1st September, 2024

That Linnéa had been waiting for this day forever was an understatement. She already had made up her mind about all the classes she was going to get top grades in - care of magical creatures, and charms of course, all in the hopes of one day maybe getting a prefect badge. Yes, that was the dream. She'd also fantasized about the sorting ceremony and all the friends she would be making there.

Maybe she'd meet some of them right here on the Hogwarts Express. The idea made her stomach flutter in the best possible way. The station buzzed with excitement—families calling out goodbyes, owls hooting from brass cages, and trolleys clattering over stone floors. Despite all her questions about Hogwarts leading up to this day, the eleven-year-old pureblood couldn't help glancing around in wide-eyed wonder, searching desperately for the sign that read "Platform 9 ¾", somewhere.

"Come on, Linnéa!" her mum urged with a melodic laugh, expertly steering the trolley piled high with a wobbling school trunk.

"Mamma, I can't see the platform," Linnéa admitted, frowning in confusion.

Her mum and dad shared a look, then grinned at their daughter. "Have you already forgotten? You have to run into a wall to find it."

Oh. Now she remembered, suddenly feeling even more giddy. What if the wall didn't let her in! What if she smashed right into it in front of everyone? Though she really had nothing to worry about.

Holding on to the trolley, the three of them ran together into the wall. Lin closed her eyes just in case, bracing for impact, but breath out when she opened her eyes and realized she hadn't even felt a thing! She gasped in awe. The enormous scarlet train gleamed before them, steam curling around its shining wheels. The unassuming Muggle families had vanished, replaced by a bustling wizarding crowd. It seemed like the train was ready to leave any second now. Trunks thumped onto the pavement, owls hooted in cages, and witches in pointy hats called out to their children.

"Just in time, honey." Her mum crouched down and gently re-tied the little baby blue ribbon that had slipped loose from Linnéa’s hair. She smoothed out her daughter's new black robes with a smile.

"There," she said warmly. "Don't forget to write," her dad cut in, "-And eat!" Simple tasks like that was easy to forget when you'd rather go and play and would have a whole castle to explore. But Linnéa nodded firmly, she promised.

After helping her lift the trunk inside the carriage, the family hugged and kissed goodbye. Some parents around them were wiping tears, but Linnéa was far too excited to linger. She gave a quick wave before hurrying onto the train to find her coupé. Most of them were filled already, and she was not yet brave enough to ask to sit with older students.

The Harrington's were nothing if not punctual, and they'd had Quentin packed and ready to go for upwards of 3 days. They'd been one of the first to arrive at the platform that morning, though they'd stood around awkwardly for some minutes, his father staring down at the ticket and trying to puzzle out how there could possibly be a Platform 9 3/4. Quentin had been the first to spot the wizarding family hustling through the station. They were actually rather easy to spot if you knew what to look for. Not many other people traveled with three separate caged owls. That still didn't make much sense to him. That wizards were still using owls for communication. They couldn't come up with something better? With magic? The three of them watched with fascination as the wizarding family made their way onto the platform, literally just walking through a solid barrier. And his small muggle family soon followed suit. Quentin grinned once they made it to the other side, but his smile was easily matched by both of his parents, who were enraptured at the sight. They helped him lift his trunk up onto the car and then he gave them each a hug, he wasn't sure if his mother would ever let go, before eventually finding his own compartment. They were there early enough that there were plenty of empty ones, and he stashed his trunk before taking his seat. He sat there in silence for a few seconds, just taking everything in, before instinctively reaching for his phone, which he didn’t have anymore. That was going to take some getting used to. Instead he decided to look out the window, watching the parents and students who were starting to arrive in greater numbers as they scurried across the platform.

It didn’t take too long before his compartment door opened and someone stepped inside. Quentin glanced over from the window, his eyes widening a bit as he saw that it was an older boy, maybe 16 or 17, his robes trimmed in green. Quentin quickly shook his head, indicating that it was free and the boy grinned, before leaning back out the door to yell to someone down the hall that he’d found a free compartment. Quentin bit back a grimace. He wasn’t looking forward to sharing a ride with a bunch of older students. Luckily, it seemed, there was only one person joining them, a pretty blonde girl, her robes also tinged with green. Of course, his opinion quickly soured when the girl basically climbed into the boy's lap as the two of them quickly began making out. His cheeks burned red and he quickly looked away, eyes moving back to the window. This was so awkward! As the minutes ticked by, and the two older students didn’t seem to be showing any signs of stopping, nobody had attempted to join them and he was feeling more awkward than ever. He had resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to endure this for the entire ride or try to find a different compartment himself, when the door slid open slowly. Quentin glanced up to see a young blonde girl with a baby blue ribbon tied in her hair, about his age. She glanced from the older students to him, and then to the seat beside him. Quentin practically jumped from his seat to help her pull her inside. “Oh, thank god!” He half-whispered, though the others didn’t seem to be paying much attention anyway. “Let me help you with your trunk. I’m Quentin, by the way.”

