only School of Wizardry there being completely destroyed, taking the possibility of education away from hundreds, if not thousands of young wizards and witches.
The Ambassador, Mortimer Crouch, had been attacked whilst trying to locate the Ministry of Magic’s entrance, leading to him losing consciousness and almost bleeding out to death. Thankfully, Emilia stumbled upon him while being on a lookout for any injured, after the massive bomb attack that she had witnessed just minutes prior. She managed to heal him within seconds, closing all of his wounds that left nothing but faint scars. After the Ambassador had woken up and realized, that this young witch had just saved his life, he immediately contacted the English Minister of Magic via an owl and brought Emilia with him to England.
She then spent a year, living with many different wizarding families, while at the same time being taught the language as well as the basics of magic and the general knowledge of the wizarding world in order to prepare her to be sent to Hogwarts as soon as possible.
And there she was, a year later, sitting alone in the cart of the Hogwarts Express, on her way to the School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, trying as hard as possible not to panic, while about to begin a completely new chapter of her life.
As the memories were flashing through her head rapidly, the sun had already set entirely outside, the only source of light then being the blinking, warm yellow lamp on the ceiling that twitched with every little bump the train encountered.
Emilia finally opened her eyes, as she heard a loud voice coming from the hall on her left.
‘We will be arriving shortly, everyone please prepare to leave the train.’ – the conductor shouted repeatedly as he walked through each cart of the train.
She felt her heart begin to beat more and more rapidly, as she forced herself up from her seat and put on her black school robe. She then picked up both of her suitcases and opened the sliding door going out to the train’s hall. Just as she stepped one foot outside, she bumped into some tall figure, causing her luggage to drop on the floor with a loud thud.
‘Hey, hey… what’s the rush, huh? There’s no need for you to bring out your own luggage, don’t you remember that the house elves do that for us?’ – she felt her cheeks burning as she looked up to see a very tall, tan boy with short, messy black hair and just as black eyes. –‘Wait, you’re the new girl that everyone’s been on about all summer, isn’t that right?’ – he bent his knees to level himself down and looked at her curiously.
She nodded awkwardly, unsure of what to say, while pushing both of her suitcases back inside the cart with her leg.
‘I’m Mattias. It’s nice to meet you, looks like I’m the first one getting to see the new 10th year.’ - he smiled as he shook her hand firmly.
‘It’s nice to meet you too. Emilia.’ – she mumbled quietly, definitely not prepared for an awkward, sudden conversation like this, with her blood rushing to her cheeks, making them as red as a garden rose.
Miraculously, that exact moment the train had finally stopped and the doors began to slam open, one after another, with students rapidly flooding the station. Emilia took the opportunity and jumped out of the cart and quickly got lost in the crowd, despite the boy calling out after her.
She began moving along with the tight crowd of excited students, looking around curiously. The sign above the small train station’s door said ‘Hogsmeade Station’. There was a stone path leading into the forest up front, lit up by old, Victorian-style street lamps. That’s where everyone seemed to be heading, so Emilia followed, without any idea as to where else to go.
She heard a raspy voice calling all of the first years and turned around to see an old man standing at the top of the train station’s stairs with his wand lit up, shouting with a raspy voice, as the youngest students began to gather around him.
However she just kept following the rest of the students, and after a minute she finally got to glance at countless carriages, standing by the side of the stone road and students beginning to get onto them.
She stopped once she saw the eerie creatures that were leading the carts. They looked somewhat similar to horses, but their skin was hairless and shiny, they were as black as the night, and the lights were reflecting on their smooth skin. They had bat-like wings and piercing black eyes, that seemed to be looking right into one’s soul. This was a pretty disturbing sight, however they did seem sadly beautiful, in a way.
None of the students seemed to mind them, as they were getting up onto the carriages while chattering excitedly, while the creatures began trotting slowly into the dark forest ahead.
Emilia stood there, just realizing that riding the carriages meant more human contact, which, frankly, she wasn’t looking forward to in the slightest. She decided to wait it out, hoping that everyone would sit with their friends and leave the last empty carriage just for her. As she waited, she turned back around to get another look at the station and saw the old man from before leaving with the children and disappearing into the other side of the forest. A minute later she heard a voice calling out to her.
‘Hey, you there! Come on up! The carriages won’t wait forever, you know.’ – she turned around to see a girl waving at her from the one last carriage left.
Disappointment flew right through her veins as she walked up to the carriage, going around the strange creatures leading it, and climbed up onto it, and felt a sudden force placing her right onto the wooden bench as the carriage moved forward.
