Albus looked out through the window of the Hogwarts Express, waving at his family who were slowly getting further and further away from them. He sighed as he pulled himself back into the compartment, and was greeted by his brother James, and his cousin Rose.

"Hey, Al, you wanna go bother Victoire?" James asked excitedly. Rose looked at him disapprovingly.

"Leave them be, James. How would you like it if you had a perfectly acceptable relationship and somebody kept pestering you about it?" Rose said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail subconsciously, and then immediately taking it out again.

"That's not the point Rose. How about it, Al?" James stared at him grinning, looking as if he was about to bounce out of his seat at any second. Albus smiled back, getting to his feet.

"Yeah, alright. Let's go then-" But before he could finish, James had lept from the compartment began to run down the hallway, yelling behind him.

"Last one there's a blast-ended skrewt!" Albus nearly tripped trying to speed up so quickly, but managed to keep his balance. He was racing down the hallway, getting closer and closer to James, almost reaching him when-

"Wha-!?"

Albus felt himself slam into someone, and the two of them fell together to the ground. He looked round. Beside him sat a girl, glaring at him.

"What was that for?!" She asked, rubbing her shoulder.

"Sorry," he started, when James interrupted, having heard the commotion.

"You alright there, Al?" James asked, staring at the both of them. Albus got to his feet and held out his hand for the girl he had hit.

"Sorry," Albus started again, "I didn't see you." The girl, who looked no older than Albus himself, had wavy black hair that hung down to her mid-back. She has soft facial features, very light skin, set with grey eyes. She smiled weakly and took his hand. "That's alright, I suppose." She looked from Albus to James. Albus noted how she seemed to cower from them ever so slightly, like she was mildly uncomfortable being in their presence.

"Um... I'm Albus." Al said, not knowing if he should introduce his brother or not.

"Sindra," she replied, staring down at the floor where a glass hair clip lay broken. She bent down and picked up the pieces, looking miserable.

"Oi, don't look so glum," James said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She flinched. "I can fix that. What are you, Muggle-born?" She stared at James seriously.

"Yes."

"Oh. Well. Come with us then," James finished. She obliged, though rather gloomily. But all the same, she let them lead her back into the compartment where Rose was waiting for them.

"Oh, you're back! Well i hope you're happy with what you've- Oh, hello!" Rose grinned at Sindra. James sat down and motioned for her to sit beside Rose. She did so, a bit of a smile sneaking up on her face.

"Alright, go ahead and put the pieces there. Good. Okay then," he rummaged through his robes and pulled out his wand. "Reparo!" He tapped the hair clip, and with a glow of red light, the glass had mended itself back together. "There you are. Good as new." James pocketed his wand and crossed his arms, sitting back triumphantly in his seat. Sindra picked the clip up gently and looked at it closely, as if she was scared it would break apart at any second. Suddenly, she grinning widely, pulling half her hair back with the clip, leaving the rest hanging down.

"Thank you, uh…" her smile faltered slightly as she looked at James. Albus suddenly remembered he'd never introduced them.

"I'm James." James said. "And this is Rose, our cousin. Rose, this is Sindra." Rose was still smiling.

"Nice to meet you, Sindra." Rose said. James continued.

"And of course you already met Albus." Sindra looked from one smiling face to the other, and finally seemed to relax.

"It's really nice to meet you all." Sindra said. With introductions now over, Rose seemed comfortable enough to begin berating her cousins again.

"Really, though. It's a wonder an irresponsible dummy like you could get sorted into Gryffindor house."

Sindra looked at her curiously. "House?" James laughed.

"Do you know anything about Hogwarts?" Sindra shook her head, fiddling with her fingers.

"Nothing besides its odd name." Albus looked at her incredulously.

"Really-?" Albus started, but James but him off.

"Hogwarts has 4 houses that you get can get placed in. It determines where you sleep, who you take your classes with, who you eat with, and basically who you spend most of your time with." he said, smiling at Sindra. Before James could continue, Albus interrupted.