Half-walking-half-wobbling through the corridor with her trunk dragging behind her, Linnéa eventually stumbled upon a compartment with seats avaliable. Relieved to have found a spot, Linnéa didn't immediately register exactly what the two older students were doing, before she'd already put her heavy trunk down, and slid the door open. Not that they noticed. Her smile fell into slack-jawed, wide-eyed shock at the display. She gaped at them. Two students were entangled in each other, heavily making out and practically tearing at each others robe without a care that they were in public. With an audience. Sure, they hadn't seen her coming, but there was another boy her age in there. Why was he just sitting there, watching? Linnéa had seen her parents kiss before, but nothing like this. Which she probably should be grateful for. Blech. Should she even join this compartment?... Would they let her?

Before she could run away, not that there were many other spots, the younger boy jumped up from his seat with a look that was kind of desperate, and pulled her inside.

“Let me help you with your trunk. I’m Quentin, by the way.”

"Thanks. I'm Linnéa." Lin said, smiling a bit shyly at the boy who had friendly brown eyes and a cute face. She let him help her with her trunk before sitting down in the seat next to him. Which unfortunately was on the opposite side of the older slytherins, judging by their robes, and gave them first row seats to the show. They sat there rather awkwardly. Lin glanced at Quentin on her side, then to the couple again with uncertainty.

"Do you know these people?" She leaned in, whispering and nodded towards the other students in front of them. "Do you think they'll stop soon? They won't get naked with us here, will they?" At eleven, she wasn't completely oblivious, but the topic of grown-up stuff made her a bit uncomfortable. She knew it was natural for adults to do that. Hopefully they hade some decency to not do it with kids around.

As if a answer from Merlin, the couple seemed to have had enough. The girl, blonde and haughty looking, glancing back at them with a sneer. "Ugh, these gobby kids are pissing me off. Let's go somewhere else." Stepping off his lap, the girl dragged her boyfriend out. Well, Linnéa wasn't complaining that they were gone, even if she had been rude.

"Gobby?" Linnéa cracked up, glancing at Quentin to gauge his reaction. They'd barely even spoken. If Lin had been braver, she might have said something, but alas, she just giggled after it was over. "I can't believe they did that! Hogwarts is already crazy." They hadn't even arrived yet! Now that the two other people were gone, Linnéa claimed the window seat on the other side, facing Quentin, so they could talk properly. "Do you have a house that you are hoping to get?

@Quentin Harrington

Quentin grinned at the girl as she introduced herself. “Linnéa? That’s a pretty name. I don’t think I’ve heard that one before.” Once the two of them had taken their seats, things got awkward again, as the couple across from them was not slowing down. Eventually Linnéa leaned in. Quentin bit back a laugh. “No. I’d never seen them before until they came into my compartment and started doing… *that*.” The girl grimaced. His eyes widened. That possibility had never even crossed his mind. What they were doing now was bad enough. But if things escalated? Did people actually do that in public? Not that he knew exactly what ‘that’ was. He’d heard of sex of course, mostly referenced on television and in movies. But he didn’t know the specifics. He glanced at Linnéa with his wide eyes and his cheeks reddening. “They wouldn’t. Right?”

Unfortunately, or actually maybe the opposite in this case, their whispering back and forth seemed to be enough of an annoyance to disturb the couple across from them. The girl turned around and gave them a snotty look. She climbed off the boy, dragging him out, and he gave Quentin a dirty look as he left. Quentin just shrugged in response. He’d been here first after all. Next to him, Linnéa started cracking up. Her airy laugh was infectious and almost immediately he found himself laughing along with her. Quentin had to agree and he nodded in response. “Yeah, today has already been wild and it’s just the morning.”

The petite blonde with the baby blue ribbon slipped out of her seat, instead occupying the one across from him now that it was vacated. She grinned at him. Quentin paused, suddenly feeling unsure of himself. She obviously knew more about Hogwarts than he did. He didn’t know much of anything about the houses, but he recognized the different colors on the crest. “Umm… I don’t know. Maybe the red one? Can you tell me about them? I don’t know the differences, honestly. My parents are… moogles? Such a silly word. I didn’t learn anything about all of this until I got my letter and I’ve still only really interacted with magical people when buying my supplies for school. You are the first magical person I’ve ever really talked with. Is that weird?”

