9 May 2025, 19:51
For the First Time
As soon as Magnolia's feet hit the inside of the train carriage, her heart sank. Her heart had many opportunities to do so beforehand: when she was escorted parentless into Diagon Alley, when she ran into a seemingly magical brick pillar away from her moms, even when she had gotten her letter to Hogwarts in the first place. But in every one of those instances, she wasn't alone; Maggie either had a chaperone from the school, or her moms right behind her. And now she was truly, utterly, completely on her own. And something about the cozy and welcoming interior of the train carriage made her feel so... cold.
date: September 1st, 2024
But she couldn't dwell on that feeling for much longer as other students, eager to get to Hogwarts, pushed through the entryway and practically herded Maggie further into the train and further into her anxieties. Too many strangers... too many new faces... Oh, how she longed to be back home, curled up in her small room, the smells of breakfast wafting through the air before she knew how lonely she would feel in a few short hours.
Magnolia felt as if she were a pillar of the train as other students moved past her, parting them like a boulder in a stream, almost as if she was cursed to stay frozen where she stood. Perhaps if she stayed still, she could pretend as if she wasn't really there, just some disembodied watcher of the comings and goings of these other magical people, bustling with excitement for the brand new school year.
Magnolia's hear sank even further the more she let her thoughts stew. Brand new school year... Surely her friends back in Wales were wondering where she was... right? Wondering as to why she wasn't continuing school with them. She didn't get much time to prepare herself for the fact that she would be flown to England to step into a magical alley, to then board a magical train that arrived at a magical platform, all to be hoisted into a magical school. How does one even really prepare for all that? No answers here, Maggie... No answers here.
The loud screech of the train's whistle awoke Magnolia from her self-induced pretrification, and her feet had a mind of their own as they took her forward, preferably towards any empty carriage. As she searched, her eyes and ears peeked at the other carriages; They were full of students excitedly muttering to one another, connecting or reconnecting over their summer. Magnolia felt shame creep into her bones for even entertaining the thought that she could ever have that kind of connection.
By some grace of the universe, Magnolia halted in front of an empty carriage, sighing in relief before scrambling in and closing the door behind her. The plush red seats practically invited her to curl herself up in them, burying the lower half of her face into her momma's scarf and inhaling the familiar comforting scent.
As the train began to move and the scenery began to change, the eleven-year-old cried to herself silently. For the first time, she was truly and utterly alone.