"There's Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. It doesn't matter which one you get placed in becau-"

"But Slytherin is obviously the worst house because everyone there is a bunch of-"

"Getting sorted is the fun part, you get to put a hat on your head that talks, and-"

"And Gryffindor is by FAR the best house, our whole fami-"

"James, don't act so biased!" Albus said, turning to slap his older brother on the back of the head.

James, however, ducked and swiftly grabbed his younger brother around the neck with his arm, ruffling his hair. "You're just scared you might get placed in Slytherin," he taunted.

Sindra was laughing. "They all sound wonderful. Whatever house I get in, I hope it's with you guys."

Albus pulled away from his brother. James pointed at the red and gold scarf around his neck. "I've already been placed in Gryffindor," he said. "It only you Al, and Rose that have something to worry about."

Sindra smiled, and opened her mouth to respond.

Seemingly out of nowhere, James threw a sandwich at Rose. "From Grandma Molly." Rose, who had not expected a sandwich to come flying at her, squealed and ducked, letting the sandwich slap against the wall behind her. It then fell, almost in slow motion, onto her red mop of a head. They all burst into laughter.

"Good catch, Rose," said James. "You'll be replacing my mum as Chaser on the Harpies soon enough..."

Rose stuck her tongue out at James as she pried the sandwich out of her hair. "Speaking of Quidditch, my dad says the Chudley Cannons are gonna have a good run this year," Rose said, taking a bite out of the sandwich that had been thrown at her. James and Albus both laughed.

"Uncle Ron says that every season! Realistically, we all know the Chudley Cannons aren't going to win until they change up their whole team. Now, the Holyhead Harpies I think have a REAL chance this time. You know, having the greatest Chaser of all time, and all." James said, puffing out his chest.

Rose laughed. "I will admit I would love for Aunt Ginny to go to the Quidditch World Cup. Would we get free tickets, do you think?"

"What's Quidditch?"

Everyone turned to Sindra. Albus had completely forgotten that she was a Muggle-born, and realized that she probably hadn't been following the conversation at all for a while. James, however, looked as if she had just informed him that she'd never heard of ice cream. Looking quite serious, he stared solemnly into her eyes and said in a low voice, "Quidditch is the best sport ever invented."

Albus snorted, breaking the sudden silence. James glared at him briefly, and then looked back at Sindra, letting his excitement bubble out as he continued, "Quidditch is what makes the wizarding world go round! Every country in the world-" he motioned towards the window, which showed hillsides dotted with houses whizzing past, "-loves Quidditch. Wizards everywhere gather once a year at the World Cup to witness the best teams compete."

Sindra looked nonplussed. "Okay...does it have a ball then? Is it sort of like football?"

James was about to reply when Rose interrupted him, surprise evident on her face. "My grandpa's a huge football fan! How do you know about football?"

"For the same reason she doesn't know about Quidditch, Rose," interjected Albus. "She's Muggle-born."

Rose looked puzzled. "But, with a name like Sindra? That doesn't sound like a Muggle name to me."

"Well actually," Sindra said, "My parents chose my name by combining two different ones together. My dad wanted to name me Cindy, and my mother wanted Sandra. In the end, they went with Sindra. It's close enough for my mum, and my dad still calls me Sindy…" She trailed off, noticing how the others were staring at her. "What?" She asked, scooting back into the seat uncomfortably.

"What an odd thing to do!" Rose said, laughing. "Do Muggles do that a lot?" she asked, looking genuinely curious.

Sindra smiled. "No, not exactly-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the compartment door opening, as the lady with the lunch trolley came by to offer food. The rest of the train ride passed in happy discussion of their future school year at Hogwarts, with Albus, James, and Rose answering as many of Sindra's questions as she could think of.

A loud screeching sound several hours later indicated that the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade Station. "Ah, we're finally here!" James said excitedly, twisting to stare out of the dark window. He was evidently looking for something, or someone, on the platform. "Now listen you three," he continued as he turned around and looked up to see them beginning to gather their things, "Hagrid's going to bring you to the boats. I'm not coming with you, because second years take the carriages." He grabbed his trunk and pushed it towards the door. As he hurried out, he yelled back to them, "See you later - good luck getting sorted!"