“Umm… I don’t know. Maybe the red one? Can you tell me about them? I don’t know the differences, honestly. My parents are… moogles? Such a silly word. I didn’t learn anything about all of this until I got my letter and I’ve still only really interacted with magical people when buying my supplies for school. You are the first magical person I’ve ever really talked with. Is that weird?”

Linnéa laughed at the way Quentin pronounced muggles like moogles, yet expected from someone that had grown up like a muggle kid, she supposed. It was funny, and she obviously didn't mind that he was muggle-born. Her dad had told him about the houses briefly, and what they meant, but she was definitely not an expert on any of them. "The red one is gryffindor!" That one she knew, because it was the most famous house after Harry Potter was sorted into that house. She knew of the famous wizards of course, at least the cool ones. Saving the wizarding world by sacrificing oneself definitely counted for something. On the other hand, she wouldn't be able to tell you about any of the famous sportswizards there was. Linnéa was not interested in quidditch.

"I don't think it's weird. Even I don't know everything, and my family is magical. But my dad told me they're brave- obviously: Harry Potter was sorted into that house." Then again, Quentin probably had no idea who that was! She tried to think of some comparison that he would understand, biting her lip thoughtfully. She didn't know everything about muggle culture, but she had a halfblood friend with at least one muggle parent so she had learned about some things from them. They'd talked about muggle religion. While many muggles apparently didn't believe those people had existed, they were essentially like Merlin was a legend to many magical people. "He's only like...Jesus of the wizarding world." The way she spoke was fantastical, gesturing with her hands. "He's famous, right? And sacrificed himself against some evil guy?" There were probably some details lost in translation.

"Then there's Ravenclaw, the blue ones. They're mostly known to be smart and quirky. Slytherins, are the green ones, I think. They've been historically bad, but not all of them, obviously. I think they just put their own interest first, before they consider the consequences of everyone else." Like those older students that they just had the 'pleasure' of meeting. "And Hufflepuff, wearing yellow robes. They're supposed to be loyal and nice, and kind of the people that don't fit into the other houses. I think it sounds like a nice house though, I wouldn't mind being a hufflepuff." Linnéa shrugged. Obviously she wouldn't know until she got sorted.

Linnea laughed at something that he had said, he wasn’t sure what exactly but he did like her laugh. It had a lilting, melodic tone that instantly brought a smile to his lips. He grinned as she replied. Oh, now that she said that, he’d definitely heard that name before somewhere in the past few weeks of getting prepped for school. The way she said that made it seem like everyone should know who ‘Harry Potter’ was, but Quentin just stared at her blankly. It was such a boring name. Not exotic sounding at all, the way “Linnea” was. She seemed to have realized that he might not know what she was talking about and paused, thinking for a few seconds before she continued. Quentin’s grin spread. His family wasn’t really that religious and he really only went to church on holidays and special occasions but he understood what she was saying. And while he wasn’t sure that there was ‘some evil guy’ in Jesus' story, he wasn’t going to correct her. “So in Gryffindor they are brave and selfless then?” She nodded before continuing on to talk about the other houses.

Ravenclaw, in blue, was the nerdy house. If ‘smart’ didn’t scream nerd, then adding ‘quirky’ right next to it did. The green house, Slytherin, seemed like they might be kind of stuck up and rude, as evidenced by the older students wearing their green-tinged robes. By the time she was done, Quentin was thinking that ‘brave and selfless’ was sounding pretty great. He grinned again. “I don’t know about loyal just yet, but ‘nice’ is certainly one word to describe you, at least from my point of view. Though, I feel like you could fit in anywhere and you would be great. You definitely proved to be brave and selfless when you came in here and saved me being stuck with those older students. My hero.” He laughed, but he was telling the truth, honestly. “I think I would be okay with any house, except maybe not Slytherin. Unless you are already sorted in there. Then that would probably be my preference. We can look after each other.” He liked Linnea a lot so far. She was nice and sweet, and pretty cute too. But he was also kind of grasping for a lifeline. He wasn’t going to know anybody at all after all, leaving all his friends behind. “So, do you already know some of the other students? Sorry, I’m not really sure how this works for people who grow up knowing all about magic. Do you live everywhere? Or do you all live in a certain place? I’m sorry if I’m asking stupid questions.”