‘I don’t recognize you, you must be the new student! You’re already the talk of the entire school, you know.’ – she exclaimed enthusiastically while looking Emilia up and down, curiously studying every inch of her. – ‘My name is Eleanor Moss, but please, don’t call me that. I much prefer being called Elle. What is your name? It’s truly a pleasure to meet you, you must be so excited to be starting your education at Hogwarts!’
‘I’m Emilia.’ – she replied doubtfully. – ‘And, well, I feel more scared than excited, if I’m being honest.’
‘Scared? Scared of what? Hogwarts is the most wonderful place you could think of! I’m sure you’ll love it here, it truly is the most magical and amazing school in the whole world. – she then began telling Emilia the stories of her first experiences at the Wizardry School, with visible excitement, her hands gesticulating enthusiastically.
Emilia listened in silence, only giving her respectful nods every now and then, as their carriage slowly paced through the dark forest. She looked at the curly haired girl with her big round glasses, magnifying her eyes twice its size, making her look almost comical. She had an almost identical school attire, the only exception a yellow tie and a matching yellow emblem with a badger on it, on the right side of her robe. She could hear distant laughs coming from the carriages ahead and the whistling of the wind between the trees.
The girl surprisingly didn’t mind Elle’s company, she quite enjoyed listening to her babbling without having to participate in the conversation herself. She finally got a chance to calm herself down and try to prepare herself for what was ahead. However, in no way, she could have prepared for awaited outside of the forest.
She tried imagining the castle many times before, ever since she first learned about it, however what she saw the moment the carriage wheels rolled out from in between of the trees was far beyond her imagination.
To her right, on top of a massive hill surrounded by still, black water, she saw the most grand and spectacular castle she had ever seen. Countless towers seemed to be piercing the starry sky, and the hundreds of warm lights shining back at her from the windows seemed like stars themselves. The trees surrounding the grounds seemed to be the size of grains of rice, compared to the huge structure. The lake and surrounding mountains, barely visible under the faint moonlight, created a breathtaking landscape, that could as well have be taken straight out of a fairytale.
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Emilia’s mouth went agape as she sat there, speechless, not hearing a word of what Elle was on about at that moment. She was enchanted by the view, her eyes began watering as she felt a sudden wave of comfort come over her, a feeling similar, to finally coming home after being away for a long time. She hadn’t felt at ‘home’ ever since the war had started, therefore just seeing Hogwarts bring her so much comfort and a sense of calm caused this unexpected outburst of emotions.
She quickly wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe after Elle turned to the side to also look at the school and began explaining in detail how something so monumental was invisible to the muggles and what spells were used to keep it hidden and making it seem like nothing but dangerous ruins to a non-magic eye.
After just a few more minutes their carriage had passed the gates leading into the school’s grounds, guarded two old statues of winged hogs. The wooden wheels were tapping loudly on the brick road as they entered the main courtyard. The carriages were stopping one after another creating a big oval around the entirety of the courtyard and students started making their way into the ginormous wooden doors that were the entrance to the building. The door opened with a loud screech and warm yellow light flooded to the outside of the castle, onto the ground, creating a pathway for the young wizards and witches.
Emilia and Elle finally ended their journey as the last carriage stopped and jumped off of it and began walking along with the rest of the students while Emilia looked around curiously. With the corner of her eye she’d noticed the same old man from the station that escorted the youngest students before. Just as she was about to enter through the giant doors she felt him grab her shoulder.
‘You. The new one. You’re coming with me.’ – he ordered harshly.
Elle gave her a questioning look.
‘I’ll catch up with you later, I guess…’ – Emilia said with confusion in her voice as she turned around to follow the man into the dark.
He led her through a small door hidden by the side of the castle, through a tight, dark passageway that seemed to never end. They walked in complete silence for several minutes, as the girl was to nervous to ask, what this was all about.
They finally left through another small door and came out onto an empty hallway. Emilia could hear laughs and chatter coming from behind another door which they stopped in front of.
‘You wait here, until they call yer name.’ – the man said as he turned around and left through the same small door which they just came from.
Before she could even gather her thoughts she heard a voice, louder than any of the other, coming from behind the door.
‘Welcome, dear students, back for another year of your academic studies. As usual, before the feast shall begin, let’s bring out the Sorting Hat to have our new first years sorted into their houses.’
Then the voice began calling out names of students, one after another, as the another, obnoxiously sounding voice shouted the names of the different houses. Emilia was familiar with them and what which one represented, but had no idea when or which house she would be selected into. The truth was, she never truly focused on herself, having to always look out for her family and protect them, which resulted in her not actually knowing anything about herself or her personality.