Albus, Rose, and Sindra exited the compartment more slowly, and got stuck in the line of students crowding the train's central corridor. Just as they were leaving, Sindra turned to ask Albus, "So, who is this Hag- aaah!"

Sindra had stopped dead with her mouth agape, causing a slight hold-up for the students behind her. They had just stepped off the train to see an eleven foot tall half-giant standing on the platform, waving his arm vigorously in their direction.

Albus was laughing as he said, "Hey, Hagrid!" He and Rose ran toward the man, dragging Sindra along with them.

"Hello there!" Hagrid boomed, hugging Albus. Albus tried not to grimace while Hagrid squeezed him a little too tightly for comfort. "Oh, an' Rosie is here too. Yer first year already, huh?"

Rose looked up, smiling. "We missed you, Hagrid! It's been awhile since you came to visit!"

Hagrid chuckled. "Well I had plans this summer, yeh know. Got to get all the magical creatures ready fer this year's lessons, yeh know."

Sindra had finally closed her mouth, but she was still staring. Rose ushered her forward, and introduced her. "This is Sindra, apparently Al ran into her on the train."

Hagrid smiled down at her. "It's good to meet yeh, Sindra." he said. Sindra nodded in agreement, still too much in awe of Hagrid's stature for words.

Just then, Hagrid seemed to realize what he was supposed to be doing. "Er... FIRST YEARS, THIS WAY!" he bellowed, and Albus, Rose, and Sindra quickly throw their hands over their ears.

Slowly but surely, a crowd of people began forming around them, all dressed in the same black robes. "Right, this way!" Hagrid called out, beckoning the students to follow him. They made their way from the station and down a damp path to a small dock on the side of a large lake. In the reflection of the water, small orange and yellow lights glowed softly, moving with the relaxed ripples of the dark liquid. Albus followed the lights to their original source, Hogwarts Castle. It sat on its cliff, glorious and undisturbed, the moon peeking out from behind a tall tower.

"Whoa…" he breathed, his eyes scanning the magnificent castle. Rose and Sindra had just stopped next to him.

"Let's grab a boat together," Rose said, as she pulled them towards an empty boat. They suddenly heard someone clearing their throat loudly behind them. Albus turned around as he stepped into the boat to see someone he didn't recognize, a short brunette with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. The girl's brown eyes were staring up at them with a mixture of anger and annoyance. Apparently the three of them had brushed right past her as they clambered into the boat that they thought was unclaimed.

"Well, come on then," Albus said to her, and they watched as the girl sat in the boat beside them. She didn't say anything, so they all sat in an awkward silence until the boats began to move toward the school.

After a few minutes, it seemed that Rose couldn't bear the silence any longer. "So, what's your name then?" she asked the other girl, and Albus could tell she was trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

The girl glanced quickly over at Rose, and then turned away. "Henrietta."

Rose turned to Albus and rolled her eyes, muttering, "Somebody's got a wand stuck up their a-"

Albus quickly slapped his hand over his cousin's mouth, but he couldn't stifle his own quiet snort of laughter quickly enough.

It seemed that Henrietta had heard Rose and Albus, as she gave them a second swift glance in their direction before turning away for the rest of the trip. This time there was unmistakable haughtiness in her eyes.

Sindra had tried to keep her eyes averted during most of this interaction, deciding to pretend to be very interested in the ripples that the boat was making in the black water. When the boats finally reached the other side of the lake, the students all clambered out onto the docks and began to follow Hagrid up flights of narrow stairs, single file. Henrietta had left their boat quickly, without another word to the three of them. Albus and Rose did not seem bothered by her. They were clearly excited, giggling and whispering into each other's ears. Behind them, Sindra nervously grasped at the stone railings, pulling herself up the stairs. The awkward boat trip had made her uncomfortable, and some of her fears about entering the magical world had begun to resurface. After what seemed like forever, they reached a clearing and walked through a stone courtyard that led into the castle. They had made it to Hogwarts.