‘Now, remember, Renelle, these years at Hogwarts are crucial to your future success. Academic excellence is the most important.’

A family of four was gathered on the platform of Platform 9 and 3/4, huddled together tightly. If any onlookers happened to be looking their way, they would see the one of the two adults, a dark- haired middle-aged women, particularly focused on a young girl who seemed like a younger version of herself. The girl was wearing brand-new Hogwarts school robes, chestnut hair braided back. As they continued observing the family, they would see the girl nod absentmindedly to the woman’s ramblings, an increasingly bored expression on her face.

The girl in particular was Renelle Dalton, soon to be first year Hogwarts student, and she was about to fall asleep from everything her mother was saying. Don’t get her wrong, she loved her mother, and her family, but she didn’t think it was necessary for all of them to come see her off, even her little brother Arien, who was only seven. After all, her parents had taken her to this place several times before, in preparation of the day when she would start going to school at the prestigious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

‘That’s enough, dear, you’re boring her,’ Renelle’s father came to his daughters rescue, gently interrupting his wife. ‘I think it’s time for her to get on the train, or all the good seats will be taken.’

‘Exactly!’ Renelle gave her father a quick hug, then her mother. ‘If I get on any later, I’ll have to sit with a bunch of other people, and I might die of despair before ever reaching the school, which would totally screw up my future, mom!’

She kissed Arien on the cheek one last time, ruffling his snow-white hair, before heaving up her luggage. ‘I promise I’ll write! A lot!’ Then, before any of them could hold her off even more, she rushed into the Hogwarts Express.

Luckily, she would not be fated to die of despair that day. The early arrival had paid off, and there were plenty of empty compartments. Renelle chose one at the far end, and ducked inside. After stuffing her luggage in the overhead compartment, (admittedly with some difficulty), she sat down by the window, and proceeded to stare out at the scenery, though there wasn’t much to see yet. She wondered what school would be like.

@Alexa Hale

Renelle’s gaze moved toward the compartment doorway. There stood a girl with dark waist-length hair, quite tall and slender, probably around the same age as herself. The observation did not comfort Renelle in the slightest.

Truth be told, Renelle did mind. Very much indeed. Though she supposed she should have released that with that many Hogwarts students, it would be next to impossible to have an apartment to herself throughout the long train ride. That didn’t mean she needed to be happy with it, however.

‘No.’ Renelle said curtly, and promptly turned her head back toward the window without soaring the girl another glance. It wasn’t like she could actually say no, (after all, the compartment did not belong to her), but she hoped to spend the next eight hours with as little awkwardness as possible, which meant they couldn’t be sitting face to face, staring at each other uncomfortably.

Renelle briefly considered getting a book out of her truck, but decided against it. It would be way too much trouble, and she wasn’t entirely sure she could get her truck down without dropping it on her foot, especially with some random girl watching. She fixed her eyes on a point out the window. She would just sit here without moving until the train started, and she would decide on her next point of action.

@Alexa Hale

The girl made herself comfortable in the seat across from Renelle, setting down her things. Renelle didn’t look at her again, though she suspected that the girl was the bubbly, outwardly-excited-about-everything type, from the way she introduced herself casually and carried herself in a relaxed manner.

After a few more minutes which felt way longer than they should have, the train started moving from the tracks. Suddenly, Renelle was stabbed with a blind feeling of panic. Why had she been in such a rush to say goodbye to her family? It would be so long until she saw any of them again… And she was really on her way to Hogwarts, where she’d been told she’d go ever since she could remember. It all seemed surreal in a terrifying way.

The scenery outside flashed by, undoubtedly beautiful, yet Renelle was too distracted to focus on them. Just as she was wondering if she’d remembered to pack everything for the fiftieth time, a soft singing interrupted her thoughts.

Instinctively, Renelle turned to stare at the girl across from her, who appeared to be mesmerised by the pictures breezing by out the window. It was indeed her who was doing the singing. Personally, Renelle had never been much of a singer— she was pretty sure she would cause an avalanche she did— but even she had to admit the girl was quite good. Albeit crazy. Who sang in front of strangers?

As she was reaching teaching this conclusion, the other girl seemed to have turned her focus onto Renelle again as well, and had stopped singing. Out of the blue, she straightened, and said brightly, “Are you a first year too? That’s so cool! I’m honestly so excited to be going to Hogwarts. What are you most looking forward to?”

Renelle blinked. She definitely had not expected the girl to just randomly ask her a question. Sure, she suspected that sometimes during the eight-hour journey, the girl would attempt to engage Renelle in conversation, thought she never thought it would be so soon.

‘Um, yes.’ Renelle muttered, caught of guard for a moment. Then she seemed to gather herself back together, and replied to the second inquiry. ‘And isn’t it too soon to be asking me such personal questions? You don’t even know my name yet, after all.’

@Alexa Hale

Great, now Renelle felt like a terrible person. The girl was apologising repeatedly, even though she had literally done nothing wrong. You won’t ever catch me saying sorry for nothing, she thought angrily. And that thing about asking for names first was basically a joke. She found that whenever she told jokes, people mostly assumed that she was being serious, probably because she always said them with a dead face.

Now, the girl was trying to introduce herself again, smiling slightly. Apparently, her name was Alexa Hale. Really quite a nice name, Renelle supposed. For some reason, the name reminded her of Arien, with his shockingly pale hair and obsession with dinosaurs— which was stupid, since a lot of people’s names started with an A.

Now, Renelle guessed she had to return the favour, or be perceived as rude, which she did not want. So much for a peaceful train ride, she thought sadly.

She looked away from the window, and attempted a smile as well, hoping it didn’t come out as more of a grimace. ‘Yeah, same. I’m Renelle Dalton.’ Then almost like she couldn’t stop herself, she added,’ And there’s really no need to apologise. I mean, it’s not like you did anything wrong.’

@Alexa Hale

As soon as she finished talking, Renelle turned back to the window. As the scenery flew by, she wondered if the girl- Alexa- would continue attempting to strike up a conversation. She honestly wasn’t sure which one she hoped for — if they sat through the rest of the train ride complete silence, it would be painfully awkward; on the other hand, she wasn’t kidding when she said she disliked conversations with strangers.

The girl apparently decided on the latter. A few minutes later, Alexa turned toward Renelle again. ‘So, would you prefer to continue talking or just stare out of the window?’ Before Renelle could even fully comprehend what she had said, Alexa’s eyes widened, and she added, a little flustered, ‘I don’t mind you doing either! It’s just that I would be happy to talk to you. But I also wouldn’t want to bother you. If you don’t want to talk, I can just read a book or play my guitar but I thought it might be fun to try and get to know each other.’

Wow, this girl sure was talkative. And way too apologetic. Though Renelle supposed it was kind of endearing, in a way. No one had tried so hard to get to know her before, though now that she thought about it, it might have been she had never given any of them a chance.

Oh, well. This was as good a time for a first attempt as any.

Renelle sat up straighter. ‘No, talking is fine. How do you think we should get to know each other?’

@Alexa Hale