WINCHCOMBE, ENGLAND / HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF MAGIC - SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1975

The Hogwarts Express was the only way for the magical students to arrive at Hogwarts, seeing as when you'd just travel to the grounds via foot, you would only see the concealment charms, showing a ruined castle, at least that is what muggles would see.

Kat wondered what would happen if a witch or wizard came across the castle via non-magical ways, would they see it or not? And the train being the only way to go to Hogwarts also seemed impractical, what about the Scottish students, who had to travel all the way to King's Cross Station, just to travel back towards Scotland? Could Dumbledore not think of a better way to travel?

She was currently waiting for her sister to get ready to leave. Fran was taking ages with packing, probably because she was up till very late last night, and ultimately waking up late this morning.

It was Kat and her sister's responsibility to get to Kings Cross on their own, seeing as their father had just left early in the morning, not even saying goodbye. He was most likely already at the Ministry, working until he almost dropped.

"Hello? Kat? Anybody home?" Fran asked, pulling Kat out of her thoughts.

"Come on, we have to catch the bus," Fran urged, grabbing her sister's arm and helping her up from the couch.

Kat rose from the couch quickly after realising that they had to hurry. She grabbed her suitcases and coat, quickly turning off all the lights.

Fran was already waiting outside as Kat locked the front door, double-checking she had everything, and turned to walk towards her sister. Fran had already started walking so Kat ran for a short while to catch up with her sister.

The bus station was only a short ten-minute walk away, and it would bring the sisters straight to their final destination of Kings Cross. The bus ride went smoothly, Kat and Fran sharing small talk about whatever they could think about.

Fran had been talking about her boyfriend for the most part of the ride, apparently, Fran had found Daniel kissing another girl at a party a couple of days ago. Daniel now no longer held the term boyfriend, he was now officially an arsehole and an ex.

When arriving at their destination, they had a little less than 10 minutes to get to the platform, seeing as it would take longer than that to get to the platform, they both picked up their pace, almost jogging towards the platform to make the train.

Luckily they managed to get to the train on time with 3 minutes to spare. They entered the train and found an empty compartment to sit in.

"I'm going to find Josie and Sarah, are you going to be okay to stay alone for a while?" Fran asked her sister.

"Yeah, of course, I'll be fine," Kat replied, already planning which book to read for the long train ride ahead.

Fran kissed her on the top of her head and left towards the front of the train, in search of her best friends. Josie was a tall girl with blond hair that was styled in a pixie cut. She was extremely athletic and was even the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Sarah was a little bit shorter than Josie and had black hair that when the light hit it right, looked almost dark blue. She had glasses and was considered what the muggles would call a 'nerd'.

Kat had decided to read Frankenstein, a classic muggle book. She had finished Little Women a few days ago and had thoroughly enjoyed the book. Little Women was fastly different compared to Frankenstein, but after reading the first few chapters, Kat loved the book.

Her deep focus on her book was broken when a loud noise erupted from the corridor. It was a male voice, yelling towards something or someone. Putting down her book with a bookmark on the page she was reading.

She opened the train corridor door and looked to the right, not seeing anything. But when she turned around towards her left side, she was suddenly startled by a boy's body running towards her. He was small and had dark blonde hair. Kat recognised him as Peter Pettigrew. Behind the boy, the rest of the first boy's friend group quickly ran after him, probably running from pranking a couple of Slytherin students.

In the blink of an eye, the troublesome quartet was already a couple of compartments further down. Only the last boy, James Potter, was still running towards her, and when he ran past, he made eye contact with Kat. He looked confused, not knowing who he was looking at. He was so focused on Kat that he didn't notice where he put his footing and embarrassingly met the floor hard.

He cursed and quickly pulled himself upright again and ran off even harder, towards his friends who were laughing at his blunder.

Kat retreated into her compartment, quietly laughing to herself. She returned to her book and read for the rest of the journey towards Hogwarts. Her sister had eventually returned and when they were just 20 minutes away from Hogwarts, they both changed into their respective uniforms. Ravenclaw for Kat, Slytherin for Fran. Because she visited her sister's dorm often, their favourite shared space was the kitchens. Kat even had a favourite house elf; Miggy.

Miggy was an older house elf, who had been working there for over 60 years. Miggy had a motherly instinct towards Kat and often made her favourite cakes and cookies to make her feel better.

The train's brakes creaked as the train came to a stop. They had arrived at Hogwarts station.

A steady rain was falling from the sky as the students filed out of the train. Since they were now on Hogwarts grounds, they could legally use their magic again. Most people had cast a spell to conjure an umbrella, some of the muggle-born students had even brought real umbrellas with them.

Kat was hiding underneath her sister's umbrella spell, with Josie and Sarah hiding underneath their own in front of them.

Even though the weather was miserable, people were generally fine, happily chatting with one another and catching up with friends about the summertime.

The thestrals were already waiting for them, looking as magnificent as always. Kat entered the same carriage as her sister and her friends, taking a seat by the window, enjoying the sound of the rain falling.

The beauty of the castle was ageless. Even though it was built centuries ago, it still stands strong and still gives Kat that jaw-dropping effect.

The rest of the journey up to Hogwarts passed in a blur. And so did the sorting ceremony. Dinner was served and Kat ate hers in peace, secretly listing in on the story of the girl next to her; apparently she'd heard from a Slytherin who heard from a Ravenclaw that Sirius Black was caught snogging a girl in the halls, even before the ceremony had began.

Kat thought it must have been a record of fasted-able snog in the history of Hogwarts's playboys. The girl went on about how hot Sirius was. Kat personally found Remus more attractive, physically as mentally.

Kat's attention was of course to the Gryffindor table, and her eyes searched for the loudest group there. James Potter, the faceplanter, was laughing loudly along with his friends, probably already planning this year's pranks.

She was staring at James's face. He had pretty eyes and a full bright smile. Kat was almost jealous of how white his teeth were. James's face entranced her, and since she never learned that staring was rude, she was doing just that. Who would notice anyway? Maybe her sister, but Fran was preoccupied with her friends at the moment, so nobody.

But then, a pair of eyes stared directly at her, straight into her soul. Hazel meeting Grey.

They belonged to James Potter.

......

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