The sorting finished and the girl heard loud cheering in the room up front, that was suddenly interrupted by the first voice, which as she realized by then, was most likely the headmaster’s.
‘Before I let you all quench your thirst and hunger after your long journey today, there is one more person that is ought to be sorted today.’ – Emilia felt her heartbeat quicken rapidly as she realized what was about to come. – ‘As you all might’ve heard by now, a new student will be joining us as a 10th year. I expect you all to be at help in her first weeks at Hogwarts and make sure she accommodates well. Please welcome Ms. Emilia Vayane!’
The door in front of her opened suddenly and the girl had no choice but to enter the room. She was blinded by the light from the room for a split second making her eyes squint, but as she heard clapping and cheering she opened her eyes to see a grand and beautiful hall with no ceiling, a black starry night staring back at her from the sky. There were four long tables on her right, each one decorated with different colors. The smaller table on her left, which was on a pedestal, had, who she imagined were the teachers, sitting behind it, facing the hall.
Hundreds of curious eyes were on her, making her feel faint and nauseous, as she walked to the middle of the Hall, where a tall man with a black goatee and dark, slicked back hair, wearing a dark green suit with a matching robe decorated with silver serpents, stood next to a wiggly old stool with an shabby hat in hand.
She nodded respectfully to greet him and sat down on the stool as ordered, feeling her cheeks already turning red again, as she could feel all eyes on her and excited whispering and gossiping from the students’ tables.
She felt the stinky hat being placed on her head. It was so stretched out that it covered her eyes partly, which she was actually thankful for, not having to see all of the students staring back at her anymore. It was quiet for several seconds, until she heard the hat, which seemed to be have spoken inside her own head.
‘Hmm… you’re a difficult one, that’s for sure.’ – the hat mumbled suddenly, which sent shivers down the girls spine. – ‘So much kindness and courage… And so cunningly intelligent. Hmph, where shall I place you…’
The hat was quiet for the next minute and so was the rest of the students, impatiently waiting for the verdict. The sudden silence caused Emilia to be able to hear her own heart beating in her chest fearfully, as she awaited for the Sorting Hat’s decision.
‘Alright then, I believe you belong in…’ – the hat’s whisper turned into a loud, obnoxious shout, for everyone to hear. – ‘Gryffindor!’
The room filled with loud cheers as students began clapping and calling out happily. The hat was lifted from her head and Emilia looked around to see the cheering being especially enthusiastic by the table on the far right, decorated with maroon and gold emblems and colors. She walked towards it and sat on an empty space by the end of the table, right behind a huge, marble fireplace, that immediately warmed up her stiff, stressed body.
She sat next to a dark skinned girl with shoulder length dreadlocks, that had striking yellow eyes and was dressed in dark robes with a red tie, matching with the rest of the students at the table. She smirked at Emilia as she exchanged looks with a girl directly in front of her, a smiling, blonde haired girl with a short bob, that had only her shirt on with her tie resting undone on her shoulders.
‘Congratulations on being sorted into the best house ever!’ – she blurted out with a wide smile on her face. – ‘We’re going to be dormmates! I’m Rosie, and this is Jazmine. We are 10th years as well.’ – she pointed at the girl next to Emilia with her head.
‘It’s Jaz, not Jazmine, for Merlin’s sake.’ – she replied, visibly annoyed. – ‘Please don’t ever call me Jazmine.’ – she said as she turned left to Emilia with an ironical smile.
The girl agreed, nodding.
The feast began and Emilia began stuffing her face with everything she could find on the table while listening to Rosie, who as she realized was just as talkative as the girl she met on the carriage. She had a very bubbly and positive personality, that seemed to be the exact opposite of Jaz, who only replied occasionally with one word answers or would add a sarcastic comment to Rosie’s stories every now and then.
For the first time that day Emilia actually felt comfortable. It was a quite enjoyable feeling to just sit there and listen to the carefree chatter, feeling the warmth of the fire while munching on a big turkey leg. All of the tension that just kept rising in her throughout that entire day disappeared and despite not contributing to the conversation much, she felt happy and at ease.
By the end of the feast, Emilia and the girls were so full that they were not even able to squeeze in any dessert. Instead, they sipped on some pumpkin juice and kept on talking, almost as if they were old friends. As Emilia found out, Rosie and Jaz had been best friends ever since their 1st year at Hogwarts and she felt extremely grateful to actually be included and that they were already treating her as a friend as well. Rosie was non-stop telling her new stories and gossip about other students and interesting things that happened in the previous years to fill her in on every aspect of the schools social life. Meanwhile, Jaz seemed to be looking over to one of the other tables, seemingly searching for someone in the crowd.
She suddenly elbowed Emilia and whispered.
‘I see you already caught Ash’s attention. Not bad, considering you’ve only been here for less than two hours.’ – she smirked as she pointed to the table decorated with blue and silver.
There, the girl saw the boy she met on the train, Matt, eating a piece of pie and laughing while chatting with a dark haired, very handsome boy. The boy was looking directly at her and as he caught her staring back at him, he smiled and gave her a small wave.
For about the 100th time that day, she felt her cheeks burning up as she turned her head back to the girls. Rosie, hearing Jazmine’s comment, turned around to get a look at the boys and smiled widely with excitement.
‘Ooh, you’re so lucky, Emilia. Ash is the most popular guy at Hogwarts, truly. Everyone adores him and most of the girls would kill to get his attention. Can’t believe he’s already taken notice of you!’
‘Can you blame him? She’s gorgeous, it’s obvious she’ll get tons of attention from boys.’ – Jaz marked with the same smirk on her face.
Emilia mumbled a ‘thank you’ under the breath, as she didn’t know how to react to such a comment. She was not used to compliments of any kind, not to even mention having any sort of experience in romantic relations. It was never truly her concern, considering she always had to provide for her family and keep them safe instead, she never realized that other girls her age were getting into relationships with boys and such.
Yet, for the rest of the Ceremony, she caught herself discretely staring back at the Ravenclaws table to get a better look at the boy. He had a very beautiful, defined face, with high cheekbones and a sharp jawline. His eyes were green and contrasted beautifully with the dark brown, straight hair slicked to the side elegantly. He had a perfectly straight nose and a sweet, almost innocent smile, not leaving his pink, lightly defined lips. He had two, somewhat adorable small moles on the side of his chin, that seemed to be very dark compared to his pale skin. He was wearing a white shirt, with the top button left undone, and his blue tie slightly loose. He had a black vest, showing off his slim yet muscular body. Each time he reached for his mug, she could see his muscles flexing through his shirt.
He was indeed very attractive and she wasn’t surprised that he was popular. Everyone at the Ravenclaw’s table seemed to be wanting to get a bit of his attention, but it was quite obvious that Mattias was his closest friend, as they were laughing and joking around the entire feast.
Jaz noticed Emilia staring at him but said nothing, just smiled in her usual way while talking with Rosie about their advanced classes for that year.
The headmaster finally stood up and once more thanked everyone before sending them off to their dormitories. All three of the girls got up and tiredly followed the rest of the students.
All of the Gryffindors went up the spiral staircase and made their way through the castle. At that point, Emilia was way too sleepy to look around and study her surroundings, she just followed Rosie and Jaz all the way up until their common room. They reached the Fat Lady’s Painting, which Rosie had mentioned during the Ceremony, as the Gryffindors prefect spoke out the password, ‘Fortitudo’, resulting in the Fat Lady revealing the entrance to their house’s common area.
They went straight up the stairs to the girls dormitories, with the girl not even looking around the common room. They entered the dormitory and saw a round room with only four beds covered with red bedding and an old fireplace in the middle of the room. Rosie and Jaz immediately went to their beds, to start unpacking, since, as Emilia just then noticed, their luggage was left by each one of their beds.
‘This one is yours.’ – Rosie pointed to the bed next to a round window, the only one in the room.
Both of her suitcases were indeed right there and she picked one up and placed it on her new bed to take out her nightgown, which she put on quickly, too tired to unpack the rest of her things, and immediately slid under the warm, heavy covers.
Rosie, still bursting with energy and excitement, began explaining, that the last three grades at Hogwarts are considered to be higher education, similar to what university or college is to muggles, therefore not everyone stays until their 10th year and the majority of the students graduated by the end of their 9th year.
She mentioned that besides the three of them there was only one more girl in Gryffindor in their year, Natty, but she wasn’t going to get to the school until later that week, since she and her mother, who was supposedly one of the Professors, had met some troubles when traveling back to Scotland from their home country.
At that point Emilia was barely aware of Rosie’s words and the tiredness had finally gotten to her after that very emotional and stressful day. She fell asleep almost immediately, with a faint smile on her face and her heart filled up with unexpected joy and comfort, which, surprisingly, the castle already provided